Pain After Treatment

A physical therapist is always reaching for a balance between doing too much and too little during a treatment. Sometimes, patients may experience an increase in discomfort or pain after a physical therapy treatment. In the video below, I advise to:

1. Call the physical therapist.
2. Use ice packs on the treated area immediately after a treatment. Warning: Do not put ice directly on the skin.

The next question is, "What if I have pain by my next appointment?" Again, I advise to call the physical therapist involved to see if they still want you to come to the appointment. But at Aptitude Physical Therapy, I always tells our patients to come, because there are things we can do that will actually lessen their current pain. Most patients leave with their pain levels under control and glad that they came.

Vacuuming Tip

Have you ever had a sore back after vacuuming the house? If so, I have a tip for what I do to protect my back while vacuuming.

As I demonstrated in the video below, most people vacuum by pushing with one arm and rotating your back. What most of us don't realize is that the combination of bending and twisting can really hurt your back!

What I like to do is think of my vacuum as a lawn mower. Keep the center of the handle against your abdomen or belly in the middle, and use your legs to do the work as you push your vacuum around the house.

Posture while Texting

Do you have neck pain after texting or playing on your phone for long periods of time? Your posture may be to blame. If you find yourself slouching or resting your chin on your chest, you can be putting a lot of unnecessary stress on your neck and shoulders. According to an article on the Cleveland Clinic website, you can put about 60 pounds of force on your neck by resting your chin on your chest. "Research shows that for every inch you drop your head forward, you double the load on those muscles."

To correct your posture and reduce stress on your neck, elevate your chest, bring your arms comfortably along your sides, and slightly tuck your chin.

See our new video for a demonstration.

Avoid Summer Heat Illness

Be aware of the hot and humid conditions this summer so that you don’t experience heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke. To prevent any of these conditions, drink adequate amounts of fluid. Avoid being outside during the hottest parts of the day. The best time to do physical activity is when the sun is not so high in the sky. You can gauge this by making sure that your shadow is taller than you. If you believe someone is experiencing a heat stroke it is important to call 911 immediately.

Exercising Tip to Strengthen the Shoulder

In the video below, I show how I have adapted the overhead press to help reduce the risk of injury to shoulder tendons.

I use both arms to lift a dumbbell over my head, release with one hand, and lower the dumbbell with the other arm. I will either switch hands to give each hand a chance to rest, or I will set the dumbbell down on a chair in between individual lifts. With either method, I allow the tendons in his shoulder to recover by giving it enough time to get enough blood flow to the tendon. This also allows me to build greater strength as I can lift a heavier weight with quality movement control.

Exercising Tip to Reduce Knee Pain

About one year ago, I was having a lot of knee pain going up and down steps and getting out of cars. I hated it. After some research, I developed this exercise technique to reduce my knee pain during my workout. If you are wondering if this would work for you, contact your medical provider, or call our office for an appointment.

Throughout the entire exercise, I go slowly so that I can warm up the tissue. I don't mind if my muscles burn from the exercise, but I do not want to have any knee pain.

• Step 1: I start by setting the weight on a leg extension machine on a low weight so that I can warm up my tendons.
• Step 2: I extend both of my legs to about 70%, as shown in the video.
• Step 3: I bring back one leg and lower the weight slowly with the other.
• Step 4: I then pause for at least as long as it took me to do the lift.

I pause after each lift to make sure that I'm getting enough blood flow to the tendon in the knee where a lot of the pain is coming from.

After I'm feeling warmed up, I increase the weight. In the video, I doubled the weight, and I paused for twice as long as it took me to do the lift.

Whenever I'm really starting to work hard lifting heavier weight, I need to wait up to three times as long as it took to do the lift to ensure that I'm getting enough blood flow to the tendon.

Exercising Tips to Improve Shoulder Blade Posture

I like to help my patients find ways that makes it easier to maintain good posture throughout the day. In many cases, we can strengthen targeted muscles so that we naturally sit, stand, and walk with good posture. By having good posture, we avoid a lot of potential future complications and pain.

In the video below, I show you how to use a Total Gym to strengthen the muscles between your shoulders which will help with shoulder blade posture. Below are the steps I outline in the video.

• Step 1: Retract or pinch your shoulder blades together, and hold that throughout the exercise.
• Step 2: Tuck your chin.
• Step 3: Pull yourself up by pulling your arms into your body.
• Bonus Step: Have a work out buddy. In the video, you'll see my dog try to help me out. :)