Creatively coined crepitus, one still might picture those 3-little guys sitting on the edge of the cereal bowl just waiting for the milk to smother the ingredients down at the bottom creating a symphony of, what we know to be snap-crackle-and popping. However, that symphony may not be music to your ears when your knees do it, as it can mean a malfunction of the mechanics between the muscles around your knee and the position your kneecap is sitting in.

Could it be hip related? Sure. Could it be foot related? Absolutely. Could it be hip/thigh/knee/foot related? You know it!

And that cracking or grinding around or under the knee cap when you are walking up or down stairs, or while squatting to pick something up off the floor, can occur at any age!

Ahhh-swimming; that oh-so wonderful feeling of being able to cool off on a hot day! Gliding through the water, that is 800 times denser compared to air, de-weighting us to the point where we can, somewhat, believe it brings out the child in us. And why shouldn’t it!? For most of us, we couldn’t wait to run and jump in, splash, and free-stroke. Yes! Free-stroke equaled Free-dom!

Confidently we become buoyant, meeting a greater resistance by moving our arms and legs through the water (vs. air); hence we feel the restorative powers- like a superhero! And, when we are finished with our swim, whether it was for an hour, or several, we get exercise; pain-Free at that…might even have a little appetite too from so much exertion! Not-to-mention looking a little more toned and sculpted.

With our busy lifestyles, and as we age, we are gonna have aches and pains-and maybe a little joint cracking here and there.  You may even be experiencing a little (or a lot) of arthritis now. What to do? Ah-yes, go swimming! Because to be pain-free means you have to move consistently, and frequent movement is a hard-sell to those of you in pain! Whether you have musculoskeletal disorders, chronic back pain, need lumbar stabilization (pregnancy), have foot, ankle or knee pain, shoulder pain, or any kind of arthritis–results from swimming and aquatic therapy are immediate!

Rekindle your memory of youth and rebuild your confidence of daily living; pain-Free. Go get in a pool and MOVE; swimming (aquatic therapy)-it’s a high-intensity exercise…….Free yourself today!

Whoever coined the title Pain & Torture in lieu of Physical Therapy must have been one not-so-happy-in-a lot-of-pain patient!  We don’t know the patient’s demographics, or injury area, to determine why those words came through their lips-but, guess what, it stuck! Now, when I’m out-and-about, I will occasionally hear, “I’m commin’ in to see you all at Carousel for my next dose of Pain & Torture!”

So now it’s up to me to debunk that whole Pain & Torture myth. Here it goes, ready? We do not cause pain and we certainly don’t torture! Hard to believe? Trust me I know, I have been doin’ this whole thing one calls “pain and torture” for a long time now. But, if the tables are turned, it pains me to feel we are torturing you-TRUST me!  This is why at Carousel your physical therapy is NOT all about exercises! That’s not how we do this physical therapy thing at Carousel, and we never will!

How is that? One word, ready? Collaboration! It’s you and your assigned therapist during treatment (or your therapist’s assistant). Either way, its one-on-one care! We are all about YOU and dealing with your pain, your goals, and addressing your needs-together; our relationship is not a passive one-it’s a lasting one!

So, you see, we want to empower (not torture) you to become (pain) free. It’s crucial to your quality of daily life, your ability to earn a living, your ability to pursue your favorite leisure activities….and SO much more!

OK, the weather is warmer, the sun is shining, well maybe not this last week of April, but you get the idea, right?  Point is, you are ready to R.U.N.! Whether your a recreational runner, or getting ready for all these 5K’s (that pop up everywhere like those beautiful spring flowers), you can, and may end-up, injuring yourself.

Maybe you got new running shoes, maybe you just decided to get up out of your chair and start running like Forrest Gump, or you have activated (or not activated for that matter) muscles that are crucial to your running form, and you, now, are in PAIN! OUCH!

It is important to listen to how you run! Even with your earbuds in, you can still “notice how you strike the ground,” as physical therapist Robert Gillanders, PT, DPT, OCS says. Or, as recrational runner Katie McDonald Netiz stated, “I could not squeeze my glutes, which sounds ridiculous that a runner wouldn’t be able to do that, but I couldn’t.”

So, take a minute to refresh the do’s and dont’s before you put your body on that running regimen. Here is a link to a wonderful guide to healthy running: the E-book: The Physical Therapist’s Guide to Healthy Running.

As therapists, we are the experts in restoring and improving motion in people’s lives. Kara George, PT, DPT, CSCS is our running expert and go-to professional who can create specialized treatment and injury prevention plans for runners of all levels.

So whether you are returning to running, or just beginning we can get can help you get to the starting line of your running regimen!

 

 

 

Well, it’s no secret that Physical Therapist’s are partial to conservative treatment for any non-traumatic injuries before enduring the hardships of surgical intervention. Yes, we can be your first line of treatment because it’s cheaper, and has no side effects – in most cases, of course! No doubt, some patients are hesitant to try conservative treatment first because they wanted a quick fix. But, guess what? Some, well most, of them ended up back at physical therapy anyways, because what they didn’t realize was that quick fix wasn’t so quick after all!

When you factor in pre and post-operative care, the recuperation time will be greater compared to going the conservative route. If you factor in the time your shoulder will be completely immobile in a sling, and, that there is a rehabilitation protocol, including, guess what? yep! aftercare physical therapy, you might think twice about the alternative.

So, do we have your interest now? Well, don’t fret, if you have recently been diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear and are on the fence about which treatment plan works for you, read this abstract recently published by The Bone & Joint Journal Formerly known as The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (British Volume) Jan. 2014-International research with real clinical relevance.  The abstract Treatment of non-traumatic rotator cuff tears: A randomised controlled trial with one-year clinical results. compared three different methods of treating symptomatic non-traumatic tears of the supraspinatus tendon in patients above 55 years of age.

Ultimately your plan of care is your choice. But, we think you will have a change of heart on your choice after reading this!