I have a similar conversation multiple times a week with neck patients regarding this question: “Is that a knot?” I work on many patients with neck pain. Patients come in with all types of diagnoses such as cervicalgia, spondylosis, radiculopathy, Levator scapulae syndrome, myofascial pain syndrome, and upper back pain to name a few. Ironically, […]

Muscle imbalances in the neck and shoulders are very common and can cause a multitude of problems, including chronic neck pain. Traditionally, when we think of muscle imbalances we think of syndromes in which some muscles become inhibited and weak and others become short and stiff. Chronic muscle imbalance can bring changes in soft-tissues, which […]

When a healthcare practitioner uses the term “alignment” when it refers to your spine, it can be a bit misleading.  The reason lies in the fact that the prevalence of people seeing chiropractors has grown tremendously in the last few decades.   Twenty-two years ago, when I started in the world of physical therapy, maybe […]

Are you experiencing constant or intermittent lateral thigh pain? There are several musculoskeletal conditions that lateral thigh pain could be, such as bursitis, lumbar referred pain or IT band syndrome. Because pain on the outside of your thigh or leg is a common area for referred pain, it can be tricky to diagnosis. As you […]

When to Return to Sports after ACL surgery, a timeline I recently read an interesting research report about the recovery timeline after surgery from a ruptured ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). The title grabbed my attention and after reading the article it seemed pretty remarkable, and I wanted to share it on our blog.  It actually […]

Do you have an aching back with point tenderness? Have you ever wondered where that pain and tenderness might be coming from?  Odds are, it could be due to a varying degree of spinal instability.  If you have ever had back spasms, pain with lifting, bending and/or extending your spine backward, then you could be […]

The old guidelines that recommended that the monitor be placed at eye level were based in part on the belief that the resting position of the eyes (considered to be the most comfortable gaze angle) is 15° below the horizontal (Morgan, Cook, Chapanis, and Lund 1963). New evidence (and some that has been around for […]

There are several reasons someone might present with knee pain. One of the many reasons is a faulty patellofemoral joint. The patella is the anatomical name for the kneecap and the patellofemoral joint is the name of joint formed by the junction of kneecap and underlying femur or thigh bone. It is not a synovial […]

There are many misconceptions or faulty versions of the pelvic tilt that we have seen over the years. Even our clients that correctly perform a pelvic tilt in a lying position during mat exercises many times have a harder time applying the pelvic tilt to a practical functional activity. Some clients come in knowing how […]

The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles tendons that help stabilize and rotate the shoulder. Without this group of four muscle tendons, we would not be able to do many of the activities that we do on a daily basis. Interestingly, there are several injuries that can happen to the muscle-tendon complex called […]