3 Reasons to Start Physical Therapy Sooner Rather Than Later
Life gets busy. Long days at work, plans with friends on the weekends, taking the kids to their activities. It can be easy to put care for oneself on the back burner and not take time for you. One thing you should never put off, however, is physical care for yourself. Whether you have nagging lower back pain or a shoulder ache you thought would resolve on its own, or maybe a stiff neck that appeared one morning when you woke up, it’s important to address the pain or injury. Fortunately, physical therapy can help manage all of these ailments and more. It’s time to make time for you, be proactive about your health, and seek physical therapy care sooner rather than later.
MCL vs. ACL: What’s the Difference?
When talking with a healthcare provider, medical jargon can quickly become alphabet soup. The knee, for example, houses the anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and lateral collateral ligament. The ACL, PCL, MCL and LCL respectively. Huh? What do those words and acronyms even mean? What do these structures do for the knee anyway? In the absence of an explanation, this jargon can become confusing or overwhelming for patients. Let’s take a deeper look at two of the major ligaments in the knee and make some sense of the alphabet soup, shall we?
Cycling-Related Concussions: 3 Tips To Keep Yourself Safe
As an Athletico physical therapist and competitive cyclist, I am eager to share my love for cycling with others. Right now, I’m super excited about the Tour de France. Over the past several years, it’s been gratifying to see cycling grow in the United States as a competitive sport, a fun way to exercise, and an environmentally-friendly way to commute. All outdoor cyclists, from the Tour de France riders to the city commuters in Chicago, are at risk of crash-related injuries. One of the most common is concussions. In this blog, I will discuss what you can do, as well as what physical therapists can do, to help you protect yourself.
Tokyo Olympics: Athletes to Watch
The summer Olympics are fast approaching. I know I am extremely excited to watch all the events after the games were delayed last year due to the pandemic. Olympians are elite athletes at the top of their fields. They train for many years for a chance to qualify for this giant international competition. With this intensity and dedication to training, injury does occur. Here are just a few athletes returning to qualify for the Olympics after sustaining an injury and when to look for them during the Tokyo Olympics!
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Test Your Knowledge: Golf Stretching Quiz
With golf season in full swing, let’s test your knowledge about some golf stretches and warm up ideas!
Do I Need a Prescription for Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy “helps people across their lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations). Occupational therapy practitioners enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent—or live better with—injury, illness, or disability.” Receiving occupational therapy in Indiana however just got easier – read more below to find out how!
The Orthopedic Growing Pains of Parenting
Have you ever paid attention to the amount of times you lift or handle your newborn child or toddler throughout the day? As a parent of two growing children under the age of two, I could not help but notice (and feel the effects of) the physical demands of my kids. The bulky-but-useful changing stations, running strollers, ergo-carriers, standing towers, and bassinets all require lifting and/or carrying the child while assisting them into some (not always desired but necessary) positions. You do what you must as parents, but how exactly are you getting the job done and at what orthopedic cost? Here is a list of some common overuse injuries as well as a few tips that may prevent them with just a few seconds of extra thought and planning!
How to Fall Correctly to Prevent Hand Injuries
As a physical therapist and hand therapist, one of the biggest concerns I hear from my patients is that they are worried they are going to fall and hurt themselves. It is not uncommon for a therapist to be treating injuries that resulted from a fall. The upper extremity (shoulder through the fingers) is a common place for injuries to occur following a fall as many will use their hands to brace their fall in order to protect their face or head. This type of fall is called a F.O.O.S.H or a fall on an outstretched hand. This blog will briefly look into common injuries of the upper extremity with a fall and will talk about ways to prevent these injuries.
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