Comments on: The True Role of PT for Rehab.

By: Personal Trainer London

Personal Trainer London — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:29:31 +0000

I totally agree. Strength training is the key to rehab and in fact to not getting injured in the first place. However, you must balance the training as excessive strength training to one muscle group can cause problems in posture. Opposing Muscles groups need training in equal measure (unless you are training to resolve an imbalance in the first place)

By: Eugene Thong

Eugene Thong — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:18:37 +0000

John,

I’m not a PT so I suppose you should take my recommendations with a grain of salt, but I go by the old standbys:

Ice only – no more than 20 mins on at a time. Take at least an equivalent amount of time off.
Heat only – same; no more than 20 mins at a time; 20 mins off between applications.
Ice/heat – 10 mins ice, 10 mins heat, repeat.

Ice is applied as a general rule to decrease pain and swelling. Probably for most applications ice prior to and after is the best bet. I’d ice pretty aggressively for up to 72 hours post-injury. Then you can start with heat.

Best bet: Don’t follow my advice. Get to a doctor.

By: Eugene Thong

Eugene Thong — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:13:12 +0000

Seth,

Good to hear that you were able to fix your problem. I’m not keen on yoga only because too many people use it as their only form of exercise – “I don’t need to strength train; I do yoga.” I’d wager that the trigger point is doing more for you than the yoga, BTW. Glad that you’ve found a regimen that works for you.

By: October 26, 2009 «

October 26, 2009 « — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:20:02 +0000

[...] interesting read on painful joints and what to do about them. An [...]

By: John Tatore

John Tatore — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:32:30 +0000

What’s your rule of thumb on the usage of ice and heat to get to the point of being able to strength train again?

By: seth trachy

seth trachy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:34:46 +0000

Great post. When I got really bad tendonitis I had problems #1 #2 and #3. Since then lifting heavy weights slowly has been crucial for my recovery and maintenance. Although I must say heavy weights alone doesn’t maintain me 100%. Without alignment oriented yoga and self trigger point massage my symptoms come back. Couldn’t help noticing that yoga doesn’t get a lot of love on this blog so I thought I would stir the pot of controversy. Wish I had read this post when I was first trying to figure out how to treat my tendonitis.

By: Eugene Thong

Eugene Thong — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:55:14 +0000

Thanks, Drew. Glad to hear you were able to effect your own recovery so quickly (although I’m not surprised).

I often wonder why PTs have such a strong dislike for HIT and SS methods. Then I realize that it’s because the efficacy rate of said methods makes the Circus Magic exercises typically performed in a PT setting look amateurish and ineffectual. A real waste of the patient’s time and health care dollars.

By: Drew Baye

Drew Baye — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:39:22 +0000

Excellent post, as usual. My neck was injured in a car accident several years ago when the driver of the truck I was riding in ran a red light and was struck in the side. I didn’t bother going to a physical therapist – I just used heat, ice, and a Nautilus 4-Way Neck Machine. Within about 8 weeks I regained full, pain-free range of motion, despite initially barely being able to turn my head without experiencing a stabbing pain.