By fitstoppt 10 Feb, 2016 Advice, Fitness, Health Tips, Injury, Pain Management, Physical Therapy conservative, exercise, health, how to, ligament, physical therapy, sprain, treatment Most of us have been there before; many of us probably didn’t even realize it. Maybe it happened while you were playing soccer. Football? It might have been while skiing, playing basketball, running, slipping, tripping, or even simply reaching up and over your head (trust me – we’ve seen it all). Today we’ve got one of our sports injury specialists, Jared Beckstrand, PT, DPT, talking all about ligament sprains – what they are, how you get them, and some advice about some of your options once you have one! A word of advice – don’t call your surgeon until you’ve read this through!!
More By fitstoppt 03 Feb, 2016 Advice, At Home, Back Pain, FAQ, Health, Healthcare, Injury, Low Back Pain, Pain Management, Physical Therapy back, decompression, health, healthy, injury, neck, pain, spine, traction You may have heard about non-surgical spinal decompression on TV or radio ads. You may have heard the claims that it can be a wonderful miracle which eliminates your back and neck pain. The truth is…it can be. If spinal decompression is the right treatment for you it can be a critical component in relieving your pain. It can also backfire and increase your symptoms. The question lies in whether or not it is the right treatment for you. As the experts in musculoskeletal treatment, your physical therapist is the best choice for learning if spinal decompression will help treat your symptoms. Today one of our spine care specialists, Cameron Garber, PT, DPT is sharing some insight into this treatment method so you can make an educated decision on whether or not it’s right for you.
More By fitstoppt 29 Jan, 2016 Advice, At Home, Back Pain, Core Strength, Exercise, Fitness, Injury, Low Back Pain, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Wellness at home, back, how to, low back, lumbar, pain, spine, symptoms, treat One of the best parts of my job as a physical therapist is the opportunity I have to get to know my patients on a personal level. Physical therapists are unique in the healthcare field because we are able to spend a significant amount of one-on-one time with each of our patients (typical visits last about an hour). In comparison to the busy world of medicine, this is a welcome change of pace for patients. During this time together, I enjoy hearing their stories. I find the history behind my patient’s physical challenges and rehabilitation truly inspirational. A fairly unique aspect about working in such close proximity to a health club at the Fit Stop is to be able to see my patients through the transition from rehabilitation to wellness in the gym. I get excited when I see that transition happen!
More
By fitstoppt 22 Jan, 2016 Advice, At Home, Exercise, FAQ, Health, Healthcare, Injury, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Wellness exercise, headache, how to, neck pain, pain, physical therapy, stretch, tension I have a question for all of you fellow laptop cradlers and cell phone junkies: Are you often plagued by neck or shoulder pain or tightness which slowly works its way up the back of your head and becomes a nagging headache? Often you eventually feel the headache settle behind your eyes and you can even get blurry vision. More often than not you blame it on your desk, on staring at the computer screen or on your work. Although these are contributing factors, the biggest problem is with your posture! Today one of our spine specialists, Cameron Garber, PT, DPT is talking all about shoulder and neck tension/pain – what it is, why you get it, and what you can do to eliminate it!
More By fitstoppt 15 Jan, 2016 Advice, At Home, Back Pain, Exercise, FAQ, Health Tips, Healthcare, Low Back Pain, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Tips, Wellness back pain, low back, lumbar, stiff, stretch, stretches, tight Who amongst us hasn’t experienced some degree of low back pain before? Collectively it’s the most-common complaint we see in our physical therapy clinics. Luckily there’s a lot that PT can do for it, and all it starts with stretching structures that are tight and strengthening areas that are weak. Today one of our low back pain experts, Jared Beckstrand, PT, DPT is sharing 5 of his favorite stretches to help relax that tight back and alleviate some of the pain you may be experiencing. Read more below!
More By fitstoppt 04 Jan, 2016 Advice, At Home, Back Pain, FAQ, Injury, Low Back Pain, Pain Management, Physical Therapy back, back pain, best, bulged disc, herniated disc, inversion table, low back, pain, sciatica, stenosis, traction, treatment Will an Inversion Table help my Low Back Pain?
As a physical therapist, I have heard many, many very interesting treatment approaches for low back pain (LBP). We as human beings have actually gotten pretty creative in treating LBP. From the more mainstream approaches of modern medicine, to the more “alternative” approach, there is much to choose from out there. Because of the myriad of options, it can be pretty difficult to know exactly where to start, and what to focus on. Today one of our back pain specialists, Toby Bluth, PT, DPT, weighs in on one of these treatments – inversion tables. Learn the how, why, and what behind this treatment and whether or not you could benefit from it! Keep reading for more…
More By fitstoppt 18 Dec, 2015 Advice, FAQ, Health, Health Tips, Injury, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Wellness, Workout cause, hip, pain, physical therapy, rehabilitation, symptoms, treat In our Fit Stop clinics one regular complaint that we hear from our patients and gym members is related to hip pain. Whether it occurs in the front, the side, or the back – it’s amazing how debilitating pain in this area can be! One would think that issues in this area should be fairly straight-forward to rehabilitate. However, given the multiple muscles, tendons, joints, and bones that are located in this area this pain can actually be quite tricky to diagnose. Today we have one of our orthopedic specialists, Toby Bluth, PT, DPT, here to discuss the 5 most common kinds of hip pain as well as the most likely cause of that pain. Keep reading for more!
More By fitstoppt 14 Dec, 2015 At Home, Exercise, Fitness, Health, Healthcare, Injury, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Shoulder Pain exercise, fitness, frozen, injury, pain, physical therapy, rehab, shoulder Today on the Fit Stop Blog I would like to discuss one of the most painful conditions that I see regularly – the dreaded, miserable, absolutely debilitating – frozen shoulder (FS), (AKA adhesive capsulitis). Now, FS is truly a painful son of a gun. Growing up as the son of a physical therapist, I used to observe my father from time to time in the clinic. I remember watching him work with these poor patients who had FS, and they would be in tears from the stretching. I used to think to myself, well, that doesn’t look like a whole lot of fun, for either patient or therapist! I wondered if the field of PT was really for me after observing some of those treatments. Well, fast forward a few years later, and here I am blogging about this all-too-common condition. FS is a very interesting condition, and actually not very well understood. Today, I will discuss what it is, and why we think certain people actually get it.
More By fitstoppt 04 Dec, 2015 Advice, At Home, FAQ, Health, Healthcare, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Wellness home care, home health, physical therapy, rehab, rehabilitation, treatment There are many different facets of the physical therapy profession. Most of the time when we think “physical therapy” we primarily think of sprains, strains, post-surgery, and sports rehab. But did you know that’s only a very small part of what physical therapists do? Many work in hospitals (inpatient settings) to help people recovering from an illness, accident, or surgery. Others work in neurological settings and help those who have experienced a brain or spinal cord injury. Still more, other physical therapists work in a “Home Care” or “Home Health” setting – they come to the homes of those patients who are “homebound” or unable to come to physical therapy without assistance. But did you know that Fit Stop actually employs a home health PT? Here to tell us more about it today on the Fit Stop Blog is our home care specialist, Tyler Bluth, PT, MPT. Keep reading to learn more!
More By fitstoppt 30 Nov, 2015 Advice, Back Pain, FAQ, Health, Health Tips, Healthcare, Injury, Knee Pain, Low Back Pain, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Shoulder Pain cold, heat, injury, modalities, modality, pain, rehab, thermal Be sure to follow Fit Stop on Facebook to stay caught up on all our health advice and tips!
Should I put heat or ice on my injury?
We’ve all heard that you’re supposed to put ice on an injury. We’ve all heard that heat can help, too. But which one is it? And how do you know? As physical therapists, this is a question that we answer all day long from our patients, so today we wanted to share this knowledge with you! One of our sports injury experts, Jared Beckstrand, PT, DPT is here to answer your questions about the implications for heat vs ice when it comes to injury management. Keep reading for more!
More
