Give Relief to Your Aching Joints and Muscles

Tips to Relieve Your Aching Joint and Muscles

Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder in the United States, with the prevalence upwards to 30% for those 60 years old and over.   Furthermore, this incidence is expected to rise with the baby boomer generation as well as life expectancy both increasing in age. Along with pain and limited joint mobility, the diagnosis of osteoarthritis is generally accompanied by high occurrences of disability when in the knee and hip; as it accounts for more difficulty with climbing stairs and walking than any other disease. Fortunately, there are many things you can do and risk factors you can avoid which will help reduce your risk of developing symptoms from osteoarthritis as well as functional imitations.

Some modifiable risk factors include weight management, repetitive use, and muscle weakness. In regards to weight management and osteoarthritis, those individuals with a BMI greater than 30 have a 60% chance, roughly double, the risk of developing symptoms from arthritis than those with a lower BMI. To help manage your BMI, consultation with a primary care physician and nutritionist may help, as well as starting a safe, supervised exercise program such as the ones offered at the Physical Therapy and Wellness Institute. In regards to repetitive use, activity modification can help reduce wear and tear on joints resulting in further breakdown and increased pain. Things like reorganizing cabinets to move things off lower shelves; using a bench or stool while gardening or performing other household ADL’s, or raising the height of seating can reduce the incidence of kneeling, crouching, and squatting.

Lastly (and most importantly!) is to improve the strength of surrounding muscles and keeping moving. Improved strength of lower extremity muscles reduces forces through weight bearing arthritic joints, reducing force and strain that cause pain and further breakdown. Additionally, movement creates fluid exchange within a joint which can help to reduce pain, improve range of motion, and restore function. Starting an exercise program to help manage your arthritis pain, or prevent further breakdown and functional imitation is easy! Just stop by any one of our six centers for a free consultation!

PTW’s Jim Fagnani, DPT is the clinical supervisor of our West Norriton office.  For an initial evaluation, call for an appointment today at 610-630-0101 for an appointment as soon as possible, no prescription needed!  Our use of specialized manual techniques, modalities, and treatment regiments will help reduce inflammation and scar tissue, restore strength, and improve range of motion.

Tips to Reduce Those Gardening Pains!

It’s that time of year again, Gardening season!

I know that as a physical therapist, I often hear from injured patients, “I want to get back to gardening again.” With that being said here are some tips for safe and pain-free gardening.

1. Stretch first! Do a little light stretching of your quadriceps, hamstrings, and piriformis. 

• This helps to reduce the strain on your low back and knees

      2. Check your form! 

• Avoid bending at your back!

      3. Use assistive devices such as foam pads to kneel on or a low stool to sit on                to avoid bending over the whole time and stressing your back!

      4. Watch the length of time you do this activity!

• Avoid squatting, kneeling, or bending over for more than about 15-20 minutes at a time. 

PTW’s Stephanie McDougal, PT, DPT provides expert clinical care and is a vestibular/concussion specialist at our Montgomeryville Clinic, located in the Costco Shopping center on Upper State Road, just off route 309.   For an initial evaluation, call Steph at 215 855 1160 today for an appointment as soon as possible!

Running Season = Running Injuries, We have Solutions!

There are a whole lot of us in need of recovery and some treatment with running season upon us, especially with the biggest run in the Philadelphia area, The Broad Street Run, a month behind us! (The first Broad Street Run was in 1980 with 1,576 runners growing to over 40,000 runners in 2012)
Marathons have also exploded in popularity. The first Boston Marathon was in 1897 with only 18 runners. The New York City Marathon in 1971 had 137 runners growing to over 46,500 runners in 2011 and had over 93,000 applicants.
According to a Satterthwaite et al. study in 1999, the injury rate may be as high as 90% for runners training for a marathon. The five most common injuries for runners are patellofemoral pain syndrome, iliotibial band syndrome, plantar fasciitis, tibial stress syndrome, and meniscal injury.(Taunton et al. 2002). 
One thing that's true of runners is that we are crazy about running, and will take a break only when absolutely necessary. Even when we are banged up, we try to figure out a way to keep going. One of the best ways to do this is to continue with cardiovascular training without the repetitive pounding and compressive forces on our bodies.

Crystal Burnick, Broad Street Run Winner pictured above.
Trained & rehabbed on the Alter G.

The Alter-G, anti gravity treadmill, is an amazing way to do just that! It will allow you to get
back on your feet by decreasing the stress on tendons and muscle and with decrease the joint reaction forces through weight bearing surfaces. If you are struggling with one of these five common injuries listed above, or struggling with something completely different, do yourself a favor and look up the Alter-G at the The Physical Therapy and Wellness institute (PTW). PTW has an Alter-G in three of our five locations. They are located in Glenside, West Norriton and now Montgomeryville. 
Call us up, or stop in for a visit and take a free test run and experience the difference. Do your body a favor and take care of it as you have those summer and even fall runs in mind. Make sure that you will be ready run and injury free.

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Opioids to Physical Therapy...one part of a solution

I recently got back from a conference where the overwhelming discussions were about Narcotics and the opioid epidemic.  Its a daily conversation any with Physical Therapists, Doctors, and most health care providers.  Conversations about collaborative efforts to reduce opioid use included Physical Therapy for pain management strategies, holistic modalities such as electrical stimulation, and TENS units.

Statistics are everywhere that suggest the problem is a large one:

Some statistics via The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which released guidelines in March 2016 encouraging health care providers to try safer alternatives like physical therapy for most pain management:

1. In 2012, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid pain medication, enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills.

2. As many as 1 in 4 people who receive prescription opioids long term for noncancer pain in primary care settings struggles with addiction.

3. Sales of prescription opioids have nearly quadrupled since 1999.

4. Deaths related to prescription opioids have quadrupled.

5. Heroin-related overdose deaths more than quadrupled between 2002 and 2014, and people addicted to prescription opioids are 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin.

6. More than 165,000 persons in the United States have died from opioid pain-medication-related overdoses since 1999.

7. Every day, more than 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids.

Do you know someone in pain?

Encourage them to talk to their physician about seeing a physical therapist for safe ways to manage pain.

(information is from the American Physical Therapy public campaign  to battle the opioid epidemic.
 http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2016/6/7/ChoosePTCampaignLaunch/)

Bob Babb, PT