The Foundry Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Blog

We all know the best way to maintain and gain joint range of motion is through a stretching routine.  However, if we want to increase the effectiveness of our stretching routine, self-myofascial release may be a viable option.

Most commonly when you consider ergonomics you think of how your desk at work should be set up. Very rarely people think of deep sea fishing when the word ergonomics is tossed around.   People should think about ergonomics in every day life, even fishing.

Whether you are rehabilitating an injury at home, or attending formal physical therapy, there may be times you experience soreness in the body part you are trying to improve. While soreness is common during a course of rehab, more often than not the “No Pain, No Gain” philosophy can be taken to the extreme and you may be doing more harm then good.

So you’ve gotten to the point in your recovery that you and your doctor start talking about going back to work.  If you are anything like many of the patients we see in our hand therapy clinic, that thought may not only cause some anxiety but concerns about your ability to perform your physical job demands. Up to this point, your focus has been on getting better, rehabilitating from the injury or surgery which took you out of work in the first place.  It really doesn’t matter if it was work related or not; any medical issue serious to enough to cause an extended absence from work can and probably will affect your ability to perform physically demanding tasks.  So it is only natural when you start thinking about returning to work, depending on the physical demands of your job, the idea may cause you more than a little anxiety and fear about your ability to perform those tasks.

Many patients I see in physical therapy often have a similar question about stretching…..when should I stretch - before or after my workout?

Unfortunately, some patients who have surgery or sustain an injury will experience weight gain.  I hear this comment so often from patients who have several weeks or months of therapy ahead of them.  This is particularly frustrating for the athlete or anyone leading an active lifestyle who now feels destined to a permanent place on their couch. The average weight gain for most patients following surgery or injury of the knee, hip, shoulder and ankle is between 7 – 15 pounds.  BUT it doesn’t have to be!

There isn't a day that goes by in our hand therapy clinic that a patient doesn't ask me that question. It doesn't matter what brought them in for treatment, most patients get frustrated at one point or another with the rate of their recovery.  I try and explain to them that the answer is usually more complicated than they think and therapy can sometimes feel like a frustrating uphill climb. Most patients experience a few bumps in the road but they are usually only minor setbacks which resolve fairly quickly. 

Earlier this week I was standing at our physical therapy reception desk and was looking at business cards of the clinical staff and it came to me:  A lot of our patients may have no idea what all of the letters after our name mean.  I thought that it would be a good idea for my blog entry to define these designations that we all worked so hard to achieve.

We balance on two tripods called the feet. Our feet form the foundation of posture and how we come into alignment with gravity, which affects the three qualities of posture - stability, security and trust. With a good foundation, we feel our own strength solidly rooted to the earth. Another way to think of our feet is like steering wheels of the legs.

Massage therapy and physical therapy are practices that aim for similar goals; to aid in healing, relieve pain and restore function. Massage therapy has more of a holistic approach where mind and body are one and the focus is primarily on the soft tissues. Physical therapy usually focuses one body part at a time, providing rehabilitation to improve strength for it to work properly. The education level of each practice and tools utilized makes them different.