If you’ve ever felt tightness in your hamstrings, the typical advice you get from friends, family, and even well-meaning health and wellness professionals is to stretch them. Well… if it’s just your hamstring that’s actually tight then this might be good advice to follow. But what if it’s something else? If you accidentally stretch a hamstring that feels “tight” due to a back problem – there is a...
Fall is officially in full swing here in New England. But as much as we love leaf peeping, leaf raking is turning into a literal pain! As more and more people start their fall clean ups over the next few weeks, we fully expect to be getting more calls and complaints in our office about back pain. Here are 5 tips (plus a bonus tip!) to help you...
When it comes to feeling stiff and immobile, tight hip flexors are the second most common complaint I hear – right after tight hamstrings. Tight hip flexors are annoying, achy, and they often contribute to lower back pain. When your hips are tight, it can be painful or uncomfortable to walk, run, play golf, exercise, and even stand up straight! Typically, the recommended treatments for this problem include lots of stretching, foam rolling, massage, and myofascial release. But...
I’ve been a physical therapist for a very long time — 20 years to be exact — and I’ve seen a lot of changes in healthcare over the course of my career. One of the biggest (and saddest) changes I’ve seen in my field is the overcrowding of clinics. As reimbursements from insurance companies go down, traditional physical therapy clinics have been forced to increase their patient volume....
Pilates has been around for about 100 years, and it still amazes me how many people have NOT heard of this incredible exercise method. It was first created by Joseph Pilates and initially gained popularity among the dance community as a way to recover from and prevent injuries. But you don’t have to be a dancer to practice Pilates — or enjoy the benefits. We’ve been incorporating Pilates...
Did you know that eighty percent of the population suffers from what we call “non-specific low back pain” (NSLBP)? You might have NSLBP if your back pain: is often chronic comes out of nowhere comes and goes (you have good days and bad days) is not due to a recent or major accident or fall If you’re reading this right now, odds are very good that YOU are one...
Earlier this week, we put on a free Zoom workshop all about preventing and overcoming knee pain – and one of the questions that came up was if you should apply heat or ice when something is hurting. This is a VERY common question in our office, so we wanted to share the same advice we give to clients right here! When to apply ice: Generally speaking, the...
Knee Pain while Running? Don’t Blame Arthritis Is running bad for your knees? Does it cause arthritis? We get asked these questions a lot, especially by clients who are in their 50s and 60’s and wondering if it’s safe to keep running. The short answer is no — running is NOT bad for your knees! If you experience knee pain while running, it’s not that you’ve “aged out”...
The COVID-19 pandemic has been top of mind for months. We’ve all experienced some major curveballs this year, and most people have learned a lot about public health and epidemiology along the way. But why now? Why are we finally learning how viruses attack the respiratory system, what it means to be immunocompromised, and the best practices for disinfecting? Maybe it’s because of the unpredictability and common threat...
Whether it’s shoulder pain, neck pain, back pain, or knee pain that you’re dealing with — if you have a nagging pain or injury that just won’t go away no matter what you try, it’s a clue that you’re missing something. We see this ALL the time in our office with shoulders. Folks just like you come to us wondering why their shoulder still hurts after trying ice,...
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Portsmouth, NH’s people-first physical therapy studio. We help active adults 40+ find the root cause of their pain and build a long-term plan to fix it, so they can get back to doing what they love most.
