Happy Thanksgiving! We wish you all the best as you celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend with your family and friends. Please be advised that Activa will be closed on Thanksgiving Monday.
If you would like to schedule your physio or massage appointment, please call us on Tuesday morning at 613-744-4188. Best wishes!
Spring is here, Ottawa! Once the last piles of snow melt, of course. As the weather warms up, running season will be in full gear — along with shoulder pain.
Activa Physiotherapy Ottawa urges you to review your form, breathing patterns and stretching routine as you jump into the running season to avoid unwanted shoulder and neck pain.
While we typically associate running with leg, knee and foot pain, runners can also experience upper body discomfort in the neck and shoulder.
Tightness, strain, cramping, aches, soreness and inflammation can appear in your neck, shoulders and arms resulting from running.
Interestingly, upper body problems affect runners as much as common stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and lower body injury.
In this post, we recommend 5 tips to prevent shoulder pain and neck pain from running, this spring and all year round.
If your shoulder pain or neck pain persists, please contact us so our physiotherapist can assess your condition and determine the best treatment option to promptly relieve your discomfort.
You can also learn more about common causes of shoulder pain.
Most upper body pain related to running is caused by poor form or too much tension, which can trigger neck and shoulder pain.
For example, hunched or rounded shoulders combined with swinging your arms too wide while running can cause long-term problems for your upper body.
While these subtle movements seem harmless, they can trigger painful problems over time including tense muscles, rotator cuff injury, stiff neck, muscle spasms and thoracic outlet syndrome (caused by pressure on your blood vessels and nerves from the neck down your arm). This pressure often results in numbness or tingling sensations in your upper body.
To prevent upper body pain from running, it’s important to prevent your muscles from tightening up while in motion.
Consider these 5 recommendations to protect your body so you can enjoy running for the long run.
While running, be aware of your form as you exercise. It helps to imagine a balloon on a string attached to your chest which you are moving forward as you run.
Optimal running posture involves an elongated spine, relaxed pelvis, arms bent at 90 degrees to your torso with your body leaning slightly forward.
Maximize your running workouts by maintaining muscle strength throughout your body. Consistent strength training, along with core strengthening (such as abdominal exercises) will better support your upper body as you run.
Release tension in your back and neck before, during and following your run by dropping your shoulders, shaking out your arms and moving both your arms AND shoulders fluidly as you stride.
Try the “two-two” breathing rhythm where you take two steps as you inhale then two steps as you exhale. Remember to breathe from your abdomen rather than your chest.
It seems natural to stretch only your quads and hamstrings after a run but it’s essential to also stretch your upper body.
Range of motion exercises include gently tilting your head left and right and up and down, side to side then slowly roll your shoulders.
To relieve cramping in your neck and shoulders, put your hands on top of your head and pull your elbows back until you feel the stretch. Run in this position for 15 seconds, then shake your arms or move them in a windmill motion to relieve tension in your shoulders.
Our physiotherapist can give you more information about preventing neck and shoulder pain caused by running.
Activa Physiotherapy Ottawa wishes you and your family a wonderful Holiday season!
Please be advised that Activa will be closed from December 22, 2018 until January 2, 2019.
Feel free to contact us if you would like to schedule your physiotherapy or massage therapy appointment for the New Year: 613-744-4188.
Happy Holidays!
Barbara Stefanska, RPT MA
Owner, Activa Physiotherapy Ottawa
The fall sports season is here, which is common for shoulder pain.
Mobility can lead to problems with your soft tissue or bony structures in your shoulder, which often results in pain. Shoulder pain can be triggered by specific movement or be constant.
Physiotherapy provides treatment through a combination of manual therapy, stretching and electrotherapy. If you’re experiencing shoulder pain, contact us today so our physiotherapist can assess your condition and promptly start treatment to relieve your shoulder pain.
Continue reading “Fall Sports: Shoulder Pain Relief”Bursitis is a painful condition when small fluid-filled sacs called bursa — which cushion your bones, tendons and muscles near your joints — become inflamed in your shoulder, elbow, hip or knee.
Causes of bursitis include:
Tendons in your body are strong bands of connective tissue attaching your muscles to your bones. Tendonitis is irritation or inflammation of your tendons and can be triggered by over-stretching or repetitive tendon use.
Physiotherapy can help manage your tendonitis symptoms and pain.
Activa Physiotherapy was recently featured in our community newspaper The Manor Park Chronicle.
We appreciate helping three generations of patients for the past 23 years and look forward to serving the Manor Park community for many years to come.
We are currently seeking a full-time/part-time Registered Physiotherapist for those interested in joining our team!
Activa Physiotherapy Clinic seeks a dynamic and energetic physiotherapist. Owned and operated by registered physiotherapist Barbara Stefanska, Activa has offered physical therapy services in the New Edinburgh community in Ottawa for the past 23 years. We specialize in physiotherapy and massage therapy for all muscular-skeletal conditions including orthopedic-sport injury (sports physio), back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain and motor-vehicle accidents. We offer direct billing, flexible hours, no waiting list, free parking and friendly service in English and Polish.
We are searching candidates with experience in manual therapy and prescribing exercise programs, with strong communication and interpersonal skills, documentation skills, experience handling multiple clients, and a keen interest to work with our team. Acupuncture experience is an asset. Candidates must be eligible for registration with The College of Physiotherapists of Ontario and must maintain current malpractice insurance.
You will work with a senior Physiotherapist (bringing more than 35 years of experience) who has earned an excellent reputation in Ottawa. We have access to an indoor pool to assist patients with pain relief and treatment. Learn more about our team, services and what our patients say.
Salary commensurate with experience. Professional development and benefits available.
Please submit resume to activa@sympatico.ca. For more information, please contact Barbara at 613-744-4188.
Activa patients often experience symptoms of arthritis in their hands (wrists and fingers). As arthritis cushions joints and wears away at cartilage, it causes stiffness, pain and inflammation. Everyday tasks like turning a doorknob, holding a utensil or typing on a keyboard can be very painful.
We recommend these simple home exercises to relieve stiffness and pain from arthritis in your hands. If you are taking prescribed medicine for your arthritis, these exercises will help further relieve your arthritis pain.
Sciatica means “pain down the back of the leg,” usually caused by trapping the sciatic nerve running from your lower back down through the buttocks along the back of each leg. A common form of back pain, sciatica is typically caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve from a slipped disc.
Physiotherapy treats sciatica with excellent results. While sciatica can be extremely painful, permanent tissue damage is rare as most pain is caused by inflammation, improving over time. As nerve pain is caused by a combination of pressure and inflammation on your nerve root, physiotherapy treatment focuses on relieving these conditions.
Sciatica pain can range from infrequent and irritating to severe and debilitating. It usually affects one side of the body with pain radiating through the buttock and down the leg. Sciatica is often associated with constant pain burning or tingling down the leg, weakness, numbness or difficulty moving the leg or foot or shooting pain that makes it difficult to stand up and sit down.
