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JointAction Physiotherapy & Wellness CentreArticles by: admin
By admin 0 Comments JointAction Clinic

Denise House Holiday Season Gift Program

Our team here at JointAction has decided to once again support the Denise House this holiday season. Founded in 1991, the Denise house provides a shelter for women and their children who suffer at the hand of domestic violence here in the Durham Region.  Below is a list of gift suggestions for Mothers and their Children, we will be collecting the items here at the clinic until December 15, 2017.

 

To learn more about the Denise House and their mission, click on the link below:

Mission, Vision and Values

By admin 0 Comments Physiotherapy

Piriformis Syndrome- A Pain in the Butt (LITERALLY!)

Have you experienced buttock pain? Have you being told that you have sciatica? Do you know that piriformis syndrome can also cause pain that resembles sciatica?

Piriformis muscle is located in the buttock region. When it spasms/swells/gets tightened, it can irritate the sciatic nerve that passes through the muscle. This leads to tenderness in the buttock, tingling/numbness along the back of the leg, and sometimes into the foot. You might have increased pain after prolonged sitting, reduced movement of the hip and pain with walking up stairs.

There is a quick 2 minute video that describes piriformis syndrome and sciatica. Please come in for a 15 minute free consultation if you have any questions.

 

By: Jie (Janet) Yang, PT.  

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us today for you FREE 15 minute meet and greet!

By admin 0 Comments Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic adjustments & pregnancy: why it can be beneficial

During pregnancy there are changes in posture due to her growing belly where the abdominal muscles are stretched. This places a lot of stress into the lower back, hips, knees, ankles and feet. The average amount of weight gain during pregnancy is approximately thirty pounds. Usually as the pregnancy goes on, there is a pregnancy “penguin-like” waddle.

Physical changes are obviously visible but there are the hormonal changes which occur that you cannot see. There are hormones which increase at the end of the pregnancy which loosen up the joints in the pelvis which accommodate the uterus. The back and pelvic muscles have to work really hard to keep the spine upright and balanced.

Back pain can significantly be reduced by manual therapies including chiropractic care. The vertebrae(bones of the spine) encase the spinal cord and the proper movement of these bones can aid in the proper functioning of the nervous system. This is especially important during pregnancy as it can decrease pressure on the joints, muscles and nerves of the spine. It can help with posture and labour.

Chiropractic treatment can involve spinal adjustments, soft tissue therapy and exercise to say the least. There are various ways to adjust the spine guarantee that a pregnant patient is comfortable and safe. Using pregnancy pillows for her growing belly and tables which have a pelvic piece which drop down are helpful. There are different techniques which the chiropractor can use to adjust the spine beyond the traditional manual type of adjusting; the Activator(the main technique I use with pregnant patients usually), Sacro Occipital Technique, and Webster to name a few.

Spinal areas that I will find that are commonly restricted during pregnancy are in the upper thoracic spine from the chest increasing in size, lower thoracic spine and lumbar spine due to the expanding abdomen, the sacrum, sacroiliac joints, and  pubic bones which encase the uterus. Soft tissue trigger points are commonly found in the gluteus, piriformis, thoracic and  lumbar paraspinals, rhomboids and upper trapezius muscles.

Chiropractic alongside other conservative treatments can aid in alleviating some of the pressures built up in the body during the process. It can work optimally with other types of treatment including physiotherapy and massage as well.  Something to consider as pregnancy pre and post bring about a lot of changes to the body and should be addressed accordingly.

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

 

To learn more about Chiropractic care click here!

Should you have any questions or concerns contact us for your free 15 minute meet and greet today!

By admin 0 Comments Physiotherapy

My MRI shows a rotator cuff tear! What does that mean? Now what?

Rotator cuff muscles are our shoulder stabilizer muscles that also assist with shoulder movement. Our rotator cuff is made up of 4 muscles (supraspinatus, subscapularis, infraspinatus and teres minor). We often see patients with shoulder pain that come in with imaging showing a tear in one or more of the rotator cuff muscles. Some patients are able to recall a specific incident or injury that may have caused the tear and some can’t. It is important to recognize that the pain experienced may or may not be due to the rotator cuff tear as some people have rotator cuff tears and have no pain! A study found that out of 96 individuals that had no shoulder pain: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) identified 33 of them that had rotator cuff tears including full- and partial- thickness tears1.  The study stated that the participants were able to do functional activities without any pain1. From clinical experience people with rotator cuff injuries sometimes have pain related to other muscles that have been compensating for the initial injury and are being overused. After an injury, it is natural for us to guard and protect our shoulder from painful activities but sometimes that can turn into a habit. That’s when we notice a loss of strength, range of movement, pain and various compensation strategies. Physiotherapy treatment is focused on decreasing pain, improving your range of movement and strengthening your shoulder to regain any functional limitations experienced. Remember that even patients with pain associated with a shoulder tear can return to pain-free activities. It’s important for patients to realize that they may have always had a rotator cuff tear and shoulder pain may or not be associated with the tear. Imaging is a valuable tool however we have to use and interpret findings carefully as structural changes picked up through imaging doesn’t always directly correlate with symptoms.

 

Reference: 1. Sher J.S, et al. Abnormal findings on magnetic resonance images of asymptomatic shoulders. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American volume. 1995 Jan; 77(1):10-5

 

By: Nelly Temraz, PT.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us today for you FREE 15 minute meet and greet!

By admin 0 Comments Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy, Uncategorized

What is Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy?- Video

“1 in 3 women suffer with incontinence but only 1 in 12 report it to their Health Care Practitioner. So bladder leaking is very common but it is never normal. Neither is painful sex, pelvic pain or urgency and frequency of urination. Pelvic health physiotherapists can help you address these problems and get you to live the life you deserve.

Please watch this short video and if you need some help please book an appointment.

 

By: Kate McCormick, PT

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us today for you FREE 15 minute meet and greet!

By admin 0 Comments Paediatric Physiotherapy, Uncategorized

Paediatric Milestone series: Activities in Supported Standing

Before we discuss independent standing and standing up without using support, it would be appropriate to consider simple exercises when the child is standing at the couch, ottoman, coffee table, etc. In fact, this is quite a critical period for the child to master their body in space when trying to stand and balance at their support surface.

 

Once the child is up and standing at their preferred support surface, placing toys or any other item of interest just out of reach on the couch is an excellent activity to practice weight shifting and challenging the boundaries of their balance while they are well supported. During a single lateral reach, the child will shift their body and take more weight on the same-sided leg and foot. This simple and subtle movement is so important because this allows the child to unweight the opposite leg and foot. With progression and strengthening, complete lifting of the opposite foot from the ground will be achieved to reach even further. Mastery of this combination of weight shifting and balancing is incredibly important because this skill is absolutely necessary for walking; weight shifting onto a single leg, lifting the opposite leg, and progressing the unweighted leg and foot forward to walk.

 

For continued balance and strength development, encourage rotation and reaching away from their support. Start by using a toy on the couch or table and slowly pull the toy out of reach along the surface and more towards the side of the child to encourage reaching away from their support. Continue to repeat this to both sides and within their tolerance, ensuring to give breaks as needed. Gradually increase how far the child reaches in an arc around their reaching radius until they can almost reach behind by rotating at the trunk and waist with a hand still on their support. Again, this exercise is working their ability to weight shift and balance at the same time; however, with rotating and balancing as well, we are working on trunk strengthening with movement to build strong core muscles to support the trunk and upper body when it is time for standing and walking independently.

 

Of course, during these activities it is important to give plenty of positive reinforcement and feedback to demonstrate the importance and excitement of standing, reaching, rotating, and moving.

 

We will take another detour before we get to independent standing up; we will first discuss cruising along their support on the next blog post.

 

By: Chris Dahiroc, PT.

 

Questions or concerns regarding your child’s development? Contact us for your free 15 minute meet and greet today!

By admin 0 Comments Physiotherapy

Suffer from heel pain? What should I know about Plantar Fasciitis?

What is it?

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain. Plantar fascia is a thick band of tissue that originates from your heel and runs across the bottom of your foot to your toes. When you strain your plantar fascia, it becomes weak and inflamed. This type of injury will often lead to pain around your heel or in the bottom of your foot when you stand or walk, especially for the first few steps in the morning.

Common causes & Risk factors

Plantar fascia acts to support the arch of your foot. Repeated strain can cause micro-tears in the fascia. These can lead to pain and swelling.  Some of the risk factors for developing plantar fasciitis are:

  • Flat feet or high foot arches
  • Wearing shoes with poor support, such as high heels
  • Walk and stand on hard surfaces for long period of times, such as teachers and factory workers
  • Overweight
  • Middle-aged or older: most common between the ages of 40 to 60

Signs & symptoms

  • Stiffness or pain in the bottom of your heel
  • Pain travels from the bottom of the foot towards the mid-foot area
  • Pain is usually worse in the morning when you take first few steps
  • Pain tends to get better after a few steps but get worse as the day goes on
  • Pain can also be triggered by rising from sitting or standing for long periods
  • Increased pain when climbing stairs

Treatment plan

The treatment plan starts with pain relief during the early stage of plantar fasciitis. Then, it will move onto regain full movement of your foot through targeted stretches and manual techniques, and restore specific muscle strength of your foot through specific exercise. The treatment plan ends with restoring normal foot biomechanics and improving techniques to prevent recurrences to ensure a safe and functional return to work and/or sport.

 

By: Jie (Janet) Yang, PT.  

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us today for you FREE 15 minute meet and greet!

By admin 0 Comments Chiropractic Care, Massage Therapy, Physiotherapy

Neck pain

Neck pain plagues us all. Whether we sit at a desk all day long or perform as a high functioning athlete, we all experience neck pain at one point in life. There are a dozen reasons as to why we experience neck pain. They can range from underlying conditions such as arthritis, biomechanical and postural inconsistencies, or you just slept on the couch wrong and kinked your neck. This first part of the series, we will start by looking at the general anatomy of the neck and the movement.

Anatomy of the neck

At its core, the neck is comprised of seven cervical vertebrae that house your nerves which innervate specific areas of your body. You can think of these bones as your car frame and the nerves as your electrical wiring for everything else. Between each bone you have discs that serve to function as shock absorbers and cushioning between those joints. These discs can be comparable to your car shocks that help whenever it runs over bumps. Layers of muscles, ligaments and other supportive structures serve to move the head and stabilize the joints between. Ligaments serve to provide support to structures, while muscles also act to stabilize and move the neck and shoulder in certain directions.

There are many muscles which range from being thin and small, to larger and thicker muscles. Most of these muscles either aim to 1) stabilize and/or 2) produce movements. The neck is able to produce movements of flexion (chin to chest), extension (chin to the sky), lateral flexion (ear to shoulder) and lateral rotation (chin to shoulder).

 

 

 

A quick check of how your neck is can be as simple as performing these movements and looking at how balanced each side is along with if you experience any pain local or away from the neck. Give it a try!

 

We experience pain whenever the body fails to balance the forces on our neck due to posture, or there is some underlying cause. Typically, as therapists we look at your signs and symptoms in addition to if there is pain with active or passive neck movement. All of the observations we make help us play detective to determine what exactly is the root cause of neck pain.

In our next post, we will look at some of the major muscles that we all have struggles with. We will go over some ways to stretch these muscles and exercise them. Till next time!

 

Jonathan Chang RMT, SMT (cc)

Contact us today to book your massage!

By admin 0 Comments Chiropractic Care

Back to school: Is your backpack fitting properly?

We are only a couple of weeks away from the kids heading back to school. It is  important to take a moment and address one of the major accessories that are used during the school year. Backpacks!!!! 

Backpacks can be used to carry the necessities of the school day as well as being part of your child’s style statement. When used properly, the weight can be evenly distributed using the body’s super strong back and abdominal muscles. But if not worn in the correct manner, they can strain muscles in your child’s neck, back and shoulders.  That can result to injury of the joints and muscles long term causing postural changes.

1. They should only be carrying between 10(elementary student)to 15(high school student) per cent of their body weight.

2. Pack it right! Heavier items should be placed low and in the back end of the backpack so that the heavier weight will be distributed properly.

3. The size of backpack should be proportionate to the student’s body size as it should never be wider /horizontally larger than your child’s torso and the bottom hanging more than 4 inches below your child’s waist.

4. Shoulder and back straps should be padded and adjustable. They should not be too tight around the underarm or shoulder area.  You should be able to fit your hand between the child’s back and the backpack. A strap around the hip/waist area is also a good thing to look for as it helps even out the strain on the spine by placing more weight around the pelvis area.

Carrying the backpack using the two straps will also lessen the pressure and likelihood of injury. Encourage that your child carry it this way as opposed to just wearing one strap and slinging it on to the shoulder as this puts more stress into the shoulder area, mid and lower parts of the spine.

5. Lightweight material such as  vinyl, canvas or nylon can also help decrease the weight of the backpack.

6. The more compartments to keep contents organized and from shifting, the better. This also helps in the redistribution of weight.

7. Children should try their best to bend their knees  and pick up their backpack as opposed to twisting the backpack and slinging it on their back.

Chiropractors provide diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders related to the spine, nervous system and joints. For more information on how to pack, lift, carry, and choose a backpack, visit the OCA Website at www.chiropractic.on.ca- Pack it Light and Wear it Right!

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

Still not sure if your child’s backpack is fitting properly? Bring them by the clinic on Tuesday August 29, 2017 or Friday Sept 1, 2017 from 1pm-4pm to get their backpack checked by Dr. Teesha G!

To learn more about Chiropractic care click here!

Should you have any questions or concerns contact us for your free 15 minute meet and greet today!

 

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