Two Simple Moves To Beat Back Pain

Low back pain can be caused my many different things. Often it starts from too many hours sitting during the day. Gluteals get weak and hip flexors get tight. This can put tremendous stress on the low back and even impair good functional movement patterns. Posture, lifting technique and even gait can all be negatively impacted, causing pain and creating a recipe for future, more serious injury. For those who suspect their back pain may be associated with poor posture and sitting too much, check out these two simple moves to reduce your discomfort. *** Remember, stick with it - patience and consistency are the key to your success!

Hip Flexor Stretch

  • With one knee on the ground, place the opposite foot on the ground slightly ahead with the toe pointing straight ahead.

  • Move your hips forward while keeping the trunk upright. Repeat 10 X 1 minute daily.

  • Hold on to something if need be to make it as passive as possible. Do not push past 7-8/10 on comfort scale. This is not a competition to see how much pain you can endure.

Gluteal Bridge

  • Lie on your back with your knees bent.

  • Contract your buttocks to lift your hips off the ground until your trunk is aligned with your legs. Make sure not to arch your back. You should feel it in your gluteals and hamstrings.

  • Slowly return to the initial position. Repeat 2 sets of 15 reps 2 X day.

Importance of Heart Rate Variability Testing & ⚡NeuFit Neubie Treatment ⚡

What is Heart Rate Variability (HRV)?

HRV measures the variance in time between individual heart beats controlled by the autonomic nervous system, including the sympathetic nervous system controlling the body’s “fight or flight” response and the parasympathetic nervous system controlling the “rest and digest” response. 

As an example, imagine a lion walking in to the room. If our nervous system is working properly, the “fight or flight”, or sympathetic response, elevates our heart rate and blood pressure along with other biological changes to help us survive. When the lion leaves the room, a healthy nervous system engages its parasympathetic or “rest and digest” function to then restore all systems to their resting defaults. When the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems perform this way, it is reflected by good (high) heart rate variability.

When a nervous system becomes excessively stressed and burn’t out, as reflected by poor (low) HRV, it becomes unable to effectively regulate its sympathetic and parasympathetic systems which can cause a global decrease in bodily performance. In lion terms, your body is acting crazy like the lion is incessantly knocking on the door. Common stressors includes poor nutrition, sleeping problems, work stress or physical injury. Common signs of a fatigued, unhealthy nervous system include performance deficits, fatigue, pain, mood changes, hormonal imbalances, metabolic changes and poor recovery.

Enter HRV testing.

By measuring the time between beats of the heart, advanced HRV testing technology can actually quantify the level of sympathy or. parasympathy being exercised by our nervous system, and for what purposes. We now have the ability to determine the nervous system’s health and effectiveness managing endocrine function, autonomic function and even stress. These metrics can then be used to optimize care plans, interpret recovery times and even help to qualify pain.

So what if your nervous system is run-down and dissregulated? Is their a solution? YES. The NeuFit Neubie, an advanced electronic stimulation machine, using a protocol call the “master reset”, interacts directly with your vagus nerve to improve nervous system health. Most people see a notable increase in their HRV after as little as 10 minutes of Neubie treatment! Although the Neubie does not take the place of necessary lifestyle modifications to reduce causal factors, it can be a highly effective tool to improve HRV and therefor increase performance, speed up recovery and even improve mood.

⚡ NeuFit Neubie Electronic Stimulation and the Opioid Crisis ⚡

As many as 1 : 4 adults in North America have an opioid addiction. Not only can narcotic use be dangerous, it often does not solve the origin of the problem, it only masks the pain.

The NEUBIE has been shown to have a profound effect on managing acute and chronic pain during countless clinical treatment applications. Physical Therapists have been recommended by the Centers of Disease Control to alleviate and manage pain involving the neck, shoulders, low back, and knees because:

  • PT treatment within two weeks of a neck, knee, back, or shoulder injury reduces the odds of needing opioid pain killers by up to 60%

  • 80% of patients with knee, back, and shoulder disorders remain opioid-free for at least one year after PT

  • Increasing physical activity can reduce the risk of other chronic diseases

The body has the ability to heal itself when given the opportunity. Masking pain with opioids and other medications does not fix the underlying cause(s). Don’t medicate your pain. Treat it.

Secrets To Find The Best Sleeping Position

As a physical therapist I think about sleeping position with my patients a lot. Besides patients possibly sitting/standing for 8-12 hours a day, they are also sleeping for 6-9 hours a night. I feel that a patient’s sleeping position could be the best thing or the worst thing for them, contributing to their pain. So, what is the best sleeping position for a human?

There are 4 things we know about sleeping and the musculoskeletal system:

(1) Sleeping on a firmer mattress or futon supports the body and its joints better than a softer mattress. Let’s face it, humans have gotten pretty wimpy with their sleeping arrangements and cushy mattresses. If you have gotten used to your pillow top mattresses, you may need to think about reintroducing a firm mattress to help your joints in the big picture. It takes about 90 days to move from soft to firm and sometimes longer.

(2) Using a very thin pillow or no pillow is better for the head and neck position if a person has full neck mobility. If a patient has the “forward head posture”, (see picture) this will be difficult but decreasing pillow height gradually over time could be a good way to improve head/neck mobility.

(3) Sleeping on your back on a firm mattress and thin pillow is the best position for healing, and the least amount of stress on your joints. I have lots of patients tell me that they can’t sleep on their back because they snore. Snoring is not normal and is probably a result of sleep apnea or a nasal obstruction. These patients should see an MD about having a sleep study or assessment of their sinuses.

(4) Sleeping on your side is the second best, but lots of room to have your body in poor sleeping positions. If a patient tells me that they can only sleep on their side, I would rather they get the sleep for health. Our goal in PT would be to work on the impairments that may prevent sleeping on the back or in poor side sleeping positions.

The last thing I would like to mention is stomach sleeping. It is true that I do have some neck and back pain patients that are stomach sleepers. I was taught in school and it always made sense to me that this sleeping position was a contributing factor to their pain. But is it?

I recently heard a podcast with a health professional discussing this and he believes that stomach sleeping is good for humans as it’s a primitive sleeping posture. He believes that sleeping with your head turned improves neck range of motion and that our hip flexors in the front get stretched out to combat our all day sitting postures. I thought this was a different take on this long thought sleeping position, and I have yet to decide if I agree.

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Does Going Outside Improve Health & Longevity?

RESEARCH SAYS YES!

Here are 5 reasons you should get outside:
(1) Reduce stress: High levels of stress at work and school are associated with depression, obesity, and high blood pressure.

(2) Strengthened immune system: Staying indoors can have a negative impact on your immune health. The immune system works best when challenged regularly.

(3) Weight management: Hiking, walking, riding a bike or even playing with your child can lower your risk of obesity and your kids risk.

(4) Fight Nature Deficit Disorder: We are spending more time inside than ever before and not leaving our homes. Computers, tablets, cell phones, and video games take up most of our time and keep us from getting into nature. That’s especially bad for our children and puts them at risk for developing chronic health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, depression and anxiety.

(5) Increased Longevity: a 2015 study found that women who lived near parks, lawns, trees, and forests had significantly lower mortality than women living near some type of vegetation.
Regardless of how you spend your time outside, make a point to take advantage of the health benefits of nature instead of using that time on electronic devices. I guarantee you will feel better reconnecting with the natural environment vs. being inside.

Benefits of being outside included household tasks

Benefits of being outside included household tasks

What is Temporomandibular Joint or Jaw Pain?

You have one joint on each side of your mandible that is separated by a disc. TMJD (Temporomandibular joint disorder) can cause pain in your jaw joint and in the muscles that control jaw movement. 

It’s NOT normal to have jaw pain or clicking in your jaw with opening or closing. Recently we have been seeing a lot of patients coming into our practice with jaw pain. Did these patients already have jaw pain that has now increased with the stress of our current climate and the unknown? I applaud these people for taking care of themselves and seeking help.

A lot of people that suffer from TMJD pain will tend to self medicate with pain killers, alcohol or even illegal drugs which can lead to addiction if left untreated. Experiencing constant jaw pain, combined with grinding teeth can lead to sleep disturbance and insomnia as well. Many of these people don’t realize that there are specialists that can help them with their jaw pain.

What are the symptoms of Temporomandibular dysfunction?

-Jaw pain

-difficulty chewing

-clicking and locking of the jaw joint 

-headaches

-ear pain or fullness

-neck pain

-Pain in the face, ear, jaw, or mouth

- can be chronic or acute

-toothache

-muscle spasms

If you or someone you know is experiencing jaw pain, our practice can help. Click the button below to reach out to us with any questions and to schedule an appointment!

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Hitting 100% on the Neufit Neubie!

Congratulations to Ramiro and Lauren for reaching 100% Intensity on the Neubie!!!


100% is the highest intensity setting on the Neubie machine. Everyone works at their own pace but the main end goal for all is reaching 100%. The higher the intensity one can withstand while still being able to perfom functional movements, the more pain one can erase! These two all-stars focused hard, mentally and physically, each session to be able to hit their Neubie goal. Now, their next steps are transitioning from using the Neubie to help them recover and relearn proper form to strengthening their muscles!

Do you have what it takes to reach 100%?

Click the button below to learn more about the Neufit Neubie Machine

Neubie Me

Keep your shoulders and core in Shape with body weight exercises!

Does working from home have you slouching?

Get your shouler and functional core back into shape with simple body weight exercises that you can do from home! Planks are a great way to start restabilizing and firming your whole body. In the pictures above, Noal shows a patient via Telehealth how to do a high plank: A. incorrectly, B. properly, C. Advanced side plank. Moving into a side plank (when done correctly) can be a great exercise to take your shoulder and core strength to the next level.

Book an In-Person or Telehealth appointment for an assessment of your body, your home workout space + therapeautic exercises, stretches and more!

Learn more

Injury Rehab with the Neubie!

The Neufit Neubie is designed to help stimulate your nervous system in a way that improves functional movement patterns, increases performance and reduces pain. Regarding injuries, it has also been shown to vastly accelerate your recovery time!

In the video below, Noal digs deep to help reduce Brandon’s shoulder pain by improving his scapular rhythm and humeral head centering. By hooking himself up to the Neubie on the same channel as Brandon, he is able to feel the electrical current intensify exactly where this patient needs help the most. Taking him through a series of functional upper extremity movements offers a friendly reminder to Brandon’s nervous system in how these muscles perform properly.

So cool!

Here, Saphia enjoys a nice, electrical stimulated foot bath to help her recovery from an achilles tendon injury. Her rating: TWO THUMBS-UP!

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Don't stray from your treatment plan! Telehealth can keep you on track.

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Telehealth allows you to attend your full physical therapy session from the comfort of your own home! As we all adjust to working remotely, limited hours, home offices or sitting on the couch more than usual… it is important for us to remember to take care of our musculoskeletal health. Telehealth has been keeping us connected with our community and aiding us in continuing to provide high quality physical therapy to all.

For more information about Telehealth click here: https://www.ancpt.com/telehealth

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Cortisone shot? Evidence may suggest physical therapy first.

THINKING TWICE ABOUT CORTISONE INJECTIONS FOR HIP AND KNEE PAIN

According to a 2016 study, 30 million Americans have osteoarthritis and more than 1/3 of Medicare patients newly diagnosed with knee arthritis received steroid injections. However, new evidence suggests that such treatment might cause more dysfunction than originally believed.


In a recent Boston University School of Medicine study, “Perhaps Not as Safe as We Thought,” of 459 steroid injections to hips and knees during 2018, 8% of patients had complications including “joint degeneration that progressed very rapidly, fractures and bone loss.” (Kompel et al). An editorial accompanying the study warned that a “growing body of evidence that steroids may accelerate arthritis.” (Kijowski)


While the study is not conclusive that steroid injections are harmful, more research needs to be done and patients should definitely ask questions before having an injection. As always, if you are experiencing knee, hip or other joint pain, choose PT first and contact ANCPT for a thorough evaluation.

  • Andrew J. Kompel, Frank W. Roemer, Akira M. Murakami, Luis E. Diaz, Michel D. Crema, Ali Gu. Intra-articular Corticosteroid Injections in the Hip and Knee: Perhaps Not as Safe as We Thought? Radiology, Vol 293, No.3, December, 2019.

Myth Busters - Squats are unsafe over 60 years old …

Choose the Right Marathon Training Program

Morning Back Pain? Here Are Some Tips …

Prevent Back Pain

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At our practice we have patients asking how can they prevent back pain. Many people think if I avoid lifting heavy things or strengthen my “core” then I will protect my back from injury. This statement is in fact the opposite of what someone should do to prevent back pain. Here are some things to consider if you want to prevent back pain or re-injury.1). Humans are made to lift loads. Lifting and squatting are some of the most basic primitive human movements. One of the most important things to prevent back pain is to maintain strength in your legs, especially as you age. The way to do this is by lifting and squatting. See pic 1 and 2 for correct ways to lift and squat.2) “THE FALSE CORE EPIDEMIC”. Yes, those are my words in quotes. Let me start with a story about the “core”. When I graduated PT school in 2002, it was all about the “core” for spinal stabilization. When The concept finally caught on, it infiltrated the fitness industry and healthcare.We were wrong....In the 80’s and 90’s a research group out of Australia, led by a physiotherapist named Peter O’Sullivan, were the primary research group on this concept of “core”.The research done by this group theorized that if we strengthen the core with our patients their spine will be protected.Around 2008, Peter O’Sullivan et al. went back to their research and discovered that the previous research wasn’t accurate, and consciously contracting the “core” isn’t what we should be doing at all. In fact, we should be trying to relax these muscles consciously instead of trying to have them on all the time. What the researchers found was that consciously contracting the “core” in a non functional way was in fact causing a co-contraction of the large global muscles in the back (erector spinae) and front (rectus abdominus). (See pics 3 & 4) This co-contraction of muscles creates a “stiffening” affect which increases compression in the spine. My back pain patients that have embraced this concept all got better, and have developed the tools to manage their pain without me.I think that if a PT can teach a patient to control their own pain it’s the most liberating tool you can provide a patient#backpain#prevention

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October Is Physical Therapy Month

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October is National Physical Therapy Month! We here at Anderson & Cattone Physical Therapy celebrate our profession all year round and want to continue to educate the public about PT. Physical therapists are “movement experts who optimize quality of life through prescribed exercise, hands-on care and patient education.” (APTA.org) We teach proper body mechanics to allow you to enjoy your daily activities and athletic pursuits in a pain free and safe manner! While we at Anderson & Cattone PT specialize in outpatient orthopedics, women’s health and sports PT, there are a variety of subspecialties within physical therapy. Some of those specialties include cardiovascular and pulmonary, Geriatrics, Neurology, Oncology, Pediatrics, Sports and Women’s Health. Based on the wide range of subspecialties, physical therapists also practice in an array of settings from a hospital to a patient’s home to schools and research centers. As of January 1, 2016 all graduate physical therapy programs transitioned from a master’s degree to a doctoral degree which meant including more didactic work and clinical training. Therefore, all of the PT’s at ANCPT are doctors of physical therapy. The transition to the DPT facilitated the ability for PT’s to see patients without a doctor’s prescription so make sure to have ANCPT be your first stop when dealing with musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction! #ChoosePT #trustmephysiotherapist #thestrengththerapist #physioresearch #fitnessphysio #evidencebasedmvmt #rehabscience #mikereinold #theprehabguys #muscleandmotion #chicagosportsdoc #lenmacpt #physicaltherapyresearch #rethinkingphysiotherapy #apta #physionetwork #neufitrfp

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