Athletico Health Resources

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is written by Betsy Schack, OTR/L. Betsy is an occupational/hand therapist at Athletico Skokie and Athletico Park Ridge.

April is just around the corner. Hopefully the winter coats will soon be back in storage. April is also National Occupational Therapy Month! If you’re reading this blog you’ve most likely heard of physical therapy. Maybe you’ve needed physical therapy after you broke your ankle or for the arthritis pain in your knee. Among many other services that Athletico provides, occupational/hand therapy is quickly growing and currently provided at 29 of our 72 locations. (more…)

When you think about the parts of a woman’s body that are affected by pregnancy, the hands and wrists are not the first thing that come to mind, but up to 20% of women are affected by carpal tunnel syndrome during pregnancy. Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include numbness, tingling, burning or aching in the fingers, and pain in the wrist, hands, forearms, and sometimes upper arm to the shoulder. In severe or chronic cases, hands may feel weak or uncoordinated and muscle atrophy may be present. Symptoms usually affect both hands and can begin at any stage of pregnancy, but are most common in the later stages. (more…)

The thumb: It has allowed humans to develop into the most dominant species on the planet. Without it, we wouldn’t have the Mona Lisa, the Seven Wonders of the World, or quarterbacks that can complete a pass while scrambling out of the pocket when their protection breaks down. You can see just how important the “lone wolf of the hand” is in life and sports, and when Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was sidelined by a thumb injury, I started getting a lot of questions about thumb injuries in athletics. They’re fairly common in sports since the thumb is separate from the other fingers, exposing it to some unique injuries. Lucky for you, my background allows me to explain what a couple of the more common injuries are. (more…)