Plantar fasciitis is a common cause of foot and heel pain that develops due to repeated activities that strain the plantar fascia, a thick band of tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot and supports the arch of the foot.  Physical therapy is highly effective in treating plantar fasciitis, using manual therapy and therapeutic exercise to reduce pain, restore function and strength in the foot, and improve foot mechanics.

Parkinson’s disease is a multifaceted neurodegenerative disease that impairs movement, coordination, and cognitive function over time. Physical therapy-led exercise is a critical component of managing Parkinson’s disease, helping to manage symptoms, and even slowing progression of the disease. Therapeutic boxing is a unique targeted exercise therapy, requiring full-body movement, combining upper-body punching sequences with lower-body footwork to build strength, counter rigidity, and improve hand-eye coordination, balance, posture, and agility.

Prehabilitation has numerous benefits for pre-surgery patients. Prehabilitation is an individualized exercise conditioning program that prepares the body for the stresses of surgery, manages symptoms, and helps restore function in the injured area as much as possible prior to surgery. 

Most gardening injuries occur gradually over time due to repetitive tasks, such as bending, lifting, squatting, and kneeling. 

The low back can be particularly susceptible to injury during gardening as bending, lifting, and squatting can cause you to twist your body into awkward positions or to overstretch, leading to muscle strains or sprains or persistent lower back pain.

As physical therapists working with patients as they recover from surgery and injury, we recognize that nutrition can play an important role in your recovery.

Adequate nutrition during recovery from an injury can help to control inflammation, provide the necessary nutrients to rebuild and restore injured tissue, decrease the risk of muscle atrophy, and preserve muscle strength.

Healthy aging is the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age. Regular exercise can improve muscle strength, bone density, and overall fitness and balance in older adults. Physical therapy can promote healthy aging through a targeted comprehensive exercise program, including aerobic conditioning, flexibility training, resistance training, balance and gait training, and aquatic therapy.

Aquatic therapy utilizes the physical properties of water to help patients heal and regain strength, balance, and function without placing unnecessary pressure on healing joints in a safe environment. Balance is essential to your daily life, allowing you to maintain a stable, upright position when standing, walking, sitting, and climbing stairs.  Check out four ways aquatic therapy can enhance balance training!

Exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve arthritic pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion in your joints.

The goal of an exercise program for those with arthritis is to preserve or restore range of motion and flexibility in affected joints, increase muscle strength and endurance to take stress off of arthritic joints, and increase aerobic conditioning to reduce health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

Check out 7 benefits of exercise for arthritis!

Check out our 8 tips for fall sports conditioning safety. Fall sports conditioning serves as a foundation upon which the sports season's success is built and can help reduce the number of in-season injuries.

Fall sports conditioning involves a program of weight training and aerobic sport-specific conditioning that allows the athlete to slowly acclimate to the demands of the sport by gradually increasing the intensity and volume of their training over time.

Check out our three tips for backpack safety this school season!

Check out our August 2024 Newsletter, highlighting backpack and school ergonomics tips, physical therapy for swimmer's shoulder, and three golf elbow exercises.

Check out our infographic on backpack and school ergonomic tips! Carrying a backpack can have significant biomechanical, physiological, and discomfort impacts on a child during a critical time of growth, placing undue stress on the body, changing posture, and leading to back, neck and shoulder pain. Our 7 tips highlight how to ensure the backpack is loaded safely carried correctly, proper posture and lifting technique when using a backpack, and computer use safety while at school.

Golfer’s elbow is an overuse injury that develops when the flexor tendons of the forearm become inflamed due to repetitive use of the forearm, hand, wrist, and elbow. Golfer’s elbow can affect golfers, baseball and softball players, those who work on computers all day, and manual laborers in construction, carpentry, or plumbing. Physical therapy offers timely and effective treatment for golfer’s elbow to reduce pain, restore function and strength to the elbow, forearm, and wrist, and address body mechanics to prevent recurrence of the condition.

Swimmer’s shoulder is the most common swimming-related shoulder injury, often caused by overuse due to the repetitive overhead motion of the swim stroke that irritates and inflames the rotator cuff muscles and tendons, leading to pain and limited shoulder mobility. Physical therapy is one of the most effective treatments for swimmer’s shoulder, utilizing a targeted manual therapy, stretching, and strength and conditioning exercise program to restore shoulder function, mobility, and strength and a safe return to competitive swimming.

Check out our July 2024 Newsletter, highlighting managing cervicogenic headaches with physical therapy, physical therapy management for scoliosis, and three shoulder stabilization exercises.

Check out our infographic on physical therapy management of scoliosis! Scoliosis is a condition that affects the normal shape of the spine, altering a person’s back alignment and posture and causing a lateral curvature of the spine. Physical therapy is an effective, non-invasive treatment method to manage scoliosis, stabilize the scoliosis curve, improve postural alignment, enhance neuromuscular control and muscular strength, and improve overall function in individuals with scoliosis.

Cervicogenic headaches are caused by musculoskeletal dysfunction in the upper cervical spine that refers pain to the head, often developing on one side of the head. Physical therapy is often the first line of treatment for cervicogenic headaches and can help manage pain and address the underlying cause of the headache pain through a targeted manual therapy and strengthening exercises program.

A sports hernia involves weakening or tearing in the muscles, tendons, or ligaments of the lower abdominal and groin area that leads to chronic pain, often caused by repetitive and forceful twisting of your pelvis. Sports hernias are most seen in soccer players due to the dynamic nature of the sport, rapid changes in direction, intense sprinting, and repetitive twisting and turning when kicking. Physical therapy can help athletes manage and recover from a sports hernia, addressing underlying muscular imbalances that contributed to injury through targeted exercise, core strengthening, and manual therapy.

Check out our June 2024 Newsletter, highlighting 7 benefits of exercise for individuals with arthritis, benefits of physical therapy after a stroke infographic, and physical therapy's role in osteoporosis management.

Following a stroke, physical therapy is essential to help stroke survivors regain strength, coordination, balance, and motor control as well as address stroke-related physiological impairments through a supervised and customized exercise program. A stroke occurs when the blood flow to an area of the brain is decreased, obstructed, or stopped, which deprives the brain cells of oxygen, causing cell death. Physical therapists help stroke survivors optimize their function after the stroke, enhance their level of independence, and improve their quality of life. Check out our infographic on the benefits of physical therapy after a stroke!