Month: December 2017

Check out Dr. Jared Brown while he shows us some key core stabilization exercises to keep your back strong and healthy!

This is a special posting for December. With the holidays quickly approaching we wanted to share two of our favorite holiday recipes with you to get you in the spirit! Holiday butter ball cookies and holiday latkes!

Holiday Butter Ball Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2  1/4 cups sifted flour

1 cup chopped nuts (pick your favorite!)

Directions: Cream butter, add sugar and continue to beat until light. Add vanilla, sifted flour and mix well. Fold in chopped nuts. Shape into balls on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Roll in confectioner’s sugar while hot!

 

Holiday Latkes

Ingredients:

2-3 peeled medium potatoes

1 large egg

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 tsp of salt, flour and cooking oil

2 medium size frying pans

Directions: Grate potatoes, squeeze out the starchy liquid. Mix in the whisked egg, chopped onion, 1 tsp of sale and 1 tsp of flour. Add enough canola/vegetable oil to fill entire bottom of the pan and then some. When oil is pipping hot, take one large tablespoon of mixture and place into the pan and smooth it out to become somewhat rounded (like a pancake!). Leave for two minutes or until golden brown on the bottom and flip to the other side. Place latkes on thick paper towel to cool and dab off extra oil. Serve with a side of applesauce or sour cream and enjoy!

Lower. Back. Pain.

We all know it, we’ve all experienced it and we all want it to go away. At any given time 25% of people living in the United States have lower back pain (LBP). That is a quarter of the country, A QUARTER! While most pain subsides and goes away within days, some LBP can return or progress and can seriously impact your everyday life and your skeletal health.

A majority of us will be able to relieve and conquer our LBP by practicing simple exercises, maintaining great posture and staying active. But when chronic or recurring lower back pain happens, doing those exercises can become difficult. This is where Physical Therapy comes into play and can be the help someone needs to achieve comfort and  to prevent their lower back pain from coming back.

Physical Therapy will use three approaches for the treatment of lower back pain:

1. Modalities
2. Manual Therapy
3. Active therapeutic exercises

Modalities commonly used:

• Ultrasound – a form of deep heating where sound waves penetrate into the soft tissues of the problem area
• Heat/ice packs – most commonly used modality to ease pain and promote relaxation
• Electrical stimulation – to ease the sensation of pain,relax tight tissue and improve circulation
• Light therapy (cold laser) –  to promote repair of injured tissue at the cellular level
• Mechanical traction – used to decrease joint pressure

Manual therapy techniques:

• Myofascial release – soft tissue technique used to reset the resting tension of tight tissues
• Joint mobilization – improves the gliding motion of the vertebrae
• Muscle energy – form of gentle isometric contractions to relax the muscles

Active exercises physical therapists will use for LBP include:

• Stretching – hamstring stretches are very important for LBP health, this is just one stretch to practice but is the most crucial
• Strengthening – dynamic lumbar stabilization and core strengthening techniques are used to decrease LBP pain
• Low-impact aerobic conditioning – this is important for long-term pain relief, examples of this are walking, biking or swimming 30-40 min up to 3 times weekly

Prevention and Best Practices

Here are some easy tips to keeping that lower back stable and able!

• Posture – using proper body positioning at home, work and during any activity
• Keep any weights/ heavier objects close to your body when doing a workout or lifting
• Asking for help with heavy objects before attempting to lift them
• Maintaining a regular physical fitness acumen

If you or someone you know suffers from lower back pain or has been experiencing recurring back pain it is important to contact your local Physical Therapist immediately to begin a healthy program that will get you back to doing what you love.

Over the years we have posted many subjects on our social media outlets from easy every day stretches to fitness articles and birthday pictures and team outings. One in particular stood out to us, a post from 2014, Dr. Lindy First’s patient UFC fight Myles “Fury” Jury and his video clip (see clip below) on his training, regime and upcoming fight in Japan. This post was not only to showcase a patient, but it was to show dedication, perseverance and the pursuit of being driven to get to the main event. We are so proud of Myles and of each of our patients and the strength they show every day to work harder and to get better.

https://sports.yahoo.com/video/theshoot-myles-jury-050000064.html