Health blog Category: LSTC
Foot and Ankle Problems
There are many reasons as to why your foot and ankle could be bothering you. Some of the primary injuries we see here at LSTC are:
- Ankle sprains
- Plantar fasciitis
- Achilles Tendonitis
Ankle sprains are a very common injury we treat here at LSTC. The most common ankle sprain is an inversion sprain which happens when your foot gets turned towards the other foot and stretches the tendons and ligaments on the outside of the ankle causing the injury.
Read full blog5 Common Hip Injuries
There can be many causes of hip pain and hip injuries, but we will be talking about the most common in this blog. Having hip pain can limit you from doing your daily life activities, playing with your kids, performing you job duties and cause you a lot of unnecessary stress if you don’t get it checked out right away! Below we will be discussing the common hip injuries, how they present, risk factors and what to do if you think you have one of these injuries.
Read full blogTreatment for Shoulder Pain
Are you suffering with shoulder pain, stiffness, or decreased function? Shoulder pain can develop for a number of reasons including:
- traumatic injury
- overuse
- postural deficits
- weakness
If left untreated, intermittent or nagging shoulder pain can develop into a significant condition which can limit your ability to participate in activities of daily living (ADLs), work duties, leisure activities, or sports.
This is where physical therapy can help.
Read full blogTreating Back Pain
Most of us will experience back pain of some sort during our lifetime. While back pain is prevalent in our society, it isn’t something you have to “live with”.
Causes
Back pain can be caused by multiple things depending on where the pain is in the spine, along with the type of pain you are experiencing. Some common causes of back pain are:
- Muscle weakness: muscles work together to help to coordinate proper movements.
Is Your Posture Causing You Pain? We Can Help!
Jun 30th 2021What is posture? And how does it affect us?
Simply put, posture is the position in which someone holds their body. Typically, when it is good, it is described as sitting or standing upright without slumping the shoulders or arching the back. Having and maintaining good posture takes practice and effort, but when it is bad it can negatively affect your daily life in many ways. Read below to see what can come from incorrect posture and how you can correct it.
Common issues associated with it:
- Headaches: poor posture causes stress on the body which can manifest in headaches for some people
- Neck pain: Sitting or standing in a slumped position puts strain on the neck musculature and can result in dull or sharp pain depending on the severity
- Back pain: Similar to the neck, poor posture can cause the muscles in the back to be constantly firing or over stretched which can lead to pain.
- Shoulder pain: The body is connected!
Sciatic Nerve Inflammation
WHAT IS SCIATICA?
Sciatica is the inflammation of the sciatic nerve that travels from the back, down to the foot. This means, sciatica can cause pain in your back, buttocks, hamstring, calf, shin, or foot depending on where the nerve is irritated.
Sciatica can also be a referred pain from levels L4-S2 sending pain signals to the body parts they innervate in the same regions as listed above. It can be caused by a pinched nerve, disc herniations, or stenosis at the spine.
3 Back Injuries You Can Experience
The back is comprised of the spine (24 vertebrae), nerves, and many muscles that help us function every day. There are many injuries that affect these structures and could lead to back pain and altered function.
Common Injuries:
- Spinal Stenosis: Narrowing of the spinal canal which puts pressure on the surrounding structures.
- Mechanism (cause):
- Degeneration caused by age
- Congenital
- Signs/Symptoms:
- Numbness/Tingling
- Muscle weakness
- Pain with walking or standing for long periods of time
- Mechanism (cause):
- Herniated Disc: A condition where the inside of a vertebral disc protrudes out into the spinal canal.
Common Hip Pathologies
While the pain or limitations you feel are at your hip, the evaluating doctor of physical therapy can determine where and what is causing your pain (even if it’s coming from another region, like your low back or pelvis). If the condition proves to require further medical testing, the evaluating therapist will be able to determine that and direct you accordingly.
Common Conditions:
- Osteoarthritis: wearing of the joint surfaces (cartilage) of the hip joint
- Mechanism of Injury:
- Wear and Tear
- Prior trauma
- FAI: see below
- Symptoms:
- Pain worse with prolonged positioning (e.g.
- Mechanism of Injury:
Common Sources of Knee Pain
Knee pain has many sources, but all of them can be treated here at LSTC!
- Osteoarthritis: wearing of the joint surfaces (cartilage) between the tibiofemoral joint; wearing is most often on the inside (medial) portion of the joint
- Mechanism of Injury:
- Wear and Tear
- Lack of muscular support
- Reduced motor control
- Wear and Tear
- Symptoms:
- Pain worse with prolonged positioning (e.g.
- Mechanism of Injury:
Common Sources of Low Back Pain
Low back pain is one of the leading causes of disability and lost work time among adults.
What is the low back:
Low back refers to the lumbar curvature of your spine- the last 5 segments before reaching your bum.
Common Conditions:
- Nonspecific Low Back Pain
- most common
- Lumbar Radiculopathy
- Increased compression on a nerve causing burning, numbness, tingling into your glutes, thighs and/or down the length of the leg
- The sciatic nerve running down the back of the leg is commonly impacted this way, hence the term “sciatica”
- Not all radiculopathies are associated with the sciatic nerve
- Increased compression on a nerve causing burning, numbness, tingling into your glutes, thighs and/or down the length of the leg
Common Misconceptions:
- MRI or x-ray findings are associated with your pain experience
- Most people over the age of 25 will have some remarkable finding on an image of the spine (e.g.