Continuing on from yesterday’s stress fracture information, today we look at what to do and what to avoid with a stress fracture.
Relative rest is a good way to protect your bone against further damage. Initially, limiting pain-provoking activities is necessary. Then, progressive return to weight-bearing during your activities of daily living, non-painful light cardiovascular exercises and therapeutic exercises will allow better recovery.
In the presence of a stress fracture, it’s important that physical activities, such as training, for example, are performed below the pain threshold.
Follow your practitioner’s advice. It will help you manage the different phases of the recovery process and will increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation. Your practitioner will assist you during your rehabilitation program in order to regain your normal range of motion, strength and endurance, balance and pre-fracture functional status.
As per the principles of rehabilitation for stress fractures, reducing impacts is one of the main elements of functional recovery. In most cases, temporarily modifying training to focus on non-weight-bearing activities such as biking or swimming can help maintain your training level while allowing optimal bone recovery.
Avoid returning too quickly to running or activities that caused the fracture. A stress fracture can lead to a more important fracture if pain signals are ignored. People that reduce the volume of high-impact activities typically recover faster.
A stress fracture is an overuse injury. This type of fracture is defined by a tiny crack in the bone, mainly caused by repetitive forces over time.
This condition affects mainly people that are involved in activities such as walking, running or jumping, where the lower body must absorb the bodyweight. Stress fractures can also develop from the normal use of a bone that’s weakened by a condition such as osteoporosis.
Generally, this injury happens when training intensity and/or volume is increased too quickly with inadequate recovery. Starting a new activity, modifying the training surface and quickly transitioning to a new type of inadequate training shoes are among the risk factors.A stress fracture is most commonly seen in the weight-bearing bones of the lower leg and foot. Metatarsals, which are five long bones between the center of the foot and the toes, are the most affected. Stress fractures are also common in the calcaneus, the talus, the navicular, the tibia and the fibula. The stress fracture generally occurs at the base or center of the bone.
Everyone will react differently after an injury and recovery will depend on the severity. A stress fracture can cause but is not limited to, pain and difficulty in weight-bearing activities and localized swelling.
Your rehabilitation plan, your health status, your fitness level and your nutrition affect recovery time. Generally, you can expect to fully recover from a stress fracture. Typically, this type of fracture heals within four to eight weeks.
Impingement syndrome is an irritation of the structures between the upper portion of your arm and your shoulder blade mainly during overhead arm movements.The rotator cuff is comprised of four muscles that help position the humerus, your upper arm bone, into the shoulder socket during arm movement.The shoulder has great mobility but at the same time is prone to injury during falls or accident, or when there is a lack of motor control (altered biomechanics).Men over 40 performing manual labour are the most affected with this condition. It is also present in young athletes practicing sports involving repeated overhead motion such as swimming, baseball or tennis.
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Structures involved
The tendons of the rotator cuff, ligaments of your shoulder and subacromial bursa are the most commonly affected structures. The subacromial space gets smaller during overhead movements. This can cause, over time, irritation, inflammation and/or a lesion of the rotator cuff tendons.
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Signs & Symptoms that you may experience
Everyone will react differently after an injury and recovery will depend on the severity of it.
Impingement syndrome can cause but is not limited to, pain at the front of the shoulder and localized swelling. Pain or tightness is often felt when you lift your arm overhead or when you lower it from an elevated position. Pain can also be felt around your shoulder blade in your back.
Other early symptoms can include light pain with activities or during rest and in some cases, irradiating pain around your shoulder. In severe cases, you might feel pain at night and a loss of strength or range of motion. Impingement syndrome can lead to rotator cuff tendinitis or shoulder bursitis when left untreated.
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Recovery
Your rehabilitation plan, health, fitness & nutritional status will affect recovery speed. Most of the time, you can expect to recover fully from impingement syndrome. As a rule of thumb, this condition can take up to three months to fully recover.
Relative rest is a good way to protect your shoulder and prevent further damage, but it’s important to avoid overprotecting your injury. A few days rest where you avoid pain-inducing movement and activities might be necessary. A quick but progressive return to your activities of daily living, light cardiovascular exercise and specific range of motion and strengthening exercises will allow better recovery.
Rehabilitation
Follow your practitioner’s advice. It will help you manage the different phases of the recovery process and will increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation. Your practitioner will assist you during your rehabilitation program in order to regain your normal range of motion, strength and endurance, optimal motor control and functional status.
As per the principles of rehabilitation for impingement syndrome, movement training through therapeutic exercises is an important part of functional recovery. A progressive exercise program performed over a few weeks period is pretty standard.
▶ WHAT TO AVOID
Don’t rely on passive treatment only. Each phase of the rehabilitation process is important. Patients that are actively involved in their treatment plan tend to recover faster. Keep in mind that pain is not always a good indicator of tissue damage. As soon as you feel better and the pain is well managed in collaboration with your therapist, you should reintroduce light strengthening exercises as tolerated.
One of the most common causes of a stiff neck are trigger points in the levator scapulae muscle. This muscle runs up the side of the neck from the top of the shoulder blade. It helps to shrug the shoulders and move and stabilize the neck. When trigger points form in this muscle they will produce pain and stiffness in the neck. Deep tissue trigger point massage applied to these knots is an effective treatment method.
Trigger points are contracted knots of muscle tissue that form in any muscle as a result of overload stress. Trigger points cause pain, referred pain, stiffness and weakness. Trigger points that form in the muscles of the neck and head often refer pain into the head and face. This is one of the most common causes of headache pain. Trigger point massage is an effective way to treat trigger points.
One of the most common causes of a stiff neck are trigger points in the levator scapulae muscle. This muscle runs up the side of the neck from the top of the shoulder blade. It helps to shrug the shoulders and move and stabilize the neck. When trigger points form in this muscle they will produce pain and stiffness in the neck. Deep tissue trigger point massage applied to these knots is an effective treatment method.
Myofascial trigger points in the abdominal muscles are very common. These muscles are responsible for trunk movement and stability, and are engaged in some way during most activities. As a result trigger points will easily form. These knots will often refer pain into the lower or mid back in a horizontal strip. Trigger points in the abdominal muscles are often overlooked as a source of back pain. Once developed, a trigger point won’t release on its own. A therapeutic modality such as trigger point massage is needed to release the tissue.
Myofascial trigger points are contracted knots that form in muscle tissue. They form from overload stress placed on the muscle. Both chronic stress such as poor posture and acute stress such as an injury will cause trigger points to form. Once there a trigger point will produce pain, referred pain, weakness and stiffness. Trigger points don’t go away with rest or with time, some form of intervention such as trigger point massage is needed to treat the injured muscles. Trigger points can form in any muscle in the body and are one of the most common causes of pain.
With all the sitting going on these days, tight hamstrings are becoming increasingly common. When your hamstrings are tight they almost certainly have trigger points. These contracted knots in the muscle are a common cause of pain felt in the back of the leg, knee and lower buttocks. Trigger points don’t go away with rest or stretching, they need a therapeutic intervention such as massage to be released.
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