Health blog
Discomfort or Difficulty Reaching Up to Grab Dishes
You’ve probably just spend the past month or so sprucing up your garden, putting mulch out around your home, and/or performing other projects while the weather was a bit more tolerable. Now it’s summer, and you get to look at all of the sweat equity that you just finished putting in. You may also notice that your shoulder is talking to you.
It’s pretty common that different joints become sore after repetitive use over a short period of time. The shoulder is no exception. Your shoulder is a joint that is very mobile and is made up of multiple muscles which attach to the bones via tendons. Those muscles and tendons, the rotator cuff, are notorious for getting inflamed and becoming painful with overuse. In addition, as we get older, usually in our 50’s and 60’s, it is common to find arthritis in the joint. This is just from “wear and tear” over time. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it painful to reach overhead into the kitchen cabinet or to change a light bulb?
Preventing Muscle Strains and Tightness
A common cause of hip pain that we treat at Loudoun Sports Therapy Clinic is hamstring injury. The hamstring muscle group is located on the back side of the thigh and is made up of three muscles. These three muscles originate on the hip bone and attach at the knee joint. When these muscles contract, the knee bends into a flexed position, when they relax, the knee is able to straighten back out.
The hamstrings work together with the quadriceps muscles to control and stabilize the knee joint.
Read full blogJoint Stiffness Impacting Plans?
By Alyssa Burke, PTA
Joint stiffness is a common ailment that affects many people. It can affect any joint and can vary in severity and duration. It can make a simple task like getting up from a chair or walking a challenge and painful. You may only experience temporary stiffness first thing in the morning or it can bother you after being stationary for a long period of time. Here are some questions to consider if you have joint stiffness:
- What is joint stiffness?
Step on Lower Extremity Problems
By Rachel Herrmann, DPT
A lot of people don’t like feet and don’t give much thought to their feet, but our feet and ankles do a lot for us. They help propel us as we walk, they help us stay level when we are hiking through the rugged mountain trails or through the shifting sands on the beach; They help us press on the gas pedal to get us through the yellow lights; they help us rise up taller so that we can look over the crowd of taller people blocking your view at a concert.
Discomfort sitting, standing or exercising?
By Kate Zanoni, LPTA
If you’ve experienced pain behind your kneecap or in the front of your knee, you may be suffering from patellofemoral pain syndrome or ‘Runner’s Knee.’ Runner’s knee is often characterized by pain behind the knee (retropatellar pain), pain around the kneecap (peripatellar pain) or pain in the front of the knee (anterior knee pain). It is associated with activities that put stress on the knee joint, such as running, sports and recreational activities.
Have you ever fallen asleep in an awkward position?
By: Cierra Washington, ATC
Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen asleep in an awkward position and had the unexpected pleasure of waking up to a “crick in your neck”. For years, I’ve used the phrase “crick in my neck,” and yet I never really knew what it referred to other than general neck discomfort. When most people complain of a “crick” in their neck, they’re referring to either pain or stiffness, most likely in the form of a cramp or spasm.
Feeling Unsteady or Having Trouble Balancing?
Balance problems and having trouble balancing might not be what first comes to mind when you think of conditions physical therapy treats. However, balance impairments are something we see and treat in patients of all ages, young people and older population.
First, let’s clear up any confusion there may be about balance issues and vertigo. We do also treat vertigo, which is condition involving the inner ear. Vertigo causes symptoms such as dizziness and can impact balance but it’s not treated the same as balance issues that are unrelated to vertigo.
Ever had trouble bending down to reach something
“Why are we focusing on my core if my lower back is what’s hurting?” This is a question that is often heard in the physical therapy world. To answer this question, let’s talk spinal anatomy, muscular imbalances and posture.
When patients come in with lower back pain, one of the very first muscle groups assessed is the core. Most lower back injuries occur from unbalanced abdominals and poor low back mechanics. Over training “core” muscles, while leaving the back muscles to fend for themselves, ultimately sets you up for injury.
How to Get Moving Safely and Effectively
It’s no secret that regular exercise is important to your overall health. Many of us are probably trying to move more to get in shape. Exercise is defined as planned and structured physical activity with the purpose of training a specific part of the body. So how much do you really know about exercise and why it is so important?
Exercise has many proven health benefits:
- Exercise can help control weight to keep your BMI (body mass index) in a healthy range.
Planking Our Way to A Full-Body Workout
It’s true! You can get a full body workout with one exercise. It may sound like a myth, but there is one legendary strengthening and stabilization move that will simultaneously work your arms, shoulders, chest, upper and lower back, abdominals, gluteals and quadriceps: the plank!
Physical and Mental Challenge
Holding a plank is certainly a physical challenge, but it’s often just as much of a mental workout. It’s easy to psych yourself out and quit when you start feeling “the burn” before you truly reach muscle fatigue.
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