Physiotherapy Blog

What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a disease that affects the bones of the body.  It involves processes where the body is losing too much bone or is making too little bone.  Additionally, it can also be a combination of both.  As a result, the affected bones become weakened.  Physiotherapy for osteoporosis is an important treatment tool to prevent fractures and improve a person’s quality of life. How can osteoporosis impact a person’s life? Normal and healthy bones can withstand a lot of stressors.  However, osteoporotic bones, on the other hand, may break with just minor incidents.  For example, a person with osteoporosis may fracture a bone from a simple fall or a minor bump.  Furthermore, in very severe cases, just a sneeze may be enough to cause fractures to a bone. The term osteoporosis means “porous bone”, which refers to the look of the bone under a microscope.  Normal or…

What is sciatica? Sciatica is a term that gets used quite frequently in the physiotherapy world.  It refers to pain, tingling and/or numbness that goes down the back, hip or entire leg.  It can happen to both younger and older adults for many reasons.  For some, it starts after a traumatic event like a slip and fall or after a motor vehicle accident.  For others, however, it starts gradually then suddenly increases in intensity over time.  Despite the exact cause, sciatica can be a very difficult condition to go through. Where does the term sciatica come from? The term sciatica refers to irritation of the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in our body.  This nerve has its roots at the lower levels of the lumbar spine and runs through the gluteal area down the back of the thigh.  Around the the knee, the sciatic nerve splits up into…

Vestibular Rehabilitation – What is it? Vestibular rehabilitation involves the treatment of disorders related to the vestibular system of the body.  However, to understand these types of conditions and the treatment that is involved, it is helpful to know a little about the vestibular system. What is the vestibular system? The vestibular system is a complex system that deals with controlling balance and eye movements. It includes structures that are found in the inner ear and the brain The vestibular system picks up information about movement and spatial orientation from your surroundings and sends this information to the brain This system allows us to do all our daily activities from reading, driving, walking, running and playing sports to name just a few. The brain combines this information with other sensory information from your body to coordinate smooth and well-timed movements As a result, if there is a disease or injury…

Golf is a great sport that usually many are looking forward to in the summer.  However, if you have played golf, you know that you need very good flexibility in your body for the sport.  Playing golf with reduced flexibility leads to a lot of injuries.  Some of them include golfer’s elbow, back strain, shoulder or knee injuries and so on.  Therefore, golf stretches are an important part of the golf routine. First, let’s go through the benefits of stretching. Benefits of stretching Improves flexibility and range of motion A sedentary lifestyle or less physical activity may lead to reduced mobility in the joints. If you start playing golf without stretching, it may increase chances of getting a muscle strain/injury as it may be in a shortened state and may also reduce the ease of playing golf. Improves blood circulation Stretching improves the blood flow to the muscles which has…

Cancer Rehabilitation What is Cancer? Cancer rehabilitation is an important part of a patient’s cancer recovery journey.  But it is important to understand what it mean to have cancer. Firstly, the normal, healthy cells of our body go through stages of development, maturity, and death.  Importantly, cell death is part of the normal life cycle of tissues.  In short, this process allows for the removal of older and damaged or abnormal cells from the body and the addition of new healthy cells.  However, with cancer, the old, damaged, or abnormal cells do not go through the process of death.  That is to say, they continue to accumulate and grow, spreading into surrounding normal tissues.  Moreover, these abnormal cells are capable of surviving and can do a lot of damage to the body.  Consequently, cancer cells can: Invade surrounding healthy tissues Develop their own blood supply Eat away at bone Add…

How to Safely Get back into Exercise during the Pandemic                 Everyone knows the importance of regular exercise and movement.  Up until 2020, a lot of people had exercise in their weekly routines.  However, once Covid-19 became a real threat in the world, exercise was greatly affected.  Exercise during the pandemic seemed like the last thing on people’s minds but the lack of it has definitely made huge impacts on people’s health. How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect activity? During the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone’s lives drastically changed.  Other than essential workers, most everyone else was forced inside to help prevent the spread of the virus.  A lot of people had to set up home offices and work from home.  Although this took away a lot of the financial burden of not losing work and long commuting times, it did create other problems. What…

I am working from home and need to find a physio near me!               One of the things that have drastically changed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic is that many people have had to switch to working from home.  All workplaces that were able to switch to working remotely started transitioning their staff to their homes at the start of the pandemic in March of 2020.  There are a lot of benefits to being able to work from home: Employers can keep their staff safe and prevent the spread of the virus from offices. Employees can continue working and not lose their earnings because of the pandemic. Productivity is improved since there is no commuting time involved. However, there are several downsides to working from home, including: Lack of separation between work and home spaces. Difficulty managing young children at home while…

Postpartum pelvic physiotherapy   What is postpartum pelvic physiotherapy?  This type of specialized physiotherapy treatment helps women who have gone through pregnancy and childbirth.  During pregnancy, there can weakening of pelvic floor muscles.  Additionally, childbirth can lead to overstretching or injury to the pelvic floor muscles.  These changes can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction.  Consequently, women may experience several pelvic floor problems as a result of these changes.  Postpartum pelvic floor physiotherapy helps women with the healing and strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles after a pregnancy. What is the pelvic floor?               The pelvic floor refers to a group of muscles found in the base of the pelvis.  Most importantly, the pelvic area of the body is the home to organs like the bladder, uterus in women, prostate in men and rectum.  The muscles of the pelvic floor support these organs and act…

Gardening Injuries What has led to the increased interest in gardening?  Interest in gardening and farming has increased in North America, especially during the pandemic.  Lots of people have taken to gardening for several different reasons.  For instance, for some it is to develop a green thumb.  Meanwhile for others it is to reduce their stress level during these difficult times.  However, because gardening can be very physically demanding, it can lead to gardening injuries. Most commonly affected joints in gardening injuries Back and Sacro-iliac (SI) joint Hip and Knee joints Wrist and hand Neck and shoulder Back and SI joint injuries Examples include discogenic pain, sciatica, sprain, strain, and mechanical low back pain. Sacro-iliac strains are commonly seen conditions.  Prolonged bending or repetitive bending is a major trigger for back and SI pain.  Pain and stiffness are usually felt at the end of the day or the next day. …

Whiplash What is whiplash? When your neck is suddenly and forcefully jolted forward or backward, there is a possibility that you had a whiplash. It typically causes an intense stretch on the soft tissues around your neck, beyond the normal range of motion. As a result, there is acute pain, stiffness or tightness around your neck. Whiplash injury There are different categories of whiplash. The Quebec Classification of Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD) classifies it as-• Grade 0: No complaints about the neck. No physical sign(s).• Grade I: Neck complaint of pain, stiffness or tenderness only. No physical sign(s).• Grade II: Neck complaint AND musculoskeletal sign(s).• Grade III: Neck complaint AND neurological sign(s).• Grade IV: Neck complaint AND fracture or dislocation. What are the causes of whiplash? Most commonly, whiplash is caused during car accidents. However, it can also be caused by other reasons like–Fall from a…