You’ve Pulled Your Back, Now What?
Something didn’t feel quite right. You were shoveling snow or helping a friend move a heavy couch, and there it went. Your lower back tightens up or seizes up on you. It was hard to move normally, and your back just felt “off.” You “pulled” your back; now what? Let’s first take a brief look at the anatomy of the lower back, then a couple of lower back injuries, followed by what to do next.
4 Signs you Could Benefit from PT
Physical therapy (PT) is a great treatment option for people with all sorts of ailments. In this blog, we will dive into four signs you could benefit from physical therapy treatment.
Physical therapy treatment is made up of four primary components: therapeutic exercise, functional activities, neuromuscular re-education, and manual therapy. Therapeutic exercise refers to exercises designed to help address a physical problem or ailment. Functional activities are interventions that cater more to your daily activities. Getting up from a chair, walking a long distance at work or getting in and out of your car, to name a few. Neuromuscular re-education references the connection between the brain and nerves to tell the body what to do and how to do it. Finally, manual therapy is a “hands-on” treatment like deep tissue mobilization, passive range of motion, or mobilization of a joint.
Can Anyone Start Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy (PT) is a great treatment to address aches and pains of varying kinds. It can be utilized for general discomfort or pain associated with surgery. PT is designed to help reduce pain and improve range of motion, strength, and overall function. Whether it’s your knee that has been hurting for decades or your back you tweaked shoveling snow, often, physical therapy can help. Let’s look at injuries physical therapy can treat and who exactly should start physical therapy.
How Long Does ACL Recovery Take?
Approximately over 250,000 people tear their ACL every year, with the most at-risk population being young female athletes.1 Despite being a common injury, every ACL reconstruction rehabilitation is different. Protocols depend on graft type, concomitant injuries like meniscus or MCL, and surgeon preference. For this reason, ACL protocols need to be a combination of both criteria-based and time-based. From a criteria-based perspective, physical therapists need to make sure athletes can get back to squatting, jumping, landing, cutting, and all other sport-related tasks with good mechanics to set them up for success as they return to sports. From a time-based perspective, physical therapists need to consider tissue healing time and appropriate tissue loading. Each athlete achieves their objective criteria at different times. It can take anywhere from 6 months to 24 months post op for athletes to get back to full participation, with a majority of athletes returning to sport between the 9- and 12-month mark.
Is it Safe to Run with Knee Pain?
Generally speaking, exercise should not be painful. Pain is an alarm system within the body telling you something is not working properly. So, should you keep running when your knee hurts? When do you go to the doctor? Will they ask you to stop running? Can you ignore it? Stop right there.
Physical Therapy at Every Age: Can Babies Go to Physical Therapy?
The simple answer is “yes.” Babies can go to physical therapy. Babies of all ages can benefit from skilled physical therapy for various reasons. To break it down, we’ll look at the who, what, where, and why our little ones can share the gym with the average population!
PT Travel Hacks for Pain-free Vacation
Traveling should be fun and not a precursor to injury. Use these tips to help make your next trip as pain-free as possible.
What Are the Different Levels of an ACL Tear?
There are 250,000 anterior cruciate ligament ruptures in the United States every year1. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major stabilizing ligaments of the knee. The ACL, along with the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and lateral collateral ligament (LCL), play crucial roles in helping the knee function normally. When one or more of these ligaments is injured, daily activities such as going up and down stairs or walking across uneven terrain can become more challenging. Similarly, an injury to one or more knee ligament(s) can make running, cutting, or jumping difficult in sports. Not all ACL injuries are created equal, as some are more severe than others. Let’s take a look at how ACL injuries are classified.
