Athletico Health Resources

Recognizing the signs of Lymphedema

Are you recovering from a mastectomy or lumpectomy surgery? If so, have you begun to notice some new sensations in your arm? You may have feelings of swelling, heaviness, tightness, pain, burning sensations, limited motion in the arm, and/or numbness at the arm, shoulder or chest. These could be signs of lymphedema, an inflammatory disease caused by failure of the lymphatic system.

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Athletico congratulates six staff hand therapists who recently passed the Certified Hand Therapist examination.  All have now earned the distinguished mark of the CHT.

The credentials “CHT” distinguish an occupational or physical therapist as someone who has had:

•  At least 5 years of clinical experience in their respective field
•  4000 hours or more of direct practice experience in hand therapy
•  Successfully completed a comprehensive test of advanced skills and theory in upper extremity rehabilitation.

Athletico’s Certified Hand Therapists have earned the highest professional credential in this specialty area.  Successful outcomes depend on the highest level of competency and advanced knowledge and skills.  Athletico is pleased to offer the highest quality and most advanced hand therapy to patients.

Athletico offers hand therapy at over 100 locations.

Congratulations to these newly credentialed Certified Hand Therapists!
Read more about them below.

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Stretch of the Week: Half Splits IT Band Stretch

Week 3 of July is something I call Half Splits IT band stretch. Don’t let the name scare you off! We won’t be doing the splits….exactly; just a variation that will target the outside leg muscles. So give it a try!  (more…)

Patients often inquire how much schooling is required to become a physical therapist. Read below to learn about the level of education required for a Physical Therapist. (more…)

For the month of July, we will focus on “IT Band” Stretches. I use quotations because the IT band is not really a muscle, it’s a connective tissue. The muscle that really gets the benefit of these stretches is mostly the vastus lateralis. In most cases if you have an outer knee issue or “tight IT Band” it’s coming from this lateral(outer) quadricep muscle. Sometimes it’s the biceps femoris, that’s the lateral(outer) hamstring on the back of the thigh, as well. So if your having generalized IT band issues those are the muscles to focus on. And these stretches should help! (more…)

Today’s blog post is written by guest blogger Joe Estes, PT, DPT, CGFI.  Joe is a physical therapist and Certified Golf Fitness Instructor at Athletico’s Golf Performance Center.

The summer is underway, and so are most people’s golf games. Like the weather so far this spring and summer, the condition of your swing may not be the best you have seen. From a golf fitness and biomechanical perspective, I talk to my patients and clients a lot about maintaining posture throughout the golf swing. This mostly refers to maintaining the spine angle from your set-up position through just after impact.  Maintaining posture helps with both consistency of ball striking, as well as power production. (more…)

Regardless of the time of year each season brings certain risk factors for injuring your back.  In the Spring and Summer many people get outside and become more active drastically increasing work or exercise intensity and frequency.  In a past post I discussed how physical therapists can help your back pain but today I thought we could focus more on prevention.  Below you will learn some common sense strategies, postures, and or body mechanics to help you minimize risk of back injury in the first place.

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Stretch of the week: Forward Fold IT Band Stretch. This stretch is simple but very effective. You won’t need anything for this stretch.

The only contradiction for this stretch would be if you have low back pain. Be conscious of how your body feels and please don’t overly push yourself in the stretch.

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