‘Back pain’ Archives

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61% of Americans Have Low Back Pain

posted on April 11th, 2012, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

In a recent survey from the American Physical Therapy Association 61% of Americans experience low back pain and 69% of these individuals say their back pain affects their daily lives.

Surprisingly only 4 in 10 of these people ever seek medical advice!!!!!

http://www.moveforwardpt.com/LowBackPain/Infographic/Default.aspx

Back pain is often preventable and unnecessary. Talk to us about how to control the pain.

For more information on injury prevention, and strategies to improve your back, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or contact our office.

filed under Back pain.

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Mardi Gras Back Exercises- Get Ready For a Great Ride

posted on January 26th, 2012, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

As we discussed in Tuesday’s post, Mardi Gras is less than 4 weeks away. If you’re riding in a parade, add a few back exercises to your routine now to help prevent injury and enjoy your ride.

Prolonged standing, bending, and reaching all in a very tight space, can really cramp your style and your back. To strengthen your back for the ride try these back exercises:

1) Active trunk extension: Lie on your stomach over a couple pillows. Hold your arms back to your sides, lift your head and shoulders as if arching your back. Hold for 5 seconds and return to flat. repeat for 10 repetitions.

2) Quadraped arm and leg raises: Assume a hands and knees position. Keep your back very flat as you raise one arm and the opposite leg. Hold for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times on each side.

3) Single arm hip hinge: Hold a small weight in your right hand. Stand on your Left leg and bend forward hinging only at the hip. Return to an upright position. Repeat 10 times on each leg.

Mardi Gras will be here before you know it, so prepare now! To reduce injury, decrease post-parade pain, and enjoy your ride, begin these great parade prep exercises today.

If you have any questions about your exercise routine, give us a call!


filed under Back pain, Exercise, Fun.

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4 Stretches for Morning Back Pain

posted on December 20th, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

Back pain is very common. In fact most of us will at some time in our lives have back pain. How we manage the pain and care for our backs on a daily basis, will in the long run determine how well we keep a good strong back. To keep your back loose and to rid yourself of morning back stiffness, try these exercises:


1) Lie on your side with your knees up. Reach your upper arm back and to the side while keeping your hips on their side. Hold this stretch for 15 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

2) Now roll onto your stomach. Press up your upper body so as to extend your lower back. Hold the stretch for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times.

3) Next, rise up into the 1/2 kneeling position. Holding a cane overhead, rotate your shoulders to the left and right while maintaining a tall posture. Repeat 10 times with each leg up.

4) While standing, hold a cane overhead. Step forward while reaching your arms up and back to stretch the front side of your body. Make your body as tall as possible for this stretch. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 3 times on each leg.

These stretches are for general back stiffness. If you are truly having back pain you should seek the advise of a medical professional. For more information on back pain and exercise, just follow Baudry Therapy on Twitter or like Baudry Therapy on Facebook.

Disclaimer: The information provided on Baudry Therapy Center ’s website and blog is presented for information and educational purposes only. This general information is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition nor to replace diagnosis or treatment by your healthcare professional. Before beginning light or moderate intensity physical activities, we encourage you to talk with your healthcare provider about health and exercise as part of your everyday routine. Baudry Therapy Center and it’s respective agents, heirs, assigns, contractors and employee’s will not be held liable for any injury incurred or exacerbated while performing any exercises, stretches, or any other activity related to the content and information available on this website.

filed under Back pain.

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7 Tips to Prevent Back Pain Caused by Airline Travel

posted on November 8th, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

Do you travel often for work? Will you be flying to see friends and family over the holidays? While we all love the speed of air travel, trips can be down right painful. Uncomfortable seats, confined spaces, and heavy bags. Here are some simple tips to help you manage the stresses of air travel:

1) Get some exercise the day of the trip before going to the airport. This will help you relax while on the plane and decrease muscular tension. If you are unable to exercise before getting to the airport, take a brisk walk focusing on long strides and big arm swings in the airport.

2) Use a back pack. Forget the brief case or fancy hand bag, check your luggage and use a back pack to carry your personal items. This will allow you to keep your hands free, support the weight with your body and decrease the stress to your back and neck.

3) Secure an isle seat. This will allow you to get up easily while in flight to stretch and move around. You should try to get up every 45 minutes or so.

4) Bring a lumbar roll. These rolls are cheap and easy to carry along with you. A lumbar roll supports your lower back to decrease the strain of prolonged sitting. If you don’t have a roll, grab a pillow, blanket on board or even use a sweater. Anything will work to take the tension off.

5) Use the following isometric exercises to reduce muscular tension:

Head press. Press head back into head rest tensing the muscles in the back of your neck.  Hold for 10 seconds repeat 3-4 times.

Overhead reach if able reach both arms overhead and back as far as they will go. Hold for 10 seconds.  If unable to do both do one arm at a time.

Sitting up tall, arch your low back while squeezing your shoulders back. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times.

6) When you arrive, take a brisk walk to loosen things up.

7) Finally, prepare to pull your bags off of the conveyor belt. Give yourself room and have a plan to grab your bags as they come around. Free yourself of your other luggage so you can safely retrieve your bag.

These are some of the strategies that I use to help me with long flights.  Let us know what you do to avoid neck and back pain on airplanes.

For more tips on avoiding neck and back pain, like Baudry Therapy on Facebook or follow Baudry Therapy Center on Twitter.

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filed under Aches and Pains, Back pain, Holiday travel tips, Neck pain.

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Physical Therapy Month- Exercise Challenge of the Week, The Bridge

posted on October 25th, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

This week’s exercise challenge is the bridge. The bridge is a great exercise for trunk stability and gluteal strength. We include bridges to help our patients get rid of  back pain. Hold the bridge position for time to build strength. Start with 15 seconds and work up to 1 minute as able.

Check out this video to learn how to include bridges into your exercise routine.
YouTube Preview Image

Thank you for recognizing Physical Therapy Month and participating in our exercise challenge. We’d love to hear what you think of the exercises and invite you to comment on your favorite exercises.

For more information on Physical Therapy please contact us.

Disclaimer: The information provided on Baudry Therapy Center ’s website and blog is presented for information and educational purposes only. This general information is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition nor to replace diagnosis or treatment by your healthcare professional. Before beginning light or moderate intensity physical activities, we encourage you to talk with your healthcare provider about health and exercise as part of your everyday routine. Baudry Therapy Center and its respective agents, heirs, assigns, contractors and employee’s will not be held liable for any injury incurred or exacerbated while performing any exercises, stretches, or any other activity related to the content and information available on this website.

filed under Back pain, Balance, Core stability, Exercise.

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Ask Rich Series – Sleeping Postures

posted on September 27th, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

I received this question in response to my post on Neck Pain- Physical Therapy Can Help:

Rich,

I have some issues with my neck/back that usually only disturbs me in the morning. I’m guessing the reason is how I sleep at night.

Blake,

Thanks for the comment. Sleeping postures can certainly affect and even cause painful pathologies. When you think about it you can certainly understand how sleeping in any one position for 6-8 hours could present a problem. Try holding your arm behind your back or completely extended overhead for even 10 minutes and see how it feels. The most common problem areas that I see with sleeping are in the shoulder, neck, and back. Generally, I advise people to avoid end range stress on their joints by maintaining a relatively neutral spine. This can be achieved by taking a number of measures including the following:

1) Avoid sleeping on your stomach, or with your arms overhead.

2) Use a pillow that supports your head by keeping it from a twisted or bent position.

3) Get a new mattress. If your mattress sags or is lumpy it’s probably the time for a new one.

4) Avoid sleeping in the same position all of the time.Vary your sleeping positions, preferably on either side or on your back.

5) Use extra pillows to support your body in neutral positions, to avoid extremes of motion in the neck and shoulder.

6) If you must sleep on your stomach use a pillow under your hips.

Here are a few pictures for good sleeping postures.

For more tips like these, follow Baudry Therapy Center on Twitter or like Baudry Therapy on Facebook.

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filed under Aches and Pains, Back pain, Neck pain, Shoulder pain.

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Ask Rich Series

posted on August 23rd, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

Stephanie asked,

“7 herniated discs in my neck & back, don’t move too well, bad knees and shoulders, hands a mess…what kind of exercise CAN I do?”

Stephanie,

While it seems that you have collected a lot of injuries, regular and effective exercise is not impossible.

I’ll agree that the more you have going on the more specific and selective your program has to be. When we look at it, our bodies are great at compensation. If we hurt our hip our back will compensate for it, or if we hurt our neck our trunk will adjust to help out. But as we collect injuries, our body’s ability to compensate becomes limited. As a result we become more limited in the things we do. This may be why you are having a hard time finding an exercise program that works for you.

With injury comes muscle weakness and joint instability, which lead to pain.Their are only 2 ways to regain stability, surgery (which doesn’t automatically solve your problems) or exercise to strengthen the muscles around the injury. Let’s look at your exercise options.

With the list of problem areas that you’ve given, isometrics and lower impact exercises would provide a safe starting point for building strength. Remember that it is the instability, or the uncontrolled joint movement, that usually leads to pain. So being able to control movements is helpful to limit the stress on the body. Isometrics are easy to do and pose little threat of re-injury. Areas of concentration would be the upper back/shoulder blade muscles, the lower abdominals, and the gluteals. These muscle groups are vital for core stability. Walking, swimming or cycling may be good lower impact activities for you. Make sure to focus on stabilizing your core while performing these exercises. In all start slowly, be consistent, and patient.

Here are 3 isometric exercises to try:

TransAbdominal isometric:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet hip distance apart.  Place your fingertips just inside your hips so they are resting on your abdomen.  Use your abdominal muscles to pull your belly button towards your spine.  If you are doing this properly you should feel the muscles underneath your fingertips tighten.

Prone Scapular Squeezes:

Lie on your stomach with your head off the edge of the table.  Squeeze your shoulder blades together and perform a chin tuck lengthening the back of your neck.

Bridge:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and arms at your side.  Tighten your abdomen and your glutes and lift hips off the table.

As always if you have pain with any exercise you should stop immediately and seek professional help.

These are just a few basic stability exercises that whole workouts can be built upon. I encourage you to take charge of your back and neck health. Get educated and let’s get started.

For more information about back and neck pain and where to go, we’re always here for you. Just contact our office or just leave us a comment on this post and we’ll be glad to help you like we’ve helped so many of our patients.

To get more tips like these, just follow Baudry Therapy on Twitter or Like Baudry Therapy on Facebook.

filed under Back pain, Core stability, Neck pain, Physical Therapy.

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Back Health – Prevention Goes a Long Way

posted on July 26th, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

Back injuries can be draining both physically and financially.  Prevention is your best option.lower back pain - physical therapy

According to a recent 2008 study…

  • roughly 3.4 million emergency room department visits/year specifically for back problems at US hospitals. That’s 9,400/day!
  • $9.5 billion overall costs of inpatient stays due to back problems in US.
  • 9th most expensive condition treated in US.

While all back surgeries may not be avoidable, there are many things that you can do to decrease the risk of a debilitating back injury.

1) Reduce daily sitting time. Try to sit less than 6 hours/day. Sitting leads to tightness and weakness in your back. A weak, tight back is vulnerable to injury.

2) Get up out of your chair every 30 -40 minutes. Walk, stretch, stand up or just move around. Prolonged sitting puts undo stress on your back.

3) Participate in light to moderate exercise (walking, running, strength training, aerobics)  at least 3 times per week. Only 30% of the American population gets the recommended amount of physical activity. Our bodies are made to move to maintain our health.

4) Perform a consistent stretching/core strengthening routine at least 4 times per week. There are many types of activities and exercises that can help the back. Find the stretches and routines that work for you.  Flexibility and strength are the keys to a healthy back.

5) Take notice and seek medical advise the first time your “back goes out”. Early intervention is the key. Long term back problems often start out as “a little tweak” in the back that resolves in a day or two.  This pattern often repeats itself periodically, getting a little worse each time, until finally  “the straw that broke the camel’s back” episode, where significant damage has been done.  In most situations, if tended to early, back problems can be easily managed.

Here’s a great video to give you a few tips on how you can go about protecting your back.

YouTube Preview Image

For more ideas on how to promote a healthy back, contact us…..

- Rich Baudry, PT, DPT, OCS

filed under Back pain.

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8 Tips to Decrease Back Pain From Travel

posted on July 7th, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

It’s summertime and vacations are in full swing. And while vacations may be about rest and relaxation,  it’s not uncommon to suffer back or neck pain from traveling. Don’t be the next vacation gone awry due to injury.

This summer try these tips to decrease the risk of the injury while on vacation:

  1. With travel comes prolonged periods of sitting. Bring pillows, towels, or even soft jackets to support your back for sitting. Prolonged sitting can leave you vulnerable to hurting your back.
  2. Plan for frequent stops. At each stop get up, stretch, and move around.
  3. While in route adjust your posture frequently to avoid static strain to your neck and back.
  4. When you’ve reached your destination, take several minutes to loosen up in order to re-activate your muscles, before unloading your luggage.
  5. When loading or unloading your bags, take the extra trip. Don’t try to carry everything at once. Use rolling carts or even the bellman if available, it is your vacation.
  6. Make sure to schedule some exercise while on vacation. Your body needs and thrives on movement. Try to include some walking, biking, or at least some stretching to help keep the body moving.
  7. For those going to the beach  “get out of the beach chair”. Yes even sitting in the beach chair too long can lead to unwanted back problems.
  8. Try to exercise just before traveling home. This will help your body be more relaxed and better able to tolerate being cooped up in the car or plane.

For more tips on staying healthy during travel contact us at Baudry Therapy Center.

filed under Aches and Pains, Back pain, Exercise, Healthy Living, Neck pain, Physical Therapy, Recreational Activities.

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Loss of Strength in Men, Leads to Loss of Function

posted on June 23rd, 2011, by Rich. Comments Off posted so far.

Sarcopenia is defined as the age associated loss of strength and muscle mass. Sarcopenia affects us all, as we age. Starting as early as the mid to late 30′s, it is common to see a slow loss in strength.  This gradual loss of strength is often associated with pain and eventually a loss of function. It appears that for men, the strength loss occurs at a greater rate than it does for our women counterparts.

This scenario is seen over and over in our clinic.  Men will come into the clinic with some sort of pain. This is usually a pain that they have been dealing with for a long time. They come through our doors because the pain has gotten so bad that it is interfering with the things they want to do,  like playing golf, tennis, or even working.  Upon evaluation 2 things quickly become apparent:

  1. there is a loss of mobility
  2. lack of  strength/stability

Strength loss can significantly affect your ability to do the things you like to do.  If you have given up on some of your favorite activities, have trouble competing at the same level, or are looking to prevent this from happening to you, try strength training.

Here are some tips to get you started:

  1. To get stronger you need resistance exercises. Generally you should select a resistance that you are able to do about 8-12 repetitions.
  2. Slower is better than faster. Lift the weight slowly and with good control. This will help you recruit more muscle fiber and reduce chances of injury.
  3. Strength can be gained with as little as 1 set of an exercise, 1 to 2 times per week.
  4. Allow for enough recovery time between workouts. I like at least 48 hour recovery period. In general, the harder you work out the longer the recovery needed.
  5. Body weight exercises are great. Exercises like push ups, pull ups and bridges can be an effective, inexpensive option. Remember to perform the exercises slowly. If these are too hard to complete 8-12 reps, modify the exercise to make it easier.
  6. Weight machines are another way to get started with strength training. Use a variety of machines to promote muscle balance. Choose a resistance that you can complete 8-12 slow repetitions.
  7. Use good form and don’t work into pain.
  8. For best results you should consult a professional to specifically design your program. There are many things that go into effective strength training. A physical therapist or exercise physiologist are ideal to fit your specific needs.

For additional information on strength training or the programs here at Baudry Therapy Center please feel free to comment or contact our office at 504 841 0150.

filed under Aches and Pains, Athletes, Back pain, Core stability, Exercise, Healthy Living, Men's Health, Physical Therapy, Recreational Activities, Senior Health, Weight training.

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