Pain in the Neck?

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Lisa Martin, PT, DPT

Chronic neck pain is something that can affect your work and personal life. If you have been suffering with neck pain for greater than 3 months then you would be categorized as having “chronic” neck pain. You don’t need to suffer anymore!

Neck pain can be caused by several different things including muscle spasms, joint restrictions in your neck or upper back, weakness in your neck or shoulder blade muscles, a disc herniation, or arthritis in your neck. Neck pain can also be associated with your posture or work station.

If you are experiencing any of the above issues then you should contact a physical therapist (PT). They will be able to evaluate you by taking you through a series of tests and measures along with functional tests to determine why you are suffering. An evaluation will assess your neck range of motion, your neck, arm, and upper back strength, as well as the mobility of your joints of the neck, upper back, and shoulders. Other functional tests that might be screened are your posture when you are sitting or working at your computer, how your body moves when you reach overhead and when you lift something off the floor. These tests will help the PT determine why you are having your neck pain.

Your PT will then develop an individualized exercise plan to address your areas of weakness and joint restriction. These exercises will help you achieve proper posture (e.g. getting your ear in line with your shoulder and your shoulder in line with your hip) in order to avoid forward head position and rounding of your upper back. The PT will also help to educate you on proper work station set up. Ideally, your wrists are below the elbow, the computer screen is in front of you, feet are flat on the floor and knees are below the hips. ⁽¹⁾

In addition to an exercise routine and education on proper body mechanics, your PT will perform manual therapy on you as well. Manual therapy is when the PT stretches your muscles and assists your joints to move. Research has shown that if your upper back is moving well, this will decrease the strain to the neck muscles and joints, decreasing your neck pain and improving your quality of life. The combination of both exercise and manual therapy can help to reduce your neck pain symptoms, reduce your sick leave from work, reduce the need for pain medication and improve your ability to function at home and at work! ⁽²^,³⁾

How long have you been suffering with neck pain? What position seems to really cause you the most discomfort?

Can Physical Therapy Help to Alleviate Low Back Pain During Pregnancy?

Written by: Lisa Martin, PT, DPT

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Lisa Martin, PT, DPT

Are you pregnant and suffering from low back pain? Well you are not alone; over 50% of pregnant women experience low back pain during their pregnancy.¹ This pain can be debilitating, preventing you from working, taking care of your home and taking care of your other children. Pregnancy-related lower back pain can be due to postural changes, ligament laxity due to the release of the hormone relaxin, and weight gain, resulting in decreased stability of the back and hips.^{1, 2}

The good news is that you don’t need to suffer with pain during pregnancy. It has been shown that physical therapy can help to decrease or even eliminate pregnancy-related low back pain and improve your function through manual therapy, spinal stabilization exercises, and education on sitting, standing, lifting, use of support pillows, and turning in bed.^{1, 2, 3}Exercises will emphasize the abdominals (stomach), pelvic floor (muscles you use to stop urination), and gluteal/hip (buttock) muscles to help stabilize the pelvis. For example, some exercises your physical therapist might show you include: lying on your back with a wedge doing a bridge, getting on your hands and knees lifting opposite arm and leg, side-lying lifting your leg, and sitting on a physioball marching and standing doing small range squats.^{1, 2}

As mentioned above, the hormone relaxin is increased during pregnancy to ten times the normal levels.³ The purpose of relaxin is to help the pelvis adapt and prepare for childbirth by softening connective tissues and ligaments around the pelvis, pubic symphysis, and sacrum. These changes will allow the baby to pass through the birth canal.³ Unfortunately, due to the increased release of relaxin, your sacroiliac joint and lumbar joints can become unstable and move out of alignment contributing to your pain. Research has shown that it is safe and effective for your physical therapist to perform gentle muscle energy techniques (manual therapy) to correct the alignment and allow you to train your muscles in proper position.³

Bottom line, you are not alone and you do not need to suffer with low back pain during pregnancy. It has been shown that exercise, education, and manual therapy during pregnancy is a safe and effective way to treat low back pain, reduce sick leave from work, reduce need for bed rest, and prepare you for labor. ^{1, 2, 3}

Reference:

3. The Effects of Manual Physical Therapy and Therapeutic Exercise on Peripartum Posterior Pelvic Pain: Two Case Reports. The Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy. 2005; (2): 94-102.

Saratoga PTs Host a Community Education Night

Written by: Sports PT Blog Team

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Sports PT Blog Team

The best teachers always know that learning should be fun. How many Physical Therapy clinics do you know open their door to the community to educate, treat aches and pains, raffle off prizes and supply refreshments? Well, we know one, and so do 37 other people from the Saratoga community. On March 7^th, our Saratoga team rolled out the welcome mat to the community for a free evening of education and fun where common injuries and strategies to avoid these injuries were discussed.

Do you sit for hours and hours every day? Many of us do. Two staff physical therapists, Jeff Fear, PT, MPT, and Shane Connors, MSPT, DPT, spoke about “The Painful Truth about Sitting”. These PTs have treated hundreds of patients with pain resulting from sitting for too long. They highlighted that sitting for too long can wreak havoc on our posture contributing to neck and lower back pain. In fact, office workers, have a higher risk for developing neck pain compared to the general population.¹ Exercise can help to minimize the negative effects of prolonged sitting. Some creative strategies were shared with the audience to combat these negative effects. The main recommendation was to practice active sitting. Some examples of active sitting are putting objects that you use most often farthest away from you, setting a timer every 30 minutes for a “get up and walk” reminder, or using a smaller water bottle so you have to keep getting up to refill it.

The second lecture of the evening was polar opposite from the first lecture. Apparently, once we get up form our chairs, many of us become runners. Twenty-five to 70% of runners report overuse injuries each year.² Our Facility Manager, Alison Synakowski, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC, CSCS, and staff therapist, Jennifer Szymanski, PT, DPT, discussed “Common Injuries in Runners and the Importance of Cross Training”. Although running is great exercise, it is not enough to keep our bodies healthy. Cross training, or alternative exercise to running, can help to minimize the risk of injury, strengthen muscles that are not used during running, and can also improve your cardiovascular fitness. Both PTs suggested to get moving with multiple activities to decrease your chances of overuse injuries. Activities such as swimming, cycling, using the elliptical machine, and even walking are great alternatives to running.

With lots of Q&A throughout the evening, past patients reuniting with their PTs, and delicious refreshments, it’s safe to say that all involved learned something new and had fun!