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If you have seen any sporting event in the last few years, you’ve undoubtedly seen Kinesio Taping®. Although it has been around for many years, Kinesio Taping® really gained its popularity following the 2008 Summer Olympic Games especially when many of the athletes wore Kinesio Tape®. Since then, Kinesio Taping® can be seen nearly everywhere, from professional athletes to patients with a variety of injuries here at ProActive Physical Therapy.
This week, I would like to follow up on the statement made by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine that stated children need a 2-3 month break from a specific sport to avoid overuse injuries, overtraining, and burnout. Overuse injuries can develop due to the body’s process of remodeling being out of balance, a muscle imbalance of tightness or weakness across a joint, or improper form during an activity. Of course, the therapists at ProActive Physical Therapy are skilled at treating children and teens with these overuse injuries as well as addressing our patients as a whole person to help avoid future exacerbations of symptoms.
The article I spoke about last time also provided some interesting information about overuse type injuries. An article written last year for Safe Kids Week stated that 2 in 5 parents know how much safety training their children’s coaches have had. All coaches reported they wish they had more training, especially when it comes to head injuries and heat illness. Half of the coaches surveyed think there can be “some head contact without potential injury”.
I recently read an article I found interesting about child athletes and injury. I am a parent of child athletes and thought it would be good to share the information with other parents. A study was done for Safe Kids Week last year that revealed 1 in 3 children suffered injuries during sports severe enough to require medical treatment. More concerning for us at ProActive Physical Therapy is how quickly children return to their sport. 92% of parents rely on the coaches to keep our children safe during practice and games. While half of all coaches report feeling pressured to play an injured child. As well as 3/10 children think a good player should keep playing even if they are hurt unless a coach or other adult makes them stop. We emphasize the importance of the healing process that many acute injuries take. Often times even after the pain or initial swelling subsides from an acute injury there is resulting tightness, weakness, or instability that needs to resolved to help avoid re-injury.
The health benefits of water therapy have been acknowledged throughout history to help treat various ailments, including muscle pain. Today, we also use water therapy to manage various musculoskeletal conditions, including low back pain.
Everyone at ProActive Physical Therapy would like to welcome the Noonan Family Swim School to our building in Carlsbad. The Noonan Family Swim School is the largest swim school in San Diego County.
“All three of our clinics now have access to aquatic therapy,” says Amyn Valji, co-owner. “There are only a few clinics that offer aquatic therapy, due to the difficulty of finding warm water to use. Now having a pool, either in our building or located directly next door to our building, we can offer a complete setting for our patients.”
ProActive has been providing pool therapy in Rancho Bernardo/4S Ranch for approximately two years to date. Having a pool in Carlsbad will allow the Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos communities to access pool therapy in a private facility. Other physical therapy clinics that have access to pools currently provide pool therapy in public facilities, such as a gym or fitness center.
“We already have our first two patients!” says Kim, office manager of the ProActive Carlsbad facility. “There is a buzz in our clinic. Everyone has been watching the construction and people cannot wait for the pool to be completed.”
Please feel free to come visit us to see the new pool. You can also find out about the Noonan Family Swim School at www.noonanfamilyswimschool.com.
How common leg length differences can go undetected, affecting athletic performance and physical well being.
Leg length differences in people can lead to abnormal sideways curves in the spine or scoliosis. Screening for scoliosis has been mandated to perform in the middle schools, girls in 7th grade and boys in 8th grade. Unfortunately, according to the Standards for Scoliosis Screening in California Public Schools 2007, a student is referred for a medical screening if the following results are found:
If you have a traumatic injury resulting from one occurance/accident or an over-use injury from multiple repetitions of the same motion, understanding the body’s Mobility-Stability model is crucial for a full recovery. Treating the area of pain may make you feel better, but it will probably not get you better.
Each joint in your body is built to move, but some are designed to be more mobile while others function to be more stable. There is a pattern in the human body where a stable joint will have a mobile joint above and below.
It can happen in an instant. You are reaching to catch a ball and suddenly you feel massive pain in your finger and are stunned for a second. This is a common occurrence in most sports including basketball and football. Some injuries are minor requiring little treatment and some are major requiring surgery. It is imperative to assess for an exact diagnosis and treat sooner than later to obtain optimal results.
Hand Therapy is a specialty of both the Occupational and Physical Therapy professions that has become an area of expertise on its own. To date, there are over 5,000 therapists in the U.S. with a title of Certification in Hand Therapy (CHT). This includes 86%% of which are Occupational therapists and 14% are Physical therapists.(1) The requirements include working a minimum of five years of clinical experience, with 4,000 hours in direct hand therapy practice and passing a thorough exam involving advanced competency in the upper quadrant rehabilitation.