Shoulder Replacements: What they are, Recovery, and Safe Strength Training After Surgery

Shoulder replacements are life-changing procedures—but the process can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re still deciding if surgery is the right choice or already preparing for your procedure, understanding the basics can help you feel more confident and in control. As physical therapists, we work with many people both preparing for and recovering from shoulder replacements—and we’ve seen firsthand how transformative these surgeries can be. While pain relief is a major goal, m

Maintaining good posture and balance is essential for older adults to prevent falls, reduce joint pain, and improve overall quality of life. By aligning our center of gravity (COG) over our base of support, we enhance stability and reduce the risk of injury. Let’s explore how posture affects balance, the importance of proactive and reactive balance strategies, and key exercises to support posture and stability. Discover Better Balance: Week 5 Insights Week 5- Your Best Postur

Falls are one of the leading causes of injury among older adults, but the good news is that balance can be improved with targeted exercises. Research shows that structured balance training, such as the ProBalance Program, can significantly enhance health-related quality of life and reduce fall risk ( Ang et al., 2020 ). This article explores effective loop band exercises to strengthen your stability, common mistakes to avoid, and how to incorporate these movements into your r

Many worry that it may be too late to improve their balance or recover from an injury, but research and practical experience show otherwise. With consistent, targeted exercises, it is possible to enhance your balance, reduce your risk of falls, and gain confidence in your movements. Let’s explore the science behind balance training and how you can start improving your stability today. Can You Really Improve Your Balance at Any Age? It’s a common question: “Can I really improv

Balance is a fundamental component of daily life, allowing us to move safely and confidently through our environments. To truly understand how to improve balance and prevent falls, it's essential to grasp two key concepts: center of gravity (CoG)  and base of support (BoS) . What Is the Center of Gravity? The center of gravity is the point in your body where your weight is evenly distributed in all directions. For most people, this point is located around the belly button are

Learn how body awareness exercises can help prevent falls and improve balance. Try these easy-to-follow exercises to strengthen your stability and reduce fall risk. As we age, one of the biggest concerns we face is maintaining balance and preventing falls . Whether it's the fear of tripping over uneven ground or losing our stability while walking, falls can become a serious risk to our health. Fortunately, improving balance  is something we can actively work on. Through simpl

In my humble opinion, the single most important factor, in your choice of chair to maintain a healthy spine, is chair height. The chair height can have a big impact on the position and stresses on your neck. Where you place your butt (Ie. your pelvis) dictates how easy or hard it is to make the positioning corrections to maintain a position of least stress (PLS). The most simple thing to look at when sitting while working at a computer, the easiest way to maintain proper lo

To be able to attain a good postural position, that is the least stressful position for the joints in the neck, you need a few things. The flexibility in the muscles and joints to even get into the position The strength to be able to get in to and maintain the ideal position The awareness of where you need to put your body in space to create the least amount of wear and tear After you have that your work is not done. Once you have achieved these 3 things you need to work to g

Repositioning your head and neck for optimal sight is a very common way to develop pressure in the middle of the neck, especially when tipping the chin while using bifocals or trifocals. This Compensation Pattern is VERY Common The pattern is tipping the chin up so that the eyes are looking through the lower part of the lenses followed by generally slouching posture or reaching forward with the head and neck to position just so, to be able to read at a specific distance. The

We spend 8 hours a night sleeping. Hopefully. If we are continually waking up with neck pain, we need to asses if the position we are sleeping in is compressing and irritating our joints. If so, correcting it can give us a head start to healing. To start with, the best positions for optimal spine health is on your side or on your back. Optimal Sleeping Positions for Neck Health: Stop waking up with neck pain I do not recommend sleeping on your stomach if you have neck issue

When I was a younger less experienced therapist I thought the idea of talking about and teaching posture was boring . Eventually, I came to the realisation that understanding and teaching key components of posture is the groundwork for a healthy spine and virtually any other treatment has to start from a place of solid understanding of posture to be effective. Since I am a person that likes to understand why I am doing something I found that explaining why posture is importan

Your body was NOT designed to sit all day. Increased periods of sitting tends to lead to increased slouching. Slouching increases the forces transmitted through your neck exponentially. When we sit for long periods, the muscles that support our spine start shutting down, making it harder to support our bodies. Then, these muscles and joints can feel stiff and sore. Don't Be Static. Don't Be Uninteresting. Don't Let Sitting be Causing You Neck Pain The dictionary definition

The vast majority of people with neck pain have a limited ability to breathe correctly. People in pain tend to start using their neck and shoulder muscles to help with breathing and actually end up creating more pain and stiffness. The muscles in our neck and shoulders are accessory muscles and when we overly depend on them to breathe, it can cause undue compression and stress on joints in the neck and tend to throw us into postures that are not "the position of least stress

I know, I know. More posture lectures.... Before I explain how to program yourself to have your best posture using a "long neck" as the key word and NOT over correcting with the "shoulders back" cueing, let's talk about why the position we hold our neck in even matters. It matters even when it doesn't hurt . Poor posture is directly impacting your neck. It's like when you drive a car and the alignment is off or the tires are unevenly inflated. It doesn't really hurt to drive

Wondering what a senior virtual physical therapy or wellness visit looks like? I work with people both in person and virtually for a variety of reasons and circumstances. Our virtual senior wellness visits can take on many forms. This is an uncut/unedited session with a real client today. This client is mature in years and young at heart. She does not have any particular injury or problem per se. She enjoys our sessions to simply have some knowledgeable instruction, accounta

For several months, I have been visiting people in their homes, and I've gained significant insights from my patients about their learning needs. I'm amazed at how much quicker I can gather the necessary information to address their current issues and prevent future ones by observing their computer and desk setups. It immediately becomes clear why they are experiencing the specific pain or movement problem they contacted me to resolve. In the past, I would rely on patients to

The main takeaway from this question is that after 25 years of treating patients with the common issue of neck pain, it appears that most individuals often cause more harm than benefit when trying to stretch their neck muscles. What Causes Neck Stiffness To Begin With? All tissue in the body can become stiffer when not used to its full and normal capacity. Simply, if we don't use it we lose it. The neck consists of seven cervical vertebrae, which are linked by discs, ligament