injury prevention

Springtime

May 8, 2018 By Douglas Fischer

Springtime

Springtime, spring fever, spring in your step. These are all things that pop into our heads with the change in weather to warmer temperatures and days that are becoming longer. With that we feel a need to revisit our outdoor activities. Whether it’s participating in sports, recreational activities or yard maintenance there is an inane desire to be doing something outside. This is all good in that any activity is beneficial to your physical and mental health, but we would like to caution you to take it slow and prevent injury.

Our brains remember where we were physically and at what intensity level we could push to. The unfortunate truth is that our bodies don’t remember this, especially so as we age.

With a little common sense, resolve and precaution you can take advantage of the nicer weather to improve your physical and mental health without having to deal with an injury throughout the summer that you incur now. It is important to allow your bodies time to adjust to this increase in activities. [Read more…] about Springtime

Are You Sitting Too Long?

December 28, 2017 By Bryan Kreitlow

Are you sitting too long?

The answer is very likely “Yes”.

I recently did a talk to a group of about 50 people. When I asked how many people sat at their desks for more than two hours, nearly everyone put their hand up. Almost half raise their hands for more than three hours at a time.

The number of people who work in sedentary jobs has increased significantly over the years. Nearly 80% of working Americans are in jobs that require only light or sedentary work. That means that people are sitting way too much. Not only are people sitting for a majority of their eight hour workday, but they then have to sit to commute, sit to eat and most sit for a few hours at night to “relax”. Consequently, [Read more…] about Are You Sitting Too Long?

Protect your hands during the holidays

November 14, 2017 By Douglas Fischer

As the holidays are fast approaching many of us will be preparing turkey for dinner. Don’t forget safety. Over 80% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving and many also prepare it for the Christmas meal as well. Cuts from carving turkey are one of the top five most common injuries on Thanksgiving.

Do’s and Don’ts when carving:

Never cut toward yourself. One slip can cause a horrific injury.
Place free hand on the opposite side you are carving toward.
Don’t place your hand underneath the blade to catch the slice of meat.
Keep all cutting knives sharp. A sharp knife requires less force to cut.

Active vs. Static Stretching

November 1, 2017 By Bryan Kreitlow

Stretching is one of the most important things we can do to improve flexibility and help to prevent injuries during sports and recreation.

Stretching is equally as important with those who are more sedentary. Especially if you have a job that requires you to sit at a desk or at a computer station all day.
The questions people often ask me is “when is the best time to stretch?” or “what kind of stretching should I be doing?”
The answer to these questions are based on what the goal of the stretch and the activity that stretching is involved in. However, before we get into that, let’s go over the types of stretching that you can do. [Read more…] about Active vs. Static Stretching

Management of Trigger Finger

May 16, 2017 By Douglas Fischer

Trigger Finger and Trigger Thumb

Medically, this is known as stenosing tenosynovitis, Commonly referred to as Trigger finger or Trigger thumb. Tendons within your hands are held close to the bone by pulleys. When pulleys become too tight or the tendon becomes enlarged this can result in the tendon becoming stuck. If the tendon cannot glide freely, trigger finger occurs. Trigger Finger is a condition that at best is a mild irritation. At worst can cause severe pain and limitation of the fingers or thumb.

Symptoms?

Symptoms associated with trigger finger or thumb include pain, tenderness, popping, locking or inability to fully flex or extend fingers and thumb. [Read more…] about Management of Trigger Finger

Injury Prevention for Weekend Warriors

May 11, 2017 By Bryan Kreitlow

If you’re a weekend warrior, you need to know about injury prevention

The key to successful exercise is injury prevention. Do you work way too many hours during the week? Life often gets so busy that exercise gets put on the back burner. You try to make up for a week’s worth of inactivity in one or two days on the weekend. Thus, you become a weekend warrior. Your intentions are good. Getting exercise during the weekend is certainly a positive since exercising even 1-2 times per week can help reduce your risk of heart disease and heart attacks.

HOWEVER,

This sudden burst of activity after sitting in front of a computer all week can trigger musculoskeletal injury or strain. This will keep you from exercising at all! You become more susceptible to injury because the level of physical activity required to participate in recreation is not maintained during the week. [Read more…] about Injury Prevention for Weekend Warriors