I recently saw an old patient of mine back in the clinic for complaints of diffuse, general muscle pain in her shoulders and neck that came on fairly suddenly. After seeing him for a few visits without significant lasting changes, I decided to ask him again about any medications that may be a contributing factor. He had [...]
Category Archives: General
Popular supplement for back pain may not be helpful
September 16, 2010 – 7:26 PM
Glucosamine is a hugely popular supplement taken by millions of people in hopes of helping with arthritic pain. It is estimated that up to 25% of all back pain suffers will try the supplement glucosamine “to see if it helps”. How helpful is it for arthritic back pain? Well, an impressive research study from the University of [...]
Does Pilates help increase abdominal and upper extremity strength and endurance?
August 1, 2010 – 2:28 PM
One of the common questions I get from patients in the clinic is “will doing Pilates help me” and then I answer their question with another question “well, what are your fitness goals?”. If you need to increase your core strength, flexibility, and muscular endurance, then the answer is an unequivocal YES! Pilates can be a [...]
Chronic neck and shoulder tightness? Check your breathing
July 4, 2010 – 1:48 AM
When I treat patients with chronic neck and shoulder pain, one of the first things I check is their breathing pattern. Sounds pretty basic, right? I mean, who really needs to be taught how to breath? You would be surprised how many people are using the wrong muscles to breath. Let’s take stroll down memory [...]
Careful what you say
June 16, 2010 – 7:16 AM
Words are powerful. They can healing but also hurtful. Most people in the health care profession understand this intuitively. Even if your body is injured, you cannot complain about your body as being “bad” or use phrases such as ”my terrible shoulder” or “my neck is really screwed up” and then expect to recover in the shortest amount of time. My patients [...]
Proximal stability before distal mobility
May 21, 2010 – 9:42 PM
If you have ever been a patient of mine, you have probably heard me talk about certain treatment principles that I strongly adhere to. One such principal is “Proximal stability before distal mobility” which simply refers to the fact that we must first have good mobility and strength along our core (mid-line structures along our spine) before we can [...]
5 strengthening exercises to avoid at the gym
May 11, 2010 – 7:16 AM
I will often get asked about weight training and which exercises should be done and others that need to be avoided. Let’s first start with the 5 to avoid so we don’t reinforce incorrect or faulty movement patterns. I’ve compiled my “top 5 list to avoid” based on my experience as a Physical Therapist. Let me give [...]
The “plastic” brain: How our thoughts, environment, and exercise can change our brain.
April 6, 2010 – 10:25 PM
There has been a long standing belief that after childhood, our brains are static, unable to change, or grow. However, researchers and scientists are now discovering that the brain itself is capable of amazing changes through its unique properties of “neuroplasticity”. I recently read a book by Norman Doidge, MD, titled “The Brain that Changes Itself”. [...]