Health blog Category: Aches and Pains
Herniated and Bulging Discs: Symptoms to Look For
Radiating pain, numbness or tingling is a possible indicator that one or more of your nerves may be irritated by a bulging or herniated disc.
What are Discs and What do They do?
The bones in our spine are called vertebrae and in-between the vertebrae are our discs, these discs act as shock absorbers. These control the spine’s range of motion, flexibility and keep the bones and spinal cord safe from damage.
Read full blogLower Back Problems: A Common Complaint
Lower back problems are one of the most common complaints we encounter in physical therapy. The majority of adults will experience back pain at some point in their lifetime. The back pain they experience may only last a short time or it could linger for months. Back pain affects men and women equally and can even be seen in children and teenagers.
Structures in our Back
There are many different structures that are at risk for injury in your lower back.
Read full blogKnees Hurting When You Get Up Off the Floor?
Getting onto and off the floor forces us to put our knees in a bent position and put significant force through the joint. It also requires good leg and hip strength to be able to push yourself up into a standing position again from the floor.
There are a few common knee problems that can contribute to pain, when getting off the floor.
They are as follows:
- Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
- When your knee cap tracks improperly
- This can be caused by muscle imbalances, tight IT band, or poor quadricep control with walking or running.
Putting a Spring Back in Our Step
If you suffer from knee pain, arthritis, low back pain or other aches and pains that keep you from being active, there are things you can easily do to become more active and put a spring back in your step.
Change How You Sit
A lot of aches and pains relate to how we use our bodies in the day. Many back pain sufferers actually begin having back pain, because they sit too much.
Read full blogCreaky and Stiff Joints Got You Down?
As we get older or the more active or reversely inactive we may be we all start to notice; creaky joints, joint pain, and stiffness at some point in our lives. These symptoms affect all joints however most particularly the knees because of their weight bearing function. Maybe you have become more inactive recently just sitting around and you’re noticing joint pain and stiffness. Or maybe you have been doing much of the same activities or exercises in attempts to stay active while we all adjust to a new sense of normalcy.
Read full blogSigns & Symptoms of Strained Muscles
What is a “pulled” muscle?
The medical terminology for “pulled” muscle, is a strained muscle. The strain occurs when fibers of the muscles are torn. There are different degrees of a strain that directly correlate with how many fibers of the muscle are torn.
- Grade 1 strain: mild damage to tissues; less than 5% of fibers torn
- Grade 2 strain: more damage to muscle fibers; less than 50% of fibers torn
- Grade 2 strain: complete rupture of the muscle or tendon
What causes a strain of a muscle?
Read full blogOur Heel; The Part of Our Foot We Forget
The heel, also known as the calcaneus, is located on the bottom of the foot directly below the ankle joint. The heel bone has many muscles and ligaments attached to it. When injuries or irritation occur to the attached muscles or ligaments, it can create pain in the heel. This pain can lead to many other additional issues in your daily life such as difficulty:
- Walking
- Jogging
- Running
- Working out
- standing
The pain can be described as follows:
- Tight
- Spasm
- Burning
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Dull
- Achy
- Sharp
Why does heel pain occur?
This pain can be caused by:
- Overuse of the calf and foot muscles
- Tight calf and foot muscles, or plantar fascia
- Weakness in ankle-supporting muscles
- Fractures to bone
- Inflammation of bursa (fluid filled sacs that provide protection)
- Neurological issues
Common Heel Pain Injuries
- Achilles Tendinitis: inflammation of the Achilles tendon due to overused or tight calf muscles
- Bursitis: inflammation of the bursa due to tight surrounding tissues/tendons or friction at the heel
- Plantar Fasciitis: inflammation of the connective tissue on the bottom of the foot
- Heel Spur: bony outgrowth at the heel due to tight muscles or strains/sprains
- Stress Fractures: tiny cracks in bone due to overuse and repetitive forces
Should you seek physical therapy?
Read full blogGrading a Muscle Strain
A muscle strain is a very common injury to muscle tissue that is often caused by overuse/fatigue or excessive tension put on the muscle.
What is actually happening in a muscle strain?
When you strain a muscle, you are essentially overloading the muscle cells capability to provide the force necessary to perform a certain movement. When this happens, the tiny muscle cells tear apart. There is also connective tissue in between the muscle cells that often gets torn as well.
Read full blogThese Musculoskeletal Injuries
Ankle sprains are some of the most common musculoskeletal injuries, with approximately 25,000 people spraining their ankle every day (1). An ankle sprain occurs usually when the ankle is forced into an extremely inverted or everted position, meaning rolling in or out respectively; rolling your ankle inwards being the most common type of sprain.
How do I know if I sprained my ankle?
Some common symptoms of an ankle sprain are:
- Pain or soreness when moving your ankle into the position in which you sprained it,
- Pain with walking
- Ankle stiffness
- Mild localized swelling and bruising along the outside of your foot/ankle.
Difference Between Hip Bursitis and Tendonitis
Have you ever woken up one morning and had pain on the outside of your hip? I’m sure you went online to try to figure out what was causing the pain and have seen a lot about “bursitis” or “tendonitis.” Well, which one is it?
Let’s start at the beginning!
A tendon is the attachment from a muscle to where it inserts onto a bone. A bursa is a fluid filled sac found around joints. In other words, a tendon is irritated as a result of repetitive stress from movement of a muscle. Bursitis occurs when the fluid that surrounds a joint gets inflamed. It is an area that encompasses structures such as tendons, muscles, and bones.