Health blog Category: Uncategorized
Certified Athletic Trainers at LSTC
Here at Loudoun Sports Therapy Center, we employ Certified Athletic Trainers (ATCs or ATs) due to their high levels of education and experience. ATCs are medically licensed and certified healthcare professionals who are invaluable members of our patients’ care.
Athletic trainers are educated and trained to prevent, diagnose, and treat injuries. With these skills, ATs at our physical therapy clinic take on crucial roles such as:
- Designing and implementing specialized care and exercises for all patient rehabilitation
- Progressing higher-level patients and athletes
- Return to sport training
- Patient education about their bodies and injuries
- Coordinating patient care with other healthcare professionals
When an athletic trainer works with you at LSTC, you’re getting another set of specialized eyes to find patterns in your movements throughout your exercises that another healthcare professional’s eyes may have not observed.
Neck Pain While Working
A lot of people are working from home or returning to the office and have noticed neck pain during and after they are done with work. It’s easy to get lost in our work, which causes us to lose focus of the position that we are sitting in and for how long we are sitting in the same position. When we sit with poor posture for an extended period of time, we are more likely to cause harm especially to our necks.
Read full blogWhat is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a buzzword right now and is likely one you have heard thrown around by your doctor or friends currently receiving physical therapy treatment. A lot of people think of acupuncture when they first hear about dry needling. They use similar needles, but the similarities start and finish there.
Thin microfilament needles are used to penetrate skin and subcutaneous tissue to address the underlying tissue directly. In most cases, the needle will be inserted into a trigger point in a muscle.
Read full blogMeniscus Tears 101
Meniscus Tear – The Basics
A meniscus is the cartilage that is found in the knee joint that sits between the bones of the leg known as the femur and tibia. Think of 2 pads that cushion the inner and outer aspects of your knee. It functions to absorb shock, distribute the load of forces in the knee and to keep the joint lubricated by moving around fluids.
A meniscus tear can frequently occur with twisting or turning activities often when the foot is planted.
Read full blogShin Splints, What are They?
Have you ever experienced pain in the front lower portion of your leg after trying new activities? This is called Medial tibial stress syndrome, also known as shin splints. It is the overuse of the muscles and tendons that make up the front of the shin and causes inflammation and irritation.
Causes of Shin Splints:
- Change in activity – such as beginning a running program and not properly progressing. Increasing intensity by performing at a faster pace or further distances increase your likelihood of developing
- Type of surface activity is being performed on – hills and uneven surfaces will challenge muscles in the different way than on flat hard surfaces
- Overuse and repetitive activities
- Shoe wear may have an impact as well if worn out or not supportive enough
Pain will generally decrease with rest and ice, but may return with resuming activity.
Read full blogCommon Lower Extremity Injuries & Prevention
When people think of physical therapy the first thing to come to mind is often ‘injury.” While physical therapy is instrumental in solving injuries and improving functional deficits, it can also be used to prevent injuries specifically in the sport’s world. Read below to hear some common lower extremity injuries in athletes that can be avoided.
ACL/MCL sprain or tear
- Function: these ligaments reside in your knee and prevent the bones from moving too far out of place
- Common reasons for injury:
- Twisting and planting the leg
- Usually occurs in contact or high impact sports (soccer, football, etc)
- Weak hips and quadriceps muscles lead to poor positioning of the knee and put an athlete at higher risk for injury
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and perform special tests to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening hip and isolating certain muscle groups including the quadriceps improves knee positioning
- Agility drill practice with a PT or ATC can improve athlete agility and reduce injury risk
Meniscus tear
- Function: the meniscus sits between the tibia and femur of your knee joint and provides cushioning to improve joint mobility
- Common reasons for injury:
- Twisting and planting the leg
- Usually occurs in contact or with repetitive activities (soccer, running, etc)
- Weak hips and quadriceps muscles lead to poor positioning of the knee and put an athlete at higher risk for injury
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and perform special tests to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening hip and isolating certain muscle groups including the gluteus medius can improve knee positioning
- Agility drill practice or functional strengthening with a PT or ATC can improve athlete agility and reduce injury risk
ITB Syndrome
- Function: the ITB attaches from your hip muscles and all the way down the outside of your leg and ultimately the knee and patella to improve knee mobility and function of the hip muscles
- Common reasons for injury
- Weak hip musculature or decreased stretching/mobility
- Usually occurs in sports involving repetitive activities (running, jumping, biking, etc)
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and measure flexibility to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening and isolating hip muscles can improve function of the ITB
- Stretching and flexibility training helps to decrease tightness of the ITB and attached muscle groups
- Functional strengthening with a PT or ATC can improve mobility and reduce injury risk
Ankle Sprain
- Function: these ligaments reside in your ankle and prevent the bones from moving too far out of place
- Common reasons for injury:
- Weak ankle musculature and posterior chain strength (glutes/hamstrings/hips)
- Specific positioning of the ankle that cannot be recovered due to decreased strength
- Usually occurs in agility tasks including running, cutting, or drills
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and measure flexibility to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening and stabilizing ankle musculature can improve ankle stability and decrease chance for injury
- Stretching the ankle can also help to improve ankle mobility and reduce injury risk
- Functional strengthening and agility training with a PT or ATC can improve mobility and reduce injury risk
Physical therapy has many benefits that don’t have to mean getting an injury.
Read full blogCommon Injuries with Running
Have you recently started running and are having pain? Increased your mileage and having pain? Increased speed and having pain?
Types of Injuries
All levels and types of runners may experience pain at one point or another. Running injuries most commonly affect the knee, lower leg, and foot. Some of the injuries seen are:
- Knee pain
- ITB Pain
- Patellar tendonitis
- Hamstring strain
- Calf pain
- Achilles Tendonitis
- Plantar Fasciitis
Overuse and training past the point of fatigue, are generally what leads to injury, as the specific structure is unable to perform properly.
Read full blogThe Power of Therapy
We have all experienced back and neck discomfort at one point or another or will experience it in the future. In fact, it is one of the leading things that causes people to miss work. So, it’s time to discuss how you can get rid of your discomfort for good!
Why does neck and back pain occur?
Neck and back problems that arise are often a result of impinged nerves, weak muscles, and contracted muscles blocking blood flow.
Read full blogOne of the Most Stable Joints in the Body…
You guessed it, the hip joint! However, that does not keep this joint and region of the body from becoming unstable, developing issues, and producing discomfort.
Unstable hip joints can lead to discomfort and weakness in the hip region and creates difficulties:
- sleeping or lying in certain positions
- standing, walking, running, and climbing stairs
- standing up from a seated position
- balancing
- bending your leg in towards your chest (such as when dressing, cutting your toe nails, or washing/drying your feet)
There are multiple structures in and around the hip joint that can produce pain in this area of the body:
- Labrum
- The ring of cartilage around the rim of the socket of the hip joint.
What Type of Stretching Should I do ‘Before’ Playing Sports?
You should know what type of stretching you should do both before and after playing sports or any other physical activity. Stretching is an important part of an athletes daily exercise routine, however, it should not be the only exercise they are doing. Most people think that when we stretch we are elongating our muscles. This is a misconception. Unless we are stretching for many hours every day consistently for at least 6 weeks, than we are not actually lengthening the muscles. It is more likely that you are changing the neural tone. You can think of neural tone as the input to the muscle from the brain to contract. When you stretch you are temporarily changing the neural input and the muscle relaxes. This means that rather than lengthening the muscle you are decreasing the input from the brain to contract the muscle which, in turn, leads to the muscle being more relaxed or loose.
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