Health blog Category: Physical Therapy
Back or Neck Pain?
When you have an ache or pain it can leave you scratching your head as to where the pain is truly coming from. Just because it hurts in that part of your leg or arm, doesn’t mean that is where the problem is coming from. Is it a bulging disc, muscle strain or did you just over do it?
Being a physical therapist is much like being a mechanic for the body. Where is that pain coming from, what type of pain is it, are you out of alignment, what are you not able to do that you want to get back to, how is your body moving incorrectly, etc.?
Don’t Let Faulty Body Mechanics Ruin Your Day!
I’m sure you or someone you know has had lower back pain at some point in there lives. The majority of low back pain is caused by repeated trauma or repeated movements, decreased flexibility, poor core strength or general muscle weakness. But the one thing people don’t understand a lot about is how body mechanics can attribute to pain.
What exactly are body mechanics???
Body mechanics is a term that describes the way we move and carry out our daily lives.
Read full blogTop 12 Exercises for Senior Citizens
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, folks over the age of 65 should be doing 150 minutes of exercise each week. This can be broken up into three 10-minute sessions of moderately intense exercises.
While pushing to be a more physically active senior citizen, there are some safety precautions that need to be addressed. Getting a physician’s clearance to allow the patient to exercise is the most important step when looking to increase someone’s physical activity.
Mobility in this Joint can be a Reason for Back Pain
Believe it or not, your hips play a large role in the health of your back and limited hip mobility can cause back pain. More than 80 percent of the population will suffer from back pain at least once in their life, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. It is the price we pay for walking upright on two legs.
However, the majority of back pain is non-specific, meaning that there is not a primary cause, such as a fracture or disc protrusion.
Important Tools to Relieve Sciatica Pain
In a study reported in the journal Orthopedics, 650 people were examined for low back pain or sciatica. About 25% had reported an episode of sciatica in the past 6 months of the study. This shows how common sciatica really is.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is a term used to describe pain in the buttock or radiating down the leg that is caused by irritation to the sciatic nerve.
Read full blogWhat Are Certified Athletic Trainers?
Athletic trainers (ATs) are highly qualified, multi-skilled health care professionals who render service or treatment, under the direction of or in collaboration with a physician, in accordance with their education, training and the state’s statutes, rules and regulations. As a part of the health care team, services provided by athletic trainers include primary care, injury and illness prevention, wellness promotion and education, emergent care, examination and clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. The NATA Code of Ethics states the principles of ethical behavior that should be followed in the practice of athletic training.
Read full blogRotator Cuff Trouble
An irritated shoulder with certain motions or when we sleep, is a sign our rotator cuff could be giving us trouble.
Strength and stability of the rotator cuff is needed to relieve that pain or irritation and to help us complete all of our daily activities such as:
- Brushing our hair
- Brushing our teeth
- Lifting objects overhead
- Throwing a baseball
Rotator Cuff Anatomy
The rotator cuff is the group of four muscles that surround your shoulder joint, guiding and controlling the way your shoulder moves.
Read full blogTips to Less Arthritis Pain
When it comes to relieving arthritis aches and pains, we may have more options than we realize. There is a lot that can be done to reduce our aches and pains from arthritis while gaining more mobility and function.
Arthritis pain and inflammation is what we help our patients day in and day out with. Patients often experience pain from arthritis because of stiff joints, muscles and other tissues. In addition, muscles become weak, therefore not supporting the arthritic joints.
Common Elbow Injuries
The most common injuries of the elbow are the result of overuse or injury resulting in inflammation or a condition known as tendonitis.
Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow are both overuse injuries that are caused by any activity that requires repetitive motion of the arm and wrist. The difference between the two conditions lies in where the elbow is inflamed.
Common symptoms of Tennis Elbow/Lateral Epicondylitis include:
- Pain that radiates from the outside of your elbow and down your forearm and wrist
- Tenderness on the outside of your elbow (May be constant or present with activity)
- Weakness in your forearm or a weak grip
- Pain when you extend your wrist
- Pain when reaching, lifting or when gripping or twitting things or if you play tennis, especially with backhand strokes
* Repetitive motions using forehand/backhand are also common in cooks, painters, carpenters, plumbers or computer/mouse work.
Read full blogShoulder Fractures
Fractures at the top part of the shoulder are very common.
The risk of fracturing the shoulder increases with age for various reasons:
- Increase in balance issues with age
- More common to have osteoporosis
- Lack of physical activity leading to weaker muscles in the winter
- Increased number of people over the age of 65 with osteoporosis
How do the above lead to more fractures?
The more inactive you are, the weaker your muscles become because of disuse. When your muscles are weak, your balance becomes affected which increases your risk of falling. Then there is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis involves a decrease in new bone formation while the body is continuing to break down bone. This results in more brittle bones and a more increased risk of fracture when a fall occurs.
