Shoulder pain is a common occurrence affecting 2/3 of adults and is one of the top three reasons patients will seek care from a primary care physician or Physical Therapist. The most probable reason for shoulder pain remains rotator cuff pain including impingement, rotator cuff tendon pain, and rotator cuff tears. Research studies on MRI...
Physical Therapy strengthening exercises remain the first line treatment for patients with shoulder diagnoses including impingement and rotator cuff pain. While immediate gains in range of motion and pain can be found using spinal and extremity manual therapy interventions, long term outcomes are achieved through a focused strength training program. Exercises are prescribed to target...
Neck pain remains one of the constants in life along with death, taxes, and low back pain. Thankfully, similar to low back pain, the vast majority of neck pain (although painful) is not serious in nature. Prior research has shown a Physical Therapy treatment program consisting of manual therapy and exercise helps accelerate a patient’s...
Post operatively, I am normally concerned with two presentations in patients. Patient’s with significant post operative range of motion and those with minimal to no pain have the highest risk of tearing their repaired tissues due to the lack of protection from either stiffness or post operative pain. Patients may incorrectly assume the absence of...
Shoulder pain is one of the most common reasons patients seek the care of a primary care physician and Physical Therapist. Shoulder impingement or the compression of soft tissue structures, including the rotator cuff tendons, between the bones and ligaments of the shoulder remains the most common diagnosis behind these symptoms. Physical Therapy is the...
Rotator cuff tears are a common injury in middle to older aged adults. Tears can be gradual or degenerative in nature associated prior injury (tendinopathy) or acute and traumatic from a fall or sudden trauma to the shoulder. The severity of the injury including tear depth and size, as well as, the number of tears...
Very few evidence based treatments for musculoskeletal pain require the utilization of electricity. One notable exception is the utilization of muscular stimulation on post operative musculature. This category of treatments under the larger umbrella of modalities have not fared well in the research due to having little or no effect, their inability to beat a...
An important shift has taken place in medicine away from the old paternalistic model of care toward the development of the therapeutic alliance. Patients are now encouraged to engage and interact with their medical providers in order to find an optimal path forward. The alliance aims to incorporate patient values and expectations, the best available...
Shoulder pain remains one of the top 3 reasons patients seek care from their primary care physician and Physical Therapist. The most common diagnosis causing pain among these patients is subacromial impingement syndrome. Impingement can be found along with rotator cuff tendon pain (tendinopathy) or partial rotator cuff tears on clinical exam and imaging. Impingement...
Shoulder pain remains the 3rd most common reason, behind the common cold and low back pain, patients seek out the care of their primary care providers. Impingement and rotator cuff tendon pain are the most common diagnoses associated with these symptoms. The vast majority of rotator cuff injuries do not require surgical intervention and patients...