Last week, I discussed how stretching should be an integral part of one’s daily activity regimen. The question is: “What structures do we stretch for our lower back and how do we stretch them?” Here are some common stretches that I always suggest for my patients. Remember, these should be done after a minimum 5 minute warm up. Furthermore, all individuals with a prior medical low back condition should consult with a medical professional before initiating any sort low back stretching regimen.
Seated lower back stretch:
Sit in a chair with your knees spread apart. Bend forward to the floor. A comfortable stretch should be felt in the lower back. Hold this position for 30 Seconds to one minute.
Hip flexor stretch
Kneel on the right knee, with your left knee bent at a right angle to the floor. Slowly push your pelvis down while slightly arching back until a comfortable stretch is felt on front of the right hip. Hold this for 30sec to one minute. Alternate and repeat this while kneeling with the left knee.
Calf stretch
Stand in front of a wall. Keeping your right leg straight, heel on the floor, and turned out slightly, slightly step forward with the left leg into a lunge position towards the wall until a comfortable stretch is felt in the right calf. Place your hands on the wall during the lunge for balance. Hold this for 30 sec to one minute. Alternate and repeat this with the left leg back, lunging forward with the right leg.
Adductor stretch
Stand with your feet spread apart by 3 feet. Keeping your feet planted, turn your body to look towards your right side. While keeping your left knee straight, bend your right knee as if to do a lunge. A comfortable stretch should be felt in the left inner thigh. Hold this for 30 sec to one minute. Alternate and repeat, looking towards the left side next.
Standing back extension stretch
Place your hands on your hips. Arch backward to make the hollow of your back deeper. Hold this for 30 seconds to one minute.
Trunk Side Flexion stretch
While standing, fold your hands above your head. Lean to one side until a comfortable stretch can be felt along the side of your body, from your hips to your arm pit. Hold this for 30sec to 1 minute. Alternate and repeat this on the opposite side.
The important thing is to hold these stretches for a minimum of 30 seconds for each position. Once you have completed your outdoor activity, it would be even more advantageous to repeat your stretching regimen. This would help to reduce any muscle tightness and muscle soreness that can occur after engaging in prolonged physical activities.
Also, some precautions should be adhered to before and while doing these stretches. If you feel any pain with any of these stretches, you should stop the stretch that you are doing. You may be either doing it wrong or may have a medical problem with your low back or legs. Remember, these stretches are just suggestions for a daily regimen, and are not to be taken as prescribed exercises to treat a specific ailment. If you are in need of help regarding a specific problem, please contact us to see if physical therapy may be right for you.
With the coming of every spring season comes the opportunity to venture outside and be active, whether it be planting a new garden or beginning outdoor spring season sports activities. But with being active, one must always remember to adequately stretch before starting any physical activity, particularly the lower back.
WHY SHOULD I STRETCH?
Properly stretching one’s low back can help to prevent injury and reduce pain while doing one’s chosen spring activity. Also, stretching the lower back in conjunction with stretching the legs can help to reduce the strain on the lower back and promote better posture.
Many individuals that I treat always seem to push aside stretching for many reasons, with the most prominent reason dealing with a “lack of time”. Properly stretching the lower back region does not require a lot of time. In fact, adequately stretching before your chosen activity can take as little as 10-15 minutes. What is important to note is that proper stretching requires good technique. All stretching should be done with proper form so that the stretch can be felt in the proper area, without feeling any pain or stretch in other regions of the body. In addition, each stretch should be held for no less than 30 seconds without “bouncing.” “Bouncing”, for many of us, is holding and releasing the intensity of the stretch for seconds at a time. This does not effectively increase the flexibility of the area involved. By holding and sustaining the intensity for a minimum of 30 seconds, you can ensure that you are increasing the flexibility of the area involved.
Another important thing to note is that proper stretching requires a proper warmup, as well.
WHY SHOULD I WARM UP?
Stretching should not be done without proper warm up because attempting to stretch muscles and joints that are “cold” can tend to pull on areas that are taut and rigid, thus causing pain or injury, even more so with the spring approaching. In general, most individuals may not have been active during the winter season and are unaware that their muscles and joints are in a shortened position. If the muscles in the low back and leg region are shortened and inflexible, it can cause us to damage the structures while doing our normal activities, such as stretching. Warming up the body increases muscle blood flow and increases the temperature within the muscles. Increased heat within the muscles helps to increase the effectiveness of the stretching and decrease the likelihood of injury by stretching a cold body. Effective warmups do not have to involve strenuous activity and complicated movements. Walking in place for 5 minutes while swinging your hands from side to side can suffice as a warm up period.
After your warmup, you should be ready to stretch. In Part 2, I will go over a number of common stretches that I recommend to my patients.
We are planning to use youtube for a number of purposes. First, from time to time we will be using our youtube channel to securely send you demonstration videos of your home exercises, so that you can have something to refer back to that will help you perform your exercises properly at home. Don’t worry, all videos are kept private and are only available to you via specialized links that are sent to you via email.
Second, I will creating original content that will be posted up on the channel by the summer. The content will range from things such as my favorite exercises for certain types of injuries, to general tips on healthy living. If you have any ideas or suggestions on things you would like to see, let me or anyone on the staff know and we’ll be sure to try to work it out!
We are happy to announce that we now offer Occupational Therapy services in the Elizabeth, NJ clinic. Services will be provided by our newest team member, Sarah D. Thomas. Ms. Thomas graduated from Seton Hall University with her Master’s in Occupational Therapy and has been working as an OT in various settings throughout New Jersey since 2008. In addition, she will soon be completing her requirements for her certification as a Certified Hand Therapist (CHT).
Appointment times are available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, as needed. Please contact the Elizabeth clinic to schedule an appointment, or to see if occupational therapy is right for you.
As we add this new service to our clinic, we also will no longer be offering massage therapy services. Please bear with us as we update our website, Twitter, and Facebook to reflect these new changes.
Since our opening in 2004, we have specialized in back pain physical therapy/rehabilitation. Our co-owner, Dr. Asha Koshy, is a Mckenzie method certified spine specialist, and myself and our other co-owner, Humberto Colmenares, also have training in the McKenzie method. As such, we have treated all of our back patients over the years using this highly specialized and popular method for treating back patients with much success.
Karen Smalls came in to our clinic with a herniated disc condition that made it difficult to do many of the simple things that we take for granted. Even sitting for extended periods of time proved to be difficult.
After her stay in our clinic, her condition had dramatically improved:
“During my time in therapy the pain was almost immediately gone with a few weeks time…I know I was getting better with each session.
Humberto was very very friendly and convinced me to work harder in therapy and at home, so much that I recovered much sooner than I expected.”
I always get a great feeling whenever our patients are able to walk out of our clinic better than when they walked in. There’s nothing better than the feeling of knowing that you were able to help someone in their time of need.
Mr. Leonel Lopera came into our clinic last month having suffered for over 4 years with dizziness symptoms. Up until that point, he had never thought of seeking help for his condition, thinking, like most people with dizziness (vestibular) symptoms, that it was a temporary condition that would just get better with time. Over time, he said he tried to just “deal with it”. But then the symptoms increased to the point at which he could no longer endure. Before he finished his vestibular therapy with us, he explained his recovery to our staff:
“He (Dr. James) showed me how to use my eyes to my advantage to fix the problem. As I came here and did the exercises, little by little, the symptoms got less and less, until last week (Labor Day Week), my symptoms were gone. I couldn’t believe it! Now with the exercises Dr. James and Dr. Asha gave me, I don’t have any dizziness symptoms at all. I can enjoy the simple things, like walking or watching football on TV, now…”
This is definitely a case where it’s never too late to seek help. For the complete testimonial on Mr. Lopera’s amazing recovery, see our testimonials page.
The most common injury I’ve seen as a result of playing tennis is definitely tennis elbow. I’ve encountered this injury many times over the years, and occurrences always increase during the summer months as more and more people get outdoors to play.
For a little help with tennis elbow, I suggest watching this video I found on two physical therapy stretches that will greatly help relieve tennis elbow symptoms.
In the first part of this article, I explained what it is that a physical therapist actually does. In this final part, I will go into what a physical therapist can treat.
The best way to begin the explanation would be to give summary list of treatable conditions. The following is a list of the more common reasons why someone may need to seek a physical therapist:
Low back pain
Neck pain
Shoulder, arm, wrist or hand problems
Knee, ankle, or foot problems
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Sprains and muscle strains
Arthritis
Cardiac rehabilitation
Rehabilitation after a serious injury
Chronic respiratory problems
Stroke rehabilitation
Problems with balance
Disabilities in newborns
Pre/Post Natal programs
Hip Fractures
Incontinence
Fitness and wellness education
In general, this is a very large list that covers an extremely broad range of conditions, many of which the general public doesn’t even know that physical therapists can treat.
For example, I’d like to focus on balance rehab for a moment. One of the most common ailments reported by the elderly, other than the common cold or flu, is balance problems and dizziness. The general mistake made by this population is that dizziness and vertigo symptoms may just be a sign of “getting older,” when, in actuality, it is a sign of a problem with the body’s own vestibular system, which controls balance and eye movements. What many people don’t realize is that this condition is completely treatable by a specially trained therapist, and can be cured in as little as a few visits to a physical therapy office. And I should know, I have been treating vestibular cases for over 10 years and am one of the few physical therapists in Union and Hudson county that treats balance and vestibular rehabilitation cases.
So, for the most part, physical therapists treat all of the conditions stated on the list, but we also treat many more varied cases as well. I would always suggest calling a physical therapist if you have any sort of physical ailment to see how they might be able to help you.
I always seem to get questions when treating patients to the effect of “Do you have all your patients do (this) exercise” or “Will these exercises always work for me if i re-injure myself?”
When treating my patients, I, along with all the other therapists at Complete Physical Rehabilitation, believe that one size does not fit all in physical therapy treatments. It is important to keep it fresh by staying adaptive and creative in our physical therapy treatment programs. And that includes coming up with exercises and treatments that can be fun and entertaining, too.
For example, as we progress into the 21st century, it’s refreshing to see other physical therapists using technology and entertainment to their advantage when treating patients. Check out the video below on how video games are being used in new and inventive ways for physical therapy.
This new program, designed by medical professionals, will give you the tools that you’ll need to lose weight and have the confidence to keep it off. In addition, you will also have the opportunity for special discounts for additional services as a member of the program.
The program begins on May 14 and is strictly limited to 10 participants only. Reserve your spot now by calling the Jersey City clinic at 201-433-6001.
Special discount available for early registration!
Click on the flyer below for more details and pricing.
