Although it only recently became a more popular therapy, cupping therapy dates back as early as 1000 BC. Even with its long history, many don’t fully understand what it is and what the benefits are. From the view of a passerby, It may come across as more of a torture than a therapy given the strange marks it leaves, but the supposed healing powers are hard to overlook. In this article, we’ll review the ins and outs of cupping therapy so you’ll understand everything you need to know before scheduling your first session.

If you are a newer clinician or haven’t had time in the clinic to practice your manual techniques, you may not feel very comfortable treating the cervicothoracic region. Due to the sensitive structures around the cervical region, many clinicians and patients alike don’t feel comfortable with manual treatment or receiving hands on care in this region. In order to effectively treat this region, improving your clinical reasoning and manual skills can make you and your patients feel more confident in their care.

GameReady® is the cooling therapy system you’ve been looking for to optimize your recovery from tough workouts or injury. Have you ever used one of those “squeeze and shake” disposable ice packs? You know, the ones the school nurse used to give out for pretty much every injury imaginable. Within minutes, the ice pack turned into a wet, warm blob that wasn’t doing anything to help ease your pain.

When you have tight, aching muscles, the first thing you think is “I need a massage”. We’ve all been there. And while that’s the case, you don’t always have the time or money to head to your local massage therapist and lay on the table for an hour. After all, time is money - that’s something we understand all too well.

No kid looks forward to it, but it’s that time of the year again!Labor Day has marked the end of the summer, and the school year is about to begin! Instead of dreading the end of vacation, let’s embrace the opportunity with your student athlete and get them a head start on the year.

NormaTec is quickly becoming the gold standard of athlete recovery, so what is it about their recovery system that makes it so widely sought after by professional athletes and local gym-goers alike? Let’s take a look at who NormaTec is and what their recovery system can do for you.

According to Leddy et al. (2014), the 2012 Zurich Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport defines a sport-related concussion as “a complex patho-physiological process affecting the brain, induced by biomechanical forces., which may be caused either by a direct blow to the head, face, neck, or elsewhere on the body with an “impulsive” force transmitted to the head.” There is no gold standard method for diagnosing a concussion so a clinical diagnosis is made based off a combination of widespread cognitive, emotional, and physical disturbances post injury. While the majority of patients recover within 2 to 4 weeks following a concussion, approximately 30% suffer from persistent post concussive symptoms (PPCS)(Leddy et al., 2018).

Dry needling is one of many intervention methods physical therapists can employ to treat neuromuscular and musculoskeletal conditions to help improve pain,disability, and function. In order to effectively dry needle a specific body region, a therapist uses a thin filiform needle to penetrate the skin into underlying muscle and connective tissue with the goal of eliciting neurophysiological effects that decrease local and central pain responses(Flannagan, 2013).

The hamstrings group consists of the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles which all have biarticular function to extend the hip and flex the knee. From the toe-off phase of the contralateral foot through terminal swing of the ipsilateral lower extremity during the double float phase in the running gait cycle, the hamstrings act eccentrically to control knee extension while acting concentrically to extend the hip between terminal swing and initial contact (Sugiura et al., 2008). Because faster running requires greater eccentric demand of the hamstrings, it is often associated with higher injury rates in sprinters and sport athletes that require quick bouts of acceleration.

It can be estimated that approximately 7 million Americans suffer from headaches on a basis of at least every other day, with a considerable amount of these headaches being cervicogenic in origin where the pain originates in the cervical spine and refers to the head. According to the International Headache Society, the following criteria for a cervicogenic headache must be fulfilled:localized unilateral pain originating in the posterior neck and occipital region that spreads to oculofrontotemporal areas on the symptomatic side, pain aggravated by neck movements and sustained postures, reduced cervical passive range of motion, and tenderness to palpation over at least one of the upper cervical vertebrae (Dunning et al., 2016; Haas et al., 2004; Jull et al.,2002). Tenderness in neck musculature and altered response to stretching is often also present.

Why it is important to rule out a Mckenzie spine assessment and perform provocation test sequencing for accurate assessment of sacroilliac pain.

How second rib mobilization can improve symptoms of shoulder pain due to associated regional interdependence.

Potential benefits of lumbar spine manipulation according to research.