Physical Therapy

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Why Doing Rotator Cuff Physical Therapy Exercises Correctly is Important

January 26, 2012 in Physical Therapy by admin | No comments



Rotator cuff physical therapy exercises done correctly can play a major role in restoring your injured shoulder back to its original form. These exercises will also shorten the time it takes for your shoulder to recover and possibly help to avoid a surgery procedure. For cases where surgery was done, these physical exercises can help strengthen the shoulder to alleviate the pain, prevent any relapses, and also to heal much faster.

There is a big difference between generic shoulder exercises and rotator cuff physical therapy exercises. Shoulder exercises like the military press are used to strengthen the deltoid, which is the large muscle in the shoulder and doesn’t strengthen the rotator cuff that is located beneath it. Actually, when dealing with an injury to the area beneath the deltoid, lifting things overhead should be avoided and can damage the muscle more. However, proper physical therapy exercises will only require very little weight or no weight at all. The weight of the arm and its natural resistance is enough in the beginning, and works well to strengthen the four muscles that are connected to the arm and the bones in the shoulder to prevent further injury.

The shoulder plays an important role in our everyday life. You don’t realize how often the shoulder is used until it is injured. And unfortunately, everyday use of it can make an injured shoulder worse. Drugs can be used to reduce the pain. But the problem with drugs are that they only mask the injury, can be expensive, and don’t take care of the actual cause. This is one reason why it is important to implement rotator cuff physical therapy exercises since without them, shoulder injuries can linger on for weeks, months, or even years before recovering.

When doing rotator cuff physical therapy exercises, it is best to do ones that are designed or recommended by a doctor or physical therapist. Doing the wrong exercises can make your injury worse. The shoulder and its parts is a very complex muscle and bone structure. It’s important to follow the directions of someone who’s knowledgeable in this area for a safe and quick recovery.

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Hot Tub Therapy – Can Water Therapy Help You Lower Blood Pressure?

December 11, 2011 in Physical Therapy by admin | No comments



Of all the natural therapies, the one that has caught the attention of the many is the hot tub therapy. It is popularly known as the hydrotherapy and is believed to be one of the most impeccable ways to improve general health of people.

Apart from treating some common ailments like back pains and joint pains, hypertension or high blood pressure is also known to get cured with the use of hot tubs. Generally, the therapy involving hot tub is used as an assistant treatment to the regular medications that a person suffering from high blood pressure is indulging in.

But the patient is always advised to consult their doctor before trying this therapy to lower their blood pressure. This is because, the therapy initially increases the body’ blood pressure due to increased temperature of the body. Therefore people with high blood pressure should first consult their doctors before using this kind of water therapy.

However, hot water has a very positive effect on your body as it dilates the blood vessels. As the blood vessels dilate, the heart does not have to work hard in pumping blood in the vessels. The lowered activity in the heart provides an over-all relief to the high blood pressure patient. But for some patients such kind of relaxation is not optimal.

The reason because of which the blood vessels dilate when brought in contact with hot water is very simple. When your body comes in touch with hot water, there is reflex that goes to your brain with information that your body temperature has risen from the normal levels. Thus the vessels near the skin, which are in direct touch with the water relaxes and dissipates all heat outside the body. Thus all these developments in the body dilate the vessels. This process in medical terms is known as Vasodilation. In vasodilation more oxygen is transported to all body parts. Oxygen is a very important element for your body as it hastens the process of healing.

Apart from this, the process of vasodilation has another important advantage for the body. It helps the blood in clearing itself from all the waste accumulated in it. With the day in progress, the food you eat and the physical activities that you perform, a lot of waste and harmful chemical substances get deposited in the body. With hot tub treatment and the process of vasodilation, the blood reaches fast to the body parts and thus removes the waste products. This could again help lower your blood pressure.

So talk to your doctor now and find out if hot tubs can help you decrease your blood pressure.

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Frozen Shoulder Physical Therapy – A Rehabilitation Program For a Fast Recovery

December 10, 2011 in Physical Therapy by admin | No comments



A frozen shoulder physical therapy program will help slash down recovery times in the thawing phase of the disorder, strengthening the rotator cuff and aiding the natural healing process. A Frozen Shoulder can be one of the most disabling shoulder disorders because of its length and the effects a restricted range of movements has on daily tasks and quality of life in general.

The disorder typically starts with a freezing phase in which movement is still possible but pain grows worse over few weeks time, degenerating into a frozen phase that can last up to 1 year, finally gradually resolving into a thawing phase that also can last 1 year. During the course of the disorder, the sufferer is frustrated and restricted in all daily tasks such as taking a shower, shampooing, reaching up for something or steering the car wheel.

The condition usually affects people over 40 and more women than men. While it is not completely clear as to the cause of the disorder, there are links to diabetes or being over weight, though by no any means necessarily so. On the contrary, it is pretty clear how to treat a Frozen Shoulder, though the nature of the disorder makes it a long process, sometimes very long.

Common remedies for a Frozen Shoulder are anti inflammatories, both over the counter and prescription, cortisone injections, ultrasounds, hot packs, manipulation and best of all a program of frozen shoulder physical therapy. Anti infammatories are initially necessary to sooth the pain just like any other shoulder disorder, but they do not offer a long term solution because they do not cure the root cause of a Frozen Shoulder, the adhesions.

The adhesions are coarse parts of tissue in the capsule membrane surrounding the rotator cuff from which the disorder takes its medical term: Adhesive Capsulitis. The adhesions restrict the space within the shoulder joint, limiting range of motion and blocking over head movements. Ultrasounds and hot pack are popular remedies free of side effects, unlike anti inflammatories. They do provide temporary or partial relief, however they also require constant re-application without significantly shortening the healing process.

Manipulation is a radical yet very effective solution in which the surgeon “manipulates”, or physically breaks the adhesions by performing arm movements with the shoulder affected. Because of the high pain threshold, manipulation is performed under general anesthesia, like surgery. It is therefore not a walk in the park and must be followed by a frozen shoulder physical therapy program soon after.

However, such program can be implemented not just following manipulation but also during a thawing phase of the disorder, a stage in which a frozen shoulder naturally resolves but that can last up to 1 year if not assisted. A frozen shoulder physical therapy program can significantly cut down recovery times, gradually restoring strength to the rotator cuff and range of motion to the shoulder joint, helping loosing up the adhesions.

It will therefore help cut down on anti inflammatories consumption to the sufferer benefit and help prevent future disorders or injuries from occurring again. Over all, a Frozen Shoulder is a disorder that can go on up to 2 years or more, during which time the sufferer has to put up with daily restrictions in all mundane tasks that otherwise we take for granted, significantly reducing quality of life.

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