Category: Health and Wellness

Physical Therapy Clinic in West BloomfieldBlogHealth and Wellness
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By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness, Physical Therapy

Does your desk job keep you sedentary? Here’s how to stay active during the 9-5!

One of the many benefits of physical therapy is that it helps show you how physical activity is medicine! Our physical therapy team at Premier Therapy Centers strongly believes that the human body was meant to move, and when it doesn’t, things start to break down. Unfortunately, the modern environment isn’t great for promoting regular physical activity. Many of us sit in chairs for most the workday, and we rely on computers and the internet to do the bulk of our occupational duties.

Incredibly, sitting for too long has been linked to a wide range of health problems—including vascular damage in the legs, heart disease, and early mortality. A 2018 research paper published in the American Journal of Nursing also found that sitting for too long (e.g., seven to eight hours per day) can have detrimental effects on your health even if you exercise regularly!

Want to stay more active during your day job? Try these five tips to get moving.

1. Invest in an Adjustable Stand Up Desk

If your workspace (and perhaps your office manager or human resources department) allows it, consider arranging your desk into an adjustable sit to stand workstation. The ability to stand more at work has been shown to boost productivity and psychological health in research studies, including 2018 randomized controlled trial published in BMJ.

2. Take Your Meetings and Lunch Breaks On the Road

Should we be choosing convenience over our health? Maybe not so often! Instead of shooting an email or text to your colleague, get up and walk to their office to deliver the message directly. Likewise, talk to your peers about taking more phone calls and meetings “in transit” (e.g., while going for a walk around the building). Of course, privacy matters, so you shouldn’t be discussing sensitive issues in places where people may overhear it. But even if you just try to take a few laps around the building during your lunchtime, you’ll definitely be getting yourself out of your seat more often.

3. Drink a Lot of Water

Drinking water keeps your tissues well-perfused, your joints well-lubricated, and your bladder, well, full! You’ll be naturally prompted to get up and walk more since you’ll need more bathroom breaks. So, keep a glass or steel water bottle at your desk and drink up!

4. Set Movement Reminders

It’s so easy to get caught up in your work. But sitting for more than an hour at a time can be hard on your body and can exacerbate or increase the risk of health problems like neck pain, back pain, and degenerative disc disease.

So, set a timer to go off at least once per hour. Use this time to take a brief movement break—a few stretches or exercises in your office or a stroll down the hall. A physical therapist can offer individualized guidance for improving your posture, optimizing your ergonomic set-up, and establishing a home exercise program—or work exercise program, for that matter! Our physical therapy staff is also trained in work hardening programs. We can help you heal from and prevent work-related injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome and sciatica.

5. Wear a Pedometer

We know from research studies that wearing a pedometer encourages people to walk more throughout the day—by as much as a mile in some cases! Consider discreetly adding one to your work attire to inspire you to move more while you’re on the clock. Don’t feel like wearing a pricey gadget? You can buy inexpensive ones online or in retail stores.

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By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness, Joint Stiffness and Pain, Physical Therapy

4 Things To Do if You Wake Up Feeling Achy

Why are you feeling so achy and stiff in the morning? Could it be an old, ill-suited mattress? An unsupportive pillow? A poor sleeping position? Do you have an underlying health condition like osteoarthritis? What about dehydration? Maybe it’s a combination of these issues, or maybe it’s something else entirely. Whatever the reason, a.m. stiffness is no joke! To get your day started in the right direction and help yourself feel more limber and energized in the morning, check out these four top tips from our physical therapy team.

1. Drink Up

Your body loses a lot of water at night while you’re sleeping, mostly through sweat and breath. So, it’s not unusual to wake up in the morning and be super dehydrated. Unfortunately, dehydration can contribute to stiff, sore, and achy joints and muscles since our tissues will lack the water they need to feel and function at their best.
Of course, we know many people prefer a fresh cup of java before anything else. But before you reach for your cup o’ Joe, first drink one or two cold glasses of water instead. This will refresh and energize you, replenish your body’s water stores, and may help your body. Bonus: drinking more water may help you lose weight, and we know obesity is associated with chronic pain.

2. Breathe!

Deep breathing is so powerful that it’s routinely used as a way to relax the body, alleviate tension and stress, and decrease pain. We encourage you to use your breath as a tool for relieving morning tension.
There are so many breathing exercises to choose from! A popular one is called box breathing (aka square breathing or 4×4 breathing). To do, breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale through your mouth for a count of 4, and hold for a count of 4 before breathing in again. Repeat for 1 to 2 minutes.

3. Get Moving

Some of us toss and turn more than others, but we all move our bodies less frequently when we’re asleep compared to when we’re awake. This may slow circulation and cause our tissues to become stiff, especially if we sleep in odd positions or have an underlying health problem like arthritis.

By the way: your achy back may not be just because of your mattress. Spinal discs become imbibed with fluid at night as we sleep horizontally (since gravity compresses our spines less in this position). While this is a normal physiological process, it can make our backs feel super stiff.

One of the best ways to stimulate circulation, increase tissue perfusion, and loosen up your connective tissues is to move! So, try to do some sort of physical activity soon after you wake up. This could be as simple as some stretches and exercises while lying or sitting on your bed, a gentle yoga flow, or even a brisk walk around your neighborhood.

Just remember to always consult with your doctor, physical therapist, or other appropriate healthcare provider before starting any new exercise routine. Speaking of which…

4. Consult With a Physical Therapist

If your morning achiness is severe enough to cause you stress or affect your daily life, it may be time to consult with a physical therapist. He or she can diagnose and manage many underlying health conditions. He or she can also offer tips on improving your sleep hygiene and posture, and prescribe interventions that will maximize your connective tissue health overall and help you feel and function better.

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By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness, Physical Therapy, Post Surgery, Surgical Rehab

Do you have an upcoming surgery? 3 Reasons to attend post-surgical rehab for a better recovery.

Every year, our physical therapy team meets thousands of individuals recovering from surgery. Whether you’re undergoing a joint replacement, a back surgery, or some other procedure, we’re confident that working with a physical therapist can help you heal up and get back to your active lifestyle as efficiently and safely as possible.

Curious about why physical therapy is so important in the post-surgical window? We’ve got three reasons to pique your interest.

1. Control and minimize your pain.

A physical therapist can teach you exercises, provide manual interventions like massage, and implement non-invasive modalities that can work together alleviate your pain and even reduce your reliance on pain-relieving medications, including opioids. Many of the interventions we provide in physical therapy work directly on the central nervous system to help modulate pain signals being sent to your brain, while others help reduce inflammation, swelling, and stiffness.

Of course, pain is normal and expected following certain types of procedures, including hip and knee replacements, and taking your pain medication as prescribed can help you participate in your physical therapy more fully. So, it’s important to talk to your doctor about your pain medication options and not to stop or start taking anything without his or her input.

That said, research shows that physical therapy is a safe alternative or beneficial component to effective pain management in the post-surgical window. So be sure to talk to your doctor about setting up a referral to see a physical therapist, too!

2. Reduce the risk of complications.

Any surgery comes with at least some level of risk for complications including post-operative bleeding, infections, range of motion limitations, and hardware malfunction. Working with a physical therapist may help reduce the likelihood of experiencing a complication, which reduces stress, saves money, and protects your short-term and long-term health.

For example, physical therapists are skilled in teaching you safe ways to move and function in your daily life. If your surgeon requests that you follow certain precautions or activity restrictions for a while following your operation, your physical therapist can teach you how to follow these restrictions and progress or modify them appropriately as time goes on. Physical therapists can also prescribe and fit adaptive equipment such as walkers and braces to further protect your healing tissues and help you mobilize more safely.

Your physical therapist can also act as a supportive liaison between you and your surgeon and keep him or her updated with your progress and needs. This way, if any concerns arise there can be faster communication between all the need-to-know members of your medical team.

3. Accelerate your recovery.

Our bodies are incredibly powerful and capable of healing themselves. The type of non-invasive and drug-free services and techniques a physical therapist can offer can enhance self-healing power and work with the body—instead of just covering up symptoms. And by minimizing pain and reducing the risk of complications, your physical therapy team can help you stay on track during your recovery period so you can regain and maximize your strength, balance, range of motion, endurance, and overall function as quickly as possible.

It’s never too early to start seeing a physical therapist! Contact Premier Therapy Centers today to schedule an appointment for your post-surgical rehabilitation.

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By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness, Natural Pain Relief, Nutrition, Physical Therapy

Dealing With Pain and Inflammation? Here’s How Eating Healthy Can Help.

A Proper Diet Could Be Your Key to a Pain-Free Life

Maintaining a healthy diet plays a vital part of any physical therapy routine. Proper nutrition is important, especially if you deal with chronic inflammation and pain. Eating the right foods can help your body recover from many different painful conditions.

Reducing stress, eating healthy meals, and getting regular exercise all work together to decrease pain. If you are interested in learning more about how to adjust your daily routine to improve your condition, contact Premier Therapy Centers to schedule a consultation with one of our licensed physical therapists.

What Is Inflammation Caused By? Is It Normal?

If you are feeling pain in any area of your body, it is safe to say that there is probably inflammation in that location. Inflammation is part of the body’s healing process, and it is also our immune response to getting sick or being injured. Your immune system is triggered whenever you receive a wound, have tissue damage, or an infection in your body. An injury cannot heal without inflammation, as crazy as that sounds!

However, if inflammation continues for too long, it can become a chronic condition, and you will need to see a physical therapist about it to discuss treatment options. Your physical therapist will be able to get the issue under control so that you do not suffer from worse outcomes, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and more.

Common methods of dealing with inflammation include cutting down on exercise and physical activity and taking medication. However, not getting enough exercise can put you in a worse position than you were in before the inflammation began.

Medications can also cause unpleasant side effects. Your physical therapist will be able to show you simple stretches and exercises to relieve pain, and also teach you about how diet and proper nutrition can benefit you more in the long run.

What Does An Anti-Inflammatory Diet Consist Of?

Inflammation does not have to rule your life. One of the best ways to combat inflammation? Taking a trip to your local grocery store! Patients report being able to successfully reverse their symptoms by eating healthy, anti-inflammatory diets.

Since the body is busy purifying itself during the inflammation process, eating a diet of anti-inflammatory foods that complement the removal of toxins can help speed that up! Some dietary suggestions include:

  • Avoiding Red Meat: Proteins in red meat require your kidneys to do a lot of extra work to process it. This slows your healing process way down if red meat is prominent in your diet! If you want to reduce inflammation, it’s important to cut back on how much steak, beef, sausage, bacon, and other red meats you’re having. Your maximum limit should be a single serving of red meat once a week. You don’t have to do away with meat altogether though — fish and chicken are fine for an anti-inflammatory diet! They go great with vegetables too.
  • Loading Up On Greens & Veggies: Vegetables are a necessary component of any healthy diet, but especially to an anti-inflammatory one. All vegetables are good to add to your plate, but Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are the best options.
    • It is also a good idea to load up on raw vegetables each day, preferably nine servings. If nine servings of veggies seem like a lot to you, no problem! You can substitute fruit for some of those servings to give yourself some variety. Limiting the number of processed foods you’re taking in will help immensely with inflammation.
  • Cutting Back on Dairy & Grains: There is no surprise eating tons of dairy products and grains like pasta and rice isn’t good for you. Avoid simple carbs and sugars as much as possible to make your immune response strong. That means no pastries, no white bread, and no donuts, which might feel like a struggle in the beginning, but your body will thank you for it later!
    • You can still have whole grains such as barley, oats, wheat, and brown rice. Dairy products should be limited as well, so make sure to cut back on cheese and milk. Opting for nut milk, such as almond or cashew, is a good idea.

Additional Ways To Reduce Inflammation

You should notice a dramatic improvement in your pain and inflammation symptoms pretty quickly after beginning (and sticking to) the dietary recommendations above. Another great way to combat inflammation is by losing excess weight, so that will also help.

Make sure to work daily exercise into your routine, and take time out of your day to manage your stress. Go on a long walk with your dog in the park, take up a yoga class, and consult your physical therapist about proper stretching techniques to reduce inflammation.

Contact Premier Therapy Centers today if you suffer from pain and inflammation. We can make an appointment for you to meet with a physical therapist and learn more about pain management, and how to get back to living a pain-free lifestyle.

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By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness

3 Reasons It’s Important to Stay Active With Age

Want to Stay Healthy for Life? Start by Staying Active

“You’re only as young as you feel,” or so the saying goes. It might be more accurate, however, to say that you’re only as young as your health permits. When you see elderly people shuffling along on walkers or refusing to leave their favorite chair, you might assume that you face the same scenario in your old age. Thankfully, you can preserve your health, wellness, mobility and quality of life simply by staying as active as possible. Studies indicate that if you can keep up your health past age 70, you’re significantly more likely to continue enjoying that good health for the remainder of your life. Here are three compelling reasons to choose that walking trail, fitness class or weight-lifting routine over a sedentary lifestyle as you age.

Reason 1: Exercise Can Help Maintain Your Mobility

The American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine agree that exercise can help you stay mobile and flexible well into your golden years. These organizations recommend that you pursue activities that challenge your range of motion for at least 10 minutes a day, at least twice a week. These activities will help your muscles and connective tissues maintain their proper length, allowing you to remain more limber and move with less discomfort. Aerobic exercises such as walking are also recommended for arthritis sufferers. If you’re starting to feel an age-related twinge in your knee or hip, regular walks can help to control inflammatory pain and optimize joint mobility.

Reason 2: An Active Heart Is a Healthy Heart

The more active a lifestyle you pursue, the healthier your heart is likely to remain. Research shows that putting in 150 minutes of exercise each week (at a sufficient intensity level to make you break a sweat) can actually slow heart aging. This level of exercise, which may either aerobic or non-aerobic in nature, can arrest or reverse the age-related rise in blood pressure that can stiffen the heart muscle and lead to heart disease.

Reason 3: Strength Training Supports Good Posture, Bone Health and Balance

Once you get past the age of 50, you’re at risk for an age-related issue known as sarcopenia, or muscle wasting. This condition is the natural consequence of changes in hormonal balances and nutrient absorption. Unfortunately, many older people simply “go with the flow,” allowing themselves to become weaker and frailer. It’s no wonder that falls become both more frequent and more serious with age. You can minimize this challenge to your wellness and mobility, however, by staying active in ways that challenge your muscles. Physical therapy exercises that emphasize strength training can help you build up your back muscles, promoting a taller, more natural posture. Exercises to strengthen your legs and the “core” muscles of your lower abdomen can help you center and balance your body for life.

Physical Therapy Can Get You Moving

Do you worry that a current musculoskeletal challenge won’t let you stay as active as you should? Physical therapy can help you prime your body for a new, more energetic lifestyle. Our physical therapist can identify specific challenges that may need to be overcome. We can then prescribe a personalized package of corrective exercises and other physical therapy techniques to get you back on your feet and moving around again.

Ask Our Physical Therapist to Help You Age Gracefully

Are you ready to take the necessary steps to age more gracefully and enjoy a longer, healthier life? Contact Premier Therapy Centers today!

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By manish 0 Comments Back and Neck Pain, Health and Wellness, Physical Therapy

What do you think is causing your back pain? Could it be a herniated disc? Find out.

Has anyone ever told you they have a “slipped disc”? This term is actually a misnomer since discs don’t really “slip” but either degenerate, bulge, or herniate. Fortunately, a physical therapist can treat all these issues to resolve your back pain!

The latter condition, called a disc herniation, occurs when the outer layer of the disc tears. This allows the disc’s inner gel-like substance to leak out into the surrounding joint area. This ruptured disc tissue can then press on nearby structures, like nerve roots and joint spaces.

Could this be what’s causing your pain?

Top Signs and Symptoms of a Herniated Disc

Not all herniated discs cause pain, and even if they do cause pain they won’t all present in the same way. But there are some common signs and symptoms we see among our patients who come to us with this type of spinal condition. They include:

  1. Back pain and stiffness. This usually occurs right around the level of the herniated disc. There may also be overlying muscle spasms as a protective response.
  2. Pain, numbness, and tingling that radiates into an arm or leg. This happens if the herniated disc compresses a nearby spinal nerve root.
  3. Weakness in an arm or leg. Again, this is caused by compression of a nerve root near the injured disc. Many people notice foot drop (an inability to flex their ankle up), weakened grip strength, or frequent tripping or “clumsiness.”
  4. Pain that gets worse with certain movements. In many cases, forward flexion (bending forward in the spine) can cause a herniated disc to bulge even more out of place, which can increase pain or cause it to peripheralize (move farther down a limb). Meanwhile, backward extension (leaning backward in the spine) can cause the herniated disc to retract back into better alignment, which can decrease pain or cause it to centralize (move up a limb and closer to the spine).

Risk Factors for Herniated Discs

A herniated disc can happen to anyone, but you may be more at risk if you:

  • Sit a lot
  • Do a lot of frequent bending, heavy lifting, or twisting
  • Have a physically demanding job
  • Suffer a traumatic event, such as a fall or auto accident
  • Smoke
  • Are obese or overweight
  • Are male
  • Are between the ages of 30 and 50
  • Have a family history of disc and spine problems

What a Physical Therapist Can Do for Your Herniated Disc

Scientific evidence shows us that individualized physical therapy in addition to education and lifestyle advice is highly effective for reducing chronic back pain, including back pain caused by a herniated disc. In fact, it’s considered best practice to seek conservative treatment options like physical therapy long before undergoing any surgical intervention. And because physical therapy is non-invasive, it doesn’t expose the patient to potential risks and adverse reactions of surgery, including opioid addiction, failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), and post-operative pain, bleeding, and infection.

If you believe you have a herniated disc, we encourage you to see a physical therapist at Premier Therapy Centers. He or she can perform various tests and assess your history to make or confirm a diagnosis, so you’ll have a better understanding of what you’re dealing with. Then, he or she can prescribe customized interventions to alleviate your symptoms, heal the injured disc, and perhaps most importantly prevent recurring problems! Expect services such as:

  • Core stabilization exercises
  • Stretches to improve mobility elsewhere in the body, especially the shoulders and hips
  • Non-invasive modalities like electrical stimulation, cold laser therapy, and diathermy
  • Manual therapy, including massage and traction.
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By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness, Hip and Knee Pain, Physical Therapy

Hip and Knee Pain Relief with Physical Therapy

There are so many causes of hip and knee pain, from excess weight to sports injuries, advancing age to repetitive motion injuries. Whatever the cause of your hip and/or knee pain, if you are experiencing it regularly you need to find a way to manage it. Many people use medications like anti-inflammatories to minimize their discomfort. However, these medications do have potential side effects, so it can be helpful to find other ways to relieve your pain. Physical therapy may be the solution you are looking for.

An Alternative to Daily Pain Reliever Use – Physical Therapy

If your doctor has told you to take pain relievers every day for your hip and/or knee pain, you should follow your doctor’s recommendations. But it also cannot hurt to ask about alternatives like physical therapy. Working with a physical therapist can help reduce or eliminate your pain in a variety of ways, including:

  • Identify the causes of your hip and knee pain. There may be one or several reasons why you are experiencing hip and knee pain. A physical therapist can examine your movement to help identify things that are contributing to your pain, such as poor posture, unhealthy walking patterns or unhealthy movement patterns at work. Once they identify these kinds of issues, physical therapists can tell you how to correct them.
  • Exercises to increase your strength. Loss of muscular strength can contribute significantly to hip and knee pain because the weaker your muscles get, the more stress is put on your joints. Physical therapy centers around specific exercises designed to target various muscles and strengthen them so that they better support your joints.
  • Exercises to improve mobility and flexibility.Often hip and knee pain can lead to loss of mobility and flexibility – which then increases the wear on your joints and leads to even more pain. Physical therapists can take you through exercises to improve your mobility and flexibility so that you can move your limbs and joints in the fullest range of motion that is available based on your body and circumstances.
  • Heat and ice therapy. Heat can be used to improve your mobility and decrease the amount of pain you are experiencing so that you can move more freely. Ice can also be used to lessen pain from your hip and/or knee as well as to reduce inflammation.
  • Ultrasound therapy. Ultrasound is used by physical therapists to apply heat deeper in your soft tissues to provide pain relief. The heat can improve circulation and aid in healing, which can ultimately reduce the pain you experience day today.

How Does Physical Therapy Reduce Daily Pain?

You may get pain relief when you are at the physical therapist and going through treatment, but what about when you go home? A major goal of your physical therapist is to heal your injuries over the long term. The various exercises and treatments they use with you will steadily improve your condition so that you experience less pain on a daily basis. As your body gets stronger and more mobile, you are likely to experience less pain in your hips and knees.

Should I Stop Using Pain Relievers?

If your doctor has prescribed you pain relievers it is best to follow the guidance of your doctor. However, you are welcome to discuss physical therapy with your doctor as well. If you find that your pain level has decreased through physical therapy, you can discuss reducing your pain reliever usage with your doctor.

Schedule an Appoint with a Physical Therapist

Please contact Premier Therapy Centers�today to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist for your hip and knee pain. We are standing by to assist you!

By manish 0 Comments Health and Wellness, Opioids, Physical Therapy

Reduce Opioid Consumption and Feel Better with Physical Therapy

Long-term opioid consumption is not a good strategy for managing chronic pain. In addition to the risk of addiction, opioids simply alleviate the symptoms (pain) of a larger problem. For very real, measurable improvement over chronic pain, physical therapy has been proven to be a much better option than opioids or other pharmaceutical painkillers. If you are considering opioids for pain relief but would like to explore other options first, contact Premier Therapy Centers to talk with a physical therapist.

Opioid Treatment is Not a Cure

The opioid epidemic in America has gotten so bad in recent years that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now recommending that patients explore alternative options for pain relief. The CDC recommends that opioids now be considered as a “last option” for only the worst pain cases. Alternative and holistic pain relief methods, including physical therapy, are not as fast as opioids, but these methods do not carry the extreme risks of addiction and overdose.

It’s important that anyone suffering from pain should understand that opioids will not solve the underlying physical problem that is causing the pain. In fact, opioids can make the original problem even worse.

For example, suppose a person is suffering chronic pain several months after having shoulder surgery. The wound from surgery has long since healed, but the pain persists. If that patient relies on opioids to dull the pain, they run the risk of re-injuring their shoulder. Pain is the way the body tells us that something is wrong. With opioids removing the pain, that patient might be using their shoulder muscles incorrectly and ultimately making the underlying problem worse.

If that same patient were to work with a physical therapist on pain relief, they stand a much better chance of eliminating the pain entirely. Their shoulder could be healed through physical therapy, manual therapy, proper exercise, body mechanics and posture work — all without turning to addictive opioid painkillers.

Physical Therapy as a Long-Lasting Pain Cure

Researchers at Stanford University have shown that turning to physical therapy early on, as soon as a person is diagnosed with musculoskeletal pain, reduced the need for opioid pain prescriptions by 7 to 16 percent. Among patients who did require opioids for pain relief, the duration of using painkillers was reduced by as much as 10 percent.

Physical therapy helps patients to cure the source of the pain, rather than ignoring the source by dulling the pain. If a patient suffers from arthritis or any other type of chronic pain, a physical therapist can teach that patient the proper ways to move and utilize key muscle groups so that the pain source does not worsen. Another goal of physical therapy will be to strengthen muscle groups that support aching or painful parts of the body so that real healing can take place.

Your choice to pursue physical therapy will not be a quick solution to pain relief, in most cases. But your physical therapist will construct a customized plan that will produce measurable results in pain relief. Because the work will be geared toward curing the source of the pain, you can often eliminate the need for prescription painkillers or opioids.

If you suffer from chronic pain and want to know more about how physical therapy can help, call Premier Therapy Centers today to schedule your first appointment with a licensed physical therapist.

By manish 0 Comments Aches & pains, Health and Wellness, Hip and Knee Pain, Physical Therapy

Do You Take a Pain Reliever Every Single Day? See How Physical Therapy Can Help Relieve Hip and Knee Pain.

Are your hips and knees in pain when you wake up? Are you pain when you go to bed? Are the activities you do between sunrise and sunset impacted by chronic hip and knee joint dysfunction? You don’t have to give up hope of living with less pain—nor become reliant on the medicine cabinet, either.

At our physical therapy clinic, we have an experienced physical therapist staff who can help you find more ease, strength, and confidence in your day-to-day-life. We believe, like the American Physical Therapy Association and other organizations, that conservative treatment options like physical therapy are just as if not more effective for pain relief than medications and surgery. Contact us and find out how we can help, and read more to learn what we do every day for our patients in hip and knee pain.

5 Ways a Physical Therapist Can Help You Reduce Your Hip and Knee Pain

1. A physical therapist has advanced training in manual skills that improve joint health.

When you see a physical therapist for hip or knee pain, he or she may use joint mobilizations or manipulations to help promote healing and attract circulation to the inner joint surfaces. These techniques have also been shown to reduce pain and improve joint alignment…and they feel good, too! When complemented with services like massage and Active Release Technique, physical therapy can help you get physical and mental relief.

2. Physical therapy features non-invasive modalities to help relieve pain and heal injured tissues.

You don’t have to rely on over-the-counter or prescription painkillers to ease those achy, stiff, swollen joints! Physical therapy modalities that have been shown to ease pain, reduce spasms, increase circulation, and promote healing include electrical stimulation, diathermy, cold laser therapy, dry needling, and therapeutic ultrasound.

3. Physical therapy improves the strength and range of motion around your joints.

Increasing muscle strength and mobility of the connective tissues around your joints (including the tendons, muscles, fascia, and joint capsules) will help your joints feel better and move better. This can also help you improve your functional activity tolerance, which is essential for work, leisure, and simple daily function.

4. Physical therapy is where you can learn how to move more efficiently and safely.

Many of the impairments you and your physical therapist work to correct—including weakness, poor posture, and limited range of motion—may have been caused or worsened by things you’re unknowingly doing. This includes sitting too much, using poor body mechanics, breathing improperly, and having an ineffective ergonomic set-up at work. A physical therapist can educate you about ways to move in more energy efficient and safe ways to enhance the overall effects of your care and reduce the risk of re-injury.

5. A physical therapist can get you moving again.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, exercise is one of the best ways to manage hip pain and knee pain caused by osteoarthritis. By implementing some or all of the above interventions in a customized treatment plan, a physical therapist can help you get back to regular exercise in a way that is safe and effective for you, based on your current abilities, goals, and needs. This is especially helpful if you’re currently on a fat loss journey, since being overweight is a major risk factor for knee and hip pain.

Do You Have Painful Hips or Knees?

Tired of spending every day in pain? Contact our clinic today to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist and heal from the inside out.

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By manish 0 Comments Aches & pains, Health and Wellness, Physical Therapy

Aches and Pains in the Morning? Find Out What Might Be Causing Them.

A Troubleshooting Guide to Morning Aches and Pains

Do you leap out of bed excited at the thought of experiencing another morning — or do you just lie there, afraid to move because of the pain you’re likely to feel? Aches and pains are never welcome, but they can really dash your spirits when they plague you from your first waking moments. It helps to understand why these discomforts are occurring in various parts of your body, and how you can put a stop to them through safe, drug-free methods such as physical therapy.

Where Does It Hurt?

Each area of the body has its own particular vulnerabilities to different kinds of morning pain. Here’s a quick troubleshooting guide to help you figure out what’s going on.

  • Jaw pain– Does your jaw feel stiff and achy when you wake up in the morning? You may be grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw as you sleep, a problem known as bruxism. This habit is associated with emotional and physical stress.
  • Neck pain– If you feel like someone tried to twist your head off during the night, you may have the wrong kind of pillow for your individual needs. Incorrect head and neck support can leave you with agonizing stiffness.
  • Back pain– Pain can afflict any part of your back first thing in the morning. If you can barely move in the morning or never get quite comfortable at night, you may be using the wrong kind of mattress for your back.
  • Hip pain– If you experience hip pain that feels like it’s coming from within the joint and is at its worst upon awakening, suspect osteoarthritis. If the pain feels like it’s on the outside of the hip and bothers you more at night, suspect bursitis.
  • Heel pain– If taking those first steps in the morning is torture for your heels, but the pain then recedes as you walk around, you probably have chronic inflammation of the arches called plantar fasciitis.

Physical Therapy Can Help You Have Nicer Mornings

Morning pain and overnight pain are closely related. Issues such as chronic lower back pain may nudge you into wakefulness many times each night, creating a twinge with every little body motion. By the time you have to get up, you feel even more pain than you did when you went to bed.

Physical therapy can help you reduce those morning aches and pains. An experienced physical therapist knows how to evaluate your symptoms in detail, see how they correspond to your sleep quality (or lack thereof), and identify the underlying causes.

This understanding allows for the creation of a physical therapy program aimed at eliminating or controlling those causes. For instance, we might determine that your back needs a firmer or softer mattress, or that your neck could benefit from a contoured cervical pillow. Other time-tested physical therapy modalities can help you strengthen your back, tame bursitis, relieve plantar fasciitis, or control osteoarthritis symptoms. We can even educate on stress-busting techniques to help your jaw, as well as which sleep positions are most likely to ease joint discomfort.

Awaken to the Benefits of Working With Our Physical Therapist

From conquering chronic pain sources to improving your “sleep hygiene,” you’ll find that physical therapy can help you ease morning aches and pains in a number of ways. Don’t sleepwalk through life in a haze of chronic pain — wake up and contact Premier Therapy Centers�for an evaluation!