Health blog Category: sports medicine
Tired of Feeling Like Our Knees are Going to Give Out
Have you ever met someone who complains of knee pain? What about someone who feels like their knee is going to give out when they are walking, pivoting or using the stairs? Is that someone you? Many people suffer with knee pain and feelings of instability, but they just decide to live with it.
You may think it will go away and your knees won’t give out anymore, or you may not want to hear any potentially bad news so you put it off.
Put Our Foot Down
Can you put your foot down without experiencing any pain or discomfort? We don’t typically give our feet much thought. However, when we think about it, our feet and ankles do quite a bit for us on a daily basis. They help propel us as we walk, they help us stay level when we are hiking through the rugged mountain trails or through the shifting sands on the beach; they help us press on the gas pedal as we drive; they help us rise up taller so that we can look over the crowd of taller people blocking our view at a concert.
Read full blogThe Leg Bone’s Connected to the Knee Bone
The joints in our body have a relationship. A “joint” refers to any location in the body in which two bones meet together. They pick up the slack for each other when our mobility or stability is impacted in a particular area. Remember that song ‘the leg bone’s connected to the knee bone, the knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone…’ and so on and so forth? It’s a catchy children’s tune that also paints a pretty comprehensive picture of the relationship between the various joints in our bodies.
Read full blogWhat our walking says about our muscles and joints
When an expert assesses your walking they are looking at what referred to as your gait. This term “gait” takes into account what all of the joints in your legs and also your trunk are doing when you move one leg and stand on the other for support. Any change in your walking pattern can cause a problem in any part of your body, even if that problem seems to be isolated to just one body part.
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.
Lasting Relief for Our Hips
The hip joint is one of the most stable joints in the body, however, that does not keep this joint and region of the body from developing issues and producing pain. There are multiple structures in and around our hips that can produce pain in this area of the body which can keep us from being able to:
- Tie our shoes
- Shave our legs
- Cook the evening meal
In addition to pain, you may also experience:
- Snapping
- Clicking
- Weakness
- Difficulty walking
- Difficulty standing up or sitting down
- Radiating numbness and tingling
- Symptoms that seem to constantly change location in the upper leg.
Hip Discomfort when Climbing Stairs & Lying in Certain Positions
Pain in the hip region can contribute to difficulty lying in certain positions, walking, climbing stairs, and standing up from a seated position. Hip problems make daily activities like simply walking difficult and painful. It’s important to be able to describe exactly where your pain is located. This helps confirm that your hip is actually the problem. It’s not uncommon for someone to say ‘my hip hurts’ and then find they are actually having a back-related problem.
Read full blogReach for Our Toes
To be able to reach our toes, we need the help of our hamstrings! While hamstring injuries can happen to an athlete during a practice or a game, it’s actually much more common for all of us to experience hamstring problems related to everyday activities.
A hamstring injury will start to make you feel stiffness and soreness throughout your leg which will make everyday things more difficult, such as:
- Walking
- Changing positions (getting in and out of the car or a chair, etc)
- Bending
The hamstring muscle can be quite temperamental when we don’t give it enough attention.
Read full blogKnee Discomfort Making it Difficult to Walk
When you have knee discomfort prolonged walking, running/jogging, going up and down stairs or curbs, bending your knee to put your shoes and socks on, and getting in and out of the car becomes bothersome.
Have you increased your activity level in the past month?
This can create increased stress on your joint and muscles and when you haven’t properly prepared these joints and muscles for that stress, problems can occur.
Read full blogHow your shoes can impact your feet and ankles
Foot and ankle conditions are very common for every age group. We treat general pain and injuries in this part of the body often at Loudoun Sports Therapy because even if it’s just general discomfort, foot and ankle conditions cause a lot of problems with daily, functional activities. The most frequent complaint we see in the clinic is pain at the ankle joint that can radiate up into the leg or down into the heel. This symptom often causes the patient to have difficulty walking or standing for a prolonged period of time.
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