Scoliosis can have many forms. We have general categories for scoliosis and spine curvatures, but each is unique. Scoliosis Specific Exercise are designed to balance scoliosis curves. They address the unique curvatures of each person. Asymmetry is something all scoliosis curves have in common. Asymmetries occur in 3 dimensions: 1) Front to back, 2) Side… Continue Reading →
Scoliosis and the Importance of Early Intervention
If you are reading this, there’s a good chance you or your child has scoliosis. I’m going to guess you have a pretty good sense of what scoliosis is. The most frustrating part for you might be trying to figure out what to do about it. Your MD may have said, “Come back in 4-6… Continue Reading →
Are High Arches Giving You Knee Pain?
Here is an image of a person with knee pain in her athletic footwear: I am likely to find knee pain in this body because of the “attitude” depicted above at the feet. When the feet and shoes roll outward, weight is no longer distributed evenly through the whole foot as intended at rest. This… Continue Reading →
Physical Therapy Treatment for Shortness of Breath
One of the benefits of improving core strength through the Postural Restoration approach, is that is requires us to establish efficient breathing patterns (http://www.posturalrestoration.com/the-science/treatment). In doing so, many of my patients that come in with back or neck pain subsequently report that their breathing has improved along with their pain reduction. I have recently seen… Continue Reading →
Postural Restoration for Children
At the last Capitol District Physical Therapy Association meeting, my colleague, Lisa Mangino, PT, DPT, PCS, C/NDT, PRC, offered a terrific presentation on how she uses principles of Postural Restoration with children. Lisa reminded participants that the human body is inherently asymmetrical and is biased toward patterns of extension. Sensory awareness of posture, the ground,… Continue Reading →
Tips to Change Habits for Tension Relief
Don’t Be Controlled By Your Focal Vision “Powered Peripheral Vision”, Tips to Change Habits for Tension Relief Adapted from Dr. Heidi Wise, PRI Vision, LLC Focal vision refers to being focused on something small at any distance, from your phone to a golf ball far away on the green. Technology is partly contributing to our… Continue Reading →
Too much “Doing” and not enough “Being”: a recipe for pain and poor performance.
There are fundamental principles for healthy core body alignment and breathing. When these essential elements are missing, postural compensations, strain and less efficient movement strategies become habits that often lead to pain and or inefficiency of movement. What are the essentials? (How to get better at “Being” in the core) The pelvic ring should be… Continue Reading →
Release Your Neck!
Easier said than done, right? So why do necks stay so tight all the time? When we work with patients who have chronic neck pain and shoulder tension, we usually find dysfunctional breathing patterns directly related to poor core body postures. Did you know the best muscle for getting air into your body is the… Continue Reading →
Vicious to Virtuous Cycle in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis – Part 2
* Muscle Imbalance * Gravity * Breathing * Body Schema * Walking The Vicious Cycle describes how these factors, listed above begin to reinforce curvatures that have developed, often in hypermobile, restless, young people. (see part 1) However, it has been postulated that these same factors could be utilized to re-balance curvatures if applied in… Continue Reading →
Schroth based Scoliosis Treatment in the Physical Therapy World
On 3/19/15, Jean Masse, PT, DPT, PRC, OCS, ATC, was invited to speak to the UNC Physical Therapy Class of 2017 about scoliosis. Jean gave an eloquent and enlightening presentation to these students, inviting them to explore rehabilitation techniques utilized in Europe for nearly 100 years, but only recognized in the US beginning in 2008…. Continue Reading →
The Tremendous Advantage of Early Detection and Treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
While spinal curvature can develop at any time in a person’s life, there is a tremendous window of opportunity to rehabilitate these changes when it is noticed at a young age, before bony maturity is reached. In fact, idiopathic curvatures most frequently develop during growth spurts, before or during puberty. The etiology or the reason… Continue Reading →
Awake Tummy Time: A Crucial Part of Infant Movement Development
It’s always a good time to be reminded about the importance of babies experiencing enough “tummy time” through their early developmental months. As happens with many interventions, the Back-to-Sleep campaign1 to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has produced some unintentional consequences. The campaign was successful in decreasing the occurrence of SIDS; however, parents… Continue Reading →
To Crawl or Not to Crawl?
Recently, a few parents have asked me if it’s okay for their child to skip the crawling phase of gross motor development. A quick look at the internet reveals an active debate with some people saying that crawling is quite important, while others don’t think it is critical for gross movement development. Here’s what I… Continue Reading →
What are your shoes telling you?
These are the shoes of an active, healthy 13 year old boy. He came to see me at Advance Physical Therapy due to left hip and back pain. His shoes told me that his posture was not centered because of unbalanced muscle use. He told me that his posture was unbalanced because he… Continue Reading →
How do I know if I have a balance problem?
Most people acknowledge a balance problem only after they experience a fall. Understanding potential signs of balance problems will help keep you from becoming a statistic. If you identify with 1 or more of following statements you may have a balance problem. If you find 4 or more to be true for you, you are… Continue Reading →
When to start treatment for scoliosis?
It is generally agreed that scoliosis is diagnosed when a curve of 10 degrees Cobb angle or greater is identified. Curves under 20 – 25 degrees are considered chaotic – that is – whether or not the curve will progress cannot be accurately determined. Once a curve reaches 25 degrees Cobb angle, it is likely… Continue Reading →
Children and Back Pain
Last week there was a story on NPR about young athletes and back pain. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/03/269521744/young-athletes-risk-back-injury-by-playing-too-much-too-soon The story was about children who are spending increased time with one sport, resulting in overuse injuries, particularly back pain. With the added excitement of the Olympics this month, young people are inspired to compete and to perform to… Continue Reading →
“Back Pain Boot Camp”
Recently NPR featured a program on Back Pain Boot Camp and we began to receive phone calls asking if we had such a program. The nature of the “Back Pain Boot Camp” message is one we rely on every day in treating patients with prolonged painful conditions. It is to help people understand their pain,… Continue Reading →
Make a “BAD BACK” a “GOOD BACK”
A friend mentioned to me the other day that they knew so and so who did this and that and….. it was “too bad they had a bad back”. I said “What do you mean?” “Oh, you know he has just always had a bad back, there’s really nothing you can do about that right? … Continue Reading →
Scoliosis in Adolescents Needs PT Treatment – Don’t Wait!
Last night I spoke with yet another concerned parent about their teenaged child. Like so many others, this child was diagnosed some years ago, as a preteen, with mild scoliosis. This mother sought out the best medical help she could find and was told by a doctor, “Just wait and see what happens – there… Continue Reading →
From One Runner (and Physical Therapist) to Another
I have been using Fleet Feet Sports in Carrborro as resource for my physical therapy clients and for myself since moving to the area 3 years ago. So when I got the chance to perform injury screenings for their community of walkers and runners this past month I jumped at the chance. This… Continue Reading →
Screening Children for Scoliosis
What do we look for? Does the child have natural curves at the back of the neck, middle and lower back? The start of scoliosis is often marked by a flattening or increase in spinal curvatures, before a more obvious sideways curve develops. When the child bends forward is there: a flattening between the shoulder… Continue Reading →
New York Times on Scoliosis
The July 17th, 2013 Health Section of the New York Times ran an extensive piece on scoliosis. I pulled out a small section of the article below – as I thought it contained useful norms and guidelines. Reference the entire article here. We are tremendously excited about the results we are seeing in patients with… Continue Reading →
Find a need and fill it. ~Ruth Stafford Peale
I have been a member of the Community Church of Chapel Hill for over 15 years. As a PT, I have occasionally visited church members in the hospital to help out if needed, I have adjusted a few canes over the years, and even seen a few members as patients in the clinic. However, over… Continue Reading →
