Statins and Exercise: Maintain a Balance

A high cholesterol level puts you at an increased risk for a heart attack or stroke. Perhaps your physician has recommended that you take a statin, a drug that helps block your body’s ability to make cholesterol. Statins lower cholesterol levels but can also reduce the amount of plaque in your arteries. They are known…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

We’ve Got Your Back

If you suffer from recurring back pain, you have plenty of company. Back pain is one of the most common and universal health complaints among adults. Its causes are often unclear, and solutions that work wonders for some individuals may be completely ineffective for others. Not surprisingly, some sufferers have adopted habits that provide pain relief but may eventually lead to more problems….

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

One Less Headache to Worry About

Jaw and head pain can be a real pain in the neck—literally. Did you know that many people suffering from both temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) and headaches have postural issues with their cervical spine or neck? This is why we can be an important ally in combating persistent headaches and TMD-related facial pain. According to the International Headache Society, headaches fall into two…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

At Your Service: Tennis Tips for Older Players

Fun and engaging, tennis can be played at any skill level and at any age—well into one’s retirement years. Because it can help those over 50 maintain their physical fitness, tennis may prevent some of the injuries that so often plague seniors and proactively counter natural age-related changes. As a tennis player who has reached midlife, you may be thinking about some exercise…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

Redo for a Rotator Cuff Re-tear

If you have already gone through rotator cuff surgery, the last thing you want to think about is doing it all over again. Unfortunately, many patients do suffer tears of the same tendons that caused them to need surgery in the first place. Most of the time, this is not the surgeon’s fault, nor does it mean that you didn’t…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

Keep Your Head: Recovering from a Concussion

With all the talk about athletes and concussions, one might ask whether everyone recovers similarly from this trauma. Many factors determine how quickly recovery occurs. Concussion is a brain injurycaused by a hit to the head or an indirect body blow that leads to the brain moving within the skull, inflicting temporary neurological damage. Typical symptoms include headache, nausea, difficulty concentrating and seeing clearly,…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

Fitness: A Lifelong Commitment

First, the bad news: It doesn’t matter if you ran a marathon in your twenties or were the star quarterback of your college football team. Being physically fit at one point in your life—even on an elite level—does not mean that you will stay that way without committing time and energy to doing so. In fact, it doesn’t even mean you’ll stay in…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

Supplementing Treatment for Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis, common among older adults, occurs when cartilage in the knee breaks down. That allows the bones to rub against one another, causing pain, swelling, stiffness and decreased mobility. Drugstore shelves are filled with supplements containing chondroitin and glucosamine that promise healthier joints for those suffering from knee osteoarthritis. These supplements may sound like an appealing alternative to the weight loss, exercise and…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest

Baseball Finger: The Injury You Don’t Catch

Jammed Finger and Baseball You hear the crack of the bat and see the ball coming your way, but when you reach for the catch, the ball jams your outstretched middle finger. You’ve just caught baseball finger, also known as mallet finger. Mallet finger can result from any situation in which the tip of the…

Posted by Kate Mason in Healthy Advice, PT eDigest

Raising Early Awareness of Flat Feet and Fallen Arches

If the soles of your shoes show unusual wear patterns, one of the culprits might be the common condition of flat feet. Flat feet are normal in babies whose arches have not yet developed. The arch develops in childhood, and by the time you reach adulthood, a normal arch should be present. But what about…

Posted by Kate Mason in PT eDigest