Physical Therapy Blog

Are you feeling Dizzy? Vestibular Rehabilitation may help. Balance exists thanks to our body’s vestibular system. “Vestibular” isn’t a word we use in everyday conversation. So, what does it mean? How can physical therapy help if our vestibular system isn’t working correctly? When a child is first learning to walk, they will fall. Probably many times. But the more they practice, the better they become at using their balance. The same is true for a child learning to ride a bike without training wheels. They rarely take long to learn how to use their balance to keep the bike from

The elbow pain is probably not a something you thought you’d ever experience. That is until you’re living with a sore elbow. Your elbow moves thousands of times daily, helping you accomplish numerous tasks. The elbow is vital to our anatomy. Tendons, muscles, cartilage, tissue, and bone come together within the elbow to create a versatile joint. When your elbow is sore, it limits what you can accomplish with your arm. Physical therapy is a way to diagnose why there is pain and how to regain the function of your arm. Causes for Elbow Pain There are many reasons you

Lower Back Pain? Improving Your Core Strength Can Help Lower back pain can really effect mobility. Your body is a complex and diverse set of bones, tendons, joints, and muscles. A machine, if you will. A significant component of the machine is the core. The core affects almost all muscle groups. Millions of Americans suffer from chronic lower back pain. Often, lower back pain is because of weak core muscles. Back pain can result when core muscles aren’t strong enough to support your spine properly. Strengthening your core muscles with physical therapy can ease lower back pain. What Exactly Are

Muscle cramps are the worst! There you are, sleeping peacefully in your comfortable bed, and you suddenly jolt awake. Muscle cramps! The pain is sudden and sharp. How could your muscle be hurting? You weren’t even moving. And yet your muscle tightened up, waking you up with a cramp. The human body has over 600 named skeletal muscles. You use muscles for everything from standing up to holding a pencil to giving someone a high five. With all the muscles we have and all the ways we rely on them for movement, it’s no wonder they cramp from time to

Plantar Fasciitis is no joke! It can take some time to treat it. You’ll know if you have a scenario like this. You sit up in bed, put your feet on the floor and stand up for the first time of the day. You take a few steps toward your bedroom door. A sharp, stabbing pain hits the heel of your foot. Ouch! As you walk around, the pain lessens a bit. But boy, those first few steps of the day sure do smart every morning. This pain could be a sign you suffer from plantar fasciitis. What is Plantar

Physical Therapy can help you get the most out of your knee replacement surgery. You want to go for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner each evening. Take that family vacation, spending a couple of days strolling through an amusement park. Get down on the floor to play with your young grandchildren. But your knees tell you otherwise. It may be time for a knee replacement if knee pain impacts your quality of life. When you have surgery to repair a knee, you can be certain that physical therapy will be essential. Your doctor may recommend physical therapy before

Runners want to run but if not careful could end up with a running injury. Many people continue to work toward their fitness goals. Perhaps one of your goals is to train for a running race. Or maybe you begin your fitness journey by running. Often there’s not a question of if a runner will sustain an injury, but when. There doesn’t seem to be a concrete statistic on how many runners are injured each year. But there has been research conducted that shows about half of recreational runners will encounter an injury each year. Physical therapy can be instrumental

Most would do just about anything to help reduce headaches and migraines. Once they start they are often difficult to ease. There are a lot of factors that can cause a headache. Changes in weather, drinking, stress, poor posture, and hundreds of other scenarios can cause headaches. Anyone who suffers from frequent headaches knows they can range from annoying to debilitating. If over-the-counter medication isn’t giving relief, physical therapy may be the answer to reducing reoccurring headaches. Primary vs. Secondary The medical community has identified dozens of types of headaches. Headaches fall into one of two categories, either primary or

When we think of suffering from arthritis, we think it happens only as we age. And while it’s true that most arthritis sufferers are elderly, this painful affliction doesn’t discriminate. Arthritis can affect any age, race, and gender. According to the American College of Rheumatology, it’s estimated around 300,000 US children have been diagnosed with arthritis. And millions of adults live with the condition, sometimes with debilitating effects. The good news is that physical therapy can be very effective in helping arthritis. It is a non-evasive and drug-free way to improve life with arthritis. The main goals of physical therapy

Your hip joints are one of the most important joints in our body. Hip joints need to be strong to support the mobility of our body. Hips can become weaker as we age. Weaker hips can reduce stability, resulting in the risk of falling. Several muscles surround the hip joint. As we age, these muscle groups become weaker due to lack of movement and muscle deterioration. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Physical therapy can be quite beneficial in many aspects of healthy aging. This is especially true when addressing weaker hips in older adults. Physical therapy is