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4 factors that contribute to the kneecap dislocation www.PTcares.com Kneecap is a bone in the front part of the knee joint, also is known as the patella. Many young athletes have dislocation accidents followed by pain, swelling, and significant functional limitations. My friend's 18 years old son, Tom, has been diagnosed with Patellar Femoral (PF) joint dislocation. As a bike-riding lover, Tom was sad to be told by his PCP to stop the biking for 3 weeks after the accident. He had X-ray done and was suggested to go to see an Orthopedic surgeon for suggestions and see an experienced PT for quadriceps training.  Tom's mother asked me this question, "Why and how to deal with the kneecap dislocation?" So today I will share with your the 4 factors that contribute to the kneecap dislocation. 1. The shape of the distal femur bone. There is a groove in the distal femur bone that accepts the kneecap while the joint is moving into flexion or extension. When the shape of

Why you should not wait for too long before seeing a medical professional after injuries? www.PTcares.com One of my clients told me that she waited for 5 months before coming in to see a physical therapist after her car accident. Her neck had a lot of pain, stiffness and muscle spasm. After 2 visits in 2 weeks, her neck was much better, and she stated: "I wish I could talk to someone like you immediately after the car accident." With her permission, I am here to share with you the story of her accident and why you shouldn't wait for too long to see a professional after the injury. My client's name is Kay. She had car accident back in Oct 2017 with a T-bone hit from the passage's side. She got a police report and felt ok when the ambulance sent her to the ER of a local hospital. Her X-ray was negative without fractures but with the reverse curve of the cervical spine---neck bone is straighter than usual. She gradually developed a headache, neck and upper bac

WWW.PTcares.COM My 4 years old son had left knee pain after a near falling accident in the Exp lora. After a brief exam, I did not find any problems with the knee, so I turned my attention to the hip. He had some difficulty of left hip extension with a very slightly posterior tilt of the left pelvis. I worked on the hip joint with hip extension and mild~moderate anterior tilt of the left pelvis in the prone position. He started to giggle and fight against the mobilization and ended up with a mild popping of the left SI joint. He then was able to walk, jump and do all kinds of crazy motions. Knee pain could be the first sign of a hip pathology! I had a similar experience when I practiced as an ER physician years ago. In that case, an MRI of the hip joint confirmed the diagnosis. Next time your kid reports knee pain, you should ask your pediatric doctor or your physical therapist about the hip. Today I want to share with you another phenomenon I observed in t

WWW.PTcares.com One of my clients was diagnosed with Rotator cuff muscles injury.  She asked me about the rotator cuff muscles and why they are contributing to the shoulder pain and neck pain.  Today we will talk about the function of rotator cuff muscles. There are 4 rotator cuff  muscles: Supraspinatus Infraspinatus Teres Minor Subscapularis The primary function of the rotator cuff muscles is to maintain the stability of the glenohumeral (GH) joint, which is part of the shoulder complex.  As you can see, there are 3 bones in the shoulder complex: Scapula, clavicle and humeral bone. When the rotator cuff muscles are weak and could not maintain the humeral head close to the glenoid of the scapula, the humeral head might not glide smoothly and impinge surrounding tissues, causing connective tissue problems, such as tendinitis, bursitis, capsulitis, or rupture of tendons or ligaments. When the connective tissues and muscles around the sho

WWW.PTcares.COM By Dr. Wu Doctor of Physical Therapy Do you have dizziness for couple seconds when you turn your head to left or right? Do you have trouble getting in and out of bed or your vehicle? Are your symptoms getting worse after a falling or car accident? If you answer at least one "Yes" to the above 3 questions, you probably have a condition called "BPPV."  Today I will share with you more information about this unique condition and treatment options. What is BPPV ? BPPV is the abbreviation of  Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. As you learn from the name of the condition, it is benign--not life- threatening, sudden onset position related vertigo.  The vertigo is related to the functional organ located in the inner ear. There are 3 input systems for balance sensation. 1. Vision 2. Vestibular system --inner ear 3. Somatosensory --sensation input from joints One of the theory for the vertigo is that the inputs from the above 3 systems a

www.PTcares.com Posterior Cruciate Ligament is a cross ligament in the knee, which provides stability of the knee joint.  Injury of the PCL is a typical sports injury. In this post, we will review PCL anatomy, function, and 4 common mechanisms. There are 2 primary functions of the PCL. 1. resist knee flexion, avoid excessive posterior translation of the tibia or anterior translation of the femur bone. 2. resist extremes of varus, valgus and axial rotation.  4 most common Mechanisms of PCL injury 1. D irect blow to anterior tibia or  Dashboard injury 2.  Severe hyperextension of the knee 3.   Falling and landing on the proximal tibia   4.  Large axial rotation or valgus-varus applied torque What not to do? Without the protection of PCL, your knee might not be stable enough for vigorous workouts. Avoid any exercises the apply direct loading to the proximal tibia. Such as: 1. Rapid deep squatting 2. Leg press with hyperextension of the knee jo

www.PTcares.com My 17 years old female athlete patient finally gets rid of the back pain and leg discrepancy after 6 visits. She asked me why previous chiropractic approach on the hip and back did not help her for more than 3 weeks. My answer to that question was simple. After adjustment of the alignment, the muscles around the lumbar and pelvic needs to be able to hold the bones in the perfect position with functional activities. That is what was missing for most of my clients when they worked with other professionals. As you can see the right knee in the photo below, my client might report knee pain as the main issue. Legs discrepancy might contribute to back pain, hip pain, and knee pain. Manipulation techniques have been proved to be useful and effective for lumbar, pelvic and hips malalignment.  The long-term benefits of the exercises and self-adjustment technique should also be addressed for the maximum long-term outcome. Pelvic floor muscles are crucial to maintaining t

Why and how relaxing techniques might help to decrease your neck pain? www.PTcares.com Neck pain is one of the most common complains from my clients.  Today I want to share with you some useful relaxing techniques to decrease your pain. Before we get into more details of the methods, let's take a look the tissues around the neck. The neck connects the head and the upper trunk of the body. Many muscles are designed to balance the neck from all directions. As I pointed out in the last post , the neck bones are supported by joint articulation shape, connective tissues/ligaments, and muscles. The neck pain might be related to any of those structures. The key word here is "balance." If the head is placed ahead of the shoulders, the above structures will have to do a lot of work to stabilize the neck. The muscles might be tired due to the prolonged positioning in an unbalanced posture. When the muscles cannot support the neck, more stress will go to the joints and the c