Cervicogenic Headaches: The Best Exercises For Relief

The relentless pounding…the intense throbbing…headaches are the worst! Unfortunately, they’re also very common. In fact, they’re the most common reason people use over-the-counter pain medication. Headaches also account for 18 million doctor visits in the US, 156 million work days missed – an estimated $25 billion in productivity losses – every year1.

Do your patients complain of headaches? What Kind – migraines, cluster-type? Maybe, like many of the patients I see, they get headaches stemming from the neck region – these are called Cervicogenic Headaches. The good news with this type of headache is that there are steps you can help them take to alleviate the pain – even without taking medication.

Let’s take a look at what Cervicogenic Headaches are, what causes them, how they differ from other headaches, and – most importantly – how to help alleviate and prevent them from recurring…

Continue reading...

Scapular Strengthening for Tennis Elbow

Lateral Epicondylalgia can be nagging and long-lasting - sometimes as long as 4 years! Plus, it tends to recur.  

Our patients need to know what the best treatment options are.  Sure, there are things we can do to help them manage painful symptoms in the short-term.  But, I'm more interested in what they can do long-term to address an underlying cause...

Scapular strengthening has been proven to be effective in eliminating Lateral Epicondylalgia and improving grip strength.  

Here is some more evidence about scapular strengthening you can implement into your treatment...continue reading...

How Thoracic Mobility Affects Your Patients

Throughout our lives, we lose the most mobility in our thoracic spines.  Even by the time we turn 16, we lose up to 27 degrees of sagittal mobility here.    

This loss of mobility, and an increase in thoracic kyphosis decreases our ability to achieve full arm elevation, abducts the scapula, and increases the likelihood of shoulder impingement.  

Not only does T-Spine mobility affect the shoulder, it's also directly linked to neck dysfunction.

Offering your patients a few simple thoracic mobility exercises can have significant benefits on their overall mobility and function.

Here's some more info and 3 Thoracic Mobility Exercise Videos for you to share...

7 Scar Management Tips

I often treat post-surgical patients, and along with surgery comes scars.  Scars are wounds and must be treated properly to heal properly.  

The easy thing to do when it comes to scar management is to hope that the surgeon covered it - but how many of your post-op patients remember everything they learned in their pre-op appointment?

We're better than that.

We are Physical Therapists, and our job is to treat the whole patient.  

How are we educating our post-surgical patients when it comes to scar management? How can we help them prevent hypertrophic and keloid scarring in the best, most evidence-based ways possible?  

Here are 7 Scar Management Tips to educate your patients ...

The Detriments of Early Sport Specialization

Kids sports nowadays have gotten more and more intense. It seems like parents are signing their kids up for private coaching and travel teams before they learn to tie their own shoes. Ever since the world saw the results of a father taking his 2-year old son to the golf course every day, parents and coaches have taken notice.

As much as we’re pressured into specializing kids early in their sport – from coaches, schools, peers, other parents, travel teams – there is much evidence showing that early sport specialization has its detriments. On the flip-side, though, multi-sport participation proves to be very beneficial.

Let’s take a closer look…

Why Kids Should Play More Than One Sport