If I asked you, “Do you want to avoid having an injury that could severely affect your ability to do the things you enjoy and put you on the fast track for permanent limitations that can affect the rest of your life?”
I am assuming that most people would say yes of course! As a physical therapist I have had the privilege of helping countless people get over injury, surgery, pain, and limitations. It started to spark a question in my mind. If you see the same thing a thousand times, you start to ask yourself why is this happening. Why is low back pain so prevalent? Why do golfers get elbow and shoulder problems, why do runners develop overuse injuries?
Benefits of Full Body Screening
Our tendency as humans is to not deal with an issue until it gets so bad that we can’t function. Does that make sense when you sit and think about it? One of the things I do for patients is a full body screen to look for symmetry of movement, quality of movement, strength, balance, flexibility. It is amazing how many things I find that I know are predisposing a patient to future injuries. You may be coming in for low back pain, but the real driver in the pain in your back is coming from stiff hips and a stiff upper back. When those two areas are now working optimally, your low back has to do more work and thus gets injured.
If you just treat the back, you may get some temporary relief, but you have not solved the root cause! That patient is right back in pain when they resume the activities that caused the issue in the first place.
If I told you that you could severely reduce your risk of orthopedic injuries by just doing a simple routine 30 minutes 2 x a week would you consider investing that time into your body? A point of education that I always tell my patient’s is that previous injury puts you at a much higher risk of future injury. Research shows that a simple ankle sprain can lead to abnormal firing patterns in muscles all the way up into your hip and back area. These compensations, if not addressed, will become future problems because your body is now unbalanced.
Assessing a Previous Injury
I can’t tell you how many people I have been treating for one thing, that when I assess them, they tell me about a previous injury. I then assess that injured area and I find all sorts of problems, stiffness in a joint, muscular weakness, altered firing patterns of muscles. The area is a ticking time bomb! Of course I address and normalize those areas and give the patient things to work on and low and behold, they stay out of my office for an injury or a nagging problem.
One excuse I always hear is that you are too busy. If you are too busy to spend 30 minutes 2 x a week working on your body, you need to teach me how to be more productive, because I am not working hard enough. You only get one body and you sure as heck better take care of it, because in the blink of an eye it can rebel on you and it humbles you very quickly!
Let Us Guide You
Let me guide you. If you have had a previous injury, I can talk you through some simple movements over a video call or even a phone call. These are light bulb movements that help a patient realize that they have a problem they did not even know was there.
This helps me develop a routine that you can do to enhance your performance for your hobbies or interests while at the same time bullet proofing you from injuring yourself and thus forcing you to take time off which no one wants to do!
Here’s to helping you reach your PINNACLE!
Dr. Brian