"5 Ways PT Can Help with Back Pain"

Back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the doctor or miss work. Studies have shown that 85 percent of adults experience low back pain, and about 20 percent call their pain severe or disabling. The annual economic impact on Americans is approximately $15 billion. Chances are, if you don’t have back pain right now, you are likely to experience it at some time during your life.

Causes of Low Back Pain can be classified as Mechanical, Biomechanical, Neurological or Non-mechanical Physical Causes: (Diseases affecting the body as a whole).

1. Physical Therapy plays a major role in restoring mobility and reducing low back pain in most cases, without surgery or the side effects of medications.

2. Use of manual therapy, which includes a number of physical therapy techniques such as: Trigger Point Therapy, Muscle Energy Technique, Positional Release, Neuro Mobilization, Joint Manipulation and a numberof other methods that aim to treat the source of the problem and not justthe symptoms.

3. Introduce basic exercises that focus on developing the strength of the torso without putting stress on the spine, while we are still working on decreasing the pain further and bring balance between tight and weak muscles.

4. Re-educate the patient on how to avoid future injuries by improving neuromuscular control, which is the interaction between nerves and muscles. This retraining is used to correct any muscle imbalances caused by injury, surgery or poor posture.

5. Identify factors other than mechanical ones that causes low back pain such as nutritional inadequacies, metabolic and endocrine inadequacies, psychological factors, chronic infection, and others. These factors are called perpetuating factors and are very important to be addressed for faster recovery and prevention of re-injury. 

    

   For a free consultation please fill out THIS FORM or call 888.626.2699. 

    

Press Release from Hands-On News: 

Physical Therapists Provide Care to Boston Marathon Amputees

On Thursday, April 4th at 5:30-6:30pm Co-Founder Dr. Dimitrios Kostopoulos will be

speaking at the Parkinson's Support Group at the Mount Sinai Medical Center.

The title of the event is: "Feel Better, Feel Safe with Correct Movement".

If you or a loved one has suffered from Parkinson's please RSVP to Amber Servi;

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;    212-241-2477. 

 Share your story in comments.

I think most people would agree that the word "vertigo" is a familiar one.

There was a movie with the title, and it seems to come up every now and then in our lexicon. 

But WHAT IS VERTIGO really?

Well Physical Therapist Sneha Dhareshwar breaks it down for you here:

Vertigo:

Vertigo by definition is a spinning sensation, wherein everything around you is moving.  It can be associated with nausea and vomiting.

Vertigo can be caused by any of following reasons:

1.       Sudden change in neck position(positional Vertigo)

2.       Head and neck injuries

3.       Inner ear infections

4.       Meniere's disease

5.       Other neurological diseases eg: multiple sclerosis

6.       Complication associated with diabetes

Symptoms:

1.       Dizziness

2.       Nausea  and vomiting

3.       Headaches

4.       Ringing /tinnitus in the ear

5.       Balance disorder

6.       Increased sweating

7.       Abnormal eye movements

Diagnosis:

Physical examination of ear

Physical examination of eye movements

CAT scan/ MRI

Videonystagmography (VNG) / elcetronystagmography (ENG)

Treatment:

The treatment depends on your symptoms and examination with your Doctor.

1. Medications: antibiotics/ dizziness suppressants as prescribed

2. Physical therapists play a vital role in treatment of vertigo.

• Examination with Hall Pike Dix Test
• Positional maneuvers to correct BPPV/positional vertigo
• Exercises for habituation
• Exercises to improve balance and independence

Experiencing Vertigo? Give us a call and we will give you a FREE CONSULTATION!

888-626-2699

Here we feel that patient feedback is an ESSENTIAL part of any Physical Therapy practice. We encourage ALL of our patients to speak up about their experience. Well, we are happy to report that we have been getting some pretty positive feedback. 

Take a look: 

Translation from Spanish:  "Thank God, thank my medicare, thank the excellent therapists.  To date, I have not felt any pain in my shoulder; I don't want to experience that horrible pain ever again.  God bless those two therapists: one pretty young lady and one educated young man, thank you thank you thank you and thank God for the services I was given.  With much love and respect, Venecia Perez."

"Everyone at the Madison Avenue office is terrific, but I would especially like to mention Kinjal, who is in charge of my therapy.  She is a stellar therapist and human being - a definite asset to your clinic.  I have discontinued my therapy temporarily, due to problems with my medication.  After I have taken care of this serious issue, I plan to resume my therapy.  I definitely feel it helps my pain level and my particular situation."

"Everyone at the Madison Avenue office was wonderful, especially Kinjal, and so was laser, when I can afford it.  To all the staff: you are so kind and wonderful."

"Without the therapy that I received, I don't know if I would have been able to use my right hand.  I will forever be greatful for all that was done for me.  Even when I became upset, the therapist had compassion for me and calmed me down."

These are just some of the highlights! We will be rolling out more of these as they come in. 

Congratulations to our staff, and THANK YOU to our wonderful patients! 

Ever hear a friend or family member complain to you about their TMJ disorder? Ever ask them what it means and find that they don't really know much except it's painful or uncomfortable. Well we are hear to clear the air! 

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) serves as a hinge joint for the lower jaw and the upper jaw. Every time we chew and swallow food, the TMJ works to open and close the mouth. Ti is the most frequently used joint in our body! Any disruption or damage to the TMJ and surrounding jaw musculature, as well as weak neck muscles and posture, contribute to the TMJ dysfunction.

Signs and symptoms:

• Tenderness in jaw muscles
• Clicking, popping, grinding in jaw
• Inability to open and close mouth freely, known as jaw locking episodes
• Difficulty chewing and swallowing
• Dull aching pain in face, sinus, ears, eyes, teeth, neck and shoulder
• Frequent headaches

Causes of TMJ Dysfunction:

Joint over use:

• Frequent clenching and grinding of teeth
• Gum chewing
• Favoring one side of mouth when chewing

Improper bite:

• Teeth are not aligned properly, causing an uneven bite at rest and with joint movement

Stress:

• Results in teeth grinding

Trauma:

• A direct blow to the jaw, scull and/or cervical spine (neck)

Treatment:

After a complete postural and spinal evaluation by our TMJ experienced Physical Therapist, techniques like Manual Therapy, Trigger Point Therapy,Myofascial Therapy, Manipulation and/or Laser Therapy will be utilized in order help you in resolve your TMJ dysfunction.

Over the past few weeks we have started encouraging every patient that comes into our facility to write a brief review of their experience here with us. We hand them a paper and we let them fill it out on their own. We try not to linger over them so they don't feel pressured into saying something they might not be feeling.

The returns have been wonderful. Many more positive than negative and very helpful to us to know to keep doing the good things and to change the bad things.

As expected many of the reviews are about the physical therapy treatment they recieve. The pain that they are no longer feeling is highlighted, or perhaps the extra time the therapist is willing to put in. We have, however, been extremely pleased to find that more and more people aren't commenting just on the quality care they are receiving from therapists here, but also the quality care they are receiving from staff members, like the front desk, or the administrative department. 

Take a look: 

"Irene is top shelf service at front desk and Salome is too. Wonderful ladies are wonderful!"

"The treatment has really been helpful and the staff are pleasant, accommodating, and receptive to clients needs."

"Very good treatment. Therapists and staff are very concerned about my health. I am very happy about my treatment and care. Thank you very much." 

A top notch staff makes the service complete. It is simply not enough that the therapists care about your experience. You need to know that everyone involved in the process really cares for you and wants to help you get better. 

So thanks to Irene, Salome, and all the staffers our there who are going the extra mile! Keep smiling! 

Today we hear from Caroline who came to us with pain in her shoulders. She couldn't sleep through the night, but after treatment - well we will let her tell you how it worked out.

It is our mission to help people gain independence through better health and to help change their lives in a more positive direction. When we hear from patients like Caroline who's lives have changed in a positive direction we take a moment to appreciate that. After all, this is what we are here for!

So, without further adieu, Yanni, take it away!

“I’m very pleased to say my shoulders are not in pain anymore. My therapy was extremely successful. Before therapy, I could not sleep through the night because of the discomfort in both shoulders, now I can. I can perform everyday activities without pain. I give my therapists very high marks for getting me to this stage, with their care and concern.”

-Caroline Cole

So happy that we can help Cariline! Thank you for your comments!

Do you have a success story of your own? Share it in the comments and let us know how your doing!

Do you have weak shoulder muscles? Would you like to increase your muscle strength and your flexibility? Well you have come to the right place! 

Manhattan Physical Therapist Jan Michael Balcazo is here to teach an excersice that can help! 

If you want to meet Jan Michael and see the machine first hand

Click here for a FREE consultation.

He is in the Manhattan West Office on 57th Street in Manhattan. We offer free consultations, so if you don't have a prescription, don't worry. 

We also have offices in Queens, Manhattan East, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Feel free to schedule with them if that is easier for you! 

What muscle group would you like us to do a video on next? Tell us in comments! 

Do you find that you have trouble with balance? Manhattan Physical Therapist Jan Michael Balcazo is here to teach an excersice that can help! 

Check out part 2 of our 3 part video series featuring Jan Michael and the Vibration Machine! 

If you are having balance issues be sure to call us for a free consultation at 888-626-2699, or click the 
"Request Appointment" box to schedule an appointment.