What is the best way to strengthen the core? Ball exercises? Sit ups? NO! ULTRASOUND!
February 1, 2012 | 
Author Want to strengthen your "core"? Will Pilates, yoga, ball exercises or crunches do the job? Yes if you have NEVER had back or abdominal painl IF you have had back pain, think again!
Your deepest "core" muscles will be slow to contract soon enough to protect your back when you lift, kick or reach for something. What to do? Visit a physical therapist that has a diagnostic ultrasound machine that can view your deepest "core muscles" (transverse abdominus).
Here is a video of viewing the deepest core:
trasnverse abdominus ultrasound
Part of the "core" is also the pelvic floor. If you have stress incontinence, the ultrasound machine can be used to view the pelvic floor muscles to help you recover your strength. Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAw70KlpwLM
We have diagnostic ultraosund at Comstock Physical Therapy. Come on in to get YOUR core assessed!
Back Pain When Shoveling Snow? Try a few of these exercises {Olympia, Wa}
Did you get an achey back after shoveling snow? You may wonder why that happens. It happens because the deeper supportive muscles get tired and the larger lumbar paraspinals take over but they become achey. Here is a picture of the lumbar paraspinals:
What exercises can you do? First get onto your bed or floor, and stretch your hips back towards your knees.
Then, to relax the larger muscles and strengthen your core, contract your pelvic floor (Do a Kegel’s) and while holding the Kegel’s, pull your tummy in towards your spine. Hold for 5 seconds, and do 10 repetitions. Here is a picture of the deeper core muscles:
Have fun in the snow!
Got neck pain? Stretches to help that out! {Olympia Wa}
Do you have neck pain, especially from sitting for a long time? I recently took a long flight and after a while my neck and upper shoulders started to become stiff. What exercises help that?
Of course stretching your neck and shoulders helps like this:
BUT there is another tight muscle that strains your neck and it is, SURPRISE, the latissimus muscle! It is located below the shoulder blades and when tight, pulls the shoulder blades down straining the muscles on top of the shoulder blade which connect to the neck such as the upper trapezius, levator scapulae and rhomboids. Here is a picture:
To stretch it while sitting, stretch one side at a time. Put, for example, your right arm over the top of your head, then tip your ribs to the left and shift them to the right like this:
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: neck pain stretches, olympia, scapular, trapezius, upper body | 
7 Comments »
Lacey Wa man 7 weeks post surgery gets his Muscles In Sync!
This gentleman had surgery 7-8 weeks ago. He also had some left over hip stiffness on the side of the pinched nerve that made running hard, which is an important part of his job. By stretching his hips specifically in the direction they are tight, and strengthening them specifically in the direction they are weak, he is now able to do this:
and this:
>
Chronic Ankle Sprain with weak hip making recovery more difficult {Lacey Wa}
This young patient had a chronic ankle sprain that WOULD NOT GET BETTER, He wore a brace but still had pain after more than 6 months. To make matters worse, the hip on the right side (where the ankle sprain was) became weak from the pain. You can see his right knee collapses in when he does a right leg mini squat.
Right knee collapses with single knee squat
After we gave him this exercise:
he and stretched the right front/inner hip, he had more control:
And now he runs side to side like this:
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: ankle sprain, physical therapy Olympia, sports injury | 6 Comments »