Health blog Category: joints
Hip, Knee, and Ankle Joints Are All Affecting Us
The knee joint is the second most complicated joint in our body and has to move in many directions. The knee and hip work in tandem allowing us to walk, run, squat and kneel. When either our hip, knee or ankle have problems moving, the other joints can be strained causing pain. Therefore, even if we have pain in your knees, it could be a problem stemming from your hip or ankle.
Most problems in the knee or hip come from either too little activity or too much activity.
Our Pain Might Be From Tendonitis or Bursitis
We will experience some episode of pain at one point or another during our life. It’s common for a quick scan of the internet or visit to a doctor to reveal a vague diagnosis of tendonitis or bursitis as the primary cause of that pain. While these works may or may not reflect the correct cause of the painful symptoms, how many of us actually know what these terms mean?
Furthermore, and more importantly, do we understand what causes tendonitis and bursitis, how they are treated and how to prevent them?
Here’s Why Our Hip Hurts
Hip problems can make our daily activities such as walking, difficult and painful. The most common causes of hip pain are due to wear and tear, and overuse. This means that most hip problems are the result of repetitive movements we do on a daily basis. Because this joint is necessary for weight bearing activities like standing, walking and running, it can be a source of pain among all ages – not just the older population.
Read full blogKnee Pain Doesn’t Have to be a Way of Life
For many of you, knee pain is a way of life, limiting your ability to climb stairs, squat down to get something off the floor, enjoy long walks, shopping and a host of other daily activities. Your knee joint is one of the most complicated joints in your body and has to bear up to 6 times your body weight with running or jumping.
This incredible joint has to move over a million times each year and over 80 million times over a lifetime.
Is Standing On One Foot Difficult?
Have you ever experienced a sharp pain in the bottom of your foot when you take your first few steps in the morning? Does your ankle feel unstable or painful when you’re walking or running? Do you have difficulty balancing on one foot without holding onto something for support?
These are all signs of common foot and ankle conditions that we often treat in physical therapy. Although there are many contributing factors leading to the aforementioned symptoms, here is a breakdown of the most frequent causes of foot and ankle pain as well as resulting ankle instability.
This is Why you are Having Joint Pain
Do you find your joints aching for seemingly no apparent reason? Even small aches and pains are your body’s way of telling you something is not working correctly and this should not be ignored. According to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study, 30% of the people surveyed reported some form of joint pain within a 30-day period. The greatest number of respondents had knee joint pain, followed by shoulder, finger and then hip joint pain.
Read full blogRelieving Joint Stiffness
Joint stiffness may be just a nuisance at first, but if left untreated it can begin to affect your daily activities such as reaching up into the cabinets or squatting down to pick up something off the floor. The scary thing is it can creep up on you slowly and you don’t even realize you are now using your left arm to do tasks that you’ve used your right arm for your entire life or you are asking your kids to pick up the grocery bag from the ground because its too hard to squat down.
Read full blogAre Your Hips Making Everyday Life Hard?
You may have experienced stiffness in or around your hips or even your lower back. These issues create difficulty moving the joint and cause generalized weakness in the affected leg. Having pain or stiffness in your hip can cause difficulty with the following functional activities:
- Walking
- Going up and down stairs
- Squatting
- Standing up from a chair
- Standing for prolonged periods of time
When there is significant stiffness in your hip, you may also start to experience trouble completing tasks such as sitting with your legs crossed, putting on your shoes and socks and getting in and out of the car.
Read full blogLow Back Pain and How it Affects Us
Low back pain is very prevalent in our society and can greatly limit our ability to carry out daily tasks. Many of us have complained at one point or another about stiffness, or radiating pain in to the buttock/legs or into the mid back. These are both indicators of low back pain affecting us.
The pain can range anywhere from a mild nagging pain to a severe pain that will greatly limit your mobility.
Identifying Hamstring Injuries
The most common form of hamstring injury is a muscle strain. This is a stretching and sometimes even tearing of your muscle or tendon. Symptoms you could experience with a muscle strain include pain, swelling, muscle spasms, tenderness, and restricted range of motion. The length of time for your muscle to heal is dependent on the severity of the strain and the treatment process. As with any injury, the sooner treatment starts, the better the results will be.
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