Back To Action: Strengthening Shoulders

Health & Fitness The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body

“Are Your Shoulders Getting Weaker?” STRENGTHENING SHOULDERS

Does your neck ache towards the end of the day? Do you often end up with nagging headaches? While you might think it’s only due to stress, it may also be a result of your daily posture. When we use our arms throughout the day, the shoulder muscles get tired. This leads us to use our neck muscles as a substitute. A sure sign of this is when you notice your shoulders rising up closer to your ears. You may also find your spine rounding forward. The sooner our shoulder muscles fatigue, and the more rounded forward we end up, the sooner we notice headaches and neck pain. Think this might be you? Here are 4 BASIC TESTS to try at the end of the day! (continued inside)

Inside: • Strengthening Shoulders

• Patient Success Spotlights

• Practice News

• 2 Shoulder Exercises To Strengthen Shoulders

Health & Fitness The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body

2 SHOULDER EXERCISESTO STRENGTHEN SHOULDERS | RELIEVE SHOULDER PAIN IN 60 SECONDS | PRACTICE NEWS

“4 Tests To Determine If Your Shoulders Are The Cause Of Headaches.” STRENGTHENING SHOULDERS

STARTING POSITION: Sitting at your workstation, your home computer or the dinner table in your normal posture: 1. Try to raise both arms up in front and continue overhead without moving your spine. If you can’t get full shoulder motion or have pain, you probably end up slouched without realizing it. 2. Try to roll your shoulders down and back without moving your spine. If you feel this is difficult to do, your muscles are probably keeping your shoulders elevated. 3. Raise your arms up and out to the side like a “jumping jack” without moving your spine. If you have pain, you probably end up slouched without realizing it. 4.Try to clasp your hands behind your back. Now raise your arms up behind you. If you are unable to raise them very far, you have limited shoulder, spine or chest mobility. NOW REPEAT THE TESTS WHILE sitting up straight and allow the spine to move. Compare the difference in your shoulder motions or pain. If you suffer from neck pain, headaches or shoulder pain, don’t let it linger on and cause more damage. Call us today to speak with your physical therapist, or come on in for a free consultation.

PATIENT SUCCESS SPOTLIGHTS I’m able to do all the things I used to do! “Before therapy, I had trouble doing push ups, bench presses, dumbbells and squats. I started coming to therapy for three weeks straight and saw progress through physical therapy. I felt much better than when I had no therapy. Now after therapy I’m able to do all the things I used to do.” - Joshua N.

Look inside to learn more about our programs to say good-bye to aches and pains and return to a pain-free, active lifestyle! www.back-to-action.com I am now able to keep up with my four year old! “I sustained a major spinal injury in 2004 at the age of 17. I have been in physical therapy off and on for 15 years all over the country. I have met many physical therapists over the years, but not one like Ms. Doreen at Back to Action. I received quality and effective care that has got me back on the road to success. My pain was debilitating before starting treatment, and I am now able to keep up with my four year old and our family’s active lifestyle. I am very thankful for this team and their hard work to get me on the road to recovery.” - Michelle B.

2 SHOULDER EXERCISES TO STRENGTHEN SHOULDERS

Lightly push forearms into the wall while sliding arms up. Make sure to keep your back flat. Raise your arms as high as you can without pain while keeping your shoulders down. Do the same when bringing them back down. This trains your body to raise the arms without substituting the neck muscles and strengthen the shoulders. Simple shoulder and neck rolls are good starting points for getting your joints moving and muscles relaxed which can both help to reduce pain. Ofcourse,self-testingathome isan imperfectway todetermine if your headaches and neck pain are coming from poor posture or other shoulder issues. They just show you where your body as limited movement, which may be causing your problems. Handling any problem sooner rather than later, leads to better results and preventing long-term damage, such as arthritis. We welcome you to schedule a visit with us for a more complete evaluation. We’re offering a no-cost shoulder and neck screening to help get you on the road to better health and less pain. Give Back to Action Physical Therapy a call today to talk with your therapist.

Physical Therapists Are The Mechanics Of Your Body! Minor aches and pains are warning signals from your body to let you know something is not working properly. Don’t put off the pain until it’s too late. Come in today for a “Tune-Up.”

Relieve Shoulder Pain In 60 Seconds Try this movement if you are experiencing pain.

Stretches Shoulders

SHOULDER CHEST STRETCH Place arms at shoulder level on either side of a doorframe. Step forward. You should feel a stretch across the front of your chest. Important: Do not support your weight with your arms.

Take Care Of Your Aches & Pains Before It’s Too Late.

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CALL TODAY!

Harlingen 956-428-8951

Del Rio 830-775-9118

Brownsville 956-621-0397

Eagle Pass 830-757-2497

PRACTICE NEWS: Keeping Our Community InMind!

Brownsville. Emily, our Patient Care Coordinator, delivered a healthy baby boy early April. We look forward to seeing our new Back to Action baby. Back to Action joined the community of Brownsville during the Walk For Child Abuse Awareness. Proceeds from this event goes to support the projects of Tip Of Texas Family Outreach (TOTFO) in providing training, advocacy and to continue to be a resource center dedicated to protecting children and building healthy families. Eagle Pass. Elena, our PTtech, celebrated her birthday earlier this month. We took her out for lunch and cake to help her celebrate her big day!! BacktoActionsponsoreda4-manteamatthe4thannualFishermanofGodGolfTournament. Proceeds go towards the construction of the Fisherman of God Retreat Center. This is the second year we sponsor and this is the first year our team placed 2nd overall. They competed against 16 other teams and came up 10 and under as a team.They played hard all tournament long and brought home a big victory. Congratulations to all the teams that participated. BTA staff also attended 2 Business After Hours mixers this month sponsored by Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce. The first meeting was hosted by the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casinoand thesecondeventwassponsoredbyEaglePassVeterinaryDiagnosticHospital. It’s a great way to mingle and network after work. Harlingen. Back To Action in Harlingen donated $500 to the San Benito Youth Baseball/ Softball League this month. We would like to wish the Lady Panthers well this season. On April 28th, we ran a booth at the 2018 Spring Health and Safety Fair located at the Exceptional Emergency Center. We donated over $500 to Kona Ice for snow cones so hopefullyyouallgotone.Theweather,unfortunately,was less than idealbutweappreciate all of you who braved the elements to come out and see us. Hopefully, we were able to answer your questions. Remember, if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us by phone or email. Also this month, we lost one of our technicians, Cindy Villaneuva. We would like to wish her well in her future endeavors. We recently hired Brenda Abshier and we are confident that she will do a terrific job for us as well. Del Rio. This month Del Rio staff, therapist, and friends participated in the Be the Voice 5k: speaking out against child abuse and sexual assault. Del Rio also took part in the Health Fair and Expo at Laughlin Air Force Base, sharing information with the public about how physical therapy can help many different injuries. We said goodbye to Devesh Digwal, PT this month and wished him the best on his next adventure. PT technician Catey celebrated her birthday this month. Wishing you a great year Catey! Back toActionsaddledup for theannualGeorgePaulMemorialBullRidingandareproud to sponsor thisexcitingevent!Congratulations toBryceBerrios forwinning theevent thisyear!

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