Rehabilitation
Muscle of the Week: Peroneus Longus pain masking as plantarfasciitis
November 11, 2012 | 
Author The peroneus muscles are on the outside of the lower leg and ankle and usually get strained when the ankle gets sprained. This makes sense to most people because the tendons run so close to the outside of the ankle.
But…..the peroneus longus tendon crosses UNDER the foot after running along side the ankle bone to help support the arch. It attaches in the middle of the arch on the bottom side.
Here is a picture of the bottom of the foot:
When the peroneus longus tendon insertion starts to pull and get irritated, it can feel like plantarfasciitis and be confusing. However, the fix is usually the same, stretch your Achilles and plantarfascia and strengthen the side to side muscles as well as get manual therapy. Sometimes orthotics help too. Your physical therapist is particularly well trained to fix this condition.
Why are some people knocked knee-ed on one side?
Here is an interesting case of a patient who injured her right knee with a cartilage tear about 15 months ago.
Her hip responded to the right knee injury by twisting in at the thigh and out at the shin. The angle between the upper leg and lower leg is about 25 degrees, and on the left, her normal leg is about 10 degrees.
After one treatment, and some home exercises her knee looked like this:
If you are interested in knee rehabilitation, here is a link
http://www.patellofemoral.org/pfoe/PDFs/Case_study_Mascal_Landers_Powers.pdf
Also a link to last week's blog post:
http://comstockpt.com/2012/05/29/surprising-exercise-kneecap-pain-hip-rotation/
Posted in Exercise Programs, Hip pain, Joint Pain, Knee pain, Lacey, Muscles In Sync, Olympia, Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation, Research | 
Tags: alignment, body mechanics, injury, knee, kneecap, lacey, olympia | 
1 Comment »
Headaches? Try this little exercise {Olympia, Wa}
Did you every have whiplash? Did you fall off your bike as a kid and hit you chin on the ground? (I fell head first off my bike and knocked out both front teeth). If you have had any of these happen to you, likely you have headaches and neck pain. A simple exercise you can do to help with headaches is to do this:
1) lay on your back and put a rolled hand towel under your neck and bend up your knees.
2) nod your chin 1/4th of an inch like you are saying "yes" and hold.
3) do 10. slowly build up your hold to 5 seconds, then 10 seconds.
Posted in Core Muscles, Lacey, Olympia, Prevention, Rehabilitation, Tumwater, Uncategorized, Upper Back Pain | Tags: headache, lacey wa, neck pain, olympia wa, strengthen, stretching | No Comments »
Fall Prevention Awareness Day {Olympia Wa}
Joyce Mills MPT of Comstock Physical Therapy will be performing Balance Screenings today at Fall Prevention Awareness Day, 1:00 – 3:30 pm at Westwood Baptist Church on Olympia's Westside. Come check out the event!
Posted in Balance, Community, Exercise Programs, Fall Prevention, Lacey, Olympia, Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation, Tumwater, Yelm | 2 Comments »
Working your core and still have back pain? Here’s why
Have you had a back injury, worked your core muscles and still hurt? Have you wondered why you still have pain? Even if you work your abs, you may not be working the true "inner core." The secret to getting better with back pain is working the true inner core; retraining it to contract at the right time to protect your back, and getting your Muscles In-SyncTM.
It turns out the the "inner core" is programmed like a computer to contract first before you reach your arm or kick your leg out. It does this to support and protect your back. When your back gets hurt, it starts contracting after you move your arm or leg. At first, after an injury, this actually helps to protect your back; the bigger muscle spasm to lock up your back so you don't move farther and hurt your back more.
The problem is the spasms stick around and don't unlock, and the "inner core" keeps contracting after the big muscles. When the big muscles fire first it causes low back pain.
A vicious cycle gets set up that keeps the pain going.
How do you break the pain cycle? You get your true "inner core" Muscles In-SyncTM . Begin by contracting your true "inner core". What exactly is the true "inner core". It is the transverse abdominus, pelvic floor and multifidus. It get the best result, come to Comstock Physical Therapy where we can use our Ultrasound Imaging machine to take a look at your true "inner core." Here are images of the transverse abdominus (TrA):
