Vertigo

Vertigo is a type of dizziness that lasts for a short period of time - it could be minutes, hours, or days. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common types of vertigo. It can cause a feeling of dizziness, ringing in the ears, feeling of sickness and loss of balance. Commonly it’s described as feeling like the room is spinning or the inside of your head is spinning.

Symptoms can occur with:

• Lying down/ Getting up

• Standing up/Sitting down

• Tilting your head up or down

• Rolling over

Causes

• BPPV is due to dysfunction of your inner ear.

• Small crystals that detect movement become dislodged and create the sensation of movement

• The gel matrix the crystals sit in can become dehydrated with age and increase your risk of BPPV

Treatment

Vertigo can be bothersome and disruptive but it's rarely serious except when it increases riks of falling from feeling dizzy.

You can receive effective treatment for BPPV during a PT visit office visit.

• Your physical therapist will move you through a series of movements that can decrease and resolve your symptoms

• The treatment is effective at reducing onset and intensity of dizziness and is typically resolved in just a few treatments based on the extent of the dysfunction.

Runner's Knee

Runner’s Knee 

Symptoms

• Pain around the knee cap when on one leg such as running and stairs.

• Knee pain with standing and walking after prolonged sitting

Causes

• This injury can affect people of any fitness level or age. 

• It is caused by overuse and under stretching of the TFL muscle which is on the side of the hip and attaches to the IT band, which attaches to the knee cap.

Treatment

• Instruction on how and when to stretch the TFL muscle to prevent pulling on knee cap

• Targeted strengthening that avoids over stressing the muscle but still challenges it

• Guided return to movement with a progressive increase in activity

Ankle Sprain

WHAT IS A SPRAINED ANKLE?

An ankle sprain can occur when you roll or twist your ankle in an odd way. This causes overstretching and/or tearing in the ligaments that help to keep your ankle joint stable.

Most sprained ankles involve injuries to the ligaments on the outer side of the ankle. An medical assessment can help determine how severe the sprain is.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SYMPTOMS OF A SPRAINED ANKLE?

• Pain especially standing on the injured foot

• swelling

• Tenderness when you touch the ankle

• Bruising

• limited motion in that ankle

• Popping sensation or sound at the time of injury

• Instability in the ankle

Recurrence of ankle sprains and persistent pain following the injury are also very common, but with physical therapy you can prevent future injury and get back to your normal daily and recreational activities.

A physical therapist will create a unique program for you that typically involves hands-on treatment, balance, stretching, and strengthening. This program will help restore normal mobility and strength in the ankle, allowing you to return to your normal level of function.

Sciatica

What is Sciatica?

Sciatica is usually used to describe pain that travels along the path of the sciatic nerve.  This nerve comes from your lower back, travels through your hips and buttocks and down each leg.  IT is a common term used for lumbar radiculopathy, which refers to abnormal sensory and motor functioning in the leg commonly a result of instability in the lower back. 

Symptoms

When the sciatic nerve gets irritated upon its exit from the spine it can result in abnormal sensory responses like numbness, tingling, burning, achy or sharp shooting pain.  You can also experience abnormal motor output like weakness, fatigue, spasms, or tension in your leg/legs.  Typically it only affects one side of your body. 

Causes

This injury can affect people of any fitness level or age. The causes are multifaceted but usually relate back to the inability to control your core during movement. We will teach you how to engage the glutes during walking, stairs and exercise to ensure a stable core and help to resolve and prevent sciatic nerve pain.

Treatment

Through retraining of proper movement patterns we are able to increase the stability of the lumbar spine and prevent further irritation of the nerves. We address safe exercise, postural assessment and reeducation, as well, as good body mechanics.  Over time we look for the symptoms in the legs to centralize to the low back and then fully dissipate. Our main goal is to teach you why this is happening, teach you how to recover and prevent it moving forward.

Plantar Fasciitis

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We are seeing an increase in patients with plantar fasciitis due to the prolonged periods of inactivity during COVID19- followed by a return to previous levels of walking, running and hiking.

Plantar fascia is a thick ligament that runs from the heel to the toes and supports the arch of the foot, allowing for shock absorption.

Pain along the bottom of the heel is most commonly caused by a strain of the plantar fascia.  This is why it is commonly referred to as plantar fasciitis (ie. inflammation of the plantar fascia). Due to its strategic location and function, the heel is vulnerable to damage, injury and pain. Approximately 2 million Americans suffer from arch or heel pain each year in the U.S. alone.

What does it feel like?

Plantar fasciitis typically causes a stabbing pain in the bottom of your foot near the heel. The pain is usually worse with the first few steps after waking, although it can also be increased by long periods of standing or when you first get up after sitting. The pain is usually worse after exercise, not during it.

Swelling, inflammation and stiffness are symptoms that may be associated with this type of heel pain. 

Physical Therapy can help by:

-strengthening the foot to help support the fascia
-increasing the mobility of the ankle joint to decrease stress on the fascia
-stretch the calf to allow a more normal walking pattern
-guide you in picking the appropriate footwear to prevent further aggravation

We will also provide a home exercise program to assist in healing and prevent future injury.