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Knee pains - they can be overwhelming and even scary if you’re an athlete. No matter what the cause, knee pains can affect anyone no matter the age or gender. What makes knee pains a little complicated is that knee pains can be attributed to a horrific injury, a slight tweak, or even a medical condition. While we cannot diagnose anyone via internet, here are some common knee injuries and their symptoms.

Injuries
While there is a wide array of injuries that can cause knee pain, here are some of the most common: 

• ACL: This one is particularly worrisome for athletes as sometimes it can be career ending. An ACL injury is when you tear the anterior cruciate ligament (a ligament in your knee that connects your thigh and shin bone). This can be extremely painful and often occurs when there is a sudden movement or change in direction.
• Meniscus: Your meniscus is a cartilage (of course also located in your knee) that helps to absorb shock - think of it as a stabilizer. Typically this can be torn if you are placing weight on your knee, and then suddenly twisting it in a different direction.
• Fractures: If you’ve broken or fractured a bone before you know the pain - but we can almost guarantee you’d certainly know! It’ll be extremely painful and often times you won’t be able to put any pressure on it.

Risk Factors
Some knee pain can be caused from medical conditions - including excess weight and a true lack of any strength or flexibility. To help mitigate this, we recommend ensuring you are active (even if it’s just walking) and try to focus on healthy eating. Your primary care physician can help you with this!

See a Doctor

• Everyone responds differently to pain and injury. While the following are decent guidelines as to when you should seek a doctor’s assistance, if you have any doubts or concerns we recommend you see a doctor or physical therapist promptly!
• Unable to full extend or bend your knee
• Have excessive swelling
• Severe pain
• Unable to put full body weight on your knee

At North Platte Physical Therapy, we are here to help meet your needs. We serve the communities of Wyoming and Nebraska with 22 clinics offering a full range of physical therapy services. Contact us today for more information.
 

Ankle sprains are painful conditions that can hinder your ability to stand or walk properly, perform daily chores, or fulfill tasks at work. Although ankle sprains are one of the most common orthopedic injuries, physical therapists can help relieve the pain and restore the proper functioning of your ankle more quickly than with no treatment. We’ve compiled our Ankle sprain 101 guide - so you can start to identify symptoms, and so you know how to take care of your ankle until you are able to seek medical attention.

Symptoms
Most ankle sprains happen when your foot is awkwardly planted on the ground while you abruptly twist or rotate your body, which can tear ligaments in your ankle. Pain is a common symptom of a sprained ankle. The torn ligaments often facilitate an aching or throbbing sensation that can develop immediately after incurring the injury and then linger for an extensive period of time. Swelling is another symptom of a sprained ankle. The swelling is caused by blood rushing to the damaged ligaments, and the swollen mark can remain concentrated on your ankle, or the mark can spread and expand to envelop your entire calf and foot area. As always, never self-diagnose yourself. It’s important that you seek help from a primary care physician or physical therapist if you think you might have an ankle sprain. 

Rest
Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest is likely going to be incorporated in your physical therapy recovery plan. For instance, the therapists can apply cold treatments to relieve the symptoms associated with the injury. The cold packs can decrease the swelling, alleviate the pain, and reduce the effusion of the affected area. The therapists can also provide compression wraps or socks to help optimize the rest treatment. The gentle compression applied by the wraps can help remove the swelling from the area, relieve the pressure from your ankle, and protect your leg during the rehabilitation process.  

Exercises
The best Wyoming physical therapists can also teach you stretches and exercises that can accelerate the ankle sprain rehabilitation process. Many stretches can help reduce the pain, increase the range-of-motion of your ankle, and restore the proper functioning of your leg. The therapist can perform stretches on your ankle during the sessions and then show you effective stretching techniques that you can perform in your home. Exercise routines can also help treat ankle sprains. During the sessions, the therapists can customize and develop specific routines according to which types of exercises would be most appropriate for your body and for your condition. These exercises can then accelerate the recovery process, strengthen your ankle, and prevent you from incurring similar ankle injuries in the future.  

Contact North Platte Physical Therapy to treat your sprained ankle. Our expert staff has acquired a prestigious reputation throughout Wyoming and Nebraska for providing exceptional and customized physical therapy treatments. We provide each client with the care and attention they deserve, we have access to the most superior treatment techniques available, and we would be glad to implement a treatment program that can alleviate the symptoms of your sprained ankle and maximize the functioning of your body.
 

Stretching and physical activity is key in physical therapy. Although you might not always need it, incorporating physical therapy exercises (particularly the stretching portion) will help improve your life more than you know! Everyone enjoys feeling their best, and light activity/stretching is the way to do so. We’ve compiled some of our favorite stretches, and why you should do them, all in one place! If you are considering getting in to a new physical activity routine, don’t hesitate to reach out to your Wyoming/Nebraska physical therapist or your primary care physician. 

The following are common stretches that we recommend, as well as things we have used with clients in the past. Give them a try - it should take five minutes!

• Runner’s Stretch - The easiest way to describe this is that it looks like a lunge, except you have a knee on the ground! Lean forward into the stretch and hold for thirty seconds. REpeat on both sides.
• Standing Toe Reach - Stand with your feet together, and bend at the waist. You’ll extend your arms straight in front of you and try to reach your toes. Hold for thirty seconds. 
• Arm Circles - This is a good way to keep moving! Hold your arms straight out so they are at your side, even with your shoulders. Next all you have to do is make 10-20 circles forward and backward. 

There are some benefits to stretching and light activity every day. Here are the two of the biggest benefits from regular stretching/physical activity.
Muscle Strength: Everyday activities can be much easier if you have some built-up muscle strength. It particularly comes in handy when performing yard work or moving boxes, but we can promise it won’t just make household chores easier! Improved muscle strength will have you feeling better and healthier in no time. 
Flexibility: This one is a big one - through regular physical activity and stretching your flexibility will increase. This too will have you feeling better, but it will also help to prevent injuries that can happen if you overexert your muscles. 

It can be hard to fit physical activity in to your schedule, we recommend the following: 

• Schedule - Create a schedule that you can stick to! For example, we have several clients who fit into a workout in the mornings around 7 am. Once you get into a habit, it’ll become easier. 
• Prioritize - Prioritizing your workout is important. It’s easy to let work, children, and household chores get in the way but if you have an hour to watch TV you have 20 minutes to get a stretch in! Do both at the same time!
• Workout Buddies - If you need to be held accountable, a workout buddy is the best way to do that! Once you start setting gym times to meet up it’ll become much easier.

If you are experiencing any pain, or are looking to get into a physical fitness routine, your primary care physician or physical therapist can help. Here at North Platte Physical Therapy, are here to help meet your needs. Physical therapy can be essential in healing from any knee-injury, and with proper care you can be back to your normal routine in no time. We serve the communities of Wyoming and Nebraska with 22 clinics offering a full range of physical therapy services. Contact us today for more information.


 

Neck strains can keep you from living a normal life every day, and can even make you uncomfortable. Sometimes neck strains can cause you to lay in bed each day you have issues, or it could even cause you to have to go to the doctor. The good news, is that while you can prevent every injury there are a few things you can do to prevent neck strain. Something important to note, there is no 100% way to prevent an injury, but you can do your best to cut back on lifestyle habits that might heighten your risk.

Neck strain/pain can be prevented simply by how you sleep - and this includes the type of pillow you are using. If you are already experiencing some light neck pain...try a new pillow. Sometimes a firmer, or even softer pillow, can help adjust your body. Somethings can be very difficult. Not only can the type of pillow you are using can make a difference, but the sleeping position itself can also make a difference. Try laying on your back if you can, sleeping on your side can cause undo stress. 

Technology can cause additional stress on your body - stress you might have not thought of. For example, if your computer is not at eye level...looking down or up can cause a lot of neck pain. What about texting? Are you spending all day texting? Looking down at your phone could cause unnecessary strain as well. Keep an eye out on where your eye sight is for each piece of technology.

Wellness covers quite a few things, including physical fitness and nutrition Physical fitness is important to help prevent neck strains - and we aren’t talking about regularly working out (although we do recommend that). We are talking about stretching your neck muscles often. Healthy nutrition is also important, but be sure to drink plenty of water to keep your body healthy.

Have a neck strain? Be sure to contact us for assistance. If you are experiencing body aches and pains, also be sure to reach out our team. At North Platte Physical Therapy, we are here to help meet your needs. We serve the communities of Wyoming and Nebraska with 22 clinics offering a full range of physical therapy services. Contact us today for more information.

Hopefully you rang the New Year in with nothing more than friends and family! If you were unlucky and happened to sustain an injury in the New Year, there is no need to fret. Physical therapy can be your key to resuming your normal activities with little risk of additional injury, and hopefully very little downtime. However your “downtime,” will be dependent on the severity of your injury. We’ve compiled our four reasons as to why Wyoming/Nebraska physical therapy is beneficial.

Pain
Physical therapy can help you prevent additional pain and ease any pain you are currently feeling. Through a range of motions, low-impact exercises, taping techniques or electrical stimulation, physical therapy has a wide variety of treatment options. The ultimate goal of physical therapy is not only to get you back to 100%, but also to prevent and eliminate any pain you are currently feeling.

Recovery
As just mentioned, the ultimate goal of physical therapy is recovery. By the end of physical therapy, you will be back on your feet operating as normal. One of the most important things you can do is follow all of your physical therapist’s recommendations - they are trained to built a treatment plan that will help you resume normal activities as fast as possible, without risk of additional injuries. Physical therapists may also be seen in the event of a stroke, or other neurological injuries. 

Avoiding Surgery
Looking to avoid a surgery? Physical therapy might be your best bet! There are quite a few instances in which physical therapy is a suitable treatment option instead of having to go through a long and costly surgery process.

Motion Improvement
Physical therapy is for more than just recovery after an injury. If you are experiencing mobility issues, physical therapy can be a great way to help you reach your goals. The low-impact exercise and stretching can help restore your muscle’s normal movement patterns. No matter your age, consider chatting with your local physical therapist about how it can help with mobility issues.

No matter what your injury is, we at North Platte Physical Therapy, are here to help meet your needs. Physical therapy can be essential in healing from any knee-injury, and with proper care you can be back to your normal routine in no time. We serve the communities of Wyoming and Nebraska with 22 clinics offering a full range of physical therapy services. Contact us today for more information.