PT Specialties_Helping Your Hip and Knee Pain While Walking

PT Specialties_Helping Your Hip and Knee Pain While Walking

The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body

Move Freely Go Farther

Find relief for knee and hip pain while walking

INSIDE: • Do You Suffer With Knee Or Hip Pain While Walking? • Are You Moving Like You Should?

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

“Do You Suffer With Knee or Hip Pain With Walking?”

Put the Spring Back in Your Step Do you find it harder to walk, run or exercise? Is hip, knee or leg pain keeping you frombeing active? If so, understanding how your body walks andmoves can be the key to putting the spring back in your step. Think of your body as a big spring that stores and releases energy with every step. The efficiency of your walk comes from the effectiveness of your flexibility, strength and balance. When any one of these is off, it affects your ability to walk efficiently and takes a lot of energy. This results in strain to different joints and makes muscles work much harder than they need to. This leads to possible pain in the back, hips and knees. It also causes fatigue after walking, even for a little while. If you are experiencing pain again after therapy, it might be because muscles or joints have tightened or become weak again. The Remedy The simple solution is to put the spring back in your step. This is accomplished by first analyzing how you walk. There are slight changes in the way that you walk and move, that our trained medical experts can pick up on. This analysis tells us just what joints or muscles are stiff, stuck or weak. By pinpointing the exact areas of your body that are not moving as they should, we can make a plan to increasemotion, strength and improve coordination.

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Exercise Essentials Try these simple exercises to help keep you loose and pain free... Share this with a friend or family member to help keep them healthy too!

HIP ADDUCTION SIDELYING While lying on your side, slowly raise up the bottom leg towards the ceiling. Keep your knee straight the entire time. The top leg should be bent at the knee and your foot planted on the ground supporting your body. Repeat 6 times on each side. Helps With Leg Pain

Helps With Hip Pain

CLAM SHELLS While lying on your side with your knees bent, draw up the top knee while keeping contact of your feet together. Do not let your pelvis roll back during the lifting movement. Repeat 6 times on each side.

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

Who do you know that needs our help?

Refer a Friend Do You Have Friends or Family Unable to Do The Following? 9 Move without pain 9 Bend and move freely

9 Balance confidently and securely 9 Sit for long periods comfortably 9 Walk for long distances 9 Live an active and healthy lifestyle

If you know someone suffering with aches and pains give the gift of health. Refer them to Physical Therapy Specialties today. Pass along this newsletter or have them call us directly for a Physical Therapy Consultation.

Call Today! 925.417.8005

Patient Spotlight

What our patients have to say!

“Physical Therapy Specialties has been great for my arthritic shoulders. The warmwater pool has allowed me to continue my exercise so I can stay fit. The PTS therapists and aides are super friendly and helpful, and my most recent work with Mike was very beneficial. I also recommend Darlene’s aqua-lates pool class to anyone interested in a gentle water exercise. Ida has a wonderful facility — I don’t know what I’d do without the pool at PTS!” - Ellen W. “The warm water pool has allowed me to continue my exercise so I can stay fit.” “My stomach muscles are much stronger.” “I came to Physical Therapy Specialties because I was experiencing back pain, and I had very weak abdominal muscles due to abdominal surgery. My physical therapist, Caitlin, was able to pinpoint my areas of weakness and she started me on exercises to strengthen my core. After only seven appointments with her, along with the doing exercises at home, my stomach muscles are much stronger. My stronger core has enabled me to use less of my back muscles and relieved the pain I experienced. I would definitely recommend Physical Therapy Specialties to family and friends.” - Becky O. “I originally heard about Physical Therapy Specialties after my husband injured his shoulder and went here for his therapy. He had great results so it was only natural that I would come here for help recovering from both my knee replacements. My range of motion has greatly increased and my pain level has significantly decreased through the skillful, caring, and wonderful help of the therapists Dina, Jacob, and the aides Mariano, and DJ as well as all the other professionals working at PTS. Their help and knowledge has enabled me to have more confidence in walking and increasing my core strength which has consequently decreased the possibility of future falls. Everyone I have worked with has been caring and encouraging as I continue to move forward to full recovery. I would highly recommend Physical Therapy Specialties to anyone looking to improve their physical health.” -Lee M. “My pain level has significantly decreased.”

Ellen W. in the pool at Physical Therapy Specialties

Lee M. at Physical Therapy Specialties

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Walk Pain Away

Walking is the most repetitive action that we do. As we progress in our lives we develop different habits when we walk that compromise our bodies. This can be the reason that we have pain in our hips, back, neck or other areas. The “Walk Pain Away” class will help show you just how you can do just that, walk away your pain. You will learn about how the body should be aligned and then practice the correct gait technique on yourself. This is an interactive class that will give insight on how to correct or improve the way you walk. You will learn how this will help you eliminate pain in other parts of your body through this process. The “Walk Pain Away” Class When: Tuesday, August 14th at 1:00pm Where: The Healing Journey 3950 Valley Ave. Suite B Pleasanton CA 94566

The class is Free and walk-ins are welcome, please RSVP 925-417-8005 to reserve your spot.

Talk to the experts! • Ida Hirst, PT • Dina Stepanek, PT • Melissa Giustino, PT • Stephen George, PT • Caitlin Cooper, PT • Jordan Washington, PT • Kristina Chang, PT • Jennifer Freitas, PT • Joann Tippett, PT • Michael Petrak, PT • Jacob de Ocera, PTA Email us: [email protected] CALL TODAY! 925.417.8005

IMPROVE Your health in our warm water therapy pool!

I ncrease range of motion M ove freely P rotect joints R educe pain O btain cardio fitness V i tal ize muscle strength E nhance flexibility and balance

“Aquatic gear assists in helping the Muscles and Joints stay strong”

Pool Therapy and Water Classes Offered Daily. Schedule is on our website.

Can you do these simple tests to see if your hips and legs are as flexible and strong as they should be? Try them for yourself and let us know how you did. Use caution and common sense when attempting these tests; do not continue if they cause pain or discomfort.  Do not attempt if you have had a hip replacement. Can You Do This? Find out if you are moving like you should. • When sitting can you comfortably cross your legs so that your ankle is resting on the other knee? Does one knee go further down than the other? This indicates hip flexibility. If one hip is tighter than the other, it can wreck havoc with your walking and even cause knee pain. • Keeping your feet flat on the floor and holding onto something solid, how far can you squat down? You should be able to squat all the way down so your buttocks almost touch your heels. Don’t let your heels pop up! If you favor movement to one side, you probably have hip weakness on that side or limited motion in the hip joint. • Standing near a counter top put one foot in front of the other so that you are touching heel to toe. Without putting your hands down, see if you can balance for 10 seconds, keeping yourself steady. If you cannot, then you have trouble with the coordination of your balance from the nerve endings in your hips, knees, ankles and feet. Restoring Normal Pain Free Motion Restoring normal motion is key to alleviating pain and allowing you to do the activities you love to do safely. Physical therapy is the key to restoring normal joint and muscle motion. Our medical experts pinpoint the key problem areas that you may not even be aware of and focus on a custom treatment plan that will restore your normal pain-free motion. Performing at Your Best Whether you are just out for a walk or an avid athlete, we can help you walk, run and play better. With our motion analysis, strength testing, coordination testing and more, we can spot your muscles and joints that need flexibility, strength or coordination. A specific training and treatment plan is then put together to help you reach your peak movement with the least effort. Discover how our physical therapy programs transform your pain from a pressing problem, to a distant memory, allowing you to live a happy, active and pain-free life. • From standing, can you touch your toes? This indicates hip and low back flexibility.

Come Back In For A Consultation Whether you want to come in for a check-up, suffered a recent injury or you want to improve your health, a doctor referral is not needed. In the state of California you have direct access to physical therapy!

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See our physical therapists for: • Recent injury • Nagging aches and pains • Back and neck pain • Joint pain and movement problems • Walking or balance difficulties

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