Health blog
Don’t Wait To Treat Lower Body Discomfort
Back discomfort can be debilitating no matter what your walk of life. People living with back pain are often plagued by the inability to sleep, stiffness or difficulty with activities that they love. At Loudoun Sports Therapy Center, our goal to help you treat your back problems through targeted strengthening and specific exercises so you can get you back to living life on your own terms.
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.
Difficulty Walking or Standing Up from a Chair?
By Angie Austin, LPTA
Many people associate knee pain with the older population. However, we treat patients of all ages for knee pain. Whether it’s due to arthritis or an injury, it is important to know what causes that knee pain.
The knee is a large hinge joint that gives you the ability to bend and straighten your knee, which is necessary for day to day functional tasks like getting up from a chair or going up and down stairs.
What We Can do to Be Healthier, Stronger, and More Active!
Loudoun Sports Therapy Center has a list of tips to help everyone grow healthier, stronger and more active — and we’re willing to bet these suggestions will provide at least a little motivation to put those stretchy pants to good use.
Conquer the Pain
By now you’ve probably heard the stats. Chronic pain can put a major cramp in an exercise routine, and yet over half the country suffers from some sort of debilitating pain.
Read full blogWhy Stopping Activity Short Term Will Help Long Term
Overuse injuries are some of the most common injuries we see here at Loudoun Sports Therapy Center. Overuse injuries are most commonly thought of with sports, but they can occur from simple everyday activities. An overuse injury is simply caused by any repetitive motion or activity.
Common Overuse injuries
- Tennis/golfers elbow
- Rotator cuff/biceps tendonitis
- Knee/hip pain
- Peroneal tendonitis
The most common cause of these overuse injuries is performing repetitive motions with decreased muscle strength.
Read full blogEver had a nagging headache that just wouldn’t go away?
By: C. Ashley Border, DPT
Ever had a nagging headache that just wouldn’t go away? Headaches can start for a variety of causes including muscular tension and weakness in the neck, stress, dehydration or low blood sugar, outdated reading glass prescriptions, or something sinister like a stroke, head injury, or other systemic problems in the body.
In the physical therapy world, we treat lots of patients with headaches and often times, the culprit is tightness and tension in the neck muscles which is what we’ll focus on today.
A Leading Cause People Miss Work
Back pain is one of the leading reasons people go to the doctor and a leading reason employees miss work so it’s a very important topic to understand.
There are four main reason our back pain could have started:
- Muscle strains due to heavy lifting or repetitive movements
- Pain that you can pinpoint on the muscle and does NOT radiate down the legs
- Arthritis: Narrowing of the space in the spine where nerves pass; excess bone that forms on the vertebrae; thinning of the discs between the vertebrae
- Structural: Scoliosis is an example of a structural issue that involves the curvature of the spine which can gradually get worse and become painful
- Bulging and herniated discs:
- Pain that is felt in the legs and not necessarily in the back itself
- As disc issues gets more severe symptoms can progress to numbness, tingling, and weakness
- Bulging discs involve the outer layer of the disc protruding out in the space where the spinal cord is
- Herniated discs involve the middle portion of the disc coming out into the space where the nerves are and causes compression.
How we sit at our desk matters
By Angie Austin, LPTA
Understanding ergonomics will help you better apply it to your daily life and well being. Ergonomics is defined by the dictionary as an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so the people and thinks interact efficiently and safely.
Everything you sit in or lie down on refers to how your body is positioned or your posture. They can include everything from the desk you use, the chair you sit on at work, your car seat, your home sofa or your bed.
Why Pre- and Post-op Physical Therapy is Important
Is surgery in the future for you to address your musculoskeletal issue? Has your doctor mentioned the need for physical therapy afterwards? Or even the benefit of physical therapy to prepare you for the surgery beforehand? Some people think that the surgery is going to be the quick fix of their knee pain or of their rotator cuff tear or of their bulging disc, to name a few examples. However, often times the recovery from the surgery is not as quick of a fix as hoped for and the surgery alone does not help one regain the function of their leg, arm or core.
Read full blogThe IT Band’s role and Preventing IT Band Syndrome
By: Alyssa Burke, PTA
The IT Band is a part of body that is somewhat of a mystery to many. You’ve probably heard of the IT band. But are you confident about where it is or what it does? We’ll answer these questions today. The IT band is the abbreviation for the iliotibial band. This band is an extension of your hip muscles. It is a long band of connective tissue or fascia that runs down the outside of your thigh from your hip to just below your knee.
The Connection Between Core Strength and Better Balance
Physical therapy as an industry has been talking about the link between core strength and better balance for years. When the “core” muscles around our trunk are strong, they prevent chronic lower back pain and many other injuries, but they also keep us from losing our balance and falling down. A stronger core will help to keep you upright — especially as you age and start to become more at risk of falling. If you’d like to get started on a core routine to improve your balance, contact Loudoun Sports Therapy today to speak with a physical therapist!
Read full blog
