Do You Have Stress-Related Headaches? Physical Therapy Has the Solutions

When you see someone at work or in a difficult situation clutching his head, you may assume either that he’s under extreme stress, or that he has a headache. In fact, you may be right on both counts. Both physical and emotional stress can cause tension headaches; they can also trigger cervicogenic and migraine headaches, any of which can leave you effectively disabled.

You may struggle with chronic or recurring headache pain yourself — in which case, you’re probably tired of taking pain relievers all the time. Maybe it’s time you found a better answer by consulting our physical therapist. Physical therapy can ease your headache symptoms by treating their underlying causes, giving you a safer, more sustainable headache management strategy.

The Relationship Between Stress and Headaches

Emotional stress and physical stress are closely linked, with either capable of causing or aggravating the other. Perceived crises can cause muscles to tighten up as the body goes into “fight or flight” mode. When that tightness affects small muscles at the base of the skull, such as the RCPM muscle in the neck, those muscles may pull on a pain-sensitive membrane in the head called the dura mater. The dura mater responds by sending out waves of pain, giving you a classic tension headache.

Cervicogenic headaches also originate in the neck. These headaches are often caused by alignment problems or imbalances in the cervical spine. These imbalances place the neck muscles under physical stress, producing both headaches and neck pain. Emotional stress can also play a role in cervicogenic headaches, since the muscle tightness they create can help to pull the neck out of alignment.

Last but certainly not least, migraines are the most dreaded of headaches. In fact, a migraine attack may go far beyond the crushing headache it is notorious for producing, causing symptoms such as:

  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Faintness
  • Sound and/or light sensitivity
  • Visual distortions known as “auras”

While it’s hard to pin down the underlying causes behind migraines, many of triggers are well known — and they include stress. In addition to various foods, bright lights, loud sounds, weather changes and hormonal swings, migraines can be set off by physical overexertion or emotional strain.

How Physical Therapy Can Help

Pain relieving drugs such as NSAIDs can relieve the occasional headache, but they can’t address the stresses that lead to chronic headache problems. For that level of relief, turn to physical therapy. Our physical therapist will conduct a thorough evaluation that includes an examination of your neck and cervical spine, discussion of your symptoms, and analysis of lifestyle factors that may be sources of stress. This background allows us to create a headache management program largely rooted in the management of stress and its effects. This program may include:

  • Exercises to limber up your neck or strengthen your neck muscles
  • Massage therapy to relax a chronically tight neck
  • Dry needling to ease stress-induced tension and pain
  • Ergonomic adjustments such as changing your computer monitor height (to prevent constant neck droop)
  • Chiropractic adjustments to correct cervical spinal alignment
  • Suggestions for changing or sleep position or trying a different kind of pillow
  • Mindfulness exercises such as yoga to help you add more serenity to your daily life

Let Our Physical Therapist Address Your Headache Pain

Conquer your stress, and you may just conquer your chronic headaches as well. Get in touch with our physical therapist at Synergy Rehab and Wellness to learn more about this drug-free approach to headache relief!

Stretching: A Healthy Part of Any Physical Therapy Program

Can some simple physical motions dramatically improve your overall health, wellness, and quality of life? In the case of stretching, the answer is most definitely yes. Stretching exercises are a staple of physical therapy for just that reason. You might be surprised to discover just how many ways stretches can help you. Here are some prime reasons that our physical therapist might prescribe stretches to enhance your life.

Improving Your Pain-Free Mobility

It’s quite common for a physical therapist to prescribe various stretching exercises to individuals suffering from chronic pain conditions. Stretching takes on special importance when you’ve become less mobile due to issues such as osteoarthritis. The less you move your joints, the greater the likelihood that your muscles and connective tissues will lose some of their lengths. This change obviously limits your joint motion even further and leaves you in even more pain. Stretches naturally support physical therapy recommendations such as walking, heat therapy, or massage therapy in increasing blood flow to painful joints and widening your pain-free range of motion.

Chronic pain syndromes often involve tight muscles. Syndromes such as fibromyalgia and its cousin, myofascial pain syndrome, cause muscle knots that limit muscle motion and trigger referred pain to other parts of the body. Regular stretching can help you “untie those” painful knots.

Protecting Your Tissues

Are you accustomed to seeing athletes go through sets of stretching exercises before a competition or training session? They’re not just stretching for the fun of it — they’re trying to optimize their athletic performance while also protecting themselves against injury. Tissues that are tight, stiff, or generally unprepared for challenges may tear, resulting in a strain or sprain that puts a premature end to your participation.

Stretches provide a safe, gentle way to work out the kinks and get your tissues ready for action. As you become more limber, you reduce your risk of a soft tissue injury. You’ll find those tissues more capable and responsive as you work or play. Stretching after your activity is just as beneficial; it prevents your muscles from seizing up and getting stiff once they’re no longer being exerted.

Optimizing Your Wellness

Stretching provides numerous benefits to help your body keep itself healthier. One if the most important of these is stress relief. Everyday life throws lots of challenges at you, and the resulting stress can be held in your muscles. This leads to tightness, spasms, and chronic discomforts such as headaches and neck pain. Stress also floods your body with “fight or flight” hormones such as cortisone and adrenalin. These imbalances can suppress your immune function, making you more vulnerable to viruses and other diseases. Hypertension is yet another dangerous consequence of chronic stress.

Regular stretches help your body release all that pent-up stress. By relaxing and loosening your muscles, you can maintain better control over your blood pressure, avoid chronic muscle pain, and keep your immune system ready for anything.

Our Physical Therapist Can Help You Get Started

There are right ways and wrong ways to stretch. For one thing, different kinds of stretches offer different benefits. Your particular situation might call for active stretches (in which you move a body part with no assistance), passive stretches (in which the body part is held or supported), or both. Stretches can also hurt you if you perform them incorrectly. Our physical therapist can help you stretch safely and effectively — so contact Synergy Rehab and Wellness today!

Herniated Discs: Could This be Causing Your Back Pain?

Your spine is a complex part of the body. It is comprised of 24 bones, and 5 of them are located in the lower back. It is also comprised of numerous nerves and intervertebral discs. Sometimes, the jelly-like nucleus of these discs can “herniate,” or protrude, through the cell wall, if it is not strong enough. If this pressure continues, it could push through the outer ring and begin to bulge. Herniated discs occur along the spine, and they are most often found in the lower back. 

Generally, lower back pain is the first symptom of this a herniated disc. Other symptoms may include numbness or weakness in the legs, shooting pain down the back of one leg, or loss of bladder control. Back pain can range from moderate to severe. If you are experiencing back pain and you think it may be the result of a herniated disc, call Synergy Rehab and Wellness today to see how physical therapy can help you get back to a pain-free life.

What causes herniated discs?

Herniated discs are typically associated with aging, as the spine begins to wear down and become more brittle. This is known as “disc degeneration.” The discs in the spine contain high water content when we’re young, but as we age that water content gradually decreases. This causes the discs to shrink. Therefore, the older we get, the more prone we become to disc degeneration. Other risk factors that can make you more prone to herniated discs include:

  • Being male.
  • Being overweight.
  • Being between the ages of 20-50.
  • Engaging in improper lifting techniques.
  • Driving frequently.
  • Engaging in a sedentary lifestyle.

How do I know if I have a herniated disc?

If you believe you may be suffering from a herniated disc, it is important to consult your primary care physician first. Your doctor will perform a physical exam to assess muscle strength and sensation to see if your disc is herniated, and he or she may also conduct a neurological exam. 

If your doctor believes your disc is herniated, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may be done to confirm the diagnosis. From this scan, your doctor will be able to clearly see if there is a herniated disc in the lower back region. If the disc is putting pressure on the spine, it can be detected. Your doctor will then provide you with a treatment plan, and will likely recommend physical therapy for pain relief.

How physical therapy can help:

After going through an evaluation with our physical therapist, he or she will begin your treatment with passive physical therapy. Passive physical treatments include deep tissue massage, hot and cold therapy, hydrotherapy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and traction. 

Deep tissue massage utilizes pressure to relieve muscle tension and spasms. Hot therapy may be used to increase blood flow to the target area to accelerate healing. Cold therapy helps to reduce inflammation. Hydrotherapy relaxes muscles and brings pain relief. The TENS machine uses an electrical current that triggers the release of endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers. Traction may be implemented to reduce pressure on the spine.

After your passive physical therapy is complete, our physical therapist will create an active treatment plan for you. This may include core exercises to strengthen your back, stretching and flexibility exercises to increase range of motion, and muscle strengthening exercises. Our physical therapist will also give you self-care advice that you can implement on your own, in order to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. 

Physical therapy has been proven to be effective for disc herniation. It is a non-invasive alternative to surgery and a natural way to relieve pain without the need for harmful drugs. If you are suffering from back pain or a disc herniation, give Synergy Rehab and Wellness a call to schedule an appointment today. Our experienced and certified physical therapists would be happy to help you get you started on your process toward long-lasting pain relief. 

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6 Easy Ways to Improve Your Physical Health

Do you experience tired, sore, or achy muscles throughout the day? Are you recovering from an injury or surgical procedure? Do you have a condition that brings pain to your bones or joints? Whatever the case may be, a physical therapist can create a personalized treatment program for you, to help increase your energy and help you get back on track to enjoying your daily activities. Call Synergy Rehab and Wellness for information to see how physical therapy can help you achieve better overall health and greater physical fitness. The tips below are easy ways you can get moving and help increase your physical health!

1. Increase your flexibility.

Many physical therapy treatment programs are aimed at increasing your muscle and joint flexibility. Our physical therapist can help you work through a variety of stretching techniques, and he or she may also use heat therapy to loosen tight muscles and tendons. Our physical therapist may also suggest massage or breathing techniques to increase relaxation and flexibility.

2. Improve your balance. 

Balance typically decreases with age as bones start to become more brittle, and there are also health conditions that could affect your balance. Improving your balance can help you avoid trips and falls that could potentially lead to a serious injury. Additionally, it can improve your ability to engage in and enjoy more strenuous activities that you may not have been able to do in the past. A physical therapist can provide you with several different types of exercises to improve your balance, whether you’re standing, walking, or engaging in an exercise regimen.

3. Reduce injury.

Physical therapy helps you recover quickly from injuries, but what most people don’t know is that it can actually help in avoiding injury altogether. Your physical therapist can teach you several different exercises you can do at home and before you engage in physical activity in order to help prevent injury. If you’re recovering from a surgical procedure, your physical therapist can also help you learn to walk and move in new ways that will help you stay active while reducing the chance of falls and injury during your recovery. 

4. Try to avoid surgery.

With surgery, you always run the risk of blood clots, infection, and a lengthy recovery time. In many cases, physical therapy can correct a problem without the need for surgery at all. Sprains, strains, dislocations, tendonitis, bursitis, arthritis, and acute/chronic pain are just a few of the many ailments that a physical therapist can help you with. Physical therapy works in helping your body speed up its natural healing process, and while surgery is sometimes unavoidable, it’s almost always better to eliminate the need for an invasive procedure if the problem can be treated with physical therapy.

5. Recover quickly.

If you’ve already had surgery, or if you have suffered from an injury, a physical therapy program can be created to assist in your recovery. Our physical therapist will put together a rehabilitation program that specifically addresses your needs, focusing on helping you recover as quickly as possible. This may include strength and range of motion exercises, in addition to any specialized treatments that our physical therapist deems fit.

6. Stay active.

Even if you’re already in good health and involved in a variety of activities, physical therapy can still be beneficial to you. Our physical therapist can help you enhance your performance and give you advice on certain forms and techniques. If you are looking to get back into the activities you love, our physical therapist can help you achieve that. You will work together to create a treatment plan that will help you reach your goals, and he or she will assist you in increasing your strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Whether it’s preventative physical therapy, rehab, or therapy to improve your ability to walk and enjoy daily activities, a trained physical therapist can help you achieve your physical fitness goals. After your evaluation, our physical therapist will put together a treatment plan based on your needs, and he or she will encourage you during every step of your journey toward physical health. Contact Synergy Rehab and Wellness today to schedule a consultation and get started on your path toward a healthier and happier life!

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5 Reasons To Stretch That Will Benefit Your Overall Health

Stretching is an important part of physical therapy, and many physical therapists will include specific stretches into their sessions. There are many reasons to stretch; strength and endurance are both undeniably important. However, stretching is a crucial part of anyone’s exercise regimen, whether you are an athlete or someone coping with aches and pains. Stretching helps in increasing flexibility, which can alleviate pain and make other aspects of treatment easier – even strength and endurance!

What does stretching do?

Stretching has a lot of benefits that we don’t always think about. Some of these benefits include:

Improving range of motion.

Range of motion consists of how well your joints can move in all directions. This influences every movement you make! If you have a constricting condition, such as arthritis or an injury, your range of motion can be hindered. Whether it’s turning your head to see behind you while driving, or bending your knee freely while running, range of motion is crucial for both daily life and for fitness pursuits. Stretching can help reduce stiffness and increase flexibility, therefore improving your range of motion. 

Finding relief in unexpected places.

Sometimes we forget how interconnected our bodies are. It is obvious that if we experience back pain, we should stretch out our backs. However, sometimes stretching your legs during physical therapy can provide unexpected relief to your back, as well. In fact, your hamstrings, upper thighs, and hips can all play a big part in creating lower back pain relief. Likewise, improving your posture through stretching your torso can provide the kind of support you need to keep your spine from compressing, which helps you avoid shoulder and neck pain. Essentially, stretching different parts of your body can provide relief to places you may not have considered!

Enhancing performance.

This point is especially true for athletes. The more you condition your muscles, joints, and ligaments, the greater advantage you’ll have in your sport. For example, bodybuilders recover from their reps much quicker when they stretch as a cool-down. Golfers can achieve a longer reach by increasing their range of motion in their hips and shoulders. Swimmers can even out their strokes by perfecting their balance through stretching. If you are an athlete, stretching can play a crucial role in your performance.

Preventing injuries.

When muscles are tight or tense, the likelihood of injury increases. This occurs because that particular part of your body isn’t working at its peak performance, even though you might be. When you stretch, you’re loosening up your muscles, in addition to increasing range of motion and improving balance, which all factor into injury prevention. All of these factors can prevent you from making the types of moves that lead to injury, whether it’s coming down too hard on one foot, twisting your back further than you should, or taking a fall due to lack of balance.

Improving circulation.

Stretching can reduce stress, but that isn’t the only reason it’s good for your heart and your musculoskeletal system. In fact, stretching plays a key role in almost every aspect of your physical abilities. Tight muscles constrict available oxygen supply, essentially robbing themselves of the nutrients they need. Stretches help reverse the process. When you stretch frequently, you’ll also get the benefit of increased blood flow to your joints and throughout the body. 

We can help!

There are additional ways that stretching can help improve your quality of life, whether you find a sense of pride in being limber or relaxation in taking time to stretch out your body. When you’re ready to add stretches to your daily routine, consider getting started through physical therapy. Our physical therapists can talk you through which types of stretches may be best for you, whether it be static, dynamic, pre-activity, or post-activity. Contact Synergy Rehab & Wellness today to learn more reasons to stretch and help you create a stretching treatment plan, and how our services will benefit you!

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Ached by Lower Back Pain? Stand up Straighter with Physical Therapy

Lower back pain is a sensation all too familiar to millions of people. This ache can hinder many aspects of your life: working, spending time with friends and family, partaking in the activities you enjoy, and even just relaxing. The World Health Organization estimates that in the United States, 149 million days of work are lost due to low back pain. It is the leading cause of inactivity among adults, and it can result in other health issues if left untreated. It is also extremely common, appearing in 60-70% of people across industrialized nations.

If lower back pain is plaguing your everyday life, it is important that you find relief as soon as you can. For more information on how we can help get you back to a pain-free life, call Synergy Rehab & Wellness in Staunton or Waynesboro today.

How can physical therapy help?

Physical therapists focus specifically on pain and injury to help their patients regain function, comfort, and mobility. Physical therapy treatments are used to alleviate pain, promote healing, and bring restored function and movement to the painful area. When you come in for a consultation, your physical therapist will provide you with an extensive evaluation, discovering what form of treatment will be best for whatever orthopedic, neurologic, or cardiovascular condition you are facing. 

Physical therapy also consists of two categorized types of treatments: passive physical therapy and active physical therapy:

Passive physical therapy

The purpose of passive physical therapy is to help pain become more manageable, and hopefully to alleviate it altogether. Lower back pain can be a debilitating condition, impeding your physical abilities. Because of this, physical therapists work hard to reduce pain as much as possible. Passive physical therapy can include any combination of these special treatments, as deemed fit by your physical therapist:

  • Electrical stimulation, such as TENS Units
  • Massage
  • Manual therapies
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Ultrasound
  • Dry needling
  • Heat/ice packs
  • Iontophoresis

Some of these methods are used to reduce pain and swelling, such as heat/ice packs and massage therapy. Electrical stimulation, while it sounds intimidating, is a painless treatment that delivers minuscule waves of electricity throughout your nervous system. This also helps with pain relief, and it can also help in decreasing muscle spasms, as well as encouraging your body to produce pain-relieving hormones. Hydrotherapy is an aquatic-based treatment, in which patients will perform low-intensity movements in water, thus relieving any muscle pressure they may be experiencing and allowing their joints to move freely and comfortably. These techniques are more commonly used for the treatment of lower back pain than others, although any could be prescribed based on your physical therapist’s discretion. 

Active physical therapy

The purpose of active physical therapy is to provide exercises that the patient can do on their own in the later stages of their physical therapy treatment. Once your lower back pain has subsided enough that your physical therapist believes you are ready for active physical therapy, he or she will set up an exercise schedule specific to your needs. This can include any combination of stretching, strength training, and stability training, and it is all geared toward helping you gain back your flexibility, range of motion, and muscle strength. These exercises will help provide support to the painful area and will guide you further in your recovery process. 

What will my visits look like?

At your initial consultation, your physical therapist will ask you several questions regarding your medical history, lifestyle, and painful area(s). This information will assist your physical therapist in creating the best treatment plan for you and your specific needs, so you can be provided with long-term results. 

After your consultation, your evaluation process will begin. Your physical therapist will examine you by assessing your posture, coordination, strength, balance, flexibility, blood pressure, and/or heart rate, depending on your pain and symptoms. This evaluation will be both manual and visual.

When you’ve completed your thorough evaluation, your physical therapist will then create your treatment plan, beginning with passive physical therapy and leading into active physical therapy. You may also be given exercises to do at home, during your time away from treatments. This is all done in order to reduce pain, avoid further injury, and provide you with the quickest recovery time possible. 

If you believe your lower back pain could benefit from our physical therapy services, give our office a call today to schedule your initial consultation. We’ll help you stand up to your back pain! 

Posture Perfect: How to Correct Your Back Pain

If you suffer from back pain, you’re in good company. In fact, the most commonly reported area of pain is the back. According to one longitudinal study, 3% of all emergency room visits between the years of 2004-2008 were due to back pain or injury. An estimated 25 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, many of whom experience that pain in their back. Back pain can be limiting in numerous ways, and many people with chronic back pain also have a disability that makes it difficult for them to perform their daily tasks. While this is undeniably frustrating and uncomfortable, physical therapy can help get you back to your normal functioning, pain-free life! For more information on how we can help you eliminate your back pain, give Synergy Rehab & Wellness in Staunton and Waynesboro, VA a call today. 

Why do I have back pain?

If you are suffering from persistent back pain, there is a good chance it is due to your posture. Poor posture is one of the most common causes of back pain. Do you slouch at your desk? Do you lean forward to read emails? Do you hunch over your keyboard? These are all things that people do subconsciously, without even realizing the toll it takes on the body. 

Your posture affects how your body moves – whether you’re sitting, standing, walking, running, jumping, or performing pretty much any other task throughout the day. Your posture may also change depending on what you are doing – perhaps your posture when you stand is perfect, but when you sit at a desk or lay down, your body begins to hunch and fold in ways that it is simply not supposed to. 

How did I develop poor posture?

Poor posture isn’t anything to be embarrassed about – very few people have perfect posture, and most people partake in bad posture habits in one way or another. We become so wrapped up in whatever tasks we are doing that we forget to think about the way our bodies are positioned. Maybe you’re completing a project at work, it’s the end of the day, you’re tired, and you’re slouched sideways in your desk chair with one eye on the monitor and the other on the clock. This position isn’t normal for your body, but you are getting in the position most efficient for you to type up the rest of that file and then zoom out the door. 

Poor posture isn’t due to laziness or apathy; rather, it generally has something to do with a physical weakness within our bodies. We slouch, slump, hunch, and droop over when we get feel drained because our bodies literally get tired of holding us up. 

Even if you exercise regularly, it is possible that there are still a few weak muscles contributing to your posture that you may not even realize. The muscles in your shoulders, back, abdomen, buttocks, and pelvic floor all play an important role in your posture. If even one of these is weak, your core will be affected, and your posture may suffer.

How will physical therapy help me regain proper posture?

Physical therapy is a great way to regain normal posture. Physical therapists are experts in movement and they are great resources to have when trying to achieve your physical performance goals. They will aid you in the improvement of your balance, stability, flexibility, and mobility, all of which will positively affect your posture. 

At your initial evaluation, our physical therapist will perform functional testing and diagnostic imaging in order to identify which weakened areas of your body are causing your back pain. Afterward, they will create a customized treatment plan, tailored to your specific needs. This plan will focus on improving your posture, increasing strength, and (most importantly) relieving pain. 

If you are experiencing back pain, your posture may be to blame. Fortunately, our advanced team of physical therapists is ready to help you begin your journey toward long-lasting pain relief. Find out for yourself why physical therapy is one of the most effective ways to address your back pain and start on the road to recovery. Contact Synergy Rehab & Wellness today to schedule a consultation, and figure out how physical therapy can help make you “posture perfect!”  

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