AppalachianPT: 3 Powerful Steps To Stronger Hips & Knees

AppalachianPT: 3 Powerful Steps To Stronger Hips & Knees

2020

NEWSLETTER

COMMON CAUSES & SOLUTIONS FOR PERSISTENT HIP & KNEE PAIN

INSIDE: • What Can I Do About My Hips & Knees? • Exercise Essentials • Patient Success Spotlights • Shopping, Insurance & Physical Therapy

2020

NEWSLETTER

For many people, hip and knee pain can be a way of life. It can pose issues when trying to enjoy leisurely walks, climb up stairs, or bend down to retrieve a dropped item. It can greatly hinder your ability to perform and enjoy daily activities. Your hips are the body’s largest “ball and socket” joints, meaning that your “femur” (hip bone) fits perfectly into your “acetabulum” (hip socket.) There is a cushion of cartilage in your hips that helps prevent friction as your hip bone moves within the socket. However, it is possible for the cartilage to wear down or become damaged with age or physical exertion. It is also possible for the muscles and tendons surrounding the hip to experience overuse. If a fall or other injury occurs, the hip bone can also break or become dislocated. The knee joint is also one of the most complicated joints in the body, as it has to bear up to 6 times your body weight when running or jumping. This incredible joint has to move over a million times each year and over 80 million times over a lifetime. This is also the reason why things can go wrong, resulting in injury and pain. If your hip or knee pain is limiting you from living the life you want, don’t hesitate to contact Appalachian Physical Therapy as soon as possible. We’ll help you get moving freely once again! Why am I experiencing hip and/or knee pain? There are many reasons why you may be experiencing hip or knee pain. Some of the most common causes include: • Arthritis. Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the most common causes of hip and knee pain. Arthritis causes inflammation of the joints and can lead to a quicker breakdown of cartilage in the hips. This can lead to pain or stiffness with movement. • Strains. Muscles or tendons can become strained due to overuse and repeated activity. This causes inflammation, which can result in pain. So, if you feel achy after walking DON’T LET KNEE & HIP PAIN SLOWYOU DOWN

Whether you have aches and pains or have been suffering for a long time, seeing a physical therapist at Appalachian Physical Therapy, Inc. can help you return to a more active and pain-free life. Give us a call at: • Broadway: 540-901-9501 • Harrisonburg: 540-209-8977 • Pinehurst: 910-215-0541 too far, it may be your body’s way of telling you you’ve done too much! • Fractures and breaks. As we age, our bones start to become brittle, increasing the probability of fractures and breaks. This is something to keep in mind as you participate in physically demanding activities and hobbies. Have fun, but remember to be careful! • Dislocation. Dislocations of the hip and knee can occur as a result of a fall or other sort of trauma. If you are experiencing pain from a recent slip or fall, you may be feeling the symptoms of a dislocation. • Tears. There are four ligaments in the knees that have a possible risk of tearing. The most commonly torn ligament is the “anterior cruciate ligament,” or ACL. It is also possible for cartilage to tear, causing pain. Tears are typically a result of some sort of trauma experienced to the painful area. • Bursitis. “Bursae” are liquid sacs that can be found between tissues. They help ease friction from tissues running together; however, they can also become inflamed due to overuse and repeated activity, resulting in pain. Even activities such as standing too long may result in achiness from irritated bursae later. • Tendinitis. Your tendons are thick bands of tissue that connect your muscles to your bones. Tendinitis occurs when your tendons become inflamed, which, again, is a result of overuse and repeated activity.

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WHAT CAN I DO ABOUTMY HIPS &KNEES?

Hip and knee pain can be a scary thought, especially with all the hustle and bustle of living a busy life. Luckily, there are some actions you can take at home to try and soothe or prevent pain: • Wearing properly fitted shoes. One way to avoid hip and knee pain is by wearing well-fitted shoes with suitable arch support. Comfortable, fitted, closed-toed shoes are a great way to relieve stress on your joints and allow relaxation in your hips and knees. • Using cold and hot remedies. Ice packs and heating pads can help in soothing your aches and pains. Rotating between ice packs and heating pads on the affected areas can provide relief. • Stretching. When your joints tighten up, pain can get much worse. Help alleviate and prevent this pain by doing a daily stretching routine in your legs, hips, and back, to help release any pressure on those areas. • Listening to your body. At the end of the day, always listen to your body. If you’ve been on your feet for two hours and you feel your knees tightening up, it may be time to take a small break. Contact Appalachian Physical Therapy for additional assistance! Having a regular physical therapy checkup ensures that your joints are working at their peak performance. In addition, any problems will be discovered early, preventing the onset of arthritis and joint injury. If you do have arthritis or have had surgery, then a regular physical therapy check-up is especially important.

At Appalachian Physical Therapy, we can provide you with a joint analysis to determine any problem areas in the hip or knee joints, and treat them accordingly. Schedule a consultation with one of our expert physical therapists today to discover how you can live life with freely moving joints!

Call us today to schedule an appointment!

PATIENT SUCCESS SPOTLIGHTS

“I am 100% better!” “What a difference before and after! I was having pain in the muscles in my lower back making it difficult to stand too long or walk very far. I had stopped playing golf and tennis. Ray analyzed the problem and designed a home plan for me. Each visit I went through a series of exercises and he would use pressure to ease my pain. The pleasant staff was always at hand to help. I am 100% better though still must be careful and follow a program to improve my care. Kudos to Ray and the team! At 87 I feel able to participate in the sports I love on a geriatric level.” - Nan B. “Appalachian Physical Therapy is the place to go!” “Annie is the BEST! I was having major strength and balance issues. She has worked with me to greatly improve these issues, including a lot of exercises that I can do at home to continue to progress. If you

need any type of physical therapy, Appalachian Physical Therapy is the place to go. The entire staff is friendly, helpful and so knowledgeable.” - Sharon B. “Excellent professional skills and a great personality!” “My experience was excellent after my total knee replacement. The pain was high and the mobility was low when I first came. Now I am almost pain free and have good mobility. My therapist, Dr. Adam has excellent professional skills and a great personality. The harmony of the entire office makes a big difference.” - Lois E.

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FREE ROTATOR CUFF WORKSHOP Attention Rotator Cuff Sufferers!

Who is the Workshop For? The Rotator Cuff Workshop is for people suffering with shoulder pain who are looking to feel normal again and heal naturally without medications, injections and surgery. REVEALING HOW TO GET BACK TO NORMAL WITHOUT MEDICATIONS, INJECTIONS & SURGERY...

Don’t delay! Register today! Use the camera app on your smartphone to see the next Rotator Cuff workshop at the location nearest you:

BROADWAY, VA HARRISONBURG, VA PINEHURST, NC

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SHOPPING, INSURANCE & PHYSICAL THERAPY

Christmas has come and gonewith all the shopping for the most part over. Not sure about you but I absolutely hate shopping. Yes, I am a guy and know what I want, where it is and what it costs. I go and get it or better yet, buy it online. I remember when online shopping first started and me saying I would never use my credit card over the internet. Somuch for declarations. I would go out on a limb and state I buy over 60% of my items online. You can shop for anything online from cars to houses, clothes, insurance and heck now folks “shop” for significant others on several online sites. They are matched up from info that has been entered in regarding likes and dislikes, hobbies, sports, aswell as future desires. I personally know several coupleswho have gotten together from these sites and although the jury is still out, they seemalmostmade for each other. Who would have ever thought this was going to be common place? This brings up a subject that can be purchased from shopping either in person or over the internet. It can be very controversial or satisfying depending on which side of the fence you are standing. There has been a lot of information given regarding health insurance. Heck, we are now required to have health insurance and even punished if you have no coverage at all. This has caused a great deal of folks to purchase health care insurance based on the information they have been given or told or thought to have been told. The point is they have purchased some form of insurance. I want to review some of those purchases to satisfy the federal government’swishes to have health care coverage. I hear it all the time from folks who have purchased Health Keepers as theywere told they could choose their provider. Well that is certainly true however your provider may not accept that insurance. Why not you ask? There is a very simple answer. You see there is a basic cost to every service. HealthKeepers does not reimburse our officewhat it costs to provide the service for the folkswho come in for our services. It does not take a mathematician to figure out if you treat folks for a cost of service and the service provided cost more thanwhat you get reimbursed, youwill not be around very long to provide those services. There are others that do not come up to par however there are some that cover our costs and more. No different than anything else in our society. Any business has to make enough profit to cover their overhead and project into the future for expected cost and reserves. If you do not, you will not survive. I hear it all the time when it comes to healthcare. Folks feel we the provider need to

accept whatever an insurancewill reimburse. It is not quite that simple. You see, for us to provide the level of care we do, we must provide a place of learning for the providers that work with us. Without their continued education, we would not be able to provide the up to date services and you would not like to pay for something that is outdated or not as good as it could be. The problem is, a lot of consumers do not understand the differences in physical therapy. They look at different offices and believe they are comparing apples to appleswhen in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

by different professionals. That is certainly not in your best interest. Unfortunately both offices will usually be reimbursed close to the same amount for your business. Next year (2021)Medicare has informed us (PT’s) that they will be reimbursing us 8% less (yes, I said less). Nowbefore you start asking questions, the cost for PTcompared to the cost paid for other services such asmedication, tests, and surgery shrivels in comparison. Much has beenwritten and contested but alas, Medicare in their infinite wisdom has decided they know best. Not sure about you but I do not believe our costs are going down. We have to pay just like anyone elsewhen it comes to set costs for space, utilities, employees, and even our own health care. Do you see any of this going down? Nope, neither do I. It is certainly going to be interesting to say the least for the coming years on how the government expects their constituents to be covered by Medicare. You will see providers bowing out of their participation as soon their expense of providing services will not be covered by the amount reimbursed for the same. Unfortunately the field is not level as those dictating the coverage are not held to the same standard as the very ones who pay for the service. Those representing us are in a completely different place as they do not have the same coverage. I really do not see anything changing with this until we are all deemed equal in the government’s eyes. Don’t hold your breath. Until that time, rest assured we will continue to be the practice that continues to push the limit to learn and grow and provide you with the best care we can. Although you may have to pay a littlemore for quality, in the long run you will usually appreciate better results with less visits and therefore less out of pocket expenses. This is one time I will encourage you to shop around and really understand your coverage and what you get for that coverage. You will be glad you did.

When purchasing insurance, you usually get exactly what you are paying for. The same holds true when it comes to covering cost of service. Back to Health Keepers, the premium paid is much less than when a person would buy one of the old standbys such as Anthem or Mutual of Omaha. A person should read the fine print in regards to their coverage before signing the dotted line. To expect equal coverage is akin towanting aCadillac ride frombuying a Ford Focus. “It just ain’t gonna happen”. Just because a professional may have been practicing for 15 years does not mean they have 15 years of experience. Maybe they have one year of experience 15 times. Again the problems arisewhen you have an office that works very hard to stay up to date and provide the best of care while another officegets bywithas little cost for human resources as they can. Both provide physical therapy services but on a very different spectrum. Youwill get very different results fromboth offices.The costs of providing those serviceswill also vary as one continues to invest in their professional development and the other choses to practice a different way. It is certainly acceptable from a legal and regulatory standpoint. I hear it all the time, so what’s the difference? If you do not know you will soon be finding out. One office spendsmore timewith the consumer both froma personal and educational point of view.They alsoprovide a great deal of experience gained fromworking in an environment that supports best practices and care. The other will perform services with less expertise and personnel, evaluating your situation less, and sometimes even having you seen

Pinehurst Artist: Beth E. Roy Beth E. Roy, artist for Pinehurst. Displayed through February 5th. Visit her website at www.betheroy.com.

ARTWORK AT THE OFFICE

Harrisonburg Artist: Trudee Smith Trudee Smith, artist for Harrisonburg. Displayed through February 5th. The paintings of Trudee Smith can also be viewed on her Trudee G Smith Facebook page.

EXERCISE ESSENTIALS Try these exercises to keep you moving... STEP DOWN Stand on a step. Lower one foot slowly towards the ground. Keep your hips level! Step down and then off the step. Keep your knees aligned over your feet.

MAKE PAYMENTS ON OUR WEBSITE! Appalachian PT gives patients the option to pay online using our website. All payments are totally encrypted for security. Select the “Pay” tab at the top of the page. It’s just that easy.

Strengthens Legs

SHORT ARC QUAD Place a rolled up towel or object under your knee and slowly straighten your knee as you raise up your foot.

Stretches Knees

Exercises copyright of

www.simpleset.net

Always consult your physical therapist or physician before starting exercises you are unsure of doing.

Why You Need To Come In For Another Check-Up:

� Move without pain � Bend and move freely � Balance confidently & securely

� Sit for long periods comfortably � Walk for long distances � Live an active & healthy lifestyle

TAKE CARE OF YOUR ACHES & PAINS BEFORE IT ’ S TOO LATE!

BROADWAY CLINIC 540-901-9501

HARRISONBURG CLINIC 540-209-8977

PINEHURST CLINIC 910-215-0541