Rotator cuff injuries, including tears, impingement or tendonitis, are very common, especially among active individuals.  Whether you have a tear or simply tendonitis, the focus should be on keeping all of your range of movement and boosting your rotator cuff strength.  While some people choose to self-treat with stretching and strengthening, this can be hit or miss and really cannot take the place of a hands-on examination and physical therapy.  Either way, understanding how your shoulder works will help you take care of it in the future...be sure to read our great article on shoulder mechanics and the rotator cuff for a nice background on the basics of understanding your shoulder.

Lower Back Pain (LBP) is one of the few ‘sure’ things in life.  Well, it’s almost a sure thing…there’s about an 80% chance you will have an episode of LBP at some point in your life.  And, once you’ve had an episode, you are much more likely to have one or more repeat episodes.  We’ve known this for 20+ years now, yet the statistics have not changed…so why can’t we do anything about it?

In a word, YES.  But like most things in life, flexibility is a relative term and its importance really depends upon what activities you are performing.  Different activities have very different demands and our bodies respond to our training by improving in the areas that we stress them.  This is called specific adaptation to imposed demands and is really why when we lift weights we get stronger, when we run we get in better cardiovascular and aerobic condition, etc.  Our bodies respond by getting bigger, looser, stronger and more efficient.  Likewise, when we stop training our bodies respond by getting smaller, tighter, weaker and terribly inefficient!

Wrist pain can be difficult to diagnose and treat due to the complex nature of the wrist and hand as well as the strain we place upon that area every day.  Pain at rest is possible but most common is pain with movement or gripping something.  People often complain about pain with some sort of activity, such as lifting a gallon of milk, turning the forearm while lifting something.  Inflammation in tendons that cross the wrist will typically be painful with strong gripping movements while pain that occurs with simply moving your forearm and wrist generally indicates ligament or cartilage problems.

“That’s not possible, I don’t play golf!”  Pain on the inside of the elbow is commonly referred to as Golfer’s Elbow but you don’t need to play golf to be (un)lucky enough to get it!  Pain can range from an ache in the bulky part of the forearm muscles to severe pain at the bony part on the inside of the elbow.  Some people have no pain or a dull ache at rest but most have sharp pain with use.  Understanding this condition will help you address the problem and, hopefully, get rid of the pain.

Having tennis elbow doesn’t necessarily mean that you play tennis!  In fact, it is medically known as lateral epicondylitis.  A painful elbow can affect almost all activities you perform throughout your day.  From shifting your car to lifting a gallon of milk our of the refrigerator, nearly every motion that involves grasping something while moving your arm and elbow will result in pain.

Remember when you were a kid and you heard that old song…”The knee bone’s connected to the leg bone…the leg bone’s connected to the hip bone…”?  Well, guess what?  It’s true!  The body really is a series of bones that are connected and inter-dependent.  That means that the movement of one bone or joint often depends upon the movement or position of another.

Being injured is NOT fun!  Your immediate concerns are usually, “How can I get the pain to go away?” or “When will I be able to get back to normal?”  These are great questions and we address them in separate articles.  But you also need to be thinking more actively (and proactively) about what you can do to help the process along as quickly as possible.

Your alarm goes off and you don't even need to hit snooze!  You hop right out of bed but as soon as your foot hits the floor you let out an "OWWWWW!"  There is a sharp pain on the bottom of your foot, right near your heel, that makes you jerk your foot up off the floor and want to crawl back into bed!  Finally, you work up the courage to put your foot back down and now, more gingerly, you hobble across the floor to start your day. What could possibly cause such a sharp pain?  What can you do to get rid of it?

Pain directly underneath where the big toe is attached to the foot can be very painful and cause you to avoid shifting your weight properly, leading to many other issues.  Or, even if you can shift your weight, it can be almost impossible to push-off to take you next step.  Some people complain that it feels as though a tiny rock is in their shoe while others need to employ a significant 'limp' to make it across the room.  So what caused this pain and are you going to be stuck with it?