Textbooks to Tablets: How to Prevent Upper Body Pain in an Increasingly Digital Learning Environment
Our digital world is ever expanding, and one may find themselves required to spend more time using technology for work, learning, and leisure. If this applies to you or your family members, it is important to be aware of how we interact to the digital world to prevent injuries that can result from prolonged positions which compromise good posture and ergonomics, resulting in pain.
Importance of Therapy After Mastectomies
Did you know that one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime1? Common surgeries and procedures to treat women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer include lumpectomies, mastectomies, sentinel lymph node biopsies, and axillary lymph node dissection2. Mastectomies are the most common surgery for breast cancer but are the most invasive type of treatment. Mastectomies are recommended to decrease the likelihood of recurrence and lower the risk of further surgical procedures in the future.
8 Tips to Avoid Neck or Shoulder Pain While Driving
Whether taking a 10-hour or a 10-minute car drive, your posture is important. Posture plays such an integrated role in how we feel and move. Even if you are not currently feeling pain or discomfort, poor posture for prolonged periods can sneak up and become an issue. Here are a few tips for awareness and setting yourself up for success while driving:
Golf Swing Stretches/Exercises to Reduce Arm and Shoulder Soreness
You’ve made the turn. You have a score that says you might just be having the round of your life. A few practice swings and the 10th fairway will be your chipping mat. Driver’s out of the bag, glove on, and the ball teed up nice and high. You start shaking off the memories of the chunked sand shot on the last hole and set up to take a few practice swings. The first one feels good. You step up and swing for the fences. In a moment, your shoulder hurts, your face cringes, and you cleared that fence right into the HOA president’s pool.
How PT Can Help You Shake Your Frozen Shoulder
Adhesive capsulitis, or as it is more commonly referred to, frozen shoulder, is a severe and long-term problem. It affects 3-5% of the general population, women slightly more than men, typically between 40-60 years old, and is 4x more likely in people with diabetes. The cause of primary adhesive capsulitis is unknown, but secondary adhesive capsulitis occurs when there is already known primary injury to the shoulder. However, the recovery process can be faster with physical therapy, and you can return to your previous full function. There are three phases of frozen shoulder: freezing, frozen, and thawing.
3 Ways to Sleep Better with Shoulder Pain
The importance of sleep cannot be overstated. Recent research has discovered links between poor sleep and “hypertension, obesity, type-2 diabetes, impaired immune functioning, cardiovascular disease, arrhythmias, mood disorders, neurodegeneration and dementia, and even loneliness.” The causes for poor sleep are vast, but as it relates to physical therapy, sometimes pain can be the cause. Have you ever had a night you just can’t seem to get comfortable because your neck, back, or shoulder hurts? Next thing you know, the alarm clock is ringing, and you’ve barely slept at all. You drag through the next day at work, aren’t productive, and then go home only to experience the same poor night of rest again. Let’s look at ways to improve sleep that is disrupted due to shoulder pain. Sleep position is the most important piece when it comes to shoulder pain. An improved sleep position can truly make the difference maker between a restful and unrestful slumber. The following sleep position modifications may help provide additional support to the arm/shoulder to reduce pain.
Top Injuries in Male Gymnasts
Male and female gymnasts compete in similar but different events. Men’s gymnastics events place different demands on the body, especially the upper body, for events such as rings, high bar, parallel bars, and pommel horse. Therefore, the top injuries for male and female gymnasts may be different. Current research has shown that adolescent male gymnasts tend to have more lower-body injuries, whereas elite male gymnasts have more upper-body injuries. In general, male gymnasts tend to have more upper body injuries than female gymnasts.
5 Exercises to Improve Shoulder Health
Shoulders are the most mobile joint in the human body, offering a wide range of potential movements and positions they can get into during our daily life. The shoulder’s mobility relies on muscles, ligaments, and tendons as a source of stability rather than bone like the hip joint. Due to their nature, the shoulder is also commonly injured, with 18-26% of the population having some shoulder issues at any given moment. To combat this phenomenon, I will provide exercises aimed at improving overall shoulder health and longevity, with some nice side effects of improved posture and increased muscle tone. A good routine to follow with the following exercises is to perform 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions to supplement your current training routine.
