It’s 2017. It’s the time of the year when many families clean out the house, get the kids ready to go back to school, and pledge to live healthier in the New Year. Your friends are making resolutions from losing a few pounds to running marathons. While you’re skeptical about other people keeping their resolutions to be more active, pain might be holding you back from making your own.
Rue and Primavera could have your solution: From joint pain to balance problems, physical therapy is a great way to take control of your health and start moving forward. Addressing these problems can help manage pain and increase your mobility. Whether your goal is to swim laps in the pool, enjoy a walk through the woods this spring, or run a mile without stopping, consider physical therapy to get you on your feet this year.
Physical Therapy to Alleviate Foot Pain
From Plantar Fasciitis to Heal Pain to Arch Problems, it’s hard to get up and moving when your feet hurt. Our team uses an integrated approach to treat foot pain. We don’t just examine your feet: we look into how your lower extremities including ankles, knees, and hips work together to find the source of your pain. We’ll examine how you’re walking, your footwear, and other potential problem areas to find the reason for your discomfort. From orthotics to exercises, our therapists can help you find ways to reduce your foot pain.
Physical Therapy to Reduce Balance Problems
Your balance may be off for a number of reasons. These types of problems can be a result of vision trouble, abnormalities in the inner ear, problems within your muscular system, and a combination of these things. When you start combating your balance problems, you reduce both your risk and fear of falling, improve your mobility, improve your posture and more. At Rue and Primavera, we have therapists who specialize in balance and falling problems, and we would love to help you get more steady on your feet.
Physical Therapy to Reduce Loss of Mobility
A big part of a physical therapist’s job is to help prevent loss of mobility before it happens. That means, from recovering from injuries to combatting the reduced mobility that sometimes comes with age, our team of experts can help you build a routine to stay active. Whether your goal is to be able to walk a mile without stopping or to be able to play on the floor with your grandkids, we’ll work with you to keep you moving and live a more active life.
Physical Therapy to Alleviate Pain from Arthritis
Arthritis often leads to limited range of motion. The reason for this is simple: when our joints hurt we avoid using them. When you stop using these joints, however, they can become even more stiff leading to increased pain. Both physical and occupational therapy can help in this situation. Our physical therapists can help you address discomfort in a number of ways including exercises, supports, and braces. Occupational therapists can also help you deal with this pain by modifying your home, office, and workout routine to reduce pain and impact on your sore joints.
Physical Therapy to Increase Blood Flow
From poor circulation to cerebral vascular disease, maintaining healthy blood flow throughout your body is vital. If you have poor circulation in your extremities, our physical therapists can work with you to improve blood flow throughout your body. If you or your loved ones have dealt with more serious problems, such as a cerebral vascular disease and stroke, therapists can both help improve mobility and balance after the illness. We are also happy to discuss the best way to support this person moving forward with your family. New Year’s bring new opportunities and goals for the months to come. You don’t have to make running a marathon your resolution-but if pain is keeping you on the couch and away from the live you want to be living, we can help. To learn more about reducing pain and increasing mobility through physical therapy, or to talk to a therapist to see if they can help you, contact us today!
Whether your job requires you to spend your day cranking out content on a keyboard or you’re a full time parent with a kid on either arm, you don’t realize how much you use your hands and wrists until they start to hurt. Many people deal with upper extremity pain, but a lot of people don’t know that occupational therapy can offer solutions. From carpal tunnel to post-surgery recovery, occupational therapy can help you get back to your daily actives and live a pain-free life.
First of all, what is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy is a type of therapy that helps people recuperating from illness perform daily tasks that various ailments and conditions might otherwise prohibit them from completing. Basically, occupational therapy helps you perform activities that pain has previously stopped you from doing.
How is it different from physical therapy?
Many people don’t know the difference between occupational therapy and physical therapy. While they are both practices that help people rehabilitate and regain function, the two practices have some core differences. Physical therapists generally work with people to recover from injuries. They are focused on healing the physical injuries, such as damaged tissues or other physical problems. Occupational therapists are focused on helping a person be able to perform their daily tasks despite physical setbacks. Where a physical therapist might help someone be able to bend and straighten their elbow after a broken arm, an occupational therapist might help the same person be able to button their shirt, cook, or complete other tasks while recovering.
What are the benefits of occupational therapy?
Oftentimes, we don’t realize how much we use our hands and wrists until they hurt. When you feel pain when typing on your keyboard, brushing your teeth, or performing other basic functions, it can take a toll on you and your family. The goal of occupational therapy is to get you back to what you want to be doing, and enable people to participate fully in their everyday lives.
How does it work?
Occupational therapy can happen in a number of different ways, but at Rue and Primavera we typically offer 45 minute sessions in our large, open occupational therapy space. Sessions can also be done in private, but many patients enjoy this open, relaxed environment. We have three occupational therapists whose with expertise treating upper extremities on our staff. Our goal is to understand your condition and work to increase your mobility and decrease pain.
What sort of hand and wrist injuries can occupational therapy help you recover from?
Occupational therapy can help people recover from a variety of hand and wrist injuries.Common ailments include carpal tunnel, ganglion cysts, sprains, fractures, dislocations, tennis elbow, recovering from surgery, and others.
If you have upper extremity pain or are recovering from hand or wrist surgery, occupational therapy may be able to help. Our therapists would love to help you thrive in your daily life so contact us today!
Three Common Health Problems Women Over 40 Didn’t Know Physical Therapy Can Help
Men get most of the credit, but everybody knows women make the world go ‘round. Whether you’re putting in extra hours to work towards to your next promotion, running around after three kids in five different directions, or spending your pre-retirement years shaping your office’s you-20-years-ago, it’s hard to make time for yourself. Unfortunately, even Superwoman can’t save the world if she has constant back pain or is always in the bathroom. Physical therapy offers many solutions to keep women happy and healthy. If you’re experiencing any of the following problems or interested in learning more about physical therapy for women’s health, Rue and Primavera can help.
If locating the nearest bathroom is your sixth sense:
Physical Therapy to improve bladder control
Do you plan your commute around bathroom breaks and shudder at the thought of a middle airplane seat? Studies show 68 percent of women ages 42-64 experience urinary incontinence at least once per month. Frequent urges to go to the bathroom, bladder control issues when coughing, sneezing, and laughing, and frequent accidents are all indicators of incontinence and pelvic floor weakness.
We don’t want trips to the bathroom running your life. At Rue and Primavera, we use a system called Biofeedback to reduce symptoms and strengthen your pelvic floor. This process electronically monitors automatic body function to give you better control of your body’s activity. We’ve used this treatment to help hundreds of women improve bladder control and stop planning their days around bathroom breaks.
If you’re sick of taking Tylenol and wishing the pain away:
Physical Therapy to reduce pelvic pain:
Many women experience discomfort around their periods, but frequent and recurrent pain is reason to seek medical attention. Endometriosis, Fibroids, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, and urinary problems are some common reasons for pelvic pain in women over 40.
Physical therapy can help alleviate pelvic pain regardless of the cause. Physical therapists can help find the root of your pain, then find the best solution to make it go away.
If achy bones are keeping you from feeling strong and standing tall:
Physical Therapy for osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a medical condition characterized by low bone density, bone weakness, and loss of tissue. It’s often caused by hormonal changes and vitamin deficiencies. More than half of Americans over 50 experience osteoporosis and women are significantly more likely to develop the disease than men.
People with osteoporosis are more likely to suffer from broken bones and have difficulty healing, slouching posture, and limited mobility. Physical therapy can offer both preventative and curative solutions for osteoporosis. At Rue and Primavera, we focus on improving bone strength and improving posture to keep you moving and keep your bones strong.
Take action, feel better
We believe in a world with happy, healthy women living their best lives. That’s why one of Rue and Primavera’s primary goals is to offer a variety of solutions to female health problems and improve women’s health on Whidbey Island and beyond. We’d love to start a conversation about how we can start helping you, so let’s get in touch.
The number of knowledge workers – or non-routine cognitive employees in the U.S. workforce – is rising at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, workplace health and wellness isn’t keeping pace with the number of people working in front of a computer screen for the majority of their days. It’s estimated that by the year 2030, more than half of all American adults will be obese. Aside of company-wide wellness programs and fitness initiatives, it’s important that employees take their personal wellness while on the job very seriously. Studies have shown that leading a sedentary lifestyle can have serious implications for your expected lifespan, mental wellbeing, and everyday mood, further enforcing the importance of keeping an active, energetic daily routine no matter your professional or area of expertise.
While it can be difficult to implement a truly ergonomic and movement-friendly solution to an existing office or workplace, there are plenty of strategies to keep moving throughout the day and stay motivated to change your lifestyle for the better.
1. Change Up Your Posture
The results are in: sitting kills. Staying in the same position throughout the work day won’t only have an impact on your midsection, but the company’s bottom line may also suffer as a result of your lack of movement. A weak core isn’t the only downside, though – studies have shown that circulation, muscle tension, and organ damage can result due to long-term immobility and poor posture. Experts say that sitting upright with relaxed shoulders, elbows at a 90-degree angle, and feet flat on the floor is the best posture to help avoid aches, pains, and development of more chronic conditions in the future.
2. Be Mobile in Work Mode
Some workplaces encourage in-person meetings and communiques to help boost employee movement throughout the day. Even if you have a small group meeting or a team check-in, try and make the meeting mobile, taking a loop around the office, block or neighborhood to keep everyone active and engaged.
3. Do Errands
If your schedule and your office environment are conducive to it, try squeezing in a few errands around town during the workday or on your lunch break. A quick trip to the bank, post office, or grocery store won’t just get you up and moving, it’ll help you conquer your to-do list and better focus on your professional workflow throughout the day.
4. Meditate
Just because it doesn’t involve movement doesn’t mean it’s not helpful to your general wellbeing. Meditation in the workplace is becoming more and more prevalent and for good reason. Studies have shown that those who take 10-15 minutes on a daily basis to sit quietly and process their thoughts perform better at work, miss less time due to illness, and feel more productive. Furthermore, those who meditate are also more averse to pain, less likely to develop heart disease, and have a stronger immune system compared to a control group.
5. Switch to a Standing Desk or Stability Ball
Getting up and walking around aren’t the only things you could be doing to protect your health at work. Many companies have wellness and health programs designed to supplement a greater effort in wellbeing and health, budgeting for workplace upgrades such as standing desks, ergonomic improvements for spine and posture support, and exercise or stability balls to help improve balance and posture throughout the day.
6. Try Calisthenics
A bodyweight strengthening routine performed a few times throughout a standard workday can provide tremendous benefits to your overall health and general physique. Calisthenics, a form of bodyweight exercise, requires no equipment and can be performed virtually anywhere, burning fat and helping to improve posture, flexibility, and functional everyday movements. This is a good introduction to the basics of calisthenics that you can adopt in your daily routine.
7. Set a Goal, Hit a Number
Wearable technology has made keeping track of daily fitness a breeze, if not a complete afterthought. Fitbits are the clear leaders in this field, but Apple, Microsoft, and Nike all have technology-driven fitness wearables and software to track daily dietary intake, number of steps walked, stairs climbed, calories burned, and more.
If you’re concerned about the amount of physical activity you’re getting at work or are otherwise suffering from repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel, contact Rue and Primavera in Whidbey Island to begin correcting imbalances, weaknesses, and body tensions.
Why Aquatic Therapy Offers More Options for Pain Relief
For individuals who suffer from chronic pain and restriction of movement due to pain that affects their mobility, it can be deeply discouraging when common treatment methods don’t work. When “everything hurts” and relief seems impossible, the outlook is quite bleak. But Aquatic Therapy offers more options for pain relief, and is sometimes more successful than other treatment methods due to its alternative approach to treating pain.
One of the most superficial reasons why aquatic therapy is a more successful treatment for pain is the environment. Aquatic therapy is done in a pool to help increase blood flow as you move, while the resistance of the water helps tense muscles relax. The nature of your body’s buoyancy in water reduces your body weight by up to 90 percent when submerged, supporting your weak muscles enough to allow you to exercise and strengthen them with aquatic therapy.
Since buoyancy significantly reduces the aggressor of gravity, you can enjoy greater flexibility and range of motion as you perform your aquatic therapy sessions. The force of water molecules on your submerged body, called hydrostatic pressure, has some greatly beneficial effects that contribute to aquatic therapy exercises. It automatically reduces edema and even pain, dampens the tactile sensory input to the brain to allow you to relax and experience less pain sensitivity (this is great for people who are tactilely defensive), and stimulates circulation to get blood to injured areas.
The nature of hydrostatic pressure is that it puts pressure equally around the body, creating muscle balance that can help relieve a lot of common problems such as orthopedic issues and back pain. The patient can stand, support their own body weight, and even perform gait and strength training exercises in the water, which they may not be able to do on land.
Finally, aquatic therapy is a treatment method available for some individuals who are unable to do other more common exercises to treat their pain. People with traumatic brain injury, and others who are unable to support their bodyweight on land fall into this group.
Ready to see if aquatic therapy can help you? Please click here to contact us or call 360-279-8323 and book your consultation appointment.
Your hands are constantly at work, and they are an integral part of everything you do! But our hands can be injured or limited by painful joint pain such as arthritis, significantly reducing your ability to move and function in everyday life.
Arthritis and joint pain affects millions of people around the world. In the U.S. alone, more than 52.5 million adults report having doctor-diagnosed arthritis, and it is estimated that by the year 2040, about 78 million adults will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis. Many people can’t or don’t want to use medication to relieve the extreme (sometimes debilitating) pain caused by arthritis, and studies have found that a hands-on approach can naturally relieve arthritis pain symptoms.
This hands-on approach is known as hand therapy, where an occupational or physical therapist will perform rehabilitative, manual therapy to the hands and upper extremities. According to an article from altMD.com, “Hand therapy helps to maintain movement through hand exercises … It offers acute or chronic pain management techniques, desensitization as a result of nerve injury or trauma, sensory re-education following a nerve injury, a personalized exercise program designed to increase dexterity and manual strength, and most importantly, an opportunity to retrain a person to handle the tasks of everyday life—any household or personal task, whether it is personal hygiene care, or vacuuming, or washing dishes.”
Hand therapy incorporates a variety of techniques such as mobilization and stimulation of soft tissues, hand exercises, re-training, stretching and even splinting to help you regain comfort and functionality in your hands, pain-free!
The benefits of hand therapy for arthritis treatment are particularly notable:
Can be used as a preventative or conservative treatment method
Manages and/or reduces acute and even chronic joint pain
Desensitizes nerves after injury or trauma, for correct sensory re-education
Increases motion, dexterity and strength
Thoughtful home exercise programs for quicker rehabilitation and muscular conditioning
If applicable, customized splinting to prevent or correct injury
Education and training to learn and adapt for success at daily life skills
To learn more about hand therapy with Rue & Primavera, or to book your next hand therapy appointment or initial consultation, please click here to contact us or call 360-279-8323.
Back pain can be one of the most debilitating problems that individuals can experience. The spine is so central to overall functionality, and back pain in some areas can restrict or even prohibit movement. About 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain; low back pain is the most common.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years old. More than 26 million Americans between the ages of 20-64 experience frequent back pain.”
Back pain is exhausting, but also makes it difficult to sleep. Debilitating pain in your back affects your ability to do housework, and is one of the most common reasons for missed work. Individuals who suffer from chronic back pain often face frustration from their supervisor or employer for missed work, and their loved ones feel helpless to relieve their pain. Then, the depression sets in.
I see it all the time. If only we could see you before it gets to this point. Once you have pain shooting all the way down your leg, it means that a nerve is being compressed. Nerve pain is awful. I know, I have had it. But I knew what to do early on to stop it in its tracks. That is what I want to do for you, and I can give you tools and exercises that you can do on your own at home to relieve and treat back pain.
Now, if you do have pain shooting down your legs, we can still help. I do not believe in “No
pain, no gain.” I believe in “No pain, huge gain!” Your treatment and exercises should not be painful. They should be pain-relieving and restoring of normal muscle balance.
