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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.

The Benefits of Shape-up Shoes

Shape-up Shoes
Shape-up Shoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shape-up shoes are a new trend in the fitness world.  They are designed to challenge your balance while walking; therefore, increasing muscle tone to your calf, hamstring, core, and gluteus muscles.  There are many different brands that make these types of shoes and each brand has a different take on the idea. The Shape- up shoe has a built up sole which brings your center of gravity in a more forward position.  Therefore, your hamstrings, gluteus, calf, and core musculature are firing greater to maintain your balance.  Compared to wearing normal sneakers, you are working these muscles more with activity. 

 These shoes are beneficial to people that enjoy walking for exercise and would like to target their hamstring, gluteus, core, and calf muscles.  As with ankle/hand weights, shape-ups are another device to challenge your muscles in a different way with weight bearing exercise.  For people who work out at the gym or run, this will not substitute your typical exercise routine.  This is something you could add to your routine to challenge your balance, while performing your workout. 

 A lot of these shoes have a rocker bottom sole.  Rocker bottom sole shoes have been used for years to help treat patients with certain foot conditions.  However, most of the shoes made years ago are not stylish so compliance is always an issue.  With Shape-up shoes, they have inadvertently made a shoe with a rocker bottom that is in vogue.  Below are some reasons why a person would benefit from a rocker bottom sole shoe.   

 Depending where the rocker bottom is placed, it has different benefits.  If the rocker bottom is placed behind the ball of the foot, it aids in putting less pressure on the ball of the foot and the big toe.  Therefore, many people use this type of shoe to help diminish foot pain with walking.  When the rocker point is thicker in the back of the shoe, this limits ankle and mid-foot motion.  This helps to limit pressure placed on the heel of the foot.  

 Shape-ups should not be worn by people with balance disorders, chronic back pain, or a history of ankle pain.  If you are unsure if you are a candidate for these shoes, consult your doctor or physical therapist.

Tips to Reduce Back Pain While Driving

Most car manufacturers develop their seating options based on the aesthetics of the car versus the comfort of the driver and passenger.  Back pain can develop or increase from improper seating posture while driving.  Finding the correct seating setting is beneficial, especially for people that drive as an occupation. Therefore, listed below are some tips to reduce back pain while driving.

  1. Avoid driving for more than 2 hours at a time. Get out of the car, walk, and stretch your legs.
  2. Sit with your bottom all way back in the seat and use the vehicles built in lumbar support to provide cushion to your lumbar spine. If you don’t have a lumbar support, roll up a towel and place it in the curve of your low back.
  3. The back rest should have about a 10-15 degree incline. Most people tend to have the back rest too far tilted backward.
  4. Your knees should have about a 45 degree bend. You don’t want your legs so straight that you are reaching for the pedals. It you are short, some dealerships sell pedal extensions.
  5. Use cruise control while on long highway driving.
  6. Try to maintain good posture, and make sure you have good visibility with your mirrors.
  7. Take the wallet out of your back pocket and avoid wearing a tight belt. This can add pressure to the back.
  8. For long car trips, adjust your seat every 30 minutes. To prevent constant pressure on the same areas on your body, slightly adjust the backrest angle.

Benefits of Massage

Many people receive massages to relieve stress and relax their mind and body.  Physical Therapists use massage techniques along with exercise to achieve functional improvements. Physical therapists are trained to perform therapeutic massages to promote healing of an injury.  Not all physical therapy patients receive massage techniques.  The use of massage techniques for your specific condition is determined by your physical therapist. 

Some benefits of massage are increasing joint flexibility, promoting tissue regeneration, decreasing scar tissue, decreasing swelling, decreasing muscle spasms, relaxing overused muscles, improving circulation, decreasing stress, improving posture, decreasing blood pressure, managing pain, and increasing range of motion.

 If you are interested in learning more about the use of therapeutic massage for your condition, please contact us.

Hip Bursitis

According to the AAOS (The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons), hip bursitis is the inflammation of the bursa, a small jelly-like sac that contains a small amount of fluid. Bursas are found in several joints of the body, such as, the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, and heel. The bursa provides a cushion within the joint.  This helps to decrease the amount of friction between the muscles moving around the joint.

Symptoms of hip bursitis include pain at the outside of the hip joint and side of the leg. The pain can be sharp initially and become achy later. Pain increases at night when side-lying on the affected hip and transferring from a chair after sitting long-term. Pain can also be present with walking, stair climbing, and squatting.

Some causes for hip bursitis can include repetitive stress, landing on your hip during a fall, a leg length issue, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Treatment for hip bursitis may include modifying activities that cause pain, anti-inflammatory medication, using a cane or crutch to take weight off of the affected leg, physical therapy, and possibly cortisone injections.

Physical therapy helps to reduce inflammation in the bursa by the use of ice, ultrasound, stretching, and strengthening exercises.

What is a Stress Fracture?

A stress fracture is an incomplete fracture of bone caused by repetitive stress.  It is found within a weight bearing bone, such as the bones within the foot. A stress fracture has also been termed a “hairline fracture”. Symptoms of a stress fracture include tenderness in the area and pain with weight bearing.

Stress fractures commonly occur in athletes that play sports requiring excessive running.  They also occur in sedentary people who begin to exercise.  This happens because their body is not used to exercise; therefore, it is overwhelmed by the repetitive weight bearing forces.  Stress fractures can occur from muscle fatigue.  Our muscles help to provide stability, support, and shock absorption for our bones.  If these muscles become fatigued, our muscles ability to perform the role of shock absorption decreases.  This causes increased risk for a possible fracture. 

After a stress fracture, rehabilitation consists of decreasing weight bearing on the fractured bone to allow it to heal.  After the bone heals, physical therapy is often recommended to strengthen the muscles surrounding the injured bone to return the patient back to all daily activities and to prevent re-injury.

Types of Medications Commonly Taken by Patients

Pain Medication

Some examples of pain medication are oxycodone, motrin, and codeine.  When you experience pain, the nerves in the body send a signal to the brain so you perceive pain.  Pain medications decrease pain by slowing down or blocking the pain signal to your brain.

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS)

The most common NSAID is aspirin.  Prostagladins are synthesized by cyclooxygenase to cause inflammation.  By taking a NSAID, it inhibits cyclooxgenase.  This prevents this cycle from taking place, causing decreased pain/inflammation.  There are COX1 and COX2 enzymes and aspirin inhibits both.  COX1 enzymes help to protect the stomach and kidney lining.  Therefore, a side effect to taking aspirin is gastric damage and decreased renal function.

Muscle Relaxants

Examples of muscle relaxants are baclofen, flexeril, and skelaxin. Muscle relaxants are used to treat muscle spasm and spasticity.  They are used to decrease muscle excitability by acting on the spinal cord or directly within the muscle fiber. Muscle relaxants increase the activity of GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) receptors, which inhibit excitatory neurons. This causes the skeletal muscle to receive fewer signals and relax.

All the above medications are commonly taken while receiving physical therapy.  They help the patient to progress through physical therapy by alleviating pain, inflammation, and muscle spasm.  These medications should be regulated by a physician to insure proper dosage and duration of usage.