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Say Goodbye to Your Aches and Pains with Physiotherapy

Don’t Let Yourself Live in Pain Any Longer!

Whether you have recently started waking up with generalized aches and pains, or suffering from chronic pain for a long time, physiotherapy has been proven to be the best possible treatment method for you.

A sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, or an injury can all contribute to aches and pains. The bad news is that the pain is probably not going to go away on its own. The good news is that a physiotherapist can put you back on the right track and help get rid of those aches and pains.

Is your pain persistent?

Your physiotherapist will also work to educate you on ways to keep aches and pains at bay, by living a healthier lifestyle. This can range from advice on staying hydrated and enjoying better nutrition, to exercises and stretches you can do at home.

The goal is to get you to the point where you are motivated to stay healthy without the need for regular physiotherapy sessions. All of this will contribute to solving your aches and pains.

How will physiotherapy help?

Physiotherapy has a wide range of tactics and techniques that can be deployed to help with pain management. Here are just a few:

Cold laser therapy to release endorphins
Movement therapy and exercise
Joint and bone manipulation
Tissue massage
Manual therapy
Microcurrent stimulation to release serotonin

Within each of those categories, your physiotherapist has a lot of tools and techniques at their disposal.

For example, movement therapy and exercise might mean running on a treadmill, or working in a swimming pool. It all depends on your physical condition, the source of your aches and pains, and the treatment methods that are most likely to meet with results.

Diagnosing your pain with PT

Your first visit with a physiotherapist will involve a conversation about your symptoms and medical history, as well as some simple tests. Be prepared to answer questions about past injuries that may be contributing to your current aches and pains. Your diet, exercise routine and daily activities will also be discussed. This is to give your therapist an idea of the possible cause or causes of your aches and pains.

You will then be given a series of tests, based on your description of your symptoms. These will involve posture and range of motion exercises, and possibly some strength and resistance tests. When your therapist knows where you are experiencing aches and pains and has determined the likely causes, your personalized physiotherapy treatment plan will be drawn up.

If you’re noticing aches and pains in the morning, it could be your mattress

According to Spine Health, “Sleeping on the wrong mattress can cause or worsen lower back pain. Lack of support from a mattress reinforces poor sleeping posture, strains muscles and does not help keep the spine in alignment, all of which contribute to low back pain.

Sleep comfort is also sacrificed if a mattress does not match one’s individual preferences. A mattress that provides both comfort and back support helps reduce low back pain, allowing the structures in the spine to really rest and rejuvenate during the night.”

While the Better Sleep Council recommends replacing your mattress every 7 to 10 years, the way you feel in the morning is a better indicator that it’s time to replace your sleep surface.

If your mattress was once comfortable but now seems to be at the root of your aches and pains, it may be time to replace it. Physical changes like injuries, surgery and weight change can also change your body’s position as you sleep, necessitating a faster change in your mattress.

What could be causing my pain?

If you suffer from generalized aches and pains when you wake up in the morning, here is what your physiotherapist will tell you. Our bodies build up inflammation in the tissues throughout the day. This can be extremely subtle and you may not notice it, even by the end of the day.

But when we lie down and go to sleep, the inflammation can thicken and settle into your muscles. This in turn immobilizes your joints and can lead to aches and pains when you wake up. That same process repeats, day after day.

Eventually, chronic pain can set in if you do not make any lifestyle changes to correct the problem. This is why it is a great idea to contact BeActive Physio for a consultation, before the pain leads to more serious health problems.

Find relief today

If aches and pains are starting to lower your quality of life, it’s time to take that first positive step by calling our office.

Contact BeActive Physio today to schedule your first appointment with a trained and licensed physiotherapist.

Ready to Overcome Your Hip and Knee Pains? Give PT a Try

Move Comfortably Once Again with the Help of Physiotherapy

Do your weight-bearing joints feel more like pain-bearing joints these days? If you have a hip or knee that just can’t support your body weight without causing annoying aches or agonizing pains, you may be unable to perform your job, play sports, handle household tasks, or even find a comfortable sitting or sleeping position.

These limitations and frustrations might have you taking potentially risky painkillers or considering joint replacement surgery. Fortunately, many causes of hip and knee pain respond quite well to physiotherapy – the natural approach to pain management.

How can physiotherapy relieve my hip and knee pains?

Getting relief from knee or hip pain doesn’t necessarily involve the use of heavy drugs such as opiates or procedures such as joint replacement surgery. Physiotherapy can improve your joint function while also easing your pain and stiffness.

Our physiotherapist can prescribe exercises aimed at addressing your specific condition, such as:

Step exercises
Hamstring curls
Leg lifts
Hip flexion, extension, or abductor exercises
Mini-squats
Heel-to-buttock-exercises
Hip rotations
Knee lifts

Even an activity as simple as walking help preserve mobility and reduce pain in arthritic knees or hips. Our physiotherapist may also recommend that you receive heat/ice therapy, ultrasound therapy, massage therapy, laser therapy, or orthotic footwear to help normalize your musculoskeletal balance.

physiotherapy can help you reduce your daily pains

You may get pain relief when you are at the physiotherapist and going through treatment, but what about when you go home? A major goal of your physiotherapist is to heal your injuries over the long term.

The various exercises and treatments they use with you will steadily improve your condition so that you experience less pain on a daily basis. As your body gets stronger and more mobile, you are likely to experience less pain in your hips and knees.

What’s causing my hip or knee pain?

Your hips and knees do a lot of work over the course of a lifetime. These joints must withstand the majority of your body weight — not just when you’re standing still, but also as you walk, run, climb or jump. It’s not surprising, then, that a variety of ailments and injuries can plague the knee and hip joints.

Your pain and stiffness may be caused by:

“Runner’s knee” – An unstable kneecap can lead to chronic knee pain. This condition is known as patellofemoral syndrome or “runner’s knee.”
Strains, sprains and ruptures – The knee and hip joints can move thanks to muscles, tendons and ligaments. Repetitive motion or acute injuries can cause a strain (damage to muscles or tendons) or a sprain (hyperextension of a ligament). Athletes are vulnerable to ruptures of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).
Bursitis – Both the hips and knees have fluid-filled sacs called bursae that prevent friction between bones and soft tissues. Unfortunately, these sacs can become inflamed from overuse, a painful condition called bursitis.
Osteoarthritis – Osteoarthritis is a degeneration of the cartilage that normally keeps the bone ends in a joint from rubbing together. The resulting friction causes chronic pain and inflammation.

Various health or lifestyle challenges can worsen a case of hip or knee pain. Carrying extra weight is a prime example. A musculoskeletal misalignment or postural imbalance can place unnatural stress on a hip or knee. Lack of exercise can cause the muscles to weaken, setting the stage for chronic strain and joint instability.

Choosing physiotherapy over drugs

If your doctor has prescribed you pain relievers it is best to follow the guidance of your doctor.

However, you are welcome to discuss physiotherapy with your doctor as well.

If you find that your pain level has decreased through physiotherapy, you can discuss reducing your pain reliever usage with your primary physician.

Overcome your pain today

The sooner you seek physiotherapy for knee or hip pain, the better. Research shows that patients who rehab their hip or knee pain with physiotherapy within 15 days of symptom onset have less need for pain injections, medications, or surgical intervention.

Whatever stage of pain you’re in, it’s never too late to benefit from physiotherapy. Contact BeActive Physio to get started!

5 Reasons Why Stretching Will Benefit Your Overall Health

Stretching is an important part of physiotherapy, and many physiotherapists will include specific stretches into their sessions. Strength and endurance are both undeniably important; however, stretching is a crucial part of anyone’s exercise regimen, whether you are an athlete or someone coping with aches and pains. Stretching helps in increasing flexibility, which can alleviate pain and make other aspects of treatment easier – even strength and endurance!

What does stretching do?

Stretching has a lot of benefits that we don’t always think about. Some of these benefits include:

Improving range of motion.

Range of motion consists of how well your joints can move in all directions. This influences every movement you make! If you have a constricting condition, such as arthritis or an injury, your range of motion can be hindered. Whether it’s turning your head to see behind you while driving, or bending your knee freely while running, range of motion is crucial for both daily life and for fitness pursuits. Stretching can help reduce stiffness and increase flexibility, therefore improving your range of motion.

Finding relief in unexpected places.

Sometimes we forget how interconnected our bodies are. It is obvious that if we experience back pain, we should stretch out our backs. However, sometimes stretching your legs during physiotherapy can provide unexpected relief to your back, as well. In fact, your hamstrings, upper thighs, and hips can all play a big part in creating lower back pain relief. Likewise, improving your posture through stretching your torso can provide the kind of support you need to keep your spine from compressing, which helps you avoid shoulder and neck pain. Essentially, stretching different parts of your body can provide relief to places you may not have considered!

Enhancing performance.

This point is especially true for athletes. The more you condition your muscles, joints, and ligaments, the greater advantage you’ll have in your sport. For example, bodybuilders recover from their reps much quicker when they stretch as a cool-down. Golfers can achieve a longer reach by increasing their range of motion in their hips and shoulders. Swimmers can even out their strokes by perfecting their balance through stretching. If you are an athlete, stretching can play a crucial role in your performance.

Preventing injuries.

When muscles are tight or tense, the likelihood of injury increases. This occurs because that particular part of your body isn’t working at its peak performance, even though you might be. When you stretch, you’re loosening up your muscles, in addition to increasing range of motion and improving balance, which all factor into injury prevention. All of these factors can prevent you from making the types of moves that lead to injury, whether it’s coming down too hard on one foot, twisting your back further than you should, or taking a fall due to lack of balance.

Improving circulation.

Stretching can reduce stress, but that isn’t the only reason it’s good for your heart and your musculoskeletal system. In fact, stretching plays a key role in almost every aspect of your physical abilities. Tight muscles constrict available oxygen supply, essentially robbing themselves of the nutrients they need. Stretches help reverse the process. When you stretch frequently, you’ll also get the benefit of increased blood flow to your joints and throughout the body.

We can help!

There are additional ways that stretching can help improve your quality of life, whether you find a sense of pride in being limber or relaxation in taking time to stretch out your body. When you’re ready to add stretches to your daily routine, consider getting started through physiotherapy. Our physiotherapists can talk you through which types of stretches may be best for you, whether it be static, dynamic, pre-activity, or post-activity. Contact BeActive Physio today to learn more about how our team can help you create a stretching treatment plan, and how our services will benefit you!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273886/

https://www.moveforwardpt.com/Resources/Detail/tips-to-recover-from-workout

How to Make Your Stress-Related Headaches Disappear

Did you know that headaches are the third most common pain complaint throughout the world? They can impact your quality of life and make it difficult to function normally. Luckily, headache relief can be found through physiotherapy. Your trained physiotherapist will work with you to provide pain relief from headaches, in addition to any other aches and pains you may be suffering from. In this guide, we’ll outline the different types of headaches and the causes for them, in addition to explaining how physiotherapy can help.

Different types of headaches:

Any type of pain that occurs within the head can be referred to as a “headache.” Most headaches will resolve on their own without medical intervention; however, severe or recurrent headaches that interfere with one’s quality of life should most certainly be evaluated further. The challenge lies in identifying which type of headache you’re experiencing and then devising a treatment plan accordingly. Physiotherapists are adept at diagnosing different types of headaches and can develop pain relief strategies for stress-related headaches.

There are 10 common types of headaches:

Stress (tension)
Post-traumatic
Migraine or sinus
Caffeine
Hormone
Exertion
Cluster
Rebound
Hypertension

What are stress-related/tension headaches?

Tension headaches are the most common type of headache in adults and older teens. They occur when the neck and scalp muscles contract or become tense, and they can happen at any age. Stress-related headaches generally start at the back of the head and progress to the top of the head and eyes, sometimes accompanied by facial pain along the jaw and cheeks. This type of discomfort has been compared to having hair pulled or wearing a very tight hat. These types of headaches can occur as a result of:

Increased stress.
Poor posture.
Neck or jaw problems.
Fatigue.
Arthritis.
Anxiety.
Depression.

How physiotherapy helps:

At your initial visit, your physiotherapist will conduct a thorough evaluation of your physical abilities, in addition to reviewing your health history. He or she will ask you a series of questions to determine the type of headache you’re experiencing. After your physiotherapist determines what type of headache you’re dealing with you’ll work together to develop a treatment plan for meeting your physical health goals.

During your first visit, you can expect to undergo some of the following:

Inquiries about the location of the pain, in addition to any other symptoms you are experiencing.
Questions regarding previous injuries to your neck, head, jaw and/or back.
Measurements regarding the range of motion of your shoulders, neck, and other relevant parts of the body.
Examination of your posture while engaged in different activities.
Tests of your muscle strength and sensation.
Manual therapy to ascertain the mobility of joints and muscles in your neck.

A physiotherapist’s mission:

While the end goal of physiotherapy is pain relief, there are some important steps along the way that your physiotherapist will help you with, in order to decrease pain and improve function. These include, but are not limited to:

Posture improvement. Your posture throughout the day greatly impacts your likelihood for pain and stress-related headaches. Your physiotherapist will teach you methods of improving your posture in order to function more comfortably in your daily life.
Strength improvement. You’ll learn exercises to help strengthen the muscles that control your neck and upper back, in order to improve posture and increase your ability to stand or sit comfortably for longer periods of time.
Neck improvement. Using manual therapy, your physiotherapist will stretch the muscles in the back of your neck to relieve pain and increase movement.

Different types of physiotherapy treatments

Your physiotherapist may suggest any combination of specialized treatment services, including but not limited to:

Heat or ice compressions.
Soft tissue mobilization.
Muscular releases.
Muscle energy techniques.
Body mobilization.
Cervical traction.
McKenzie-based therapies.
Stretching.
Strengthening.

With all treatment plans, you can expect to receive education that will supplement your in-office experience.

Persistent and life-altering headaches may not go away without physiotherapy. To experience long-lasting pain relief and improve your quality of life, contact BeActive Physio today. Our staff would be happy to talk with you and discuss how we can help you achieve a pain-free life.

Sources:

https://headaches.org/2016/10/11/physical-therapy-headache/

https://www.moveforwardpt.com/SymptomsConditionsDetail.aspx?cid=fd8a18c8-1893-4dd3-9f00-b6e49cad5005

How to Solve Your Aches and Pains Once and For All

Do you ever wake up feeling stiff and achy, as if your body is being weighed down by a pile of bricks? Everyone wakes up feeling like this from time to time – you might have had a tough workout the day before, you might have spent an excessive amount of time on your feet running errands, or you might even be coming down with a cold. These are all common reasons why people might wake up feeling achy. However, if you find that it becomes a frequent occurrence, and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for your pain or stiffness, you may want to contact a physiotherapist. Stiff and achy joints may certainly be the product of a minor issue that can be easily remedied. In other cases, it could be due to a larger, underlying issue that a doctor may have to diagnose. Whatever the case may be, physiotherapy can help. Give BeActive Oakville Physiotherapy & Wellness a call today to see how we can relieve your aches and pains!

Why do I ache in the mornings?

Sometimes your joint tissues can become irritated from overuse throughout the day, without you even realizing. When you fall asleep, you are almost completely immobile for several hours, which can cause inflammation of the tissues to grow thicker and further irritate the affected area. As a result, you wake up in the morning feeling stiff and achy. In most cases, this feeling will begin to ease quickly, after you get up and walk around. This is because movement causes the inflammation to become liquid-like, allowing pain to lessen. A simple remedy to avoiding achy morning wake-up calls is hydration. Staying hydrated allows your body’s tissues to function at their normal pace, whereas dehydration slows down your chemical processes. This will keep your tissues from becoming overly inflamed, easing irritation.

What if it’s more serious?

If your doctor has diagnosed you with a more serious medical condition that impacts your joints and tissues, physiotherapy may be the next step. It is a common and effective treatment plan for pain relief that most doctors will suggest. Here are some of the most common ailments that can be relieved with the guidance of a physiotherapist:

Osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis.
Gout.
Bursitis.
Lupus.
Bone cancer.

All of these conditions can cause aches, pains, and stiffness. Physiotherapy treatment plans for these conditions will focus on helping you achieve a greater range of motion in your affected joints or limbs, in addition to providing pain relief. These work to improve overall function and help you get back to your normal mobility.

Tips for maintaining limber joints:

Your physiotherapy regimen will be dependent upon your specific symptoms and/or diagnosis. However, many physiotherapists will also suggest at-home remedies, in addition to your specialized treatment plan. Here are some tips that your physiotherapist will likely share with you on your journey toward wellness:

Sleep it off. Getting a good night’s sleep creates an endless cycle of benefits, especially when it comes to physiotherapy. Sufficient amounts of sleep will increase your ability to exercise effectively, which in turn will help you sleep better at night. Your sleep and exercise habits go hand-in-hand, and the results of one will always affect the other.
Eat right. Consumption of brightly colored fruits and vegetables can help alleviate pain. These healthy foods have more antioxidants and vitamins, which fight off the inflammation that leads to pain and irritation. A better diet also helps you to get better sleep and helps your body receive more benefit from exercise – thus, adding to the endless cycle of benefits.
Stand up straighter. Proper posture is a great way to avoid unnecessary aches and pains. If your work requires you to sit at a desk for long hours, or if you stay sedentary for long periods of time every day, try to get up every half hour for some light stretches. Relieve joint pain by moving around and keeping your circulation going. Try to avoid slouching or hunching at your desk, making sure that your spine is straight and your shoulders are back.

Physiotherapy can help:

You don’t have to be an athlete to work with a physiotherapist. In fact, you don’t even have to be in shape to work with a physiotherapist. Many people avoid physiotherapy due to embarrassment, but your physiotherapist will help you create a treatment plan for your specific needs, and he or she will never judge you. Rather, he or she will encourage and support all the achievements you make along the way! Most of the exercises and stretches that your therapist will recommend are simple to perform and don’t require any special equipment — and most of our patients are just regular people (not super athletes.) We would love to help you along your journey toward long-lasting pain relief. Call BeActive Oakville Physiotherapy & Wellness to schedule a consultation today, and we’ll help you solve your aches and pains once and for all!

Sources:

https://www.moveforwardpt.com/SymptomsConditionsDetail.aspx?cid=e6dabed7-c6d5-4362-8260-9ce807427619

https://www.moveforwardpt.com/Resources/Detail/how-physical-therapists-manage-pain

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