Tag Archives: Physical Therapists

Tips for Safe and Healthy Spring Cleaning

Spring is always a welcome change after cold and lethargic winters. The blue skies and warm temperatures also bring open windows, fresh air, blossoming flowers and above all the spring cleaning. Spring cleaning can be as hard and difficult as full-body workout as it involves good dusting, mowing of lawns; clearing gutters and many more. But the statistics show that great many numbers of people injure themselves during this annual cleaning. Active Physical Therapy suggests you to be cautious and observe the following measures to avoid any harm or injury to your body:

Do not perform similar motions repeatedly as this can result into sprains, strains or low back pain.
Keep your spine in line i.e. maintain a good posture and keep a wide base of support.
Avoid too much twisting or bending while lifting objects. Lift the objects properly by getting closer to them i.e. use your legs instead of your back.
Use long-handled tools, kneeling pad and stools while doing yard work and gardening as well.
Keep your properly hydrated throughout the cleaning session.
Wear skid resistant shoes to ensure proper footing on uneven surfaces.
Take regular breaks, in order to relax your tense muscles.
Use correct height ladder to minimize the risk of falls during cleaning your windows. Also make sure that ladder is placed on a levelled surface.
Move your feet and body while vacuuming, instead of reaching forward and sideways with your arms and trunk.
Use extension cords carefully. Do not drape them across the spans of crossing walkways to avoid tripping or falling.
Avoid twisting while bending, raking or thatching; instead use your legs to shift your weight from side to side.
To avoid slips and falls, always work in the yard wherever it is dry. Do not overfill bags or tarps as it can put pressure on your spine.
Do not over-exert yourself. Listen to your body and if you notice any symptoms like light-headedness, shortness of breath, sudden or severe headache, excess sweating, chest or stomach pain after or during cleaning, Contact Your Doctor immediately.

Prevention is always better than cure. Poor Physical posture, lack of exercise or warm-up, poor Physical condition can lead to injury or pain. So always do your best and follow good practices to save yourself form all such hazards.

Active Physical Therapy will be glad to help you with more spring cleaning tips or with any injuries or pain you experience during cleaning. Our diligent and expert physical therapists use state of art techniques to treat any of your musculoskeletal pains or injuries.

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Active Physical Therapy Treatments for Degenerative Disc Disease

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Physical Therapy for Degenerative Disc Disease

Physical therapy includes both passive and active treatments. Passive treatments help to relax you and your body. They’re called passive because you don’t have to actively participate. If you’re experiencing acute pain, you’ll most likely start with passive treatments as your body heals and/or adjusts to the pain. But the goal of physical therapy is to get into active treatments. These are therapeutic exercises that strengthen your body so that your spine has better support.

Passive Physical Therapy Treatments for Degenerative Disc Disease

Your physical therapist may give you one of the passive treatments below.

Deep tissue massage: This technique targets spasms and chronic muscle tension that perhaps builds up through daily life stress. You could also have spasms or muscle tension because of strains or sprains. The therapist uses direct pressure and friction to try to release the tension in your soft tissues (ligaments, tendons, muscles).

Hot and cold therapies: Your physical therapist will alternate between hot and cold therapies. By using heat, the physical therapist seeks to get more blood to the target area because an increased blood flow brings more oxygen and nutrients to that area. Blood is also needed to remove waste byproducts created by muscle spasms, and it also helps healing.

Cold therapy, also called cryotherapy, slows circulation, helping to reduce inflammation, muscle spasms, and pain. You may have a cold pack placed upon the target area, or even be given an ice massage. Another cryotherapy option is a spray called fluoromethane that cools the tissues. After cold therapy, your therapist may work with you to stretch the affected muscles.

Spinal traction: By stretching the back, spinal traction works to alleviate pain caused by muscle tightness or compressed nerves. The therapist can do that manually (by using his or her own body) or mechanically (with special machines). Especially if your nerve is being pinched by the foramen—the area where the nerve exits the spinal canal—your therapist may try traction. It’s thought to widen the foramen by stretching the spine to readjust the vertebrae.

Active Physical Therapy Treatments for Degenerative Disc Disease

In the active part of physical therapy, your therapist will teach you various exercises to improve your flexibility, strength, core stability, and range of motion (how easily your joints move). Your physical therapy program is individualized, taking into consideration your health and history. Your exercises may not be suitable for another person with DDD.

Degenerative disc disease won’t ever entirely “go away”—once your discs start to degenerate, you can’t reverse that process—and because of that, your physical therapist will help you learn how to work around it and how to limit the pain. You’ll learn about body mechanics and how to avoid positions that cause pain.

If needed, you will learn how to correct your posture and incorporate ergonomic principles into your daily activities.

If needed, you will learn how to correct your posture and incorporate ergonomic principles into your daily activities. This is all part of the “self-care” or “self-treatment” aspect of physical therapy: Through physical therapy, you learn good habits and principles that enable you to take better care of your body.

Your physical therapist may also suggest a personalized exercise program for you. The goals may include: strengthening abdominal and back muscles, increasing muscle endurance (so that your stronger muscles can work harder longer), and getting your body to carry your weight more efficiently. An exercise program comes with another bonus—it may help you lose weight. Extra weight can exacerbate pain from DDD, so if you need to lose weight, your physical therapist can work with you to set goals and then follow through.

What is Little League Shoulder and How is Physical Therapy Beneficial to Treat the Problem?

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Little League Shoulder also referred to as Pitcher’s Shoulder or Throwing Shoulder is a type of overuse injury; commonly affecting gymnasts, pitchers and young athletes lying in the age group of 10 to 15 years. Under this condition, the shoulder pain intensifies with the stressful use of arm.

What do we mean by Little League Shoulder?

Little League Shoulder is an injury to the proximal growth plate at the upper end of the humerus at the shoulder. The growth plate is a part of the bone that grows actively as a person matures. If not treated properly, it can cause disruption in the normal bone growth. The injury to the growth plate occurs due to repetitive throwing and overhead movements of the shoulder. Children who participate actively in baseball the whole year around are more likely to be affected by this injury.

How can Physical Therapy help your child to relieve the symptoms of Little League Shoulder?

As throwing and reaching are completely bodily activities and moreover the Little-League injury is a musculoskeletal injury; advanced Physical Therapy modalities can best treat this dysfunctional problem. Physical Therapy targets at restoring the strength, function, mobility and stability to the injured player’s shoulder before he returns to his usual sports’ activities. Following treatment options may be adopted by the Physical Therapists to help the young athletes to relieve Little League Shoulder:

Initially, physical therapists will prescribe rest, ice and compression to reduce pain and inflammation.
Any of the sports’ activities of the child will be restricted for 2 to 3 months or as required.
Corrective Therapies will be administered to correct those mechanical faults that are causing stress to the shoulder.
Strengthening exercises will be suggested to restore strength and function to the muscles in elbow, shoulder, upper back and shoulder blades.
Soft tissue massage and Joint mobilization techniques will be employed by the physical therapists to lessen the pain and as well as tendon irritation. These modalities also help to restore normal joint mechanics.
Modalities such as Ultrasound, Electrical Stimulation, Laser and Cold techniques will be used to enhance motion and to lessen the inflammation of shoulder joint and surrounding tendons’ muscles.
Posterior Shoulder Capsule stretches will be prescribed to enhance the flexibility of shoulder muscles.
Neuromuscular Re-education program; including the progressive throwing program is introduced to improve movement techniques and mechanics of the players.
Once the player is ready to return to the normal sports’ activities; physical therapists will educate him about correct warm-up techniques, throwing mechanic, pitch count and cool-down techniques.

Active Physical Therapy provides prompt Sports Rehabilitation Physical Therapy in one-on-one setting for the active athletes and players. Our diligent and compassionate physical therapists help the athletes to get back to their sports’ activities as more vigorous and better than before.