From a single flagship location in Hunt Valley, to 9 different clinics throughout Maryland and Virginia, FX Physical Therapy has experienced immense growth in the 5 years since it started. Check out owner Jerod Felice’s message in the video below!
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“Ice or Heat?” Recovering from Injury the Right WayWhen it comes to rehabilitation and recovery, one of the most common questions our PTs are asked is “Should I use ice or heat?” Knowing the appropriate time to use each one may be beneficial in decreasing pain and speeding up the recovery process.
Ice works by decreasing the local temperature of the tissue within your body. This results in a decrease in blood flow, swelling, muscle tone, metabolic rate, and nerve conduction. It can also help increase the body’s pain threshold. Ice can be applied for 15-20 minutes at a time. Ice should not be applied right before activity as it may decrease your performance.
Use caution with application of ice for people with cardiac failure, hypertension, infected tissues, and damaged or at-risk skin. It should not be used if you have an active DVT, near chronic wounds, open wounds, cold hypersensitivity (Raynaud’s, cryoglobulinema, hemoglobulinemia), cold urticiaria (cold allergy or hypersensitivity), impaired circulation, or over regenerating nerves.
Heat works by increasing the local temperature of the tissue within your body. This results in an increase in blood flow to the area, capillary permeability, collagen extensibility, metabolic rate, nerve conduction velocity, and pain threshold. Heat can be applied for 15-20 minutes at a time. Be sure to perform skin checks frequently to prevent burns.
Heat should not be used for people with arterial disease, bleeding or hemorrhage, peripheral vascular disease, thrombophlebitis, over cancerous areas or within 24-72 hours of muscle/ligament/tendon trauma.
If you have had pain for an extended period of time with no range of motion loss and significant
swelling = Ice first, then Heat
Want to find more ways to reduce pain and injury? Make an appointment with one of our Doctors of Physical Therapy here!
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In the current landscape of the world, many companies have shifted their companies from working remotely. It is difficult to see when, if ever, many companies will bring back their employees to working in an office setting. Companies, like Twitter, who have announced employees will be working from home for life, are taking progressive steps to ensure the safety of everyone.
While working from home is advantageous in many aspects, it is also important to note the ergonomic deficiencies that can be caused by setting up an office on your kitchen table or couch.
Here are a few basic tips on setting up your workstation:
There are also a few easy-to-remember concepts that will allow you to feel better while working from home.
Remember to keep moving and stretching throughout the day, this will help to reduce pain and make you more productive and less distracted at work. If you need further follow up, reach out, and contact your PT ASAP!
For a customized therapy plan to address your specific needs – Call our team today at 443-595-7798 or click here to request an appointment.
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Two primary areas we focus on in yoga are mobility and stability. Mobility is defined as the ability to move freely and with ease. Stability is defined as the ability to maintain control of joint movement or position. It is important to focus on both aspects equally, as too much of one can be bad for your body.
I am sure many of you recall the childhood song “dem bones”, and it is no lie that the entire body is connected. Injury or dysfunction in one area can absolutely affect another area of the body. For example, something like an overhead stretch requires mobility from the thoracic spine. When we have issues with that mobility, we begin to look for more motion from our shoulder blade. However, that joint traditionally holds a stability role. As you can see, this compensation can cause some trouble.
We often see people chasing flexibility when in fact, they already have great joint motion and actually need stability. If we continue stretching muscles around joints that are hypermobile (outside of the normal range), it can cause dysfunction. We then transfer that load to the ligaments, which are supporting our joints, instead of the muscle. This is not the natural physiological role of those ligaments and can lead to injury. Yoga can be a great form of stability training due to the prolonged static holds of various poses.
So how do we know when we should focus more on stability or mobility? And how do we know if our pain is being caused from compensation? In physical therapy, we begin our patient evaluations with a full body screen and assessment to observe your movement. It is important that your physical therapist does this, because although you might be coming in with shoulder pain, that does not mean that the shoulder is the problem child. Per our example above, it could simply mean that your shoulder is working overtime to compensate for that reduced motion that you have in your thoracic spine. We identify your mobility joint-by-joint and test stability in order to create individualized plans to improve movement patterns and prevent injury, as well as keeping you engaged with whatever workouts you enjoy.
Here we have listed a couple of our favorite mobility and stability exercises, specifically in relation to yoga:
Mobility is defined as the ability to move freely and with ease.
Stability is defined as the ability to maintain control of joint movement or position:
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