Health blog
Handle Back Discomfort Right Away
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. These may include running or hiking, gardening, walking the dog or playing with their grandchildren. Back pain is something we treat lots of patients for and they may be young athletes, active parents or older adults. 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.
Read full blogRaking Leaves Doesn’t Have to Cause Discomfort
Blogging about raking is about as exciting as physically executing the task. However, there are good things to look forward to when I think of the fall season: cooler temps, pumpkin spice lattes and the beautiful color changes of the trees. So throw on your favorite old sweater, grab a rake, and go out and breathe in that crisp autumn air.
Even though leaf raking is good exercise, it is important to remember that without good posture or good body mechanics, raking can put a strain on our lower back and can lead to back pain and discomfort.
Why Coming to Physical Therapy First Works
Did you know…
- You do not need to see a doctor before seeing a physical therapist?
- You do not always need an X-ray or MRI?
- And you can feel better faster, the sooner you start physical therapy?
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.
Read full blogThree Tips to Decrease Neck Discomfort
By Devin Wurman, DPT
These days, more people are working sedentary jobs at a desk and/or using mobile technology for their day to day communications. Think about how you sit when you do these things. How is your posture? It’s so easy for us to slip into a poor posture when we’re mindlessly reading emails or sending texts. The problem is that these poor postures are therefore creating more complaints of neck discomfort.
Shoulder Problems: Common Symptoms and Ways to Prevent Them
By Misha Gilani, DPT
Shoulder pain is a very common problem for every age group and one we treat often at Loudoun Sports Therapy Center. Our patients who come to us for shoulder discomfort will typically complain about pain along the front of the shoulder, which, can radiate down the arm and into the fingers. Shoulder patients often have pain and difficulty with overhead activities, lifting, reaching behind their back or washing their hair.
Preventing ‘De-Feet’: Ankle Sprains and Other Foot 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. These are a few examples of things you probably wouldn’t think twice about until your ankle or foot started hurting.
Keep Athletes Competing: Strength Training and Conditioning
Now that we’ve reviewed the concepts of a proper warm-up. Let’s move on to building the muscles needed to properly and effectively compete. When people discuss strengthening the body, it’s common to automatically think of heavy weight lifting as the only way to build muscle. I am not disagreeing with the concept that lifting improves strength. Strengthening is a key component to focus on when trying to improve an athlete’s performance.
Read full blogWill Physical Therapy Solve That Problem?
By Abbey Fecher, DPT
How do you know if you are a good candidate for physical therapy? Physical therapy is not just a treatment option for people who are preparing for, or recovering from, a surgery. Physical therapists are movement specialists who are trained to help you improve your body’s movement mechanics. Using targeted strengthening exercises and stretching, physical therapy can help resolve nagging pain you may feel before it becomes a bigger problem as well as help prevent injuries altogether by addressing deficits.
Shin Splints: How to Handle this Active Person’s Problem
Shin splints are a very common injury among active or newly active people. It’s also a very common injury with fall sports athletes who may have been relatively inactive over the summer and then are jumping back into their sport full force come tryouts.
The medical term for this condition is medial tibial stress syndrome. What does this mean? This translates into inflammation of the muscles, tendons, and bone tissues surrounding the lower leg or shin region.
October is National Physical Therapy Month
By Kate Zanoni, LPTA
October is National Physical Therapy Month! The annual commemoration, held by the American Physical Therapy Association (or APTA), is designed to recognize the impact that physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) make on their patients’ lives.
Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants use hands-on manual therapy treatments and prescriptive exercises to help their patients restore mobility and strength, improving activities of daily living, sleep quality and recreational activities.