Physical Therapy and Recovery

If you play sports or other physical activities, then you know that injuries come with the territory. Depending on the type of injury and the extent of your injury, you may need physical therapy. Physical therapy is the process of rehabilitation and recovery from your injury or physical ailment. Physical therapy works on recovery of your musculoskeletal system. Massage therapy is used as part of the recovery process. Some of the more advanced therapy clinics are starting to use massage chair recliners as part of their arsenal of tools to help people recover from their injuries.

If you start a physical therapy program, then you will be assigned a physical therapist. The therapist is a trained professional to help restore your strength, motion and activity. The therapist understands the mechanics of your body and will help design a treatment program for you. You will learn specific stretches, exercises and other specialized techniques to help your body recover. You may also use specific equipment that can address particular issues. Massage therapy has become an important tool in the recovery arsenal and many clinics are making use of massage chair recliners.

Your therapist is trained in different surgeries, treatments and rehabilitation techniques and goals. The therapist will design a recovery treatment targeting the areas of your body that needs greater flexibility or strength. If you are recovering from surgery, then the therapist will be knowledgeable about different surgical procedures. The therapist will help in setting goals as you work through the initial limitations of your physique. Some of the important physical therapy tools are stretching, exercises and massage therapy.

Stretching is important to help regain lost flexibility. The muscles may be tight, the joints stiff and you may have scar tissue. These reduce your range of motion and decrease flexibility. Stretching helps to elongate the muscles. This helps to stretch the muscles helping their elasticity. A frequent and continuous regimen of daily stretching helps to speed recovery. Your therapist will design a stretching routine which will help focus on restoring the range of motion.

Exercises are important to help rebuild strength. When we have an injury, we tend to protect that area. Protecting that area is usually to isolate and immobilize it. In other words, we tend not to use the injured area. This helps to prevent further injury, but at the expense of strength and conditioning. To help rebuild the body, exercises help to build up strength, endurance and agility. Physical therapy clinics have a wide array of exercise equipment from treadmills, stationary bikes, weights and more. These help you focus building up a particular set of muscles.

Massage therapy is important to assist the total healing process. The muscle tissue breaks down and its fibers become shorter. This makes the muscles tighter. Massage therapy starts where stretching leaves off. Massage therapy helps to penetrate deeper into the muscle tissue to help elongate and invigorate the muscles. This helps the healing process by restoring flexibility throughout the muscle and scar tissue. Massage is given either by a massage therapist or a massage chair. Massage chairs come with a variety of therapeutic massages, heat therapies and even traction. These not only provide effective therapy but also help you to relax and clear your mind.

Whether you are a professional tennis player or a beginner skier, injuries can happen to anyone. If you do find yourself in physical therapy, work on setting goals to recover. Find yourself an excellent physical therapy clinic. Make sure they have qualified people, proper exercise equipment and massage therapy. And if you need massage therapy, make sure a massage chair is part of your recovery plans.

James is an accomplished massage therapist and understands human healing. Your health is your most important asset. Protect it with the Best Massage Chair for your holistic health. Research massage chair recliner brands from Panasonic, Omega and Sanyo. Peruse Massage Chair Reviews

Avoid these exercises in the Gim

Why You Shouldn't Be Using These Exercises In The Gym

Have you ever imagined using potentially dangerous exercises in your workout? You have to be very careful with strength training equipment because it may not be the most effective or functional available.

How do you know that the exercises you are performing are safe? Found below are some potentially dangerous exercises with suggestions on how they should be done correctly or avoided completely.

Sit-up

Traditional abdominal exercises such as the sit-up, incline sit-up and hip-raises are exercises that are used to train the obliques and the upper and lower abdominals.

They are performed by first anchoring the feet on an abdominal board which prevents you from sliding back then raising your shoulders up towards your feet, tensing your abs at the top of the movement. Slowly lowering your shoulders back down and then completing the movement again.

The dangers of performing this movement are the shearing forces on the vertebrae and spinal discs when you have a flexed and rounded spine. In this position, the pressure is mostly placed on a very small area of the disc area, which can cause small ruptures.

The safest and most productive way to train the abs is to use the brace and hollow technique. This are a primary isometrical physical exercise that aids beef up the abdominal muscle* and the athletic corset close to your waistline.

Pec Deck

The pec deck is an exercise that trains the chest (pectorals) and shoulder (front deltoid) muscles.

This exercise is performed by sitting at the machine with your back flat against the back pad. Placing your forearms on the padded levers and position your upper arms parallel to the ground.

Pushing the levers slowly together and squeezing your chest muscles at the end of the movement. Return slowly to the starting position.

This exercise is potentially dangerous because it places the shoulder into one of its least stable positions, the dislocation position. Because of the extreme position when performing this exercise at the starting position it can also cause tearing of the ligaments and injury to the rotar cuff tendons.

More effective and less dangerous is the bench press, keeping the arms at shoulder width and exercising in the strongest range of motion (partial reps) and the parallel bar dip with the elbows out.

Behind the neck Press

This exercise trains the neck (traps) and shoulder (deltoid) muscles and is performed by placing a loaded barbell onto your upper back just above the trap muscle.

This exercise is done by standing with your feet about shoulder width apart. Placing your hands on the bar about three inches wider than the width of your shoulders.

Pushing the bar overhead to arm's length, holding and then slowly lowering back down to your shoulders. This exercise can also be done seated. Try performing it in a smith machine or power rack for added safety.

This is an exercise that places the shoulder joint into the dislocation position and the range of motion puts unnecessary stress on the rotator cuff tendons of the shoulders.

Many trainees may experience injuries from this behind-the-neck movement. As with before stick with dips and bench presses for your shoulder work.

Dead lift
The dead lift is a compound movement that works the hips, lower back and also exercises the hamstrings and glutes (buttocks).

You can perform the dead lift by approaching a loaded barbell and taking a stance about as wide as your shoulders. Grip the bar so that the arms are slightly on the outside of your thighs.

Your feet should be pointing straight forward with the shins about two to three inches from the bar. Heave the load upward using the hips and lower back maintaining the back straight and the bar as close to the shins as possible.

At the top of the movement hold for a few seconds and then lower the bar to the starting position. The exercise has a knock-on growth effect on the whole body when worked hard.

The problem with the lift is that if the spine becomes rounded during the lift it then becomes dangerous. Because of the forces working on the vertebrae and the spine injuries may occur.

A lot of these problems can be solved by keeping the back as straight as possible during the lift and keeping the bar held close to the body during the lift as the forces are then not that excessive.

Leg extensions

Leg extensions are arguably one of the most popular leg exercises for strengthening the quadriceps (thigh) muscle.

These are done by using a leg extension machine and sitting in the seat with your feet hooked under the padded lever. Raise the weight with your legs until they are pointing straight out in front of you. Hold briefly, and then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.

Leg extensions are a potentially dangerous exercise because when only the shin is in motion, the exercise draws the patella back onto the femur increasing joint compression forces, which can damage the connective tissue and the ligaments supporting the knee joint.

It can also cause anterior knee pain so people with existing knee problems may aggravate them by doing this exercise.

For greater safety and equal effectiveness, try doing the Squat, Leg Press, and Lunge for safer and more functional use.

Some food for thought isn't it, so try to avoid these exercises if possible or try to perform the alternatives given.

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Rotator Cuff Exercises and Surgery Have Similar Outcomes for Rotator Cuff injuries

According to the results of a randomized trial published in the May issue of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, rotator cuff surgery and Rotator cuff exercises have similar outcomes for patients with rotator cuff injuries.

The study states that:

"The anatomical basis for impingement is a mismatch between the structures in the subacromial space…The evidence supporting the superiority of subacromial decompression (surgery) relative to specific Rotator cuff exercises has been unconvincing."

The study took place in a hospital setting, where 90 consecutive patients fulfilling a set of diagnostic criteria for rotator cuff disease, including a positive impingement sign, were randomized either to undergo surgery or therapy with specific rotator cuff exercises, to strengthen the shoulder stabilizers and decompressors.

The age range was 18 to 55 years, and symptom duration was between six months and three years. Outcome measures were shoulder function score and a pain and dysfunction score.

Of the 90 patients enrolled, 84 completed 12-month follow-up, including 41 in the surgery group and 43 in the rotator cuff exercises group.

When comparing the healing scores between the group treated with the specific rotator cuff exercises and the group treated with surgery, by measuring actual improvement in pain and dysfunction, the results where staggering.

The healing factor scores of the group which was treated with the specific rotator cuff exercises was 15% better than the group treated with surgery.

In their conclusion, the researchers stated that:

"Surgical treatment of rotator cuff syndrome (including impingement) was not superior to specific rotator cuff exercises". In fact the outcome of surgery was worse.


This study was published in the Medical Research Unit of Ringkjoebing County in Denmark.



Clinical Context:

The incidence of rotator cuff tendonitis in primary care has been described as high, varying from 3.2 to 4.2 per 1,000 person-years in comparison with shoulder pain, which has an incidence of 11.2 per 1,000 person-years.

Rotator cuff disease with subacromial impingement is graded as acute inflammation with tendonitis or bursitis, chronic inflammation, or full rupture.

Treatments are directed at pain control and remedy of the mechanical problem of mismatch between structures in the subacromial space. In primary care, the condition may be managed conservatively with graded physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory medication, or corticosteroid injections.

Surgical treatment consisting of arthroscopic subacromial decompression is being widely adopted, according to the authors, with limited evidence for success compared with specific rotator cuff exercises.



rotator cuff exercises

The BASIC Rotator Cuff Exercises

To begin with, let's review the very BASIC Rotator Cuff Exercises:

Rotator Cuff Exercises

Look no further. This blog will describe how to succeed with Rotator Cuff Exercises. Here you will learn which Rotator Cuff Exercises bring the best results and which Rotator Cuff Exercises should be absolutely avoided