Strains and sprains with the Fall and Winter Sport Seasons

Fall and Winter sports season is upon us.

Mark Schoettle, Doctor of PT

Athletes return to school which means a return to sports such as football, soccer, field hockey, and volleyball, basketball, and indoor tract.  Given many of these athletes will play for multiple teams including school and club teams, these athletes are at risk for overuse injuries.

Each of the above sports involves explosive dynamic movements be it sprinting, cutting, jumping, etc. If the athlete is not properly conditioned these explosive movements can lead to muscle and/or ligament sprain/strains or worse tears. Some athletes avoid the injury bug; however some, like my younger self, become afflicted and spend time on the side-lines. A minor injury can be just that, minor, if appropriately managed or can become nagging and eventually interfere with competition including within team and against opponents.

This post will highlight a common injury sustained due to overuse, poor conditioning, and previous injury. Heidersheit and colleagues, 2010 reports that high school, collegiate, and professional athletes are increasingly prone to hamstring injuries due to the sprinting demands of most sports. All of the above sports involve periods of sprinting, which increases the prevalence of hamstring strains. They reports that hamstring injuries were second only to knee sprains from 1998-2007 in a NFL player poll. The average number of days side-lined ranged between 8-25 depending on location and severity.

The Hamstring is made up of three muscles: Semi-membranosus, semi-tendinosus, and the bicep’s femoris muscles. 

Signs and symptoms of a Hamstring injury include sudden onset of posterior thigh pain followed by extreme difficulty continuing the activity due to pain. Most hamstring strains occur when the muscles are maximally stretched during terminal swing which is just prior to foot strike during sprinting (Heidersheit et al. 2010). At this point the hamstring’s role is to decelerate the limb as it prepares to contact the surface.  The most affected of the hamstring muscles is the bicep’s femoris. Pain is typically reproduced from a combination of passive knee extension and hip flexion as well as painful against a resisted knee curl or hip extension with the knee straight. Tenderness to the muscle belly and possible bruising will also be observed. 

The most common strains are grade I and II which are most commonly treated with conservative care including most importantly physical therapy. Once a hamstring injury occurs the athlete is at greater risk for recurrent strains. This places upmost importance of rehabilitation through the three phases of injury. In phase one the limb swelling is managed through icing and edema massage. Walking is limited until pain-free and without a limp. Phase two involves restoring normal ROM with progression of sub-maximal to maximal strengthening especially eccentric strengthening. This helps with proper remodeling muscle fibers. Phase three, reinstituting sport specific activity, begins once normal strength is achieved (Heidersheit et al. 2010). To achieve return to sport safely and with less risk of re-injury the athlete should then undergo return to sport functional testing carried out by a trained professional such as a licensed physical therapist.

At PTW, we have board certified physical therapists that specialize in Orthopedics and Sport injury management. We utilize the highest evidence based screening and treatment tools to successfully diagnose and treat muscle strains regardless of type or severity. Our West Norriton and Glenside locations feature the technological advance of the Alter G, zero gravity treadmill, which can be used in all phases of rehab including normalizing walking patterns and return to full pain-free sprinting. Our Lansdale location features two therapeutic pools with the benefit of maximizing muscle recovery through a controlled aquatic environment. 

At PTW we strive to exceed expectations through quicker recovery times to return to competitive play!

Do not let nagging injuries force you to miss time or play at less than your best.  Set up a free consult or initial evaluation today to begin the road to recovery! Free Alter G trials are available upon request.

Reference

Bryan C. Heiderscheit, Marc A. Sherry, Amy Silder, Elizabeth S. Chumanov, Darryl G. Thelen. Hamstring Strain Injuries: Recommendations for Diagnosis, Rehabilitation, and Injury Prevention. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2010;40(2):67-81

 

Marc is a graduate of Temple University’s Doctorate of Physical Therapy, and a staff Physical Therapist at our West Norriton location.gree to further specialize in the field.

Dizzy Again?

From the desk of Steph McDougal, DPT

Room-Spinning Dizziness? 

You dizzy today?

If you are suffering from room-spinning dizziness that seems to just all of the sudden appeared when, it might just be Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) or more commonly known as just vertigo.

Here are some common signs/symptoms of vertigo:

·      

         -  Brief episodes of mild to intense dizziness.

·       - A sense that you or your surrounding are spinning or moving.

·       - Dizziness that is triggered by position changes of your head. (tiping your head up or down, lying    

               down, rolling over, or sitting up in bed, etc. )

·       - Symptoms that seem to have started with any precipitating cause.

·       - Nausea  and/or vomiting

·      -  Balance disturbances or feeling of unsteadiness

 So what’s going on?

Vertigo is a disorder of the inner ear, it is idiopathic in nature, meaning there is no known cause for it. It generally affects people age 50 or older and is more common in women than men.  It happens when small crystals in your ear become dislodged from and fall into these three loop-shaped structures called your semicircular canals. Because that is not where they should be you get a false sense of movement which leads you to feel dizzy. 

Have No Fear!

Stephanie McDougal, DPT, at the PTW Montgomeryville is an expert in BPPV, Vertigo, and Concussions, Steph can do a series of tests and treatments to help get those crystals back to where they should be, getting you back to your levels of function and performance once again. 

Celebrate (and we love to celebrate!!!) good health!!

October is National Physical Therapy month, celebrating living healthy. 

Just this morning, we had the chance to spread the word on the North Penn's only radio station, WNPV 1440 am.  (http://tunein.com/radio/WNPV-1440-s21529/)

Here are some highlights of the talk....

Physical Therapist will help you get active, here are some facts...




1. Chronic pain doesn't have to be the boss of you.
Each year 116 million Americans experience chronic pain from arthritis or other conditions, costing billions of dollars in medical treatment, lost work time, and lost wages. Proper exercise, mobility, and pain management techniques can ease pain while moving and at rest, improving your overall quality of life.

2. You can get stronger when you're older.
Research shows that improvements in strength and physical function are possible in your 60s, 70s, and even 80s and older with an appropriate exercise program. Progressive resistance training, in which muscles are exercised against resistance that gets more difficult as strength improves, has been shown to prevent frailty.

3. You may not need surgery or drugs for low back pain. 
Low back pain is often over treated with surgery and drugs despite a wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating that physical therapy can be an effective alternative—and with much less risk than surgery and long-term use of prescription medications.

4. You can lower your risk of diabetes with exercise.
One in four Americans over the age of 60 has diabetes.  Obesity and physical inactivity can put you at risk for this disease. But a regular, appropriate physical activity routine is one of the best ways to prevent—and manage—type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

5. Exercise can help you avoid falls—and keep your independence
About one in three U.S. adults age 65 or older will fall each year. More than half of adults over 65 report problems with movement, including walking 1/4 mile, stooping and standing. Exercise can improve movement and balance and reduce your risk of falls. It can also reduce your risk of hip fractures (95 percent of which are caused by falls).

6. Your bones want you to exercise.
Osteoporosis or weak bones affects more than half of Americans over the age of 54. Exercises that keep you on your feet, like walking, jogging, or dancing, and exercises using resistance, such as weightlifting, can improve bone strength or reduce bone loss.

7. Your heart wants you to exercise.
Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the US. One of the top ways of preventing it and other cardiovascular diseases? Exercise! Research shows that if you already have heart disease, appropriate exercise can improve your health.

8. Your brain wants you to exercise.
People who are physically active—even later in life—are less likely to develop memory problems or Alzheimer's disease, a condition which affects more than 40% of people over the age of 85.

Get on out to the Physical Therapy & Wellness Institute today to see how we can make a difference.

www.ptwinstitute.com

Organizational Management, Healthcare, and Company Culture

In order to separate promotional content from business management content, we have added an additional Blog. 


http://www.organizationalmanagementforthehealthcareindusty.com/2015/09/culture-brand-connection-2015.html


http://www.organizationalmanagementforthehealthcareindusty.com

Please take a peak at it, your future reference for organizational management in the healthcare world.

Shut up and Listen!!

We’ve all experienced this scenario.  You go to a doctor’s office and wait for 30 minutes to have the nurse bring you back to the examination room.  Then, wait another 15 minutes to have the assistant come in and ask questions.  Finally, after another 15 minutes, a doctor comes in and spends an even shorter period of time with you before he leaves the room, all for you to end up with a prescription in your hand for some medicine that you never wanted in the first place.  Not only are you frustrated because you waited an hour but you felt like you didn’t get to fully explain the problems you are having so he can properly treat you. 

At PTW, we teach our clinicians to actively listen so we can help to meet our patients’ goals.   

Effective listening and communication skills are part of our training, such as;

• Learning to let the patient talk.  Clinicians are not mind readers, so we have to listen.  During the subjective examination, more than half of the conversation should be spoken by the patient.  Not the clinician.
• Body language.  Studies have shown that >50% of the communication is nonverbal.  Can we say eye contact?  Watching a patient’s body language often helps us understand the patient better. 
• Ask open ended question and narrow it down with close ended questions.  Questions that start with “why” invite a defensive response but questions start with “what” leads to productive communication.
• Process before you speak.  It’s okay to pause and respond thoroughly.  Very quick response can feel like there’s no understanding of what was said. 

Once a diagnosis is figured out, our clinicians understand how to summarize the problem in a simple way, and have a game plan with your goals in mind.  It is crucial to discuss the diagnosis and get the patient’s thoughts to come up with a mutually agreeable treatment plan to meet their goals.  

If your physical therapist does not listen, consider coming in to PTW for a complementary screening at any of our 5 locations.  

Andrew Seo, DPT

PTW Montgomeryville