Health blog Category: physical therapy
Joint Mobility vs. Joint Stability
Are we talking about joint mobility or stability? Many people tend to used the wrong word when speaking about the body. So let’s clear this up, starting with the breakdown of the words. A “joint” refers to any location in the body in which two bones meet together. Now on to “mobility”, with the root word “mobile” referring to some sort of movement. When it pertains to the body, joint mobility refers to the joint being able to move without being restricted by the surrounding tissues.
Read full blogCarrying a bag of groceries uncomfortable?
By: Alyssa Burke, PTA
We often don’t realize how much we move our shoulders throughout our day until we feel pain or are unable to move our shoulders. There are many conditions that may cause us to experience pain, loss of range of motion or stiffness in our shoulders. These problems don’t have to happen following a traumatic injury. Often, shoulder problems occur over time from overuse and repetitive motions, especially overhead motions.
Weather Causing Joint Stiffness to Flare Up
By Devin Wurman, DPT
Prior to all the recent torrential downpours we’ve had, our summer was relatively dry. But with the humidity rising and falling and the temperature being up and down with the rain, another impact in addition to a soggy backyard is joint pain. We’ve had many patients coming in and complaining about their joints being stiff and sore. That’s folks being treated for arthritis and patients coming here for something else.
Trouble bending and extending this lower extremity joint?
By Angie Austin, LPTA
Many people associate knee pain with the older population. However, we treat patients of all ages for knee pain. Whether it’s due to arthritis or an injury, it is important to know what causes that knee pain.
The knee is a large hinge joint that gives you the ability to bend and straighten your knee, which is necessary for day to day functional tasks like getting up from a chair or going up and down stairs.
Spend several hours at a computer each day?
Neck problems are becoming more common due our sedentary lifestyles. How often do we use computers and phones throughout the day? Now think about your posture whenever you use these devices. Chances are, there’s probably room for improvement there.
Posture plays a large role in maintaining neck health and limits your chance of developing problems that can negatively affect your daily activities. Issues with your neck are commonly associated with pain, headaches, and general stiffness.
Take Steps To Treat Lower Extremity Problems
When is the last time you could walk the dog, go shopping, take your kids to the amusement park, go for a run, or even just stand for prolonged periods of time without experiencing nagging foot or ankle pain? If you or someone you know is experiencing foot/ankle pain, know that you are not alone. Approximately one-fourth of the population is affected by foot/ankle problems at any given time!
Foot/ankle conditions can present with a number of signs and symptoms including:
- Swelling
- Bruising
- Redness
- Numbness/Tingling
- Burning sensation
- Inability to weight bear
- Stiffness
- Weakness
The foot and ankle are composed of 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Read full blogStress or lack of sleep causing knots in the upper body muscles
By Jason Makoutz, DPT
Neck pain and neck injuries are some of the most common reasons we see patients at Loudoun Sports Therapy Center. Whether the cause be from a specific injury or incident or due to poor posture. Some common ailments related to the neck that we see include tight/overworked muscles, headaches, osteoarthritis, joint stiffness, and whiplash. All of these can cause pain, weakness, and decrease ability to perform everyday activities.
Common Causes of Neck Injury:
- Motor vehicle accident
- Poor posture/ergonomics
- Weak musculature
- Poor sleep positioning
- Stress
Neck pain can present itself in many different ways.
Read full blogWhy even younger populations might be having this kind of discomfort
By: Kieran Loving, ATC
What in the world is an SI joint? Why is it even important? When I worked in a high school, many young athletes would complain about lower back pain or symptoms that radiate down there legs. They’re young, they can’t have low back problems can they? They’re in peak physical condition able to practice and do activities for hours a day! So why were they coming into the athletic training room with lower back issues.
What Makes Up a Proper Warm-Up?
Do you know what constitutes a complete warm-up? Too often, sports-related injuries occur and could have been easily prevented had the athlete thoroughly prepared their body for practices and games. So what is an appropriate warm-up? The warm-up, which typically lasts between 10-15 minutes, feeds the body. Whether it’s a run, a jog, a swim or a brisk walk, the change in activity does several things:
- It increased the blood supply to the muscles
- It increases the heart rate
- It begins to produce more lubrication for the smooth joint motion
Now that the body is warm, the next step is to thoroughly stretch.
Read full blogProgression of a Disc Issue in the Spine
There are many things that can go wrong with a disc in your spine. You may have heard the terms degenerated, bulging, herniated, ruptured, slipped and many more. These are basically all describing the same thing just a slightly different progression in each case.
A disc that is irritated or has some abnormal pressure on it may be termed a “slipped disc”. What this means is that the surrounding muscles have not done a good job supporting the spine and maintaining proper alignment of your spine and as a result, the increased pressure on the disc or discs from the surrounding muscles has allowed the disc to start to lose its shape and/or potentially move slightly to one side.
