General Health

Avoiding Back Pain While Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner

Cooking for long periods of time can take a toll on your back. Here are some tips you can use to safely prepare your Thanksgiving meal without developing back pain.

When lifting the turkey, hold the pan close to your body as you take it to the oven. Bend at your knees, not at your lower back, as you lower it onto the oven rack. When taking the turkey out, bend at your knees and pull the rack out keeping your back straight while lifting the turkey out. Keep the turkey close to you. Pivot your feet without twisting your back, to bring the turkey to the counter top.

While peeling potatoes or slicing vegetables, you can prevent your back from hurting by either sitting down or by opening a lower cabinet door and setting one foot on the shelf. This takes weight off the back and prevents you from leaning forward as you work at the counter.

When you are cleaning up after your meal and putting things into the dishwasher, limit bending forward. Kneel down and have someone hand you the dirty dishes, or bend at the knees and keep your back straight while lowering plates to the bottom rack.

Osteoporosis and Physical Therapy

The most important exercises you can do to decrease bone loss are weight bearing exercises. When you are performing weight bearing exercises, muscles and tendons pull on the bones to stimulate bone cells to produce more bone.

Walking, running, jumping, tennis, basketball, dance, aerobics and other team sports are great ways to increase bone mass. Performing exercises that involve a weight bearing component have been shown in studies to promote increase bone mass. Examples of these include push-ups, squats, and lunges.

If you have osteoporosis or osteopenia, Harbor Physical Therapy can create a custom exercise program to help improve your bone mass. This will help decrease the likelihood of fractures and injury. Please contact Harbor Physical Therapy for more information.

Staying Hydrated with Exercise

Drinking too much or being dehydration can decrease your workout productivity. To determine if you are well hydrated, take a look at your urine volume and color. If your urine is light yellow in color and you are going on a regular basis (every 3 to 4 hours), you are well hydrated. If your urine is dark, you are dehydrated.

It is important to make sure you are well hydrated before working out. It is recommended to drink between 8 to 16 ounces of water 15 minutes before your workout. During your workout, it is recommended to drink 4 to 8 ounces every 15-20 minutes. If you are working out vigorously for over 90 minutes, it is recommended you drink 8 to 10 ounces of a sports drink every 15 to 30 minutes.

Headaches

Headaches can be related to muscle tightness.  Tension in the neck muscles can radiate symptoms to the jaw, shoulder, or head. For example, tightness in the upper trapezius muscle (on the top of the shoulder) is a frequent cause for pain in the temples. Tight muscles in the back of the head underneath the skull can cause headaches in the back of the head or radiate pain to the forehead. Cervical spine tightness can also trigger migraines. Poor posture, muscle weakness, and spinal alignment can all contribute to headaches.

Physical Therapy will decrease muscle tightness, restore mobility to the joints, improve postural awareness, improve body mechanics with daily activities, and improve strength and stability. Physical therapist use modalities such as moist heat, ice, soft tissue massage, manual techniques, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, stretching, and postural strengthening exercises to provide treatment for headaches.

If you suffer from headaches, tight neck muscles might be the cause. Contact Harbor Physical Therapy for an evaluation to determine if your headaches are related to muscle tightness.

Muscle Stiffness

Muscle Stiffness

Many people suffer from muscle stiffness in the morning.  There are many reasons for morning muscle stiffness such as; poor sleeping positions, arthritis, obesity, poor diet, dehydration and having a sedentary lifestyle.

Listed below are examples of ways to decrease muscle stiffness:

  1. Applying heat
  2. Stretching throughout the day
  3. Improve sleeping position- such as, sleeping on your side with a pillow between your knees.
  4. Taking a shower/bath in the morning followed by stretching
  5. Being active throughout the day

To learn specific exercises that can help decrease your morning muscle stiffness, make an appointment at Harbor Physical Therapy. The physical therapist will create a home exercise program and educate you on specific ways to help reduce your discomfort.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Definition and Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

The carpal tunnel is a band of fibrous tissue that supports the wrist joint. The median nerve travels down the forearm through this tunnel to the hand. When there is a thickening of the tendon, compression or inflammation in this tunnel, you can have pain or numbness that travels to the thumb, index and middle fingers. Symptoms are usuallyhttp://www.machtmedicalgroup.com/wp-admin/categories.php worse during the night or first thing in the morning. This is most likely due to flexing the wrist while sleeping. Carpal tunnel syndrome can also lead to weakness in grip strength.

Causes of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

Some people think carpal tunnel syndrome is most common among people who type all day at work. Surprisingly, there are more common causes. Carpal tunnel is most common among assembly line workers. Other occupations that can contribute to carpal tunnel are sewing, cleaning, using vibrating tools, and packaging meat or poultry. Other conditions that can cause carpal tunnel are pregnancy, obesity, diabetes, hypothyroidism, arthritis and many repetitive work injuries.

Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

Treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome can include the use of anti-inflammatory medication, corticosteroids, and physical therapy. A physical therapist will perform modalities such as ultrasound, massage, ice, heat and electrical stimulation to reduce inflammation and pain. A therapist will provide exercises consisting of stretching and strengthening exercises to improve the function of the hand.

Hamstring Strain

A hamstring strain is an injury to the hamstring muscle. A severe hamstring strain can result in a tear of the muscle. Hamstring strains usually occur during running, jumping and climbing and are very common among sprinters, hurdle jumpers and football players.

The hamstring is made up of 3 muscles, the semitendinosus, semimembranosis and the biceps femoris muscles. These muscles are responsible for bending your knee and extending your hip.

Symptoms of a hamstring strain include a sharp pain in the back of the leg, pain with bending over and stretching the hamstring muscles, and pain when contracting the hamstring muscle. Sometimes there may be bruising or swelling.

It is important to rest, ice, compress and elevate for the first 48 hours. Then, begin gentle stretching to tolerance.

Next, make an appointment with a physical therapist. The physical therapist will perform modalities such as ultrasound, massage and electrical stimulation to decrease pain and swelling. The physical therapist will instruct you in exercise to improve flexibility and regain strength.

Back Pain and Physical Therapy

An episode of back pain can last anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks. Seeing a physical therapist can decrease your healing time and prevent further injury.

Typical treatment will consist of heat or cold packs, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, massage, stretching, postural education, and lumbar stabilization exercises.

Stretching exercises are performed to restore your flexibility and motion. Strengthening exercises are performed to increase the muscular support of your spine to prevent further injury.

Arthritis

Arthritis can cause stiffness, pain, deformity and loss of function of the joints in your body. Physical therapy can help to decrease pain and restore mobility with the use of exercises and modalities.

A physical therapist can instruct you in exercises to help increase flexibility and improve muscle strength around the joint. Working daily on a home exercise program, will help to prevent loss of the use of your joints and preserve muscle strength.
If you suffer from arthritis, see your local physical therapist to create a home program to help improve your quality of life.