Health blog
Joint Stiffness and How to Cure it
Defining Joint Stiffness
At some point or another in life we experience joint stiffness. This is a situation in the body where we feel tightness in the parts of our body that bend like; the elbows, wrists, shoulders, hips, knees, neck, lower back, and ankles.
Common Causes of Joint Stiffness:
- muscular tightness
- capsular/ligamentous tightness
- muscle weakness causing poor joint alignment and tracking
- loss of joint space with osteoarthritis
- rheumatoid arthritis
- structural damage from wear and tear or injury and the resulting inflammation
How Joint Stiffness Affects Us
Joint stiffness presents with the sensation of not being able to fully rotate, bend, or extend a joint in the body.
Read full blog3 Neck Problems & the Solution
Neck pain is something you will probably experience at least once in your life. Many things can cause neck pain, and in this blog I’ll discuss 3 of the common types of neck pain and their causes. In addition to that, I will discuss the solution!
Musculoskeletal Neck Pain:
One of the common causes of neck pain comes from the muscles and joints of the cervical spine (or neck).
Read full blogEffects of Entering the Season De-Conditioned
The two most common reasons people sustain injuries when they rush back into a sport or exercise program too quickly, are training errors and technique errors. Rushing into the season or training program without proper progressive training our body will not be ready to endure the stress and we can end up with an injury that could have been prevented.
Are you ready to try-out for that spring sport or ramp-up your training routine?
Protecting Our Hips from IT Band Problems
The IT Band and Surrounding Muscles
There are a number of muscles on the outside of our hip that attach to the IT band. The job of all of these muscles is:
- To keep the hip joint structures open
- Help support the joint
- Create the movement of the joint.
Most commonly what happens when we are experiencing some level of IT band problems, is that the muscles on the outside of the hip that are working to hold the hip together while we move the leg, are overworking.
Read full blogNew Year, New Goals
A new decade, a new set of goals to achieve. At LSTC, we’re all about helping people reach their physical goals. In fact, some of the goals we helped people reach last year were:
- Back to golfing
- Picking up a baby without pain
- Back to running
- Completing triathlons and the like…
- Sleeping comfortably
- Doing necessary household chores without wincing
- Managing concussions and getting students back to school and sports
- Dancing again without pain
- Taking trips out of the country pain free
- And so much more…
So what are your goals for the new year?
Read full blogHandle Low Back Pain
Low back pain can affect our lives in many ways. It can prevent us from exercising, sleeping, working, and spending time with our families. Those four activities alone make up pretty much the entire day for a lot of us. So the question becomes, why aren’t we taking action to handle our pain?
Signs and Symptoms of Low Back Pain
Every individual experiences different signs and symptoms, however these are the most common:
- muscle tightness or spasms
- sharp or dull pain
- limited range of motion,
- stinging or burning pain that travels to the buttocks or thigh
- numbness and tingling
- difficulty sitting, standing, walking, or going up stairs
- pain that increases with prolonged activity
Common Causes
Lower back injuries can occur from something as simple as twisting to grab something off of a shelf to a more serious scenario like falling off of a ladder.
- Soft Tissue Injuries:
- Soft tissue injuries such as, sprains and strains, are the most common cause of lower back pain.
Choose Physical Therapy First
Often times, people will get an injury or develop a pain and then wait a period of time to see if it will go away on its own—especially if it starts after we were a little more active one day. We assume the pain is normal.
But when that pain doesn’t go away, the next step is often to see a doctor, which may or may not be something you can schedule right away.
Treating Plantar Fasciitis & Other Foot Problems
It’s common, no matter our age, to experience foot and ankle pain, or discomfort in our heels and arches. This discomfort and pain makes daily, functional activities such as standing, walking and using stairs difficult. A common injury we see is plantar Fasciitis.
Causes
Foot and ankle pain can stem from a number of factors.
Some common ones include:
- Poor footwear
- Weakness in the intrinsic foot muscles
- Poor foot anatomy such has a flat foot or high arches
- Chronic issues with lower back, hip, or the knee that causes pain down into the foot and ankle
Plantar Fasciitis
One particular foot condition treated here at Loudoun Sports Therapy Center is plantar fasciitis.
Read full blogThe Importance of Strength in Athletes
Why Strength is Important
For athletes being stronger will help them experience a significant decrease in potential for injury. It will also allow them to experience an overall greater ease of activity and movement with everything they do. Typically, there will be no immediate effect to having weakness in a particular muscle in your body. The effects are usually more long term in the sense that “weakness” or lack of proper strength in an area, results in excess friction on the bones in the joint, excessive wear and tear on tendons and cartilage around a joint, and more.
Setting up a Strengthening Program
This all starts with knowing what muscles to work and how to work them correctly.
Read full blogEliminating Back Discomfort
Being plagued by discomfort, the inability to sleep, experiencing stiffness, or having difficulty with activities that we love, are often indicators of back injuries. Often back pain is a signal of issues up and down the chain. Your spine connects your upper body and your lower body so it is important that we seek out the proper care as soon as possible to prevent other issues and to improve our quality of life.
Common Causes of Back Pain or Discomfort:
- Poor Posture
- Weak Core Muscles
- Poor Mechanics
- Weak Gluteal Muscles
- Degeneration
The ‘Trickle-Down’ Effect
Like many conditions, when we have pain or discomfort in one area of the body, if we don’t handle it, it can start impacting another area of the body.
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