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Stretching Principles

Stretching after you workout is more beneficial to prevent muscle soreness and injury.  If you stretch before you workout, there is more potential to tear a muscle.  This is due to the lack of blood flow at the muscle. 

To get the most benefit out of stretching, make sure you hold the stretch at a point you feel a pull within the muscle. Stretching should be held between 15-60 seconds.  Perform 2-3 repetitions of each stretch on both sides of your body. If a stretch is painful, you should decrease the range of motion of the stretch.   

Hamstring stretch

Tips to Decrease the Likelihood of an Injury at the Gym

  1. Do a balanced program. Work your whole body; don’t concentrate on just a few muscles.
  2. Use good form and technique. Don’t hyperextend the knee with the leg press, don’t let your knee go past your toes with squats or lunges, and don’t use momentum to lift heavy weight.
  3. Exercise through the entire range of motion to get optimal results.
  4. Do not lift weights too often or increase the intensity too quickly. Increase at a consistent gradual progression to avoid injury.
  5. Cross train so your body does not get used to the workout.
  6. Work on your core muscles. Strengthening your abdominals can help prevent back injuries.
  7. If you have back pain, avoid excess loads on the spine.  Such as, squats with weight, the lumbar extension machine, and twisting exercises.
  8. If you have shoulder pain, avoid overhead weighted exercises and any exercise where the arms lift out to the side.

If you experience pain while you are working out, you should stop and apply ice.  If you continue to have discomfort with exercise, contact Harbor Physical Therapy to decrease your pain with exercise and find out how to avoid pain with exercise.

Top 10 Summer Sports with the Most Injuries

As reported by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), listed below is the top 10 list of summer sports that statisically have resulted in the most reported injuries.  

If you have suffered from any injuries playing a sport or would like to learn how to prevent an injury during sport, please make an appointment at Harbor Physical Therapy.

Sports

Injuries

Cost

Basketball

1,633,905

$19.7 billion

Bicycles

1,498,252

$28.6 billion

Baseball

492,832

$6.6 billion

Soccer

477,647

$6.7 billion

Softball

406,381

$5.1 billion

Trampolines

246,875

$4.1 billion

Inline Skating

233,806

$4.2 billion

Horseback riding

196,260

$4.9 billion

Weightlifting

189,942

$2.7 billion

Volleyball

187,391

$2.1 billion

Fall Prevention

The risk of falling increases with age and is greater for women than men.  There are many causes for falls such as medication side effects, environmental hazards in the home, poor vision, and decreased muscle strength. Being too sedentary can result in poor muscle tone, decreased strength, and a loss of bone mass. Listed below are tips to lessen your risk of falling. 

  1. Repair cracks in sidewalks/steps or raised thresholds in doorways.
  2. Make sure there are handrails on both sides of steps.
  3. Trim shrubs next to walkways.
  4. Have adequate lighting in each room and the hallways.
  5. Don’t wax floors.
  6. Don’t climb stools or ladders.
  7. Change the color of the transitions into different rooms and on the steps.
  8. Put nonskid pads under rugs so they won’t slide.
  9. Get rid of throw rugs.
  10. Use a raised toilet seat and make sure there are grab bars in the bathroom.
  11. Use nightlights.
  12. Use a walker or cane if the doctor advised you to and make sure you are using it properly.
  13. Sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes before standing to avoid dizziness.
  14. Get regular eye checkups.
  15. Wear supportive shoes.
  16. Make sure you are taking enough calcium and vitamin D.
  17. Make sure you are doing some weight bearing exercises.

Weight bearing exercises build bone mass. If you are not sure which exercises to do, Harbor Physical Therapy can instruct you in a home exercise program to help decrease the likelihood of falling.

What is good posture and which exercises can I do at the gym to improve my posture?

While standing, if you can draw an imaginary straight line through your earlobe, the tip of your shoulder, through your knee, and the middle of your ankle, you have good posture. Standing with good posture usually involves doing a slight chin tuck so your head is over your shoulders, pulling your shoulders back and tucking in your stomach.

Good posture lends to less stress on your joints and muscles resulting in less discomfort and risk for injury.  At first, maintaining good posture may be tiring. Eventually, you will build up the endurance in your muscles and it will come more naturally.

Here are some examples of stretches that you can perform to help achieve good posture. 

Pectoralis muscle stretch– Just put your hands up on a doorway and gently step through with one foot until you feel a stretch. All stretches should be held between 15-60 seconds.

Corner Stretch

Hamstring stretch– You can sit or stand. Put one foot up on a step or the coffee table and lean toward your foot.

Hamstring stretch

Shoulder blade squeezes– You can just squeeze your shoulder blades together or use an exercise band to row your shoulder blades together.

Rest position

Scapular Retraction

Good posture involves training the body to be in a position that results in less strain on your muscles and joints. If you are looking to improve your posture or decrease your neck/back pain with long-term sitting or standing, make an appointment at Harbor Physical Therapy for an individualized treatment program.

The Benefits of Balance Training

Balance exercises help to rehabilitate, restore, and prevent ankle and knee injuries. They work to increase the stability of the joints in the lower extremity. Balance training can also help to prevent falls in the elderly population. Balance training improves proprioception, which is the ability to know where your joints are in relation to one another.

An example of a basic balance exercise is standing on one leg and trying to maintain the position for a certain period of time.  To progress this exercise, it can be performed on an unsteady surface to increase the amount of strength/stability required for the exercise.   If you have a chronic ankle or knee injury, you would benefit from physical therapy using balance training to improve the strength/stability of your joints.

single leg stancesingle leg stance on an uneven surface

Tips to Prevent A Back Injury While Gardening

As spring and summer are approaching, we begin to get back to our gardening.  While gardening, many people develop back injuries due to improper body mechanics. Therefore, listed below are tips to decrease the likelihood of a back injury this gardening season.

  1. Before gardening, take a 10 minute walk or warm up with some light exercises to warm up your muscles.
  2. While shoveling, remember to bend at your knees and hips, not at your waist.
  3. When you empty a shovel full of mulch or dirt, make sure you pivot your feet while turning your upper body.
  4. Sit or kneel on a small stool or bucket while weeding and planting so you are not bending over. Use knee pads to kneel to avoid pressure on your knees.
  5. Switch jobs every 30 minutes and take a break every 15 minutes.
  6. Working on raised beds is less strenuous for your back because you are not bending over as much.
  7. Use a cart or wheelbarrow to move things.
  8. Use lightweight hoses for watering.
  9. Keeps loads light. Buy smaller bags of dirt and mulch. They might be more costly but they will save your back.
  10. Use ergonomic tools for pruning and planting. Buy long handled tools so you don’t have to reach as far.
  11. Keep your body straight and get under the wheelbarrow to tilt it. Stand straight while emptying the wheelbarrow.
  12. While mowing the lawn, keep a comfortable distance between your hands and your body.
  13. If you experience any pain while doing lawn work or gardening, stop.
  14. Do gentle stretches when you are finished gardening to prevent tightness/pain the following day.

Frozen Shoulder

What is Frozen Shoulder?

Frozen shoulder has an idiopathic gradual onset resulting in pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion. Due to pain, the person tends to use the shoulder less.  Frozen shoulder causes the shoulder joint to become inflamed resulting in thickening, scarring, and shrinkage of the joint capsule that surrounds the shoulder joint. Scar tissue and adhesions form around the shoulder joint resulting in chronic stiffness.

 Some reasons people may get a frozen shoulder are from having poor posture, prolonged immobility from a previous injury, diabetes, or disuse from pain. Research shows, frozen shoulder is often the first sign of undiagnosed diabetes.  This is more commonly found in women over 50 years old. 

 Diligent physical therapy is the key to recovering from a frozen shoulder. Rehabilitation from a frozen shoulder can take weeks to months, depending on the severity. Your therapist may apply heat and ultrasound to warm up the joint and instruct you in stretching/strengthening exercises to restore the range of motion and strength of your shoulder. Ice is often applied after exercises to reduce inflammation.

Auto Accident Injury, Do I see a Physical Therapist or a Chiropractor

After an auto accident, it is common to sustain an acute injury to your muscles. An acute injury has a rapid onset and involves an inflammatory process of the soft tissues. Soft tissue injuries consist of the muscles, fascia, and tendons. A neck and back injury is the most common injury sustained from an auto accident.

For an acute injury, it is best to visit your local physical therapist because therapists are trained to rehabilitate injured muscle in a conservative manner. After an auto accident, physical therapy focuses on decreasing muscle tightness and inflammation, which is ultimately causing pain and decreasing function.

If you have tried physical therapy for approximately 6 weeks and have not seen any results, it is recommended you contact your physician. Your physician might at that point suggest seeking chiropractic care and or imaging tests. After an auto accident, most people receive positive results with approximately 6 weeks of physical therapy.

Open vs. Closed Fracture

An open fracture is an injury that not only damages the bone but will break the skin. This can cause the bone to protrude out of the skin. Surgery is required to repair the bone and to close the wound in the skin. Antibiotics may also be necessary to prevent infection.

A closed fracture occurs when there is bone breakage but no break in the skin. Typically bruising and swelling are present at the fracture site.