“I really think a champion is defined not by their wins, but by how they can recover when they fall.” – Serena Williams

Have you ever experienced a pain or burning sensation on the outside of your elbow? Does it increase or become inflamed during or after you play your racquet sport of choice? Does it magically reappear when you’re casually typing away on your computer? I’ve got news for you – you are definitely not alone! 

Up to 50% of people who play racquet sports will experience Lateral Epicondylitis, the infamous Tennis Elbow (TE), at some point in their lives. Don’t let the name fool you – this condition primarily rears its ugly head most in those who partake in racquet sports and activities with similar throwing motions, but it can even infiltrate occupations with heavy arm and shoulder usage.

TE is typically related to an overuse injury of the origin attachment of the Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis and Extensor Digitorum muscles, located on the top part of your forearm by your outer elbow. These muscles are responsible for extending your hand back, affecting your swing, serve and your backstroke. When these muscles become inflamed, they can often develop micro-tears at the attachment resulting in that pain we talked about earlier while playing or working, and even loss of grip strength.

Assess, don’t guess!

There are several common approaches to treating TE, including but not limited to: cortisone injections, wearing a brace, a recommendation to rest, and our favorite – a referral to a Physical Therapist!

No one likes the idea of taking a year off from the sport, and although cortisone injections and bracing can provide temporary relief (at best), there’s always the possibility that another flare up can occur down the road. Physical Therapy is the only treatment that is proven to be effective in both short and long term. Through an assess, don’t guess method, we are able to create a customized program focused on resetting your system by relieving pain then restoring normal wrist, elbow and shoulder motion. We are then able to reload that arm to make sure this condition doesn’t sneak it’s way back into your game.

In the meantime, there are steps you can take to decrease your pain. One way is by performing scapular retractions, where, keeping the arms relaxed and pulling the shoulder blades back and together, helps stabilize the shoulder on the back. Additionally, a wrist extensor stretch can help begin to relieve symptoms. This can be done by extending the affected arm straight out in front of you with the palm facing downward, and pulling the wrist down while turning the hand to the outside to feel a stretch.

In addition to these exercises, ice applied to the area of pain for 10-15 minutes at a time can help decrease pain and swelling while playing your sport or during a flare up of symptoms.

Until next time,

• Dr. K

The post Tennis Elbow, Shmennis Elbow appeared first on Physio Room.

Injuries happen. They’re part of every sport or activity, and typically will happen to almost everyone at some point over their training career. Often when people step into our office, they tell us about the single movement that led to the ache or pain that they are experiencing. Unfortunately, except in the case of significant trauma (ex: NFL running back tears his ACL while being tackled) this is almost never the case. Overuse injuries, or even “tweaks” do not happen in a vacuum. They’re not caused by that one, single wrong movement. They are often caused by many, repetitive wrong movements and choices that could have been improved along the way. But what else impacts the severity or frequency of injuries we deal with?

There are many factors involved in almost every issue we face, and it is hard to determine exactly how much of a role each factor plays. Let’s explore some of the most important ones you should consider. 

Rethinking Running Injuries – 4 Causes You Should Be Aware Of

Sleep

Prioritizing sleep goes a long way for many reasons and is a crucial aspect of injury prevention. Sleeping accelerates our recovery processes including recovery from inflammation, muscle repair and restocking cellular energy. Aside from being the prime time that our muscles and bones recover from the stressors of daily life, the recovery and rest for the brain and nervous system may be the most important piece of sleeping. Aim for eight hours of sleep per night as getting less correlates with an increase in injury risk. 

Nutrition

What we eat impacts our performance, recovery and how we feel. In general aim to make the majority of what you eat consist of whole food sources with plenty of vegetables and healthy fats. Yes, carbohydrates are important for energy, but don’t forget the protein. Most of the endurance athletes we work with are significantly under consuming protein for their body mass and activity level. For proper muscle recovery and repair we must eat an adequate amount of protein. Our general guideline is to aim for ~1g/lb of body weight per day.

Stress Management

How we manage our stress has a big impact on our ability to have the energy to train hard, and recover well. We all have things that cause stress in our lives, whether it be work, family dynamics, finances, traffic, traveling, you name it. What is important is that we have a strategy around combating these stressors with healthy outlets so that they do not wreak havoc on our bodies and nervous/immune systems. Running is a great outlet! Sleep, nutrition and hydration also impact this a great deal. Have you ever noticed that when you get stressed, you crave junk food? Me too! Unfortunately, the more we give into that temptation the more our body craves that outcome. 

Hydration

Fluid intake is another key aspect to injury prevention and recovery. Adequate hydration helps maintain soft tissue integrity during workouts and also helps clear waste from muscle tissue post workout. Pre and post workout hydration is crucial and coffee doesn’t count! Aim for a daily amount of at least half of your body weight in ounces of water. That’s 75oz for a 150 pound individual. Now, that’s a baseline to hit for everyone, even before factoring in training or activity level. Replace lost fluids in addition to this.  If you are exercising and sweating regularly it is generally a good idea to include some form of electrolyte replacement into the mix. Often, when doing a great job following the guidelines in the nutrition section above, we are under consuming sodium. We recommend sodium supplementation to many of our athletes. 

Movement

It is hard to quantify the importance that daily movement plays on our ability to be resilient from injury. What we do know is that individuals with sedentary jobs or lifestyles tend to lack mobility, range of motion, strength and tolerance to exercise much more than those who are moving often. Take the typical desk worker for example. Yes, it’s true that standing work stations are preferred over sitting, however just this one change alone is not enough! What’s important is to change positions often throughout the day and get our body into different shapes. Think about getting your hips, ankle, shoulder, spine etc. through a full range of motion for a few minutes and then return to your work. Remember, cliches don’t become cliches unless they are true… When it comes to mobility, if you don’t use it, you lose it. 

Watch the “Ready to Run Checklist” Video Series to enhance your mobility and prevent injury.

Before moving on let’s touch on positional errors. What we mean by this is finding ourselves in abnormal or non-optimal positions/postures throughout the day. Examples: standing with duck feet, feet turned outward, sitting in a slumped position over your keyboard or standing with your knees locked out throughout the day. These positions do not serve our tissue and joints well in the long term, though they may provide short term relaxation or stability. The more you can catch yourself and correct these throughout the day, the more natural being in a more optimal position will start to feel and you will tend to bias that way automatically! If you struggle with this, we can help.

Community

Without going down too deep of a rabbit hole – surround yourself with people that support the lifestyle you are attempting to lead. The old adage is that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time around. If you think about who those people are for you, do you like what you find? Your friend group, work circle, and training environment are all things where community and camaraderie make a big difference. Small modifications go a long way. 

We don’t recommend biting off more than you can chew in an effort to implement these things if you find holes in your day. Instead, make small changes, work to be consistent with them until you build a habit. Then implement another small change. 

Until next time, happy training. 

• Andrew

The post Lifestyle Factors and Running Injuries appeared first on Physio Room.

How has your core been feeling lately?  Were you able to find and engage the lower abdominal muscle to give you more support during exercise?  Do you have a better understanding on how to contract your pelvic floor?  If you missed part one of this blog series detailing how to find and engage these muscles, click here to read that quick post.

In this post, we’re going to discuss how to find and engage the multifidus, a key component of a strong core.

What is the multifidus?

The multifidus is a diamond shaped muscle in your lower back that sits deep to your spinal erector muscles. While these muscles are often quick to kick in to help stabilize, they get tight very quickly and can cause  compression in your back.  The  question then becomes – how do we find that deep muscle and activate it?  No worries, I’ve got your back. (see what I did there?)

Finding the multifidus

Start in a standing position and put a hand on each side of your lower back right over those spinal erector muscles.  Lean backwards slightly and feel those muscles contract and tighten under your fingers.  Now, come back up to neutral and tip just slightly forward and you should feel those erector muscles relax; if you keep leaning forward they will tighten back up to support you from falling over. 

Come back up to the point where you feel those erector muscles are nice and soft and sink your fingers deep to feel the multifidus.  From this point, try to come an inch taller without letting those erector muscles get tight. 

Activating the multifidus 

There are a few different ways to activate this muscle. You can either engage by practicing a few different positions or engage as prep before an activity that involves support such as carrying or lifting.

Watch the video below for a full demonstration on how to activate!

I encourage you to try these exercises and consider incorporating into your overall fitness routine. If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me at amber@physioroomco.com

The post A Bulletproof Core: Find and Engage the Multifidus appeared first on Physio Room.

In today’s post we are going to talk about training errors. Training errors generally involve improper progression of the volume or intensity of one’s training. One of the most common causes of injury is simply doing too much, too soon. In general, the less experienced or conditioned you are the slower the process should be to ramp into training. However, having experience or being in shape doesn’t mean you can skip the process altogether. 

Follow the 10% Rule

If you have taken long periods off from running, your running volume should be built back up slowly over time. General recommendations are to follow the “10% Rule” or to increase your mileage approximately 10% per week over time. There is evidence to suggest that trained runners can advance a little quicker than that, though injury rates increase dramatically as the percentage of volume nears or exceeds 30% week over week.

This is extremely important when it comes to reducing the risk of sustaining an injury, and one of the first questions we ask our clients. Generally, our cardiovascular fitness improves more quickly than the body tissues can keep up with, which makes it challenging to hold ourselves back. The primary reason to progress gradually over time is to allow the tissues to adapt and build our structural integrity. This means our muscles, joints, bones, tendons, ligaments, etc.

What are the 7 most common running-related injuries?

Develop a Complete Training Routine

Another important aspect that falls under training errors would be an incomplete training routine. We often see runners who are missing a proper warm-up, cool-down, and strength training program. We all struggle with not having enough time to do all of the things we want throughout the day or the week; though these three things should not be skipped. 

While strength training builds tolerance in our tissues to the rigors of running, warm-ups are pivotal to priming the body for the movement and strain you’re about to endure. Cool-downs on the other hand normalize tissue function through movement while reducing heart and respiratory rate. If you’re unsure how to execute a warm-up, click here for an example of a quick, yet effective running warm-up routine.

Recovery

Last but not least, we will touch on the importance of recovery. When we are training hard we have to provide the body with adequate time to rest and recover to reap the benefits of our training. Building active recovery days into our schedule is an important concept.

In high level running it is not uncommon to see training schedules that involve running all seven days of the week. For most people, we do not recommend this, but rather scale the frequency back to 5-6 days at most in order to reduce injury risk. That doesn’t mean you should do nothing on those other days of the week. Continuing to be active, work on mobility drills, or resistance training would be good uses of your time when you are not running. Even when you are training consecutive days throughout the week, each training session should not be extremely taxing. One of the sure fire ways to increase your risk of an injury is by trying to make every run intense. Variety in training is important to allow you to continue training for a lifetime.

Rethinking Running Injuries – 4 Causes You Should Be Aware Of

-Dr. Andrew

The post Train Smart, Run Healthy: Understanding Training Errors appeared first on Physio Room.

Have you been told to “turn on” your core when you exercise? Do you struggle to understand where these muscles are and how to effectively activate? If so, you’re not alone. Let’s discuss what your core is and how to activate so you can become stronger, healthier, and more resilient to injury.

What is your core?

What muscles do you think make up your core? There are a lot of muscles in the abdominal area that are considered part of the core. The main purpose of the core is to provide stability without limiting mobility.  If you contract the upper abdominals and then try to bend backwards, you will find it hard to complete the same range of motion if you were not contracting these muscles.

The four muscle groups that make up the core are the transverse abdominis, the multifidi, the diaphragm, and the pelvic floor. The purpose of these muscles is to support you while you move and to manage the pressure within your abdomen and pelvis while you perform different activities. When these muscles are not working optimally, symptoms such as low back pain, urinary incontinence and difficulty progressing with movements may develop.

How can you activate your core?

1.) Focus on the transverse abdominis
To activate, you may have been told to suck your belly button in towards your spine or rotate your pelvis so when you are laying on your back you flatten your spine into the floor. While these are good tips, I tend to find that they often cause you to over contract and engage extra muscles. The cue I prefer is to “bring your hip bones together”.  While you won’t actually generate any motion, this helps to bring the contraction lower in your abdomen and keep your upper abs and glutes from overpowering.  If you bring your fingers about 2 inches in towards your belly button from your hip bones, you should feel this area firm up without pushing up with the contraction. 

Watch the “Post-Pregnancy Plank Progression” video here.

2.) Focus on the pelvic floor
While it tends to be talked about more with females, both females and males have a pelvic floor. However,  the anatomy changes slightly and therefore, cueing on how to activate is adjusted.  The one cue most people are used to hearing is to stop the sensation of having to use the restroom.  This direction may cause you to over engage and can lead to bladder dysfunction. 

To engage these muscles, you want to stop the sensation of flatulence, and “zip” that contraction forward.  This should be a gentle contraction and you should feel supported without feeling like you are working too hard.  You can then add the above transverse abdominis contraction to create a well-supportive sling.

I encourage you to try these exercises and consider incorporating into your overall fitness routine. Stay tuned for part two of this blog series, which will cover the remaining muscle groups that make up your core. If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me at amber@physioroomco.com

The post What is Your Core & How Can You Activate it? appeared first on Physio Room.

As humans, we were built to withstand running for long periods of time at various speeds. However, this highly repetitive activity inherently involves a significant level of impact, leading to a plethora of injuries. Have you met a runner that hasn’t dealt with some sort of injury? Odds are you haven’t. The majority of injuries that runners sustain involve areas ranging from the lumbar spine (lower back) to the foot.

The seven most common injuries runners experience include the following:

1. Runner’s Knee (AKA patellofemoral pain syndrome, or PFPS)
2. Achilles Tendonitis/Tendinopathy
3. Hamstring Issues
4. Plantar Fasciitis
5. Shin Splints
6. Iliotibial (IT) Band Syndrome 
7. Stress Fractures

For good measure, I would like to add to this list an eighth item, lower back pain (LBP). I have worked with countless runners who experience lower back pain, often in conjunction with one of the other pain points listed above. That brings us to a critical focus point: injuries are never treated in isolation. What do I mean by this?

When someone comes to the clinic with knee pain, we know that only treating the knee will not solve the problem. When treating any patient, our first goal is to first help them manage the symptoms so they can remain as active, and healthy, as possible in their discipline. Once the symptoms are under control, we aim to identify the root cause of the issue. Lastly, the goal is to educate the client on how to best manage the issue independently to prevent it from recurring. 

Read “Rethinking Running Injuries – 4 Causes You Should Be Aware Of”

Treating the seven common injuries listed above generally comes down to managing the runner’s training load. Take care of the easy “wins” first so you can then focus on areas that may need more attention such as adequate mobility, strength work, gait analysis, and more.

Are you battling a running injury? I encourage you to give us a call at 720.316.9974 for a Free Discovery Session to see how we can help you resolve your injury once and for all.

Watch the “Ready to Run Checklist” Video Series to enhance your mobility and prevent injury.

The post What Are The 7 Most Common Running-Related Injuries? appeared first on Physio Room.

In this post we are going to discuss three things related to running related injuries – Why they happen, how to manage them, and what to address to bounce back from them quickly. 

As we talked about in our last running blog Running: Expectations vs. Reality, running is one of the most common exercise activities in the world. Unfortunately, runners have a high prevalence of injuries with up to 80% of runners sustaining an injury in a given year. This number creeps even higher when we consider marathon running, where nearly 90% of marathoners experience an injury throughout their training cycle!

With advances in footwear and healthcare technology, as well as the increasing knowledge around training and nutrition guidelines, why then do injury rates remain so high in the sport of running?

Let’s explore four causes that lead to running related injuries that you should be aware of.

Training Errors

Training errors generally involve improper progression of the volume or intensity of one’s training. One of the most common training errors is simply doing too much, too soon. In general, the less experienced or conditioned you are the slower the process should be. However, having experience or being in shape doesn’t mean you can skip the process all together. Volume and intensity must be built slowly over time.  

Another important aspect that falls under training errors would be an incomplete training regimen. We often see runners who are missing a proper warm-up, cool down, and strength training program. We all struggle with not having enough time to do all of the things we want throughout the day or the week. Three things to not sweep under the rug when it comes to avoiding a running related injury would be the warm-up, cool down, and strength training routine.

Last but not least, we will touch on the importance of recovery. When we are training hard we have to provide the body with adequate time to rest and recover to reap the benefits of our training load. Building active recovery days into our schedule is an important factor to staying healthy and performing at our best ability level.

Movement Dysfunction

This item boils down to our ability to move our body through full ranges of motion without significant compensations. When discussing running specifically, it is important to focus on the feet, ankles, knees, hips, and spine mobility. Limitations in one or more of these areas will alter our running mechanics and increase the likelihood that we sustain some sort of injury. These issues generally happen slowly over time as a result of not using the range of motion that we are capable of. 

Watch the “Ready to Run Checklist” Video Series to help you with your mobility.

Lifestyle Factors

It is complicated to determine how much of an impact our lifestyle plays into our ability to resist injury. What is not complicated is knowing that it is a major contributor! Which lifestyle factors are most important when it comes to reducing injury risk for runners? Here are a few factors to focus on: sleep, nutrition, stress management, hydration, daily movement, footwear selection, and positional errors. 

In general, the more dialed in you have each one of these factors, the more you will be able to challenge your body without breaking down. Each of these factors are areas that we address with our clients regularly.

External Factors

This section addresses the variables that are out of your individual control. Sometimes injuries are accidents, such as slipping or falling during a run. As a result, we are now in a position to treat and recover from an unexpected injury.

Another external factor we must take into consideration is our competitive nature or the amount of adrenaline we exert. We’ve all had times where we get into the heat of the moment, push ourselves a little harder than we were prepared for, but don’t notice any negative repercussions until after the fact. Remember, the more you prepare your body with the items mentioned above, the less this external factor will play a role in leading to injury. 

We hope this article educated you on running-related injuries and provided guidance in how to best avoid and manage injuries moving forward. 

If you’re interested in discussing this topic in more detail or if you’re struggling with an injury and seeking support, please feel free to call us at 720.316.9974 or email Dr. Andrew directly at andrew@physioroomco.com

The post Rethinking Running Injuries – 4 Causes You Should Be Aware Of appeared first on Physio Room.

So you want to be a runner? Go out, let the sun and breeze hit your face, and cruise down the path without a care in the world. Sounds nice. Maybe you have a race in mind. You’re going to run a local 5K/10K and have a nice after race beer. You’ll get your T-shirt, finisher’s medal, maybe even brunch with some friends on the way home. These are the ideal scenarios, but not always how things play out.

It’s no secret that running is one of the most popular forms of exercise around the globe. Every year, millions of people lace up their shoes and go run. The unfortunate reality however, is that the vast majority of those people wind up injured every year as well. What follows is often worse, those nagging injuries get ignored or trained around and lead to even more issues.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the more popular races, the marathon (26.2 miles).

– There are approximately 30 million regular runners in the US.

– There are over 1,100 marathons held each year in the US.

– ~90% of marathon runners sustain an injury during training.

– Each year, ~80% of runners sustain an injury that forces them to stop running.

– There is an inverse relationship between the cost of a running shoe (the US running shoe industry rakes in about $4 billion a year, by the way) and the likelihood of a runner getting injured. In other words, the more expensive your running shoe, the more likely you are to get hurt. “So which shoes should I buy?” you might ask… Well, that’s a topic for another day. My recommendation for now, just wear what is comfortable to you and don’t worry about the price, brand, features, or what your friend is wearing.

So now you might be wondering, how can you make sure you are able to run without being injured? Great question! Because let’s be honest, telling a runner to stop running is like telling them to stop breathing or telling a fish to stop living in water… That’s just crazy!

There actually is a way for you to run, enjoy it, get good at it and even stay healthy. Our running checklist below is a good place to start.

In this checklist we dive into the 12 essential areas that can impact your ability to run effectively. From head to toe, warm up to cool down, we’ve got you covered. To see our complete list click the link below!

Stay tuned for more running related posts as the weather continues to warm up!

Stay safe & stay healthy, 

Andrew

The post Running: Expectations vs. Reality appeared first on Physio Room.

COVID-19 Is changing the way we do business and is changing the space where you work from. If you’re “working from home“ for the first time, then you are not alone. With the new stress of working in a new environment comes new pains and aches that are preventable. Do yourself a favor and set it up properly from the beginning, claim your FREE “work from home” consult.  

If you have started slouching on the couch while working, overreaching at the kitchen table, or rounded forward with your head reaching towards the screen, then we should talk about your new “office” space.  Our desks were not made for us, they were made for anyone. Dr. Chris, owner of Physio Room, is here to show you how to make your desk adapt to you and not the other way around.

#1 Chair Set-Up

Most desks are set up at 30 inches and will be too tall or too short for some, and we need to adjust the chair height to accommodate. The first thing that you should set up is the chair height to your desk, this allows your elbows to be flexed at 90°. If you have to raise your chair up too high, then you may need a foot rest to keep your feet flat on the floor. Having your feet flat on a surface allows your knees and hips to maintain a 90° bend.  Knees and hips bent to 90° allows for a more natural position that will not overly stress your lumbar spine and help prevent low back pain. 

#2 Monitor Set-Up

We have all seen that coworker rounded forward like the hunchback of Notre Dame with their chin and head protruding forward getting sucked into their computer screen like a scene out of Poltergeist. Don’t do that. 

If you can set your monitor up at eye level and keep the monitor within an arms distance, then you will be able to maintain normal postural alignment. This will reduce the amount of repetitive strain on your neck muscles and allow you to avoid unnecessary headaches and neck pain.

If you are using a laptop, then it would be a good idea to use a kickstand to elevate the screen to eye level and have a remote keyboard to use. If your monitor is too low or too high, then this will put a kink in the spine and create a fulcrum point that will overly stress the cervical spine and create neck pain. This can lead to increased nerve irritation and numbness and tingling.

Dual monitors. If your work requires two monitors, then position yourself to be in the middle of both monitors so you can use your eyes to scan left and right and not have to turn your head significantly to one side or the other. When we see office workers in the PT clinic with neck pain that have dual monitors, we often see the mistake of keeping one monitor directly in front and having the other monitor offset resulting in a slight head turn consistently throughout the day.  That leads to a repetitive strain on those tissues and increased risk for irritation and injury.

Mouse and phone position. Keeping the mouse and phone close to you so that you can rotate your arm with your elbow at your side and reach the phone and mouse without reaching from the shoulder. 

Proper phone use. If you were going to be on the phone frequently, then it is recommended that you purchase a quality headset. Otherwise, you should hold the phone in your non-dominant hand so that you are able to write information down with your dominant hand. This allows you to write down the information without having your shoulder shrug up into your ear and avoiding unnecessary stress and strain on the nerves and joints in your neck.

#3 Create A Movement Rich Environment

Every 10 to 15 minutes, you will slip back into a default posture no matter how perfect you set up your desk. There is actually no such thing as “good posture”.  A “good posture” is a constantly changing posture.  We were not designed to sit static for periods of time. 

Here are the top 4 desk exercises to perform throughout the day.

#1. Chin Tucks x15 reps and one 30 second hold

#2. Upper Trapezius Stretch – x 60 seconds each side

#3. Scapular Retraction – 15 reps

#4. Pelvic Tilt – x15 rep

#5.  Lastly and most importantly, get up, move around, go get a drink of water, and try to get in 10,000 steps per day.

#4 Set Your Desk Up Correctly Today!

As an ergonomic expert and a doctor of physical therapy, I would like to help you set that up. I would like to offer you an absolutely free consult to assess your current “work from home” set up during this Covid Crisis.  We can set up a zoom call and look at exactly where you are sitting/standing and provide our feedback on what you could improve.  

The post Ergonomics Expert Explains How To Set Up Your New Office Space. appeared first on Physio Room.

A highly effective method of applying a distraction force used to relieve neck pain for individuals suffering from arthritis, herniated and/or bulging discs, cervical muscle strains and spasms. 

What Does Traction Do For Your Neck?

Cervical traction equipment works by gently pulling the head away from the neck. By doing so: 

1. The muscles along the spinal cord begin to relax and gradually stretch, along with ligaments around the spine.
2. The intervertebral space of the spine expands, which brings blood flow, circulation, and nutrition to the areas which were being compressed.
3. Increased circulation helps to oxygenate muscles, nerves, tendons, and ligaments, which leads to decreased pain and increased mobility.

Pinched nerves are released. Herniated and bulging discs reduce. pressure is relieved. 

What Is a Cervical Traction Device and What Makes The Neck Hammock Different?

In the past, individuals could only receive traction at a physical therapist’s office. But these visits are often time consuming, inconvenient, and costly.   

Today, there are many at-home cervical traction devices, but most are complex, cumbersome, bulky, expensive, and potentially injurious.  

What is needed is an easy to use, compact, non-marring, effective traction device that minimizes discomfort and avoids potentially injurious stresses, while giving the patient ultimate relaxation and pain relief. 

And that’s how and why The Neck Hammock was created!

Can The Neck Hammock replace physical therapy?

While The Neck Hammock achieves many of the same benefits of physical and massage therapy, it is not meant to replace these modalities.

The Neck Hammock is meant to be a compliment to these therapies, which can be used every day to help relieve pain and protect against future injury. 

Can anyone use The Neck Hammock? 

The Neck Hammock is ideal for:

• Office workers
• Students
• Athletes
• Shift workers
• Laborers
• Drivers
• Bodyworkers 

Do not use The Neck Hammock if you have:

• Acute Cervical Injury 
• Spinal Instability 
• Spinal Hypermobility 
• Neck Tumors 
• Rheumatoid Arthritis 
• Osteomylelitis
• Under age of 16
  
  Consult with your Doctor or physical therapist to see if Cervical Traction equipment is right for you

What does neck traction help with and what are some of the symptoms that the Neck Hammock helps to improve?

The Neck Hammock is a non-surgical treatment option that uses uses cervical traction to provide fast neck pain relief, and a faster recovery from neck injuries, without the need for medications or surgery.  

• Neck, head or shoulder pain 
• Tension headaches
• Poor posture
• “Upper back Hump” aka Dowager’s Hump 
• Herniated, compressed or bulged discs 
• Pinched nerves 
• Cervical neck and muscle spasms
• Osteoarthritis 
• Physical and Mental Stress
• Muscle tightness
• Decreased range of motion and mobility of the neck
• Poor sleep due to anxiety and restless thinking before bed.
• And others

If the Neck Hammock treatment works on my symptoms, will I have to use it forever?

The analogy that we like to use relates to stretching. If you have tight hamstrings and stretch them once, you are going to get immediate relief. But if you don’t continue some sort of a maintenance stretching program, your hamstrings will become tight again. The Neck Hammock works similarly in that it’s a fantastic maintenance tool that helps promote spinal hygiene and joint mobility. This is what makes it an effective long-term solution to your neck pain and tension headaches. The frequency and duration of use truly depends on the person. As you become more mobile, you will need to use less and less.

What is the Neck Hammock made of?

Fabric Composition: 80% polyester, 20% spandex

How far should the top of your head be from the wall/door that the Neck Hammock is attached to? 

There is no exact number as the objective is to feel a comfortable, gradual stretch and much of it depends on how it feels for you. Ideally, we recommend that the base/pad of the Neck Hammock be approximately 2-4 inches off the ground when assembled, however, as for the distance between the hammock and the y-axis (e.g. wall or door), it will also depend as to which angle feels relaxing and comfortable for you.

1. If you are seeking a more aggressive stretch, scoot away from the wall or door. Start more conservatively and see how your body responds after 1 session.
2. If the stretch is too much, move back towards the wall or door.
3. Your body is very smart, it knows what it likes and doesn’t like. If the stretch feels too strong, then it probably is. Adjust the tension based on Your needs.

You can also check out the instructional video on our how to use page to help you set and adjust the Neck Hammock: Click Here

Should you start off with 15 minutes 3 times per day, or start slowly, e.g. 5 minutes at a time?

It mainly depends on the person using the device. We recommend starting at 10 minutes at one instance and working your way up from there. If your neck is in a bad shape, you may need to use it 2 – 3x per day up to 15 minutes (allow at least an interval of 4 hours in between sessions and a strict maximum of 15 minutes per session) at a time but as your range improves and the pain or discomfort subsides, then you can also decrease the frequency and duration of the stretch. However, should the 15-minute duration give you either a headache, or feeling of dizziness/nausea, or back pain, then you may need to decrease the time and place the pad more towards the middle of your neck.

We like to compare this in improving hamstring flexibility. If you have REALLY tight hamstrings, then you are probably going to need to stretch them 2 – 3x a day for a few weeks to see significant physical change. If you have relatively flexible hamstrings, then you probably only need to stretch them 3 – 4x per week.

Should the back pad inside the Neck Hammock go against the middle of your neck or at the top of your neck cradling the skull

This depends on your body as your neck will have a preferred position. We recommend trying both (placing the pad at the back of the head/base of the skull OR at the middle of the neck) and do what feels best and most comfortable for you.

For example, if you know that you text a lot or usually do things that keep your head in a downward position for extended periods of time, your neck probably needs to restore its natural “C-curve” so moving the pad to the middle of your neck will help restore that natural curve.

On the other hand, if you have a desk job, travel a lot, or sit all day, you can probably benefit from the neck hammock most by having the pad under the base of your skull for general neck traction.

The post Why the Neck Hammock? appeared first on Physio Room.

Physio Room opened doors a little over one year ago and we are excited to be growing our dedicated team. We currently staff 2 PTs, a front office manager and a marketing/social media director. We are looking to hire an additional PT to help continue to grow and manage the Highlands Ranch location. 

PTs working with our clinic are passionate about fitness and about providing our unique brand of individualized care. PTs are asked to teach workshops on a monthly basis and hold a high degree of active community involvement. We are looking for an enthusiastic go-getter who wants to work with the owner to build this unique business, not someone only interested in working within the business and for the owner. An ideal candidate wants to work for a high-energy and innovative company, has a strength/conditioning/performance background, strong manual therapy skills and is looking for an amazing opportunity to learn and grow personally and professionally alongside our team. 

Bonus if interested in women’s health/pelvic floor physical therapy as this would be a big asset to our company.

Please send your resume with attached cover letter and references to Chris Robl: chris@physioroomco.com

We look forward to you joining the team!

The post We Are Growing! Are You our Next Physical Therapist? appeared first on Physio Room.

Shoulder pain can be debilitating. It can keep you from doing the things that you love like working out, golfing, cycling, crossfit, the list goes on and on. The pain can be challenging to manage. You may find yourself asking: Should I ice it? Can I move it? How did this happen? When will the pain go away? These are some of the most common questions that come up when we have an injury. Shoulders are no exception to the injury bug.

The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body. More movement – or range of motion – comes from the shoulder joint than any other spot in our bodies. Due to the amount of movement that the shoulder has it can be more prone to injuries than other areas of our body. Some of the most common ways to injure the shoulder include overhead sports, overhead lifting, and poor body mechanics. What can we do to avoid these injuries?

In order to prevent the onset of shoulder injuries we need to take a multi-faceted approach. Our bodies must move well. Think of our muscles as working as a system. Each part of the system must function well in order for the whole thing to be successful. If one or multiple parts are not moving well, then inevitably we will see a decrease in the system’s performance. The system must be strong as well. If one part is working much harder than the rest, it will more likely fail first. A system that is strong, and moves well – is mobile – must also be stable. When one of these components fails, we may begin to experience pain.

When one of the pieces of the shoulder system is not working well it is advantageous to address these issues quickly. Below you will find a few different mobility drills that aid in improving the quality of your shoulder movement. Please feel free to watch the videos below.

For more information about the shoulder Physio Room will be hosting a workshop on Shoulder Pain on Tuesday November 19, at 7pm, located at : 8925 S Ridgeline Blvd #102, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129.

Click here for details and to sign up: https://signup.physioroomco.com/shoulderseminar

Shoulder Mobility for Overhead Movements

Super Front Rack

Shoulder Openers with Resistance Band

Pec Opener with Resistance Band

The post Are You Living With Shoulder Pain…? appeared first on Physio Room.