Health blog Category: physical therapy
Our Hands are Required for Nearly Every Movement
Think about how many times a day you use your hands. Our hands are required for nearly every movement. Our upper extremities impact our ability to type on our computer keyboard, hold our morning cup of coffee, grip the steering wheel while driving and our phone while talking to a family member as well as other fine motor tasks.
Some of the most common issues of the elbow, wrist and hand are:
- Tennis elbow
- Carpal tunnel Syndrome (inflammation that results in the compression on the nerve that runs through the center of the forearm to the palm of the hand).
Tennis or Golf…
Many people have heard of and will use terms like ‘tennis elbow’ and ‘golfer’s elbow.’ But what exactly are these conditions?
Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are both overuse injuries that are caused by any activity that requires repetitive motion of the arm and wrist. The difference between the two conditions lies in where the elbow is inflamed. Both of these conditions are forms of epicondylitis, which is a medical term for inflammation of a tendon that attaches to the bone (epicondyle) of the elbow joint.
Summer is Here: Time to Get Moving
The summer weather is here and it’s time to get moving. It’s no secret that regular exercise is important to your overall health. It’s still not too late to keep that New Year’s resolution you might have set for yourself to be more physically active. So how much do you really know about exercise and why it is so important?
Exercise has many proven health benefits. It can help:
- Control weight to keep your BMI (body mass index) in a healthy range.
How to Protect Our Hips from IT Band Problems
What is the IT band and how do problems start here and how can you protect your hips? There are a number of muscles on the outside of your hip that attach to the IT band. The job of all of these muscles is to keep the hip joint structures open, help support the joint and then create the movement of the joint. Most commonly what happens when you are experiencing some level of IT band problems, is that the muscles on the outside of the hip that are working to hold the hip together while we move the leg are overworking.
Read full blogYour Diet Can Reduce Inflammation
Does your daily life revolve around chronic pain or inflammation? While this is a common everyday roadblock that many people experience, there are actually some simple ways to avoid it. Some modifications in your diet can help to reduce inflammation.
Everything you eat works to fuel your body, and eating the right foods can help you recover much quicker from painful or uncomfortable conditions. The three main ingredients that work together to help reduce your pain and inflammation include:
- Exercising regularly
- Decreasing your amount of stress
- Maintaining a strict nutritional diet
When your body is experiencing pain and discomfort due to degeneration or injury, it is important to do things to try and reduce inflammation. Your diet plays an important role in doing so.
Read full blogWhy Do I Feel Off Balance?
Having good balance means being able to control and maintain your body’s position comfortably – whether you are walking, climbing stairs, standing or even sitting still. To have good balance, your muscles need to be working together in response to your sensory systems, which include: vision, inner ear and proprioception, or the sensation you get from nerves in your skin, muscles and joints.
We have three systems that all work together so we have good balance. We have our:
- Balance organ, which is our vestibular system in the inner ear.
No More Aching Neck
‘Pain in the neck’ is a common neck problem complaint. As a society, our posture has continued to decline as the use of phones and computers has increased. Poor posture can lead to many neck injuries. Think back to the times when you have fallen asleep in an awkward position and had the unexpected pleasure of waking up to a “crick in your neck.” You know when you have an aching neck it makes it very difficult to turn your head to check your blind spots when driving, bend your neck forward to check your cell phone, or enjoy knitting or crocheting without discomfort or pain.
Read full blogTrouble Turning the Steering Wheel while Driving?
“My shoulder is killing me! I can’t even get my arm up to wash my hair!” Shoulder pain, whether it be sharp and stabbing, or dull and achy, causes a significant amount of discomfort and inability to perform everyday activities. It can make it difficult to reach in the overhead cabinets while cooking or putting away dishes and turning the steering wheel while driving.
The shoulder is a complex region of the body made up of three joints, four muscles of the rotator cuff (a group of muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint that keeps the head of your upper arm bone firmly within the shallow socket of the shoulder) and over 10 other muscles that attach around the bones/joints that make up the shoulder.
Trouble Turning the Steering Wheel while Driving?
“My shoulder is killing me! I can’t even get my arm up to wash my hair!” Shoulder pain, whether it be sharp and stabbing, or dull and achy, causes a significant amount of discomfort and inability to perform everyday activities. It can make it difficult to reach in the overhead cabinets while cooking or putting away dishes and turning the steering wheel while driving.
The shoulder is a complex region of the body made up of three joints, four muscles of the rotator cuff (a group of muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint that keeps the head of your upper arm bone firmly within the shallow socket of the shoulder) and over 10 other muscles that attach around the bones/joints that make up the shoulder.
Common Reasons for Back Discomfort
How is your posture? Irritation to the nerves that emerge off the lumbar spine can cause burning and shooting pain down the legs and into the feet. Could poor posture be to blame for your chronic back discomfort and pain? Chronic back pain and discomfort can also cause poor posture, making it difficult to walk, sit, drive, and perform routine activities such as laundry, and dishes; to name a few. Chronic back pain and discomfort is a debilitating condition that will affect the majority of Americans at some point during their life. In fact, chronic back pain is one of the leading reasons people go to the doctor and employees miss work.
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