Health blog Category: physical therapy
It’s Time to Splash Your PT!!
It’s that time of year again! It’s time to splash your PT!
WHAT IS SPLASH YOUR PT? Each summer, LSTC likes to raise money for a local non-profit. We do this through an event called SPLASH YOUR PT. You can make a donation to the clinician you want to see get splashed with water balloons and all the money we raise goes to SEMPER K9.
HOW DO I DONATE?
- You can make your donation in person.
Don’t Let Your Hands Live in Discomfort
Inflammation, swelling, and other discomfort in your hands and wrists can make doing everyday things not only difficult, but painful. Your hands are required for everything you do; cooking, cleaning, writing, typing, grabbing things, and the list goes on. At Loudoun Sports Therapy Center there are a couple of things we often see in hands and wrists.
Here are the three common issues we see:
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: This syndrome is a result of the compression of a nerve as it goes through the wrist.
Prevent Falling with Physical Therapy
Falls happen more often than you may think. In fact, more than one third of adults 65 and older fall each year. Thankfully, more often than not, these falls don’t result in serious injury. But, if you experience any symptoms or the reason that caused you to fall in the first place are not recognized or treated, there is a much greater chance of future falls and more serious injury.
As you age, your bones are more prone to fractures or breaks.
How to Solve Hip Problems
Many people in all age groups have experienced hip pain at one point or another. Hip pain can result from weakness in the joint, injury from sports, or when the joint becomes irritated. There are many different types of hip problems that can arise. Injuries range from bursitis to fractures to replacements. Some hip problems happen to healthy joints, while others occur in the elderly due to osteoporosis or because of congenital deformities.
Common Hip Problems
- Bursitis: Hip bursitis is a common problem that occurs when the fluid around the joint becomes irritated. The most common complaint is pain on the outside of the upper thigh that may radiate down the side of the leg.
Protect Your Spine
Moving boxes, bending down to scrub the floors, and playing on the floor with our kids are all things that can lead to spine/back pain. While some back discomfort goes away after a day or two, any amount of discomfort is your body telling you that there was straining and microscopic tearing of muscle tissue occurring, this straining and tearing causes inflammation.
All the activities listed above, are examples of repetitive injuries to the spine.
Read full blogYour Knee and Arthritis
Arthritis is a degenerative joint condition that occurs overtime. Our joints wear down over our lifetime, and the cartilage or cushioning layer on our bones disappears. When this layer is gone your bones begin to rub other bones. What you might not realize is that knee arthritis specifically, impacts every age group.
Knee Arthritis Symptoms:
- Pain and swelling inside the joint
- Stiffness not only in the joint but also in the surrounding muscles
- Loss of range of motion in your knees
- Bending and extending your knees becomes difficult
- Grinding and popping in your knee joint.
Enjoy Your Walk on the Beach This Summer
With warm weather and sunny skies, you are likely to go out to purchase a new pair of flip flops to rock on your summer vacation. While your new flip flops may be your favorite, and most comfortable pair of shoes, how much support to they actually provide?
Flip flops can fall into two categories of shoes; Barefoot shoes and Minimalist shoes. Barefoot shoes, are shoes where the soles provide the bare minimum in protection from potential hazards on the ground.
Read full blogDo I Have Sciatica?
You have probably heard the term sciatica, and have probably thrown it around without having a true understanding of what it is and what is actually causing the symptoms you are experiencing.
What is True Sciatica?
True sciatica is actually an anatomical anomaly where the sciatic nerve runs through the piriformis (small muscle in the buttock). When the piriformis gets aggravated it also aggravates the sciatic nerve, which causes the symptoms you may have experienced such as, pain that goes down the leg to your feet, or numbness and tingling in your leg.
Motion is Lotion
You have probably heard a thousand times, “If you crack your knuckles, you’ll get arthritis.” Well guess what, this isn’t true!
Cracking your knuckles isn’t really the main culprit (or culprit at all) for arthritis, I can tell you that NOT moving your joints will get you there much faster.
So what is Arthritis really? It is the degeneration of the cartilage in various joints of the body that lead to pain, stiffness, and inflammation.
Core Strength Helps Ease Lower Back Pain
Having core strength is important in your every movement and even ‘non-movement.’ Whether you’re sitting watching TV or moving around, a strong core is critical. It makes performing physical activities as well as daily movements easier. A strong core impacts how our upper and lower body functions. Think of a tree, a tree must have a strong trunk so that it can hold up with branches and support its roots underground. Without a strong trunk, the tree would bend over or break from the weight of the branches.
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