Conditions We Treat

Sprains and strains are common with almost all activities from just doing household and yard work, to workplace activities, to playing sports. Whether you are a trained athlete, a weekend warrior, or an elderly individual we can help you. While the list of sprains and strains could be endless here are a few common ones we typically see.

Hip Flexor Strain

Your hip flexors are located around you hip. They can be injured with activities like sprinting, climbing a hill, or any sudden movement of your hip. You may find some pain, soreness, and even bruising in the thigh area. Rest, ice, range of motion activities, and stretching activities with the assist of a physical therapist will help.  

Hamstring Strain

Your hamstrings are found on the back of your thigh. They are commonly injured from activity and more likely if you don’t warm up or stretch before exercising. They can also be injured if you have tight hip flexors and weak glute musculature as they all work together and need proper muscle balance.

Groin Pull

Your groin muscles are often strained during quick lateral movement and a common sports injury.  Stretching and range of motion exercises will help you recover.

Lumbar Strain

A lumbar strain is one of the most common causes of low back pain. It usually occurs due to overuse, improper use, or trauma. The result is damaged muscle and tendons that can spasm and feel sore. There are certain risk factors that can increase the likelihood of a lumbar strain: excessive lower back curvature, forward tilted pelvis, weak back or abdominal muscles, tight hamstrings are just a few. Physical Therapy can help through a rest, modalities, stretching and strengthening exercises as it heals, braces and/or protective equipment, and education on proper use of your back.

Shoulder Strain

Your rotator cuff is often strained by the stretching or tearing of muscle or tendons. It can also happen when the shoulder is in one position for long periods of time, or even from having poor posture. The shoulder is a very mobile joint and with increased mobility comes decreased stability. Often times the supporting musculature of your shoulder and scapula are weak leading to a shoulder injury. Your physical therapist can guide you in activities to decrease inflammation, regain range of motion, and strengthen the complex musculature to bring you back.

Not sure if you have a sprain, strain, or injury? Not sure if you need any therapy right now? Schedule a consultation with us to let us help you decide what the best next step is for you is. It may include a recommendation to seek further orthopedic evaluation from an orthopedic specialist or possibly scheduling a physical therapy evaluation in our clinic. For more information or to schedule your consultation, please contact us at 501-463-9057, email us at info@ptelevation.com or schedule here!

Pre-Surgical Rehabilitation

Research studies have found that pre-surgical rehabilitation has many benefits for patients. Studies show that the benefits are derived since it prepares patients for postoperative rehab. Those who have attended physical therapy prior to surgery show significantly improve outcomes over than those have not. Furthermore, the ones who had pre-surgical therapy treatment scored better with certain functional outcome measures one to two years after surgery. Patients who participate in “pre-hab” typically have shorter hospital stays, regain function quicker, and return to their prior level of function faster than those who do not participate making it extremely cost-effective for patients.

Post-Surgical Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is vital to recovering after surgery. While your surgery can be done within a few hours, the rehabilitation may take many months and even up to a year. A key factor in your recovery is your commitment to the entire process. Post-surgical therapy is a progressive activity, with biological processes in motion and the need for therapy workloads on a repaired joint to gradually increase. It’s a complex process that’s is best completed with the help of a physical therapist and other specialists.

The key goals of any rehab program are to:

• Reduce pain
• Strengthen your muscles
• Improve range of motion and movement
• Help you walk again
• Teach you how to do daily activities, such as get up from a chair, climb stairs and get in and out of a car

For more information on how we can help you recover from your surgery and return you to your optimal level of health and mobility, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Vertigo is often thought of as dizziness.  While there are many reasons you may feel dizzy, vertigo is a medically distinct condition and problem dealing with your inner ear and Central Nervous System (CNS). The structures of the inner ear consist of a collection of semicircular canals lined with cells that act like a gyroscope for the body. These structures provide critical and continual feedback to your CNS about your position in space.

Vertigo is more specifically a condition where you will feel like either you or the room is spinning around when you are perfectly still. It can last for several hours or for days. It can be triggered simply by getting in or out of bed. Symptoms can be mild and temporary, or they can be very severe including nausea and vomiting. It is a serious condition because it dramatically increases your risk of falling and injury.

There are two types of vertigo, peripheral and central. Peripheral vertigo is a condition of the inner ear, while central vertigo is caused by injury or disease to the CNS. The most common type of vertigo is peripheral vertigo with causes due to: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), vestibular neuritis, or Meniere’s disease.

The most common cause of peripheral vertigo is due to BPPV. This condition causes small crystals in your inner ear to loosen, float around, and become trapped in certain areas of your ear that leads you to feel dizzy. The great news is that most patients with peripheral vertigo caused by BPPV will experience substantial relief with physical therapy treatment. We have found that if a patient has BPPV, physical therapy will improve the condition as often as 90% of the time. While medication is often prescribed for this, it only provides temporary relief. Our techniques will provide permanent relief without the need for additional medications.

Our therapy team has been specially trained in the assessment and treatment of vertigo. We are proud of our success rate with our patients. For more information on how we can help, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Balance

Balance problems happen to even the best of us over time. For some, this may just require using an assistive device, like a cane, to help maintain our balance or it could lead to requiring a wheelchair.  It can be a very short-term problem that develops following an injury or it could be a longer-term condition resulting from a neurologic condition. Balance issues create real and serious problems and can prevent you from ever feeling stable on your feet. It is important to realize you are not alone and we are here to help!

Balance problems are serious issues that often lead to falls. Falls are the number one leading cause of injury in the elderly and the leading causes of a person’s loss of independence and mobility. Falls often lead to serious health problems, additional medical expenses, the requirement of assistive devices, and additional caregiver requirements.  

Your ability to balance is connected to much of your Central Nervous System (CNS), and beyond. Your inner ears, eyes, joints, muscles, CNS, and cognitive function all play a vital role in your ability to stay balanced.

Our physical therapy team is trained to identify the various causes of your balance problems and create an individualized plan of care to help improve and restore you to optimal balance.

Gait Training

The way you walk is considered your gait. You have your own particular and unique sequence and style. If you are having any difficulty walking, then you need to consider physical therapy for gait training to improve your walking skills and ultimately your safety. Often following any sort of leg injury or surgery your normal gait biomechanics with be interrupted. Not just for the elderly, even athletes and runners benefit from gait training to improve leg and foot movements to increase stability and pace while running. Your gait and your ability to maintain balance while moving are very interrelated—you typically cannot have one without the other! 

Our physical therapy team is specialized in ways to help you master these skills, decrease your risk of injury, increase your confidence, and restore your independence. We understand what affects your ability to walk and maintain your balance, from muscle weakness and atrophy to injury. Sometimes it is just part of the aging process. Maintaining your balance is dependent on more than a pair of healthy feet and quality shoes. Once your balance and gait are disrupted, you have created a negative feedback loop of imbalance that can be corrected with physical therapy.

For more information on how we can address your balance and gait impairments, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds and it is a leading cause of serious long-term disability in adults. The risk of having a stroke increases with age, but strokes can occur at any age. Knowing the warning signs and symptoms of a stroke is important so that you can act fast if you or someone you know is having a stroke. Signs of strokes are:

• Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg – especially one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

F.A.S.T.

Act F.A.S.T. to reduce the likelihood of complications and severity of brain damage a stroke can cause. If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. completing the following test:

F – Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A – Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

S – Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is the speech slurred or strange?

T – Time: If you see any of these signs, call 911 right away!!

Neuro Rehab

Rehabilitation following a stroke is focused on relearning skills that are lost when part of the brain is damaged. Often it includes the teaching of new ways to perform tasks to compensate for any residual disabilities. Most need to relearn how to bathe and dress using only one hand and communicate when their ability to use language has been altered. One of the key elements in neurorehabilitation is carefully directed, well-focused, and repetitive practice — this is the same kind of practice used by everyone as they learn a new skill, such as playing a sport or learning an instrument.

The first steps to neuro-rehab start with promoting independent movement from being paralyzed or seriously weakened on one side of your body. Many factors, including the extent of the initial injury, determine progress. Typical progression would be: regaining independence with bed mobility, progressing to sitting independently, followed by transferring from the bed to a chair, then standing to get out of a chair, to ultimately bearing your own weight and walking. Often you will be discharged home quicker than you think you should from the hospital or rehabilitation facility, and long before you have regained your independence. This is where we specialize and will continue your recovery. We will see you in your home and work to regain progressively more complex and demanding tasks, such as bathing, dressing, and using a toilet until you have regained independence in your home.

For some stroke survivors, rehabilitation will be an ongoing process to refine skills and strengthen the involved extremities in order to regain optimal mobility. Following the first phase of recovery, our Physical Therapy team is able to continue to work with you to further improve upon any remaining deficits. Many experts say the greatest amount of recovery following a stroke occurs in the first 3-6 months following the stroke. For more information on how our team of Physical Therapists can help restore you to optimal health, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

The causes of Parkinson’s disease remain largely unknown and only about 10-15% of all cases are thought to be genetic with no known cure. There is no one-size-fits-all treatment and while medication is the most common, therapy helps manage the disease. No two people have the exact same symptoms and the progression is often very diverse. In addition to movement symptoms, people with Parkinson’s also develop non-movement symptoms like cognitive changes, fatigue, mood disorders, and lightheadedness. Small handwriting and loss of smell are early signs of Parkinson’s. People living with Parkinson’s move differently, with gestures and actions that become smaller and slower. They may have trouble with getting around, getting dressed and with other activities of daily living. 

For those with Parkinson’s disease, exercise is not just healthy, it is vital to maintaining mobility, balance, and activities of daily living. Exercise and physical activity can improve many symptoms and needs to be treated as a team approach.

Our team is trained in a specialized program for Parkinson’s. The LSVT BIG program is designed to improve movements for any activity, from small to large tasks and maintaining balance while walking. The treatment improves walking, self-care, and other tasks by helping people “recalibrate.” It also teaches them how and when to apply extra effort to produce bigger motions – more like the movements of everyone around them.

LSVT treatment is customized to each person’s specific needs and goals, it can help regardless of the stage or severity of your condition.

For more information about LSVT and how we can help you with Parkinson’s, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us as info@ptelevation.com.

When playing sports there is always a risk for a sports-related injury. Approximately one-third of all athletes participating in team sports will suffer an injury serious enough to miss a practice or game. Contact sports have higher injury rates, such as soccer, baseball, basketball, and football, however, they are not limited to contact sports. Swimming is often a sport with many injuries to younger athletes. More than half of all sports injuries occur during practices rather than in games. There are many common sports injuries that we are more than equipped to treat to help you get back on the playing field as quickly as possible. They include:

• Shoulder Injury
• ACL Tear
• Hamstring Strain
• Tennis or Golf Elbow
• Patellofemoral Syndrome
• Shin Splints
• Sciatica
• Hip Flexor Strain
• Concussion

Sports injury recovery is a dynamic and structured process that through Physical Therapy aims to:

• Reduce pain and inflammation
• Restore range of motion to affected joints
• Regain the strength of the musculature surrounding the joint and in addition other supporting musculature
• Restore function and mobility back to performance level
• Return the athlete to sports participation in a safe and timely manner
• Minimize the risk of reinjury

Our Physical Therapists will work closely with your physician and athletic trainers to not only return you to your sport, but also to improve your physical function to above pre-injury levels. For more information about how we can help you get back to your sport as quickly as possible, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us as info@ptelevation.com.

Every 7 seconds, a worker is injured on the job. This equates to 510 injuries per hour, 12,600 per day, 88,500 per week, and 4,600,000 per year. The most common occupations that employees develop work-related injuries in are service personnel (including firefighters and police), transportation and shipping, manufacturing and production, installation and repair, and construction.

The 3 most common types of work-related injuries are:

• Overexertion – lifting or lowering and repetitive motions
• Contact with objects and equipment – struck by or against equipment, caught in or compressed by equipment or objects
• Slips, trips and falls – fall to a lower level or the same level

When accidents happen, our therapy team will work closely with everyone to manage your recovery and get you back to work. We can simulate workplace activities to educate you and provide safe strategies for your return to work to be both effective and efficient for you and your employer.

We are able to help employers who are committed to preventing workplace injuries by providing ergonomic workplace evaluations and creating wellness and prevention programs. Please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com for more information on how we can help you.

Arthritis is a very common condition as we get older. Arthritis in itself is a very vague term and not a single disease. If you take the word down to its roots, the prefix, “Arthro-“ simply means joint; and suffix “-itis” simply means inflammation.  So if someone tells you that you have “Arthritis,” they are simply stating that you have inflammation in your joints. This does not tell you any more information than you probably already know. The real question to ask is WHY do I have Arthritis? There can be many reasons for that. 

There are more than 100 types of arthritis, however, the two main types are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and both cause damage to joints in different ways. 

Osteoarthritis is the most common type involving the wear and tear of your joints’ cartilage. The ends of your bones have a hard and slick coating known as cartilage. This cartilage is contained inside a capsule that surrounds the joint filled with synovial fluid. Your synovial fluid has the lowest coefficient of friction known to man and the next closest is over 2 times greater. As we age, the amount of synovial fluid decreases, and the ends of our bones begin to rub on each other to a point that we actually can wear through the cartilage and our joints literally become bone on bone. This is extremely painful and thus causes limitations to the motion of the joint that will gradually affect both mobility and stability. This typically occurs gradually over many years but can be accelerated with injury or infections.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is when your body’s immune system attacks the lining of your joint capsule. This, in turn, inflames the lining of the capsule resulting in the inflammation and swelling of your joint. Once this inflammation process begins, there is a lessening or loss of synovial fluid and eventually, it destroys the cartilage and bone inside the joint. 

Arthritis is the leading cause of debility in America. Risk factors for arthritis include age, family history, gender, previous joint injury, and obesity. Your symptoms may come and go and also be mild, moderate, or severe. Severe arthritis can result in chronic pain that prevents you from being able to do your normal daily activities as well as making it difficult to walk or climb stairs.

Our team of Physical Therapists can help restore the range of motion to joints and improve the strength of supporting musculature. Physical activity and maintaining your weight are essential. By doing this we can improve the way you walk, bend, and move around. We will create a specific plan to treat your arthritis utilizing different activities, exercise, modalities, and education. If you are interested in finding out more about how you can “Reach Your Peak Potential” through our Physical Therapy Programs, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

The CDC reports that heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. A person dies every 37 seconds from cardiovascular disease. Coronary Artery Disease is the most common type of heart disease, and every year approximately 805,000 Americans have a heart attack. 

High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. Other risk factors include diabetes, overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, and excessive alcohol use.

Cardiopulmonary physical therapy is focused on helping patients improve their cardiovascular and/or lung health. While cardiopulmonary physical therapy cannot change your past, it can improve your heart’s future. It can and does reduce the risk of future cardiovascular episodes and improves overall health. It requires teamwork with your physician, family members, and other health professionals. Our therapy team has developed strong relationships with local physicians and other healthcare providers. While physical therapy may play a small role in the grand scheme of it all, it is an extremely critical one for optimal health and quality of life.

Our dedicated team of Physical Therapists wants to help improve your cardiovascular health. For more information about how we can address your cardiopulmonary needs, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. It is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States today. 1 in 3 of our elderly will die with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. The cost of caring for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in the United States alone is $305 billion per year and by 2050 it is estimated the cost will rise to $1.1 trillion per year. Almost half of all primary physicians believe that our healthcare system is not equipped to handle the quickly growing number of patients. Early detection matters and therapy is one of many approaches that have been shown to improve symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Here are 10 signs of Alzheimer’s or other dementias:

1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life
2. Challenges in planning or solving problems
3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks
4. Confusion with time or place
5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships
6. New problems with words in speaking or writing
7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps
8. Decreased or poor judgment
9. Withdrawal from work or social activities
10. Changes in mood or personality

Physical Therapy programs along with the establishment of maintenance programs to promote regular activity throughout the stages of Alzheimer’s and other dementias has been shown to improve symptoms, reduce the risk of falls, and decrease fall-related injuries. Other key improvements with Physical Therapy include:

• Balance
• Blood flow to the brain
• Endurance
• Flexibility
• Muscle Strength

For more information on how our Physical Therapists can help you or your family member with Alzheimer’s Disease, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that is often difficult to diagnose. It affects almost 5 million people in the United States with the majority, 80% to 90%, being women. Fibromyalgia is usually diagnosed in adults between the ages of 30 and 50, but the symptoms, like widespread chronic pain and fatigue, can show up earlier.

The cause of Fibromyalgia is unknown, but it’s thought to be due to changes in how the nervous system processes pain. It is argued that it can be triggered by trauma, surgery, infection, arthritis, or major emotional stress. People with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosis, or ankylosing spondylitis are more likely to develop Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia isn’t just one condition, but a complex syndrome involving many different signs and symptoms. Often, stress can make your symptoms worse. With Fibromyalgia, you may experience:

• Widespread pain, often a dull achiness, on both sides of the body above and below the waist  
• Spots on your head, neck, chest, shoulders, elbows, hips, or knees that are tender to a firm touch; these “tender points” may move around or come and go
• Muscle stiffness, especially in the morning
• Headache
• Thinking and memory problems
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Pain or cramps in the abdomen or pelvis
• Difficulty sleeping; waking unrefreshed
• Pain in your jaw
• Numbness or tingling

Research shows that people who are knowledgeable about their health condition have more confidence, can cope better with their condition, and are more likely to get “back in the swing.” Our Physical Therapists can help explain how Fibromyalgia affects your body and how you can start to take control of the pain, rather than the pain controlling you. Living with Fibromyalgia can be challenging. Your pain and other symptoms might take different forms from day-to-day. If you avoid activity because of pain, your overall physical fitness might be decreased. 

Typically, the fear of pain often keeps people from beginning physical therapy or exercise programs. Your physical therapist, however, will work with helping you understand how to better interpret your pain and then how to manage and decrease your symptoms through a customized exercise program. Studies show that regular and moderate exercise is an important part of managing Fibromyalgia. In addition, reducing body mass index could also reduce the risk of developing Fibromyalgia.

Our Physical Therapists will design an exercise program that’s right for you. To ensure your success, we will guide you on how to start slow, pace yourself, set realistic goals for exercise and physical activity, and modify your exercise program in times of stress. For more information about how we can help you manage your Fibromyalgia, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

There are nearly 2 million people living with limb loss in America today and approximately 185,000 amputations occur in the United States every year. According to Ziegler-Graham et.al., the number of people living with amputations will double by 2050, secondary to the growing prevalence of diabetes and other vascular conditions. This is a huge number of people that will benefit from our services.

Prosthetics rehabilitation is a natural fit for physical therapists and the ideal profession to work with patients with prosthetics because the field leverages a great deal of knowledge and skills we possess. Working with patients with amputations demands specific knowledge and skill sets in musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, integumentary, and neurological domains, as well as a solid understanding of biomechanics.

It is vital that during your post amputation and prosthetic rehabilitation your therapist works closely with your prosthetist and physician to ensure safe and efficient restoration of mobility. There are many challenges you face following the loss of a limb: mentally, emotionally, and physically. You need a team that genuinely cares about you and willing to work to restore your optimal level of function. We are that team.

We are here to help address your post amputation and prosthetic rehabilitation needs in your home or in our outpatient therapy clinic. For more information on how we can work with you to restore your mobility and ambulation, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Approximately 80% of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lifetime. It may be mild or extreme, quick, or constant. Your low back is your body’s main structural support. We often bring on back problems through bad habits like poor posture, repeating the same motion or overdoing it, and by pushing, pulling, and lifting things carelessly. Injuries come often from straining bands of muscle around the spine resulting in stabbing low back pain from muscle spasms.  Then there is sciatica. 

Sciatica is very common, affecting 10-40% of the population. There are many risk factors and causes, and ‘sciatica’ is one of the top types of pain people experience. Though sometimes occurring at the same time, sciatica pain isn’t necessarily interchangeable with back pain. It is normally described as a burning, stinging, electric-like shock that runs from your low back all the way down your leg. Men and middle-aged adults are most susceptible to sciatica and up to 3 times more likely than women to develop this condition. It is a result of irritation from a bulging or herniated disc that applies pressure to the nerve roots formed along the sciatic nerve.  But sciatica doesn’t actually occur in the back. While the cause of the problem originates from your lower spine, it will primarily be experienced down to your buttock, back of your leg, and sometimes even down to your toes.

Physical therapy is an important component of treating medical issues of the back.  Physical therapy for these conditions is effective consisting of various modalities, stretching exercises, back exercises, and low-impact aerobic conditioning. Our Physical Therapy team will work one-on-one with you to fully understand both the cause and effects of your back pain. They will utilize various techniques, exercises, activities, and modalities to initially reduce your pain. They with then work to restore overall mobility with a minimization of pain followed by a tailor-made dynamic core and lumbar stabilization program to help support your back. In addition, we will provide education on how your posture and daily activities can and do affect your back. You will have a home exercise program designed specifically to maintain your strength and reduce the likelihood of reinjury. 

To learn more about how we can help you recover from back or sciatica pain, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Physical therapists are specially educated and trained to treat conditions of the entire spine from the neck all the way down to the low back.  Neck pain and migraines typically have a connected and complicated relationship. There are cases when a neck injury can lead to severe headaches, and in other circumstances, it’s the opposite where neck pain originates from a severe migraine. In either situation, you should not just assume that one is the result of the other. The best thing that you can do when experiencing neck pain and headaches is to consult with a physical therapist to determine the cause of your pain and then establish a plan to address the causes of the issue.

The most common reasons people seek treatment for neck pain and headaches include:

• Chronic migraines and tension headaches
• Soreness in the neck, shoulder, and upper back
• Stabbing pains, especially in the neck
• Pain radiating from the neck and shoulders to the fingertips
• Loss of mobility in the neck, causing difficulty with daily tasks, work duties, and driving
• Inability to complete their required work duties due to pain

The longer you wait to have your neck pain addressed the more complicated it gets and therefore more difficult to successfully manage. You should take the ‘pain in your neck’ seriously and seek care early and not brush it off or believe it will just go away. Sure you will have an occasional kink in your neck, but if your problem has lasted longer than a few weeks, you should seek further medical care. Those who wait for months can end up struggling with chronic headaches and if severe enough can further lead to issues with nausea, vision, concentrating, fatigue, and even sleeping.

Our physical therapists will spend one-on-one time with you to determine the likely cause of your neck pain, which then allows us to design specific treatments to alleviate pain and reduce the likelihood of it returning in the future. Pain medication and muscle relaxers are often prescribed to ‘treat’ neck pain. Please understand that medications will only treat the symptoms or effects of your neck injury and not the cause. Medication is only temporary and can at times lead to a dependence upon it. Only when you address the causes of your neck problem can you also eliminate the effects of it and the need for pain medications. For more information on how we can help reduce your neck pain and headaches, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

The shoulder is a very complex joint. The overall design of the shoulder complex is more for mobility than stability. It provides each of us an amazing and unique range of motion and consists of three bones: the humerus, scapula, and clavicle. The only point of bone to bone contact to our core skeletal structure is through the smaller clavicle bone. Because of this, it is a ‘floating’ joint and its stability is primarily due to a complex structure of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules that all work together. Some of your shoulder musculature is designed for stability while others are for mobility. The shoulder is the most mobile joint we have in the human body allowing for movement in all planes. This amazing mobility and lack of stability come at a cost. Due to the excessive mobility, its stability is dependent upon other muscles, that when weak or injured can lead to many other shoulder injuries and pain.

The most common shoulder injuries and pain occur in the rotator cuff, which is a combination of four muscle-tendon groups that connect the ball of the humerus to the socket of your scapula. A rotator cuff injury can be due to tendinitis, impingement, or tears. Those who are required to reach overhead repeatedly through sports or work tasks usually incur a rotator cuff injury like painters and tennis players. Impingement is caused from inflammation when the tendons, muscles, bursa, or bones push against each other. Rotator cuff tears or strains can occur due to a shoulder injury, like a fall or accident, and from degeneration due to wearing down of a tendon. If the pain in your shoulder is not from an acute injury, oftentimes the cause is due to poor posture and scapular stability. Any type of shoulder injury will typically cause a lot of pain.

Due to the complexity of the shoulder, sometimes pain is due to a pinched nerve, frozen shoulder, or shoulder dislocation. A pinched nerve is when another structure is impinging on a nerve. A frozen shoulder is where muscles, ligaments, and tendons stiffen and become difficult to move. A dislocated shoulder is when the ball of the humerus ‘pops’ out of the shoulder socket. 

Our therapy team will perform a detailed one-on-one evaluation and assessment with you to determine the causes of your shoulder injury. We will then create a tailored plan of care specifically for you using many different treatments and modalities to initially reduce pain and inflammation in order to restore mobility. Along with these techniques to improve mobility with minimized pain, there will be specific exercises for stretching and strengthening to restore both stability and mobility. We will educate you in posture, ergonomic changes, and provide you with home exercises to enhance your recovery. Our intent will be to help you heal is faster, require less pain medication, and educate you in order to reduce the chances of future injuries.

We would love the opportunity to help you recover from your shoulder injury. For more information, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

Overuse injuries in the hand, wrist, and elbow often happen as a result of repetitive motions related to sports, work, or hobbies. Physical therapy, in coordination with your orthopedic specialist’s plan of care, is a critical piece for proper management to ensure optimal results.

Common hand, wrist, and elbow overuse injuries:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Cubital tunnel syndrome
• DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis, which affects the thumb
• Flexor tendinitis
• Golfer’s, tennis, and baseball elbow
• Skier’s thumb (also known as gamekeeper’s thumb or ulnar collateral ligament tear)
• Stress fractures
• Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury

Symptoms of hand, wrist, and elbow overuse injuries appear in different ways. Examples include:

• An injured thumb or finger can cause pain or swelling near the base of the thumb, difficulty grasping or pinching, or a sticking sensation in the thumb.
• Golfer’s, tennis, or baseball elbow can cause pain both during activity and at rest or a sudden pain during actions such as throwing, lifting, and reaching resulting in a loss of strength in the arm.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome often creates numbness in the fingers, hand, or arm. Other issues could include decreased grip strength making it difficult to write or perform typical activities with your hands.

For most overuse injuries, the first recommendation is a conservative treatment that starts with rest, ice, and anti-inflammatory medications. If the pain persists, other treatment options include non-surgical and surgical approaches. Physical Therapy, splinting, and/or injections are the most common nonsurgical approaches, and are often very successful.

Our team of Physical Therapists is ready to serve you. We would love the opportunity to help restore the function of your elbow, wrist, or hand. We will work closely with your physician and/or orthopedic specialist to ensure you regain full use of your hand, wrist, or elbow. For more information, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

There are a variety of causes for both hip and knee pain. These joints are often injured in sports and subject to an immense amount of wear and tear as we age. They often require a “total” or “partial” replacement later in life due to wearing out. The anatomy of both the hip and knee is complex as it is built to provide both stability and mobility. It consists of bones, ligaments, tendons, powerful muscles, pads of cartilage, and joint capsules.

Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are the main culprits of both hip and knee pain in the elderly. Both conditions lead to pain, inflammation, reduction in the range of motion, and weakness in the joint structure and surrounding tissues. This, in turn, changes the way you walk and can then lead to other issues like ankle and foot pain or to back pain.

Bursitis, tendonitis, and muscle/tendon strains are common conditions of hip pain. Bursae are sacs of fluid that reduce friction and can become inflamed with repetitive activities. Once bursae and tendons are inflamed, they cause significant pain and loss of mobility. Muscle/tendon strains are often due to overuse. Repeated irritation of strained muscles and tendons cause pain and lead to an abnormal gait pattern that can further cause both foot and ankle problems and back pain.

The knee joint is prone to all the same injuries as the hip and more. The knee has unique structures that provide increased stability called the meniscus, cruciate ligaments, and collateral ligaments. Common knee injuries include damage to the meniscus, anterior cruciate ligament, and tendons that surround and support them. The menisci and ligaments can be torn if the knee is bent and twisted. This typically requires an orthopedic specialist’s evaluation and assessment. If not repaired, the risk of developing osteoarthritis in your knee dramatically increases. Sudden changes in direction or twisting, common in sports, result in injury to the anterior cruciate ligament. Other types of sports injuries can result from a blow to the outside of the knee. Tendon injuries occur when the supporting tendons are overstretched. A subluxated patella is another common injury and cause of pain.

Our physical therapists are specially trained to help you recover from hip and knee injuries. Therapy treatments and modalities will be used to help improve mobility, reduce pain and inflammation, regain range of motion, and strengthen the supporting musculature. The ultimate result is a faster recovery for you and the potential to avoid major surgery. In addition, we can reduce your dependency on pain medications. For more information, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.

The foot and ankle complex is vital to our ability to walk. Our foot is the only part of our body that comes into contact with the ground and subjected to a significant amount of pressure and strain with every step we take. The foot and ankle work together but made up of many smaller bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscle. These structures provide both the stability and mobility needed for balancing, transferring, walking, and standing.

Ankle sprains and strains are one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries with involvement typically occurring on both sides of the ankle joint as a result of a sudden stretching or twisting. There is usually immediate pain and swelling and can also include bruising or a tear. Often your physician will perform an x-ray to rule out a fracture. Initial treatment of an ankle sprain or strain involves the R.I.C.E. method. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. In addition, limiting the amount of weight-bearing will speed up the recovery on the ankle. Anti-inflammatory meds can help reduce swelling and pain in the short term and if it’s a severe sprain or strain, then physical therapy may be part of the rehabilitation process.

Other conditions causing ankle and foot pain include tendonitis and arthritis. Tendinitis is a swelling of the tendon(s). The symptoms typically include inflammation, pain, and tenderness. Common areas for tendonitis include the peroneal tendon, the posterior tibial tendon, or the Achilles tendon. Tendinitis it typically an overuse injury, from running but could also be a result of diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory meds (NSAIDs), temporary immobilization, and ice are the first phase of treatment. Physical therapy can be a very effective and critical treatment of tendinitis. 

Arthritic foot pain is usually caused by two different types of arthritis: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition that results in gradually increasing pain and stiffness. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects many areas and joints in your body, including the ankle and foot. With rheumatoid, the body’s immune cells attack your body’s joint and cartilage creating pain and joint deformity.

Physical therapists utilize a combination of therapy techniques and modalities to help you recover from foot and ankle pain. Your treatment plan will be specifically tailored to your condition and impairments in an effort to reduce pain and inflammation, restore muscle activation, and regain proper joint mechanics. Balance training may also be implemented to help reduce your risk of falling. Modalities may include ultrasound, electrical stimulation, ice and/or heat therapy to increase blood flow and circulation and ultimately encourage healing, reduce pain, and improve mobility. For more information, please contact us at 501-463-9057 or email us at info@ptelevation.com.