5 Tips to Reduce Back Pain With Physical Therapy

Patients with back pain often ask me, "How will physical therapy help me with my back pain?" and "If I am hurting how will exercise help me?"

Not all physical therapy programs are suited for everyone. Therefore, patients should discuss their medical history with their qualified healthcare professionals before beginning treatment. However, a well-trained physical therapist can apply a variety of treatments, such as heat, ice, electrical stimulation, and muscle energy techniques to areas where back pain originates.

There are five areas where physical therapy can be highly beneficial in the treatment of low back pain:

1. Teaching Proper body mechanics

2. Providing postural recommendations

3. Teaching Specific Exercises to increase flexibility and to strengthen abdominal and low back musculature

4. Enhancing Weight Control

5. Providing Manual Therapy Techniques.

If you believe that you don't have the time to participate in a physical therapy program, perhaps these benefits will change your mind.

1. Understanding Proper body Mechanics

An understanding of proper body mechanics can reduce your need for medication and keep your spine healthy. An individualized physical therapy program can be helpful. Physical therapists help patients to learn how to take care of their back and how to manage recurrent episodes of pain, thereby reducing the need for medications.

Body mechanics describes the way we move as we perform our daily activities. It focuses on how we sit, stand, bend, lift, and even how we sleep.

Poor body mechanics can be the cause of back problems. When we don't move correctly, the spine is subjected to abnormal stresses that can lead to degeneration of spinal structures like discs and joints, and can result in unnecessary wear and tear over time.

It is very important to understand proper body mechanics in order to keep your spine healthy.

2. Providing postural recommendations

In my extensive experience of treating patients with back pain, I have seen time and time again the importance of postural recommendations in relieving their pain.

Good posture is key in the prevention and control of back pain, and who is better suited to teach patients about postural recommendations than the physical therapist?

While often overlooked, a good understanding of proper sitting and standing postures can greatly eliminate back pain. People often associate this pain with lifting, but poor posture is also a culprit.

Although improper lifting can result in back pain, correcting your posture is key. The deleterious effects of improper sitting can result in significant pain. It's easy to develop bad habits. However, good body mechanics are based on good posture.

Being aware of your posture during all of your daily activities is the best way to ensure you are using good body mechanics. Education on proper posture and body mechanics are an essential part in reducing and preventing back pain and thereby helping to avoid surgery.

3. Teaching Specific Exercises

As your back pain improves, your physical therapist can teach you specific exercises to increase flexibility, strengthen the back and abdominal muscles, and to improve your posture.

Stretching increases flexibility and increased flexibility helps you comfortably and fluidly perform activities of daily living. This will also help reduce the risk of muscle, joint and tendon injuries.

Stretching can also often alleviate low back pain. Muscle tightness in the quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors and low back muscles is a common cause of low back pain. Stretching these muscles will often eliminate the pain.

In physical therapy, strengthening the muscles of the abdomen, back and legs helps to reduce the symptoms of nerve compression.

4. Enhancing Weight Control

As you gain strength in your lower extremities, abdominal and back muscles, your endurance will improve. This will give you more energy and can enhance weight control, and often weight loss when accompanied with monitoring your caloric intake.

As your body tones and your stamina increases; you will improve your exercise tolerance and lose some body fat. Studies have shown that back pain decreases when you are at your ideal body weight.

5. Providing Manual Therapy Techniques

Physical therapists use a wide variety of manual techniques to help restore normal alignment and joint movement. A well-trained manual physical therapist can mobilize joints in a manner that a patient cannot do his or herself. They teach patients how to maintain good alignment once it is properly restored.

Physical therapy provides several benefits in the treatment of back pain. One of the benefits of exercise can be the reduction of back pain. By adhering to your postural recommendations, maintaining good body mechanics and performing your home exercise program, you can control your pain better.

Regular use of these techniques can help prevent pain from recurring, correct current back problems, help prevent new ones, and relieve back pain, particularly after an injury. Proper exercise strengthens back muscles that support the spine and strengthens the abdomen, arms, and legs, reducing strain on the back. Exercise also strengthens bones and reduces the risk of falls and injuries.

There are many different causes of back pain. Therefore, it is important that your physical therapy program be individualized to meet your specific needs. An individualized physical therapy program where your physician works closely with your physical therapist can be beneficial to you in helping to control your back pain.

For lasting benefits, it is important to continue to perform your home exercise program once the physical therapy program has been discontinued.

Working with your physician and physical therapist can help to reduce your back pain.

穢2011 Winifred D. Bragg, MD. All Rights Reserved.

Massage Therapy: Shiatsu Massage

Shiatsu Massage Therapy is a finger-pressure technique that is developed in Japan. It is gaining much popularity in the holistic world.

Shiatsu Massage Therapy makes use of the traditional acupuncture points (Meridian points) of Oriental healing. The meridian network provides life giving and life-sustaining energy to every part of the human. It is this network that connects all the organs, tissues and cells in the body. This is in fact, the basis of understanding on how this form of massage therapy work. By stimulating the meridian points on the exterior of the body, changes can be made internally. Similar to acupressure, shiatsu concentrates on unblocking the flow of life energy and restoring balance in the meridians and organs.

The Massage Therapist applies pressure with the finger, thumb, palm, elbow or knee to specific areas located along the energy meridians of the skin. Strokes used include tapping, squeezing, rubbing and applied pressure.

The many benefits of Shiatsu Massage Therapy include:

Deep muscle and tissue relaxation thus relieving back and neck pain, whiplash injury, frozen shoulders, etc.

Stress reduction and management thus reduces headaches and migranes, pre-menstrual syndrome.

Releases toxins from the body thus enhances body's natural detoxification process.

Prevents diseases eg. gastrointenstinal disorders.

Increased joint flexibility.

Improved blood circulation.

Lowered blood pressure.

Reduced stress and calms the nervous system.

Balance of "chi" or life energy.

Shiatsu Massage Therapy aims to help nature performs its work. Symptoms are not treated specifically. The goal is to help the whole body and all its body parts function smoothly and work together in a balanced manner, so as to promote self-healing.

Shiatsu Massage Therapy is safe, holistic and effective. It does not involve the use of drugs, medicines or invasive procedures. If you are experiencing some health problems, instead of seeing a doctor, you may wish to check out Shiatsu Massage Therapy as an alternative option.

What Are the Benefits of Massage Stone Therapy?

For hundreds of years, people have cited great benefits that come from doing massages. In more recent times, specifically from in the early 1990s, massage stone therapy has become increasingly popular as a method of doing more effective massages. Many people will tell you that the levels of relaxation and soothing received from a stone therapy session far exceeds the results found from a regular massage. With stone therapy, specifically hot stone massage, heated basalt stones are placed at certain points of a client's body to allow for relaxation, positive flow of energies, and remarkable stress relief.

While the muscles are being treated with heated stones, the therapist or masseuse uses other heated stones to perform deep tissue massages on the rest of the body. There are even cases where cold stones are used, which are particularly effective when used on pressure points. For a significantly effective outcome overall, both hot and cold stones are used simultaneously to target every single area of the body that needs attention.

There are several benefits to be had from doing massage stone therapy, with the main ones being:

• Muscle relaxation - using heat treated stones on specific muscles that are sore will cause them to relax almost immediately
• Stress release - cold stone massage therapy specifically targets people who are undergoing stressful conditions, because the cold stones are placed on pressure points that are blocking the release of negative energies
• Cleansing properties - massage stone therapy is said to have really good cleansing properties, as many people believe these stones help to release toxins from the body when infused by heat from the stones
• General pain relief - even if there are no sore muscles, overall pain can be treated with stone massage therapy.

People with specific health conditions have also reported getting really positive results from massage therapy, specifically hot stone massage. Some of these conditions include stress, depression, muscular aches and pains, anxiety, build up of toxins in the body, blood circulation problems, and inability to sleep, or insomnia. When massage stone therapy is done on a fairly consistent basis, people end up having a sense of euphoria and relaxation over a prolonged period of time because therapy has engaged the muscles, joints and organs in the entire healing process.

If you happen to be experiencing any kind of physical difficulties, whether pain, injury or stress in general, massage stone therapy is definitely recommended as one of the most effective ways of getting your body back to a point of feeling healthy and having a sense of general well being. If you are a newcomer to this type of treatment, make sure you hire the services of a well trained therapist or masseuse who has had a lot of experience in performing stone massages. While you certainly will want to experience the total relaxation that comes with stone massages, you do not want to end up in a situation where pain is all you feel after the massage is done.

Physical Therapy Assistant Training Information

Becoming a Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) is an excellent career choice for anyone interested in entering the healthcare services industry in a very hands-on type of position, where you will work with people one-on-one every day.

Also called Physiotherapy Assistants, anyone with qualifying physical therapy assistant training will have the important role of assisting a licensed Physical Therapist in treating patients who are suffering from countless types of injuries or disabilities due to illness, or who are otherwise in need of physical therapy. It is a necessary and highly valued profession, with job numbers having almost doubled in the past few years.

What is Involved in the Training?

In the US, in order to become a physical therapy assistant it is generally recommended that individuals enroll in an Associates Degree program that will prepare them for this profession, and also for taking the required exams to receive their PTA.

Currently it is not required that students have an Associates Degree, but the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), as well as a number of other professional groups, indicate that employment is moving toward all PTAs having an Associates Degree, possibly within the next few years.

In order to obtain PTA certification, course work, externships and the passing of the required exam is necessary. Current college curriculum study courses include the following, as well as additional topics as necessary by a specialty area: Anatomy, Physiology, Exercise Physiology, Neuroscience, Clinical Pathology, Kinesiology, Biomechanics and more.

Interestingly, in the UK, which usually seems to have more stringent medical worker requirements than the US, there are no specific requirements in order to become a physiotherapy assistant at basic level other than having passed 4 or more GCSEs.

This base position is less technical however, than its more advanced progression, the assistant practitioner. Assistant practitioners are senior physiotherapy assistants, and generally specialize in a certain area of physiotherapy.

Obtaining a position as an assistant practitioner involves a certain amount of work experience, as well as other qualifications like NVQ III or BTEC diploma or in some cases a higher educational degree. The requirements vary by specialty, which can include radiology, podiatry, nursing, stroke and other medical areas requiring physical therapy.

Employment for Those with training

A physical therapy assistant has the opportunity to work in a variety of positions and facilities dependent on experience and certification (where required).

More medically-oriented positions are available at hospitals, outpatient practices, rehabilitation facilities, hospices and companies that provide home nursing care just to name a few. Additionally, assistants are required at sports training and fitness centers, schools, and even in some industrial working environments if a company provides some of its own, on-site medical and physical therapy care.

The people with which PTAs will work with is dependent on position of course, but in general, PTAs are closely involved with therapy and hands-on treatment that has been prescribed by the licensed physical therapist.

It is the job of the PTA to help patients achieve their therapy goals, whether within a session, a period of treatment, or throughout their lives. PTAs are also many times responsible for discussing all treatments with patients once they have been prescribed, and recording progress, and other recordkeeping.

Salary On Experience

There is a fairly broad range when it comes to salary for people with physical therapy assistant training, largely dependent on certifications, and job duties. In the US, PTAs in various positions and titles earn a low of about $25,000 per year for entry level, non-certified physical therapy aides while certified PTAs earn up to $51,000 per year or more.

In the UK, physiotherapy assistant salaries range between 瞿20,000 and 瞿40,000 per year, depending on years of experience, and whether or not the physiotherapy assistant is qualified and in an assistant practitioner position.

As it is hopefully obvious, it is important that someone desiring a career as a physical therapy assistant enjoy working in close contact with people and have an understanding, agreeable personality.

Individuals should also be strong and fit themselves, at least enough that they can assist other patients, and they should have compassion. With these qualities, as well as the required education and training, becoming a PTA can be an extremely enjoyable and personally satisfying career choice.

Indian Head Massage Courses - The Pros and Cons You Will Face When Choosing Between Them

Indian head massages have been around for over a 1000 years. It seemingly grew up in Asia and was used by women to groom each other's hair and has matured and grown into an extremely popular form of therapy that alleviates tension/stress and improves circulation in the upper back, neck, scalp and face - fantastic for combating the stresses and strains of the modern lifestyle - not a limit of potential clients! It is convenient for the client also, as they don't even have to undress. So if you want to learn this therapy by undertaking one of the many Indian head massage courses, how might you go about it? What entrance requirements do you need to meet? What could the course involve?

Not sure if Indian head massage courses are for you? - well you could take an introductory course. There are a number of beauty and massage therapy schools that cater for this need. Normally if you can stand and use your hands there are not any other entry requirements to get on one of these therapy courses. Typically you attend over a few weeks in the evenings and by the end can answer simple questions about the anatomy of the skull, show a level of competence when massaging a subjects head, use all the basic therapeutic strokes and explain the origins of the therapy. These are not tough courses that result in any form of accreditation and to actually go into practise you would need to undergo further courses.

This massage therapy can be learned around your life with both in house massage therapy schools and distance learning schools providing courses. Indian head massage courses are usually directed to the already qualified therapist who wants to add more strings to his/her bow. However don't let that frighten you off if you are only starting out, because you might be able to do other courses alongside (see later).

Distance learning is typically studied through videos, text books and practicing on relatives/friends whereas in house school training involves practical demonstrations and frequent practice with fellow students along with lectures and self centred learning. Because the in depth courses challenge you more, you will have to prove you are capable by meeting certain entrance criteria, so what are they likely to be?

Because you will need to study things like anatomy, physiology, psychological etc you will be expected to show you can cope with the level of academia, but occasionally you will need to prove at least you already have a qualification in this area. You might also have to have a completed course on health and safety under your belt for example. To get on Indian head massage courses, you will need to be extremely well presented and possess great communication skills. Often you will find that the Indian head massage courses will be targeted at post graduates of hairdressing, beauty or holistic therapy but if you are not, then you might be able to still attend the course if you undertake another related qualification at the same time.

The examining at the end of Indian head massage courses is likely to come in various forms from written papers and assessments to formal practical exams when you might have to prepare and perform a massage on a paying client who helps rate you. You will need to demonstrate understanding also of the types of oils/lubricants you use and how you would adapt techniques depending on the condition an individuals hair and skin. Also you are likely to be tested on your aftercare advice and might need to produce a portfolio. Finally additional expense over and above the cost of the course could be the textbooks and a uniform for practical sessions.

Whirlpool Use and Whirlpool Temperatures for Physical Therapy

In physical therapy, whirlpool refers to a special kind of bathtub used in water baths or hydrotherapy. Whirlpools generate air bubbles and water from pumps placed at strategic points allowing the flow of air and water to massage specific muscles of the body. The intensity of circulation of air and water provides either gentle or deep massage. Whirlpools can be either cold or hot with adjustable whirlpool temperatures for physical therapy.

There are different types of whirlpools. They can be permanent fixtures or portable sets. Some whirlpool designs allow full body submersion and others are made for treatment of extremities only. There are cold whirlpools, which is often for treatment of single parts of the body, and warm whirlpools, for full body therapy.

Usually, cold whirlpool temperatures for physical therapy are set at a range of 50º F to 70º F while warm whirlpool temperatures for physical therapy ranges from 100º F to 110º F. Depending on the temperature, whirlpool treatments can last from 10 minutes up to 30 minutes.

Whirlpools are ideal for improving circulation and performing range of movement exercises. In addition, wound care is one of the common uses of whirlpools in physical therapy. Warm whirlpool temperatures for physical therapy wound treatment cleanse wounds; increases blood circulation in the wounded area as well as relieve pain. It also helps soften necrotic tissues and reduce wound infections.

Physical therapists follow a guide for the administration of whirlpool treatment for wound care. Typically, patients undergo whirlpool treatment once to twice every day for 20 minutes. Depending on your wound, whirlpool treatment may include the use of an antiseptic. After whirlpool, the therapist rinses the wound with water to remove any residues.

Therapists closely monitor whirlpool temperatures for physical therapy. Usually, therapists keep the water temperature at 92 °F to 96 °F and not exceeding 38 °C for patients with cardiopulmonary disease. The higher the temperature of the water the greater is the blood circulation.

Health care clinics and facilities have strict policies when it comes to sanitation in whirlpool or water therapy. Personnel must properly clean whirlpool tanks and use disinfectants to prevent infections.

Whirlpool treatment is not for all wound patients. There are also only certain types of wounds that can really benefit from this treatment. Some wounds may even become worse with this method of care. Your therapist will evaluate if whirlpool treatment is suitable to your health condition and type of wound.

Optional Practical Training Physical Therapist Jobs

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is the consent given for students having F-1 immigration status to obtain part-time or full-time provisional jobs in the United States. Through optional practical training jobs, talented physical therapists can gather sufficient experience by practically applying their academic knowledge in actual off campus environments.

OPT Develops Your Aptitude and Confidence

The significant advantage offered by OPT jobs is that these enhance the degree of confidence as well as the aptitude of the candidates. With such a strong foundation one can work skillfully in different healthcare settings such as rehabilitation clinics, physician's offices, multi-specialty hospitals, acute care clinics, nursing homes, long term healthcare facilities, home healthcare agencies and so on.

Requirements for Undergoing Optional Practical Training

The approval for optional practical training is provided by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). For undertaking OPT jobs, the students must have registered with USCIS approved schools for a minimum period of nine successive months. In addition, they must be maintaining valid F-1 status at the time of the application.

Candidates fulfilling all these criteria can utilize OPT job opportunities in the following four ways:

• On part-time basis (that is, when the school is in session)
• During annual vacation and at other times as part-time or full-time
• After the completion of the course requirements for degree (should be before submitting the thesis or dissertation)
• After getting the degree

Recently, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the duration of optional practical training from 12 to 29 months. This provides the students with another opportunity to improve their knowledge by working in their related field of study for a longer period of time.

Utilize Reliable Staffing Services to Find Perfect OPT Jobs

Understanding the requirements of qualified physical therapists and physical therapy students, numerous healthcare staffing solution providers in the United States are offering valuable services in finding optional practical training jobs in reputable healthcare settings. Registering with reliable staffing agencies also helps you to obtain permanent placements carrying industry-best emoluments and benefits.