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Category: Physical Therapy

His TherapyBlogPhysical Therapy
By Office Health, His Thearpy, Myofascial, Osteoporosis, Pain, Physical Therapy, Uncategorized

Fun Facts about Physical Therapy

Did you know?

Reasons & Facts that may relate to you!

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Physical Therapy can change your life!

Whether you are young or old, man or woman, injured or not, physical therapy can be used to treat, prevent, and strengthen! Here are some facts about Physical Therapy that may relate to you!

1.Physical therapy can instantly relieve pain.
-Physical therapy uses several modalities in treating patients.
-Cold packs are used to treat painful areas.
-Cold temperature applied over the area causes vasoconstriction of the blood vessels which decreases the inflammation and eventually the swelling and pain.

2.Physical therapy is an effective alternative for surgery.
-Degenerative disk, ruptured cartilage (Meniscal tear) and osteoarthritis are just a few conditions that may require surgery as treatment.
-Surgical procedures done on these conditions require long period of recovery.
-Physical therapy is an alternative to opt out surgery without having the side effects from surgery and prescription drugs.

3.Physical Therapy can induce relaxation.
-Manual therapy is a type of physical therapy which makes of the hands to treat a certain condition.
-This is done by applying right pressure to soft tissues.
-This technique improves blood circulation, lessens contractility and eventually relaxes the tensed muscles.

4.Physical Therapy uses electric current for treatment.
-Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation is a non invasive modality used in physical therapy in the treatment of pain related to a certain condition.
-The goal of electrical stimulation has several purposes like post knee surgery to relieve the pain secondary to the surgical procedure and post stroke complications like muscle contractures and pain.
-The procedure is done by using electric current passing through an electrodes placed over the patient’s skin on the area where the pain is felt.

5.Physical Therapy is beneficial to elderly to prevent fall.
-Most reported cases of injuries among elderly are hip fracture secondary to fall.
-Elderly are high risk from falling due to decrease in muscle strength of the lower limbs.
-Physical therapy can aid to improve their balance and muscles through strengthening activities, reducing the risk of fall.

6.Physical Therapy plays an essential role in the treatment of some pathologic condition.
-Pathologic conditions like sports injuries, muscular and neurological illness can be addressed through physical therapy.
-Through collaborative effort of the patient and the therapist, restoration of movement and functioning can be achieved.

7.Physical Therapy strengthens your heart and lungs.
-Biking, running, jogging, brisk walking and simply walking are types of endurance exercise.
-These activities increase one’s heart rate and respiratory rate.
-Engaging in this kind of activity in a regular basis will improve the health of the lungs and heart thus preventing related medical condition such as heart disease, obstructive pulmonary diseases and more.

 8.Physical Therapy plays an important role on care of cancer patients.
-Cancer treatment has a lot of side effects.
-Fatigue is the most common one due to an abnormal blood count.
-An individualized physical therapy intervention’s main goal is to teach the patient on proper activity pacing and conserving energy.

9.Physical Therapy can be helpful to children too.
-Physical therapy is not only focused on adult and elderly patients’ rehabilitation.
-Childhood health conditions can benefit from physical therapy too.
-A common condition that requires therapy seen on most children is cerebral palsy,  a physical disability which is a result of abnormal development of the growing fetus’ brain (motor center) during pregnancy.
-The problems in this condition involves the motor functioning of the child like muscle stiffness, weakness and coordination.
-Therapy plan is formulated according to the child’s physical and developmental needs.

Information for this list was found through Infomory.com

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By Sabina Kapasi Fibromyalgia, Physical Therapy

Fibromyalgia and Physical Therapy

Not long ago Fibromyalgia was little understood or recognized as a medical condition. Today, this condition is now recognized as the second most common arthritis-related disease. The term Fibromyalgia literally means: Fibro – fibrous tissue; my – in muscles; algia – pain. Common symptoms are muscle pain, stiffness, and fatigue. While no cure is known, research has helped piece together methods to manage this disease. 

One of the first recommendations in treatment involves improving the quality of sleep. Helping to relax muscles and remove painful trigger points can help restore normal sleep patterns. Improved sleep increases overall stamina and decreases anxiety levels. 

The second recommendation is low impact exercise. Sufferers can benefit from activities such as walking or swimming. Physically the benefits include increased muscular strength and decreases in muscle micro-trauma. Psychologically, exercise can provide an important sense that the pain can be overcome, and it need not interfere with leading a normal, active life. 

The final recommendation in treating Fibromyalgia is massage. Massage is known to be very important and  assists in the removal of waste from muscles. Massage increases blood flow and nutrient flow through the body resulting in greater availability of oxygen to cells. Massage is known to impact major systems. The circulatory, respiratory, lymphatic, digestive, the immune, and endocrine systems all respond favorably to massage, helping the body to heal faster. Physical Therapists trained in Myofascial trigger point therapy can help greatly reduce pain and tenderness as well as remove trigger points.

By Sabina Kapasi Pelvic Floor, Physical Therapy

Pelvic Floor Therapy

Pelvic floor therapy is a special type of physical therapy which specializes in the treatment of the pelvic floor.

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that attach from the front of the pelvis to the tailbone. They act like a hammock to our body by supporting the bladder, uterus and rectum. The support mechanism of these muscles is critical for men and women to understand and use for everyday function to occur normally.

Weakness and dysfunction in these muscles can occur from childbirth, pregnancy, poor postural control, constipation, organ prolapse, obesity, and lack of use and awareness. There are many problems that may arise with the pelvic floor including urinary or fecal incontinence, organ prolapse, pelvic pain, pain with intercourse. 

Physical therapist who specialize in the pelvic floor have special training and certification in this field. Physical therapy treatment can help strengthen the pelvic floor, allow improved tone and decrease pain in areas which are affected. Increased tension and tone can occur in the muscles and cause pain and pressure during exercise, intimacy and other activities of daily living. Manual physical therapy treatments can help reeducate these muscles and to patients to learn to relax these muscles and gain more optimum function. Biofeedback treatment is also used which allows reeducation of the pelvic floor muscles to work effectively. There are many other treatment options that are available through physical therapy that can help rehab the pelvic floor. Each treatment is created based on patient’s diagnoses and needs.  

If you have any questions on this type of therapy you can contact me and I will be happy to discuss your treatment options and where and how you may seek help.

Sabina Weaver, MSPT
Sabina@histherapy.net 

By Sabina Kapasi Pelvic Floor, Physical Therapy

A Pelvic Floor PT Can Help with Voiding Problems in Children

His Therapy is offering pediatric pelvic floor PT.  This post is dedicated to explaining both the voiding problems that lead children to pelvic floor PT and how PT can help.

Many children suffer from bladder/bowel voiding dysfunction. In fact, 20% of all pediatric visits are for incontinence problems. The umbrella term for difficulty with bladder/bowel control in children is “dysfunctional voiding.” Below is a list of different diagnoses that fall under dysfunctional voiding:
Nighttime bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis)
Daytime wetting
Stress incontinence
Overactive bladder
Urinary urgency/frequency
Urinary retention
Frequent Urinary Tract Infections
Constipation
Bowel incontinence and/or inability to empty bowel
Fecal Frequency/Urgency  

Bladder Voiding Dysfunction
Accomplishing brain and nervous system control over the bladder is not always fully realized by the time a child is toilet trained. Often, even after toilet training a child’s bladder will continue to act in the hyperactive/hypersensitive way of the automatic bladder of infancy. Couple this with the fact that toilet training takes place at a time when children are developing interests. In order not to interrupt the good time they’re having playing with friends or toys they may begin to hold their urine as long as possible.
This “holding” pattern results in contraction of the pelvic floor muscles and external urinary sphincter, which ultimately can lead to dysfunction, such as a chronic abnormal pattern of urinary voiding. For example, some kids will experience difficulty sensing bladder fullness, which will lead to daytime leaking or nighttime bedwetting. Some children will experience urinary urgency and frequency.  Some will face frequent bladder infections. All of these problems can lead to children avoiding social activities as well as problems making it through school.

Constipation/Bowel problems
As with bladder voiding dysfunction, bowel-voiding dysfunction is also a common problem for kids. The main issue surrounding bowel-voiding dysfunction is constipation. Constipation is the infrequent and difficult passage of stool. As with adults, the frequency of bowel movements varies from child to child. That said, we encourage patients to try to have at least one bowel movement per day with management of physical activity and diet. Anything less than three per week is considered constipation.

Several different things can cause constipation, including avoidance of bowel movements because of pain caused by cracked skin known as “fissures,” illness, travel, or generally poor bowel habits. For instance, as with urinary voiding, children can ignore the urge to have a bowel movement because they don’t want to interrupt what they’re doing. Children will “hold it in” by forcefully tightening the external sphincter and suppressing the urge to have a bowel movement.
A habit of doing this may ultimately causes children to stop feeling the urge to go resulting in constipation. In addition, fecal soiling can occur. This happens when the rectal muscles and the external sphincter relax after growing fatigued with the effort to hold in a bowel movement. As a result, liquid stool from high up in the colon leaks out around the mass of stool held in the rectum. This may cause some children to have no control over this leakage.
Typically, if children have bladder-voiding dysfunction, they may also have constipation, as the two tend to go hand and hand.

How PT Can Help
When it comes to voiding dysfunction, a pelvic floor PT helps in a myriad of ways.
For one thing PT will help the child with the pelvic floor muscle control side of things.

In adults, urinary incontinence may be due to muscle weakness, muscle tightness, or behavioral issues. However, when it comes to childhood urinary incontinence, while behavioral issues may contribute to the problem, poor muscle control will almost always be at the heart of the issue. For instance, when the child jumps off of the monkey bars or laughs too hard, his or her brain may simply not get the message to squeeze the pelvic floor to combat leaking.

The pelvic floor PT will treat the child’s poor pelvic floor muscle control with Biofeedback. The patient will be connected to the biofeedback monitor via two stickers placed on him or her externally. Then the PT will ask them to “contract,” “relax,” and “bulge” their pelvic floor using the biofeedback screen results for feedback. This helps the child to regain control of his or her pelvic floor.
When it comes to constipation, biofeedback can help teach the child how to push and lengthen the pelvic floor because sometimes they simply aren’t doing it correctly.
In addition, the PT will teach the child to use his or her breath to assist with pelvic floor motor control. Oftentimes, bubbles are used for this exercise.

Also, the PT will educate the child about the bladder and bowel systems so that they come to understand that their voiding problems are not “just something that happens,” but that there’s a reason behind it. This further gives the child a sense of ownership and control over the issue. Games, books, and pictures are used to teach the child about the anatomy.

PT also helps pediatric patients with whatever behavioral issues are involved in their voiding dysfunction. For example, when it comes to bedwetting, the PT will involve the parents in the treatment process. Parents might be asked to put the child on a program for a few weeks where they check the child at certain intervals during the night to make sure he or she is dry and doesn’t have to go to the bathroom. Or they will be asked to put the child on a voiding schedule to make sure he or she is not holding too much during the day. There are a slew of tools, voiding charts, and activities that the PT will be able to share with the child and parents to help with treatment progress.

And oftentimes, a PT will work with a nutritionist  or dietician to pinpoint and correct any dietary issues that might be contributing to the voiding dysfunction, especially when constipation is involved.
Typically, it takes the PT about two visits to get a full picture of what is behind the patient’s voiding dysfunction. More often than not there’s a combination of muscle control and behavioral issues to treat. The initial evaluation will be an hour-long appointment; the appointments will range from thirty minutes to one hour. A guardian is in the room during each appointment and a child is generally seen from six to eight visits.

If you have any questions about our pediatric PT services, please feel free to contact me at Sabina@histherapy.net

www.histherapy.net
864-534-1780

By Sabina Kapasi Painful Intercourse, Physical Therapy

Painful Intercourse and Physical Therapy

I have people who ask me all the time how a physical therapists can help someone who has painful intercourse.  Pelvic floor therapists are trained with the pelvic floor muscles which have a major function for intercourse. Physical therapists can help patients understand the role of these muscles through education, biofeedback training and manual cues. Therapists can also help with soft tissue massage/myofascial release of the pelvic floor muscles which are tight and have trigger points. People who have pain usually have problems with relaxation and tense up their muscles during intercourse. Teaching relaxation techniques and stretches are also a significant part of the therapy. Treatment can be very beneficial and even after 3 or 4 sessions patients began to have significant relief.

For further questions please feel free to contact me at Sabina@histherapy.net or 864-534-1780

By Sabina Kapasi Bladder Problems, Incontinence, Physical Therapy

What Does a PT Do for Urinary Incontinence

As many of you may know that a physical therapists can help people to exercises with weights to help with strengthening or they can teach someone how to use crutches after surgery to help them walk. But how can physical therapists help with bladder or bowel problems like incontinence?

The pelvic floor muscle is a skeletal muscle just like other muscles in our body and they respond to

the same training techniques. Some physical therapists have developed special skills in

training the pelvic floor muscles. These therapists are called pelvic floor therapists.

If someone wants to strengthen their biceps arm muscle they have to learn the correct

exercises. Then they perform the exercises with the correct difficulty (not too hard, not too

easy) for the correct duration of time (it takes 4 to 6 months to increase the size of a

muscle). Pelvic floor muscle training is the same. First you have to learn the correct

exercise. This is challenging as it is an inside muscle and sometimes hard to find. In

fact, 40% of people are doing the exercise wrong. The best way to tell if you are doing

the exercise correctly is by palpating inside the vagina or rectum. A trained physical

therapist can measure the muscle by palpating just inside the vagina or rectum and asking

you to squeeze. This usually not painful but gives a lot of information about the muscle

How big is the muscle?

 Can you feel the muscle?

 Is the muscle painful and tense? – it is very important to relax and this may be the primary reason exercises do not work.

 Can the muscle elevate and support the organs – especially important when the organs are sagging?

 Can the muscle squeeze tight – to stop urine leakage?

 Can you hold the contract – long enough to get to the bathroom?

 Does the belly muscle work with (or against) the pelvic muscle?

 Does the breathing work with the pelvic floor muscle?


All these things are helpful in developing the correct exercise program. In many cases

the exercises are difficult to learn and additional information is needed. EMG

biofeedback can help. This device allows you to see the muscle contraction just like the

EKG allows you to see the heart contraction. To monitor the pelvic floor muscle a sensor

is placed inside the rectum / vagina or stuck to the outside of the rectum. If the

contraction is strong the line goes up (and stays up). If the contraction is weak the line

does not go up very high and fall quickly. Seeing this can help you to activate the correct
muscles and keep them activated increasing the effect of the exercises.

A proper exercise program includes the answers these questions:

 How long to hold the contraction?

 How long to rest between? – rest is as important as hold

 How many to do at a time and how many times to do them in a day? – studies tell us that you must do more than 45 per day to get results

 What position should the exercises be done in?

 How do you breathe during the exercises?


If you want more information about this or any of our services please call us at 864-534-1780.

By Sabina Kapasi Pelvic Floor, Physical Therapy

Pelvic Floor Therapy and Prostate Cancer

Men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer or have other medical problems related to their prostate may have some symptoms that a pelvic floor therapists can help them with. Many men suffer from urinary incontinence, urgency and retention issues and many more things that affect their way of life and every day function. Both pre and post therapy is very beneficial to these patients. Treatment may include:

1) Education on the anatomy of the pelvic floor and physiology of micturition process

2) Bladder retraining including assisting patients with proper bladder voiding schedules and avoiding bladder irritants

3) Education on proper posture and body mechanics

4) Manual cueing and biofeedback training on proper pelvic floor contractions

5) Biofeedback for pelvic floor training

6) Core stabilization exercises

Outcomes are fantastic! Patients gain the control they need of their bladder. Many men decrease the amount of pads they have to use secondary to leakage, wake up less at night to void, have less urgency and overall feel better with a more active daily lifestyle!

Please call His Therapy for more information. 864-534-1780 or visit our website for more information     www.histherapy.net

By Sabina Kapasi Pelvic Floor, Pelvic Health, Physical Therapy

Why Would You Need to Have Pelvic Floor Therapy

Have you ever wondered if pelvic floor therapy is for you? Here are a couple questions you can ask yourself to determine whether you could benefit from seeing our specialist.

1) Do you leak urine when you cough or sneeze?
2) Do you strain with bowel movements and often find yourself constipated?
3) Do you wake up during the night to use the bathroom?
4) Do you have pain during sexual intercourse?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, pelvic floor therapy IS for you! With as little as 2-3 sessions, you will see improvements in your pelvic floor which will improve your confidence and help you live the happy and healthy life we all desire!

Call  today for  more information: 864-534-1780
www.histherapy.net

By Sabina Kapasi Physical Therapy, Pregnancy

Physical Therapy can help you through Pregnancy

Pregnancy is such a joyful moment in life. From the first moments when you are able to tell all your loved ones you are expecting, to the joys of learning all the things to expect, and the journey of all the many physical changes that take place during the nine months of carrying your precious little one to be.  Did you know a physical therapist can help create good posture, strengthen the pelvic floor and lessen pain experienced during pregnancy? 

1. Posture

Good posture can improve mood, relaxation and pain experienced during those critical nine months. Having an evaluation of sitting, standing, walking, and sleeping posture can help you identify problem areas and make necessary changes to prevent pain resulting from poor posture.  Helping expectant moms learn how to bend, lift and carry can prevent injuries and keep you and your baby safe. 

2. Pelvic Floor Strength

During pregnancy the female body produces a hormone named (quite accurately) Relaxin. This hormone causes the muscles and ligaments to relax and stretch to make room for your new baby. Although important, this hormonal change can add pressure to the joints of the lower back and pelvis as they try to  carry what the pelvic floor muscles normally support and carry. This can cause inflammation and pain. Proper strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles can help the joints and ligaments support the growing baby and mitigate the pain in the pelvic area.  

3. Pain Relief 

Pain experienced during pregnancy can be mild, moderate, and sometimes severe. The pelvic girdle and and pelvis area experience some major changes as the body prepares for the birth of your little angel. It’s important to remember that the treatment is available to help the pelvic floor muscles and reduce or eliminate lower back pain. By evaluating what is causing the pain and providing physical therapy treatments, we can help you enjoy a healthy, happy pregnancy!