Everything You Need To Know About Your Low Back Pain And “Sciatica” (And What To Do About It)
“You have back pain because of a bulging disc” “It’s because you have a pinched nerve in your back” “You have degenerative disc disease” “This is severe stenosis causing your back pain” “You have the worst back I have ever seen!” Have you been told any of the above sayings? I have heard these from […]
Should I Get An MRI??
This is one of the most common questions I hear. My short answer is: it depends, but most likely not. Let me explain. Oddly enough, the MRI isn’t the problem. It’s what happens after the MRI that’s the problem. The MRI itself is actually pretty awesome. You get to see what the inside of your […]
Use It Or Lose It – The Shoulder Edition
Did you know, an “older adult” with a painful (symptomatic) rotator cuff on one shoulder has a 50% chance of having a similar tear they don’t know about (asymptomatic) on the other shoulder as well? Shoulder pain or discomfort is so common as people age. And guess what, we are all aging! BUT, is age […]
How Healthy Are You Really? (HRV)
Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Heart rate variability, or HRV for short, is a measure of your autonomic nervous system that is widely considered one of the best objective metrics for physical fitness and determining your body’s readiness to perform. – Whoop We want increased variability between your heart beats. The lower your variance is, the […]
The Human Alarm System
It’s been a while since writing a blog, but this is because I was busy learning everyday on my awesome last internship. One thing I learned over the past 8 weeks is how much I enjoy working with people in chronic pain. I learned an incredible amount about acute and chronic low back pain (LBP), […]
Top 5 Home Self Care Exercise Products Under $30 Everyone Should Own (And How To Use Them)
There are so many pieces of equipment out there at outrageous prices, but sometimes the inexpensive ones are the most useful. Here are my top 5 most useful self care exercise devices for under $30 everyone needs at their home today. 1. Foam Roller The foam roller is one of my all time favorite pieces […]
Don’t Let Arthritis Slow You Down
This post is all about why I recommend seeing a skilled physical therapist for knee and/or hip arthritis (for essential reasons other than I am going to be one). But more importantly, to educate everyone a little bit about what osteoarthritis is and why you should care about it! Also just a heads up, the […]
Explaining Pain
Everyone has experienced pain at some point in their life, but what is it? This is a huge topic in the research world and is one of the main reasons people come into physical therapy. This week I wanted to do a brief post explaining a very small amount of what pain is and why […]
Sleep and Wellness
“Sleep is like nutrition for your brain. It’s as important as eating a healthful diet and getting plenty of exercise.” – Denise Amschler Sleep is so crucial to all functions of your body. I have heard countless stories of the vicious cycle of problems caused by trouble sleeping at night and/or chronic pain. After listening […]
Reducing Stress, Muscle Tension, and Neck Pain
This past week I started my 2nd internship of my graduate school career. So far it has been an amazing experience full of learning, and exposure to many different patient cases. One very common case I have noticed so far is the prevalence of neck and shoulder pain from either poor posture, stress, muscle tightness, […]