PTcares

My patient L said "I have treated my body poorly in the past. Now I want you to fix it."  After an MRI of the shoulder, she was diagnosed with 3 of the 4 rotator cuff muscles of the right shoulder, labrum tear. She had a very limited active range of motion and could not tolerate sleeping on the right side and overhead motions in the kitchen or laundry. The key information is that she waited and ignored her shoulder symptoms for so long. All the connective tissues inside the joints had been torn to a certain level. This is a sad story because it could be treated in time with less pain and avoid the trouble in the long term. After 6 weeks of treatment, her pain of the shoulder was much less with a better overhead motion of the right shoulder at about 90-110 degrees. She was able to do housework with cooking and laundry with lightweight without pain. I am surprised about her recovery with the evidence of the 3 out of the 4 rotator cuff muscles/tendons ruptured. That...

What is Cobb's angle, why it is important to know about it? www.PTcares.com You might hear of the diagnosis of Scoliosis-- the increased abnormal curve of the spine. One of the key findings to judge the progression of the curvature is Cobb's angle. Why it is important to measure the Cobb's angle of the spine every 1-2 years? Your pain, muscle spasm and internal organs function might be associated with your spine condition. Generally speaking, the development of the curve should be controlled within 5 degrees per year. Before you start feeling discomfort and pain, your body already started to compensate to a certain degree. The compensation will not last forever. It might be easier to correct the abnormality in the early stage before the cartilages worn out, joints fused, muscles became tight and weak, and bad habits developed. Will physical therapy with muscles retraining and spine mobilization help the curve and it's syndromes? Yes! Manual therapy with therape...

How to prevent disk herniation of the back? WWW.PTCARES.COM One of my client Sherri was diagnosed with L4/5, L5/S1 disk herniation after on and off back pain for 3 years. She had been through some exercises in the past but still with on and off symptoms. Recently she had an accident of bending over to pick up her shoes and ended up with significant back pain. She got an MRI and had the above diagnosis confirmed. She walked into the clinic with limping gait and sat down with only the left hip on the chair. She had significant difficulty in moving in and out of bed, car, and chairs. The numbness and tingling and pain was shooting from the back to her right butt and down to the toes. She could not function well as mother and could not walk to another office to discuss work with her colleagues. She cried for a while and asked how she could do to prevent the disk herniation of the lumbar spine. I paused for a few seconds because there are so many things that might contribute to t...

Dry Needling by a Physical Therapist: What You Should Know I got questions about DN a lot recently. So here is a useful link to learn about Dry needling. https://www.moveforwardpt.com/Resources/Detail/dry-needling-by-physical-therapist-what-you-should A licensed PT with DN training will help you to deal with tightness, pain, and headache. My personal feeling about Dry Needling was not as great at the very beginning, mainly because of the limited evidence we have now.  But after seeing the change of my clients after DN, I recommend DN to all providers and clients. The baseline is the anatomy. Now I see the DN technique as a new approach to get to the deep and sensitive muscles. Usually, I will have to do a lot stretching and adjustment of the spine before the "angry tissues" will relax. That means more pain during the process and less compliant with my client. Now with DN approach, I can pinpoint the compensated tissues quickly. I mean genuinely PINPOINT ...

What are pelvic floor muscles and why they are important for you? www.PTcares.com So you heard about the pelvic muscles training after giving birth or during the pregnancy. But what are these muscles and why you need to know about them? It doesn't matter if you are female or male. Yes. Men have pelvic floor muscles also.  : ) Researchers also suggested that correctly use of the pelvic floor muscles also help sex performance and reduce the frequency and intensity of the lumbar pain. As you can see in the above picture, there are so many muscles work together to close the openings at the bottom of the trunk.  That's the main function of these muscles--to protect your internal organs from dropping down by gravity. The pelvic floor muscles also work with diaphragm, belly muscles and back deep extensor muscles to form the "Core" muscles of the trunk, which is super important for our daily performance. Your doctor might suggest you get some core t...

What is Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS, ) in the knee?  What to do about it? www.PTcares.com Anterior knee pain is one of the most common complains in an outpatient rehab clinic. It has several other names also, jumper's knee,  runner's knee, patellar tendinitis or tendinopathy. Just like other conditions, it is important to knee the mechanism of irritation associated with pain. There is a concept of primary and secondary impairments when many joints, tendons, and muscles are involved. The pain is simply a protection mechanism of our body to inform our mind that something is wrong. So the pain is not a bad thing. Don't kill the messenger, right? As I explained in the last post about the knee dislocation, the kneecap was supported by quad muscles, patellar ligament, and retinaculum on both sides. When the balance was not well maintained statistically or dynamically, the bones of the joint ---patella bone and femoral bone might rub each other with a lot of pressu...