The term Tennis elbow is medically known as lateral epicondylitis. It is an inflammation of the tendons that attach the forearm to the arm bone, the usual stress point is around the elbow, and hence the term tennis elbow. What exactly causes tennis elbow, is still completely not understood, some people believe that the reason is the frequent wear and tear of the elbow joints, others believe that the muscles that are responsible for the cocking the wrist back are to blame (this group of muscles is also called the extensor carpi radialis brevis).However there is a very good understanding of the way tennis elbow can be controlled, and also what steps can be taken to reduce the pain experienced by people who are suffering from tennis elbow pain.

Symptoms of Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is usually associated with a pain on the outside of the elbow, this pain may be asymptomatic and is usually worsened when the patient attempts to lift weights, or attempts to grip objects or engage the wrist muscles. In chronic cases, the patient experiences pain and sometimes a burning sensation when he carries out even simplest tasks like lifting a mug of coffee........

According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 80 percent of Americans will experience back pain at some time in their life.

The traditional treatment for low back pain is increasing core strength to increase flexibility on tight muscles, provide better stabilization of the spine and exercises to correct the muscle imbalances. The muscles surrounding the spine provide stability and support of the spinal column. All the muscles between the hips and shoulders are included. These muscles are referred to as the core muscles. Back pain can be caused by muscle imbalances of any of these muscles. If the back of the thighs are weaker than the front of the thighs, there will be uneven pull on the front of the spinal column. This muscle imbalance can be caused from long periods of standing or sitting, improper strength training or running, this lordotic curve or sway back of the vertebral column can be painful.

How does posture have anything to do with neck pain?--Neck pain comes from pressure on the nerves. How does this happen?--Usually pressure from a misaligned neck spine. When your spine is misaligned (some call that subluxated) it does not move like it should and in turn creates inflammation in that area. Either out-of-alignment spinal vertebrae (spinal bones) put direst pressure on nerves or the inflammation, or built up degeneration causes the pressure.

The most common misaligned postural pattern in the neck that will result in neck pain, stiffness and lack of mobility is forward head carriage. This is when the head posture is forward of the shoulders and almost always reveals loss of the normal neck alignment or curvature.

Is your training increasing or decreasing your risk of injury? Our goal is to function at the highest level possible while reducing the risk of injury. Baseball is a sport that involves strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, and mobility to name a few. What I have been seeing with baseball players from little league, early adolescence into their adult lives is the widely accepted notion that to become a better athlete you have to train for form, not so much function. What is the difference?

Form is what can be termed bodybuilding, building the body with focus on big muscles or prime movers of the body. The chest, shoulders, abdominals, arms and quads, also known as mirror muscles, what we can see in the mirror, are most commonly developed using machines and free weights. Bench press, crunches, biceps curls and knee extensions are the exercises of choice. What is wrong with that, you may say? I thought that to be involved in athletics, I have to become stronger and condition the body for that sport? Yes and no. Let me explain, let’s look at function.

What is the largest joint in our body? Answer: The Knee. The knee is the connecting point of a total of three bones in our legs: the lower end of the thigh bone or the femur, the upper end of the shinbone or the tibia, and the knee cap or the patella. Other parts of the knee are the cartilage or the shock absorbing cushions in between muscles, the tendons or the cords connecting muscles to bones, and the ligament or the bands connecting our bones to other bones. Any damage to all of these parts are accounted for by a Knee physical therapy, and just the ligament alone is so vulnerable to pulling, stretching and tearing, and with each knee having four major supporting ligaments: the anterior cruciate ligament or ACL at the center of knee, the posterior cruciate ligament or PCL also at the center, the lateral collateral ligament or LCL at the outer knee, and the medial collateral ligament or MCL at the inner knee – Oh the pains of a sprain! and much more other knee ailments. Knee physical therapy deals with damages to all these bones and parts altogether – so what better reason to take care of it!

Have you ever experienced a dull ache or sharp pain in your shoulder or upper arm? Maybe you are unable to sleep on one side because your shoulder wakes you up at night. Perhaps, you have discomfort reaching behind your back to tuck in your shirt or grab your wallet. If so, you may be suffering from a rotator cuff injury.

Rotator cuff injuries, such as tendonitis, bursitis and tears plague several people in our population. The rotator cuff consists of four small muscles, which form a sleeve around the shoulder and allow us to raise our arm overhead effectively. These muscles, consisting of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis, oppose the action of the deltoid and depress the head of the humerus (upper arm) during shoulder elevation to prevent impingement.

The most common long-term running injury is runners knee, pain behind the knee cap during running. You probably have runner's knee if your knee cap hurts when you walk or run, particularly when you walk down stairs; and it hurts a lot when you push the kneecap against the bone behind it. It usually does not hurt to pedal a bicycle. The back of the kneecap is shaped like a triangle with the point fitting in a grove in the lower part of the bone behind it. During running, the knee cap is supposed to move up and down and not side to side. If it moves from side to side, the back of the kneecap will rub against the front bottom of the femur, the long bone of the upper leg, causing pain.