I went out for a walk the other day and saw my 88 year old neighbor, Erika, taking out some garbage. As I have a tendency to do, I watched how she was using her body – and she was hip hinging! In other words, she was keeping her back straight and bending or hinging at […]
Dealing With Anxiety and Difficult Situations
Recently I invited licensed professional counselor, Holly Katz, to The Manual Touch to present some tips on how to deal with anxiety. Many of us feel anxious in situations such as at work, race day, or in everyday life. I thought her tips were so wonderful and user friendly that I wanted to share them […]
How to Start Practicing Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness and meditation is a very popular concept these days. But do you really know what it is? How to do it? Or how it can benefit you? Let me tell you a little bit about my own experience with mindfulness and meditation. When I began studying IMT (Integrative Manual Therapy) 20 years ago, I […]
Tips for Avoiding Back Pain and Other Injuries at Work
When you went to college, they probably didn’t teach you how to sit all day and not get back pain or carpal tunnel. When you started your career, you probably did not learn how to use your body to avoid injury. During your new employee orientation, they probably didn’t mention injury prevention. In our society, […]
What is at the Core of Many Pain Problems?
Different people might suffer from different kinds of pain, yet the core of their problems is often the same. Take these four people, for example: Kirk had shoulder pain while doing some of his exercises. Gail had had 2 metatarsal fractures in the same foot in a year’s time. Lisa had jaw pain for the […]
Meet Our Acupuncturist, David Derdiger
Acupuncture and other Chinese medicine techniques are a wonderful adjunct to Physical Therapy or as a stand alone treatment to promote healing, improve health and get people back to doing the things they love to do. So, when I received an email from David Derdiger, an Acupuncturist/Chinese medicine practitioner requesting to rent a room, […]
How I lost my Running Mojo
It’s been almost 2 years since my last race. I had prepared to wear shorts for The Illini Half Marathon in Champaign, IL. Rain was in the forecast, which turned out to be a very cold rain, not a refreshing rain. The incessant, cold rain forced me to wear the only pants I brought with […]
The 3 Best Exercises to Eliminate Back Pain
To recover from or prevent back pain, you need to have a strong core. Your core consists of your abdominals, back, and hips. In this video, we’ll walk you through three core stabilization exercises to improve and maintain your core and back strength.
Personalized Physical Therapy: Using Both Traditional and Non-Traditional Methods for Pain Relief and Healing
Physical therapists (PTs) are movement experts who understand all the individual components of movement, such as which joints move and what muscles work during any phase of any activity, e.g., walking, running, lifting, etc. When you take a step, PTs know the muscles that are working and how much mobility you need in every joint […]
What Kind of Runner are You — a Glider or a Gazelle?
A few years back I saw a YouTube video by Todd Kenyon, PhD from www.TTBIKEFIT.com. He was comparing the two primary running styles of elite ironman triathletes. He called the 2 running styles, gazelles and gliders.
Meet my Mom: Our Front Desk Employee
I’ve been told getting a good front desk person is the most difficult hire of any small business. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to search far for just that perfect person, my mother. As she only comes in once a week, not all of you have met her, but those of you who have, […]
Little Highlights of 2017
As I write my year-end column and reflect back on 2017, I realize there was very little in the news that made me smile, only tragedy after tragedy both nature-made and people-made. My own life had no major life changing events either — no marathons, weddings, or graduations to report. As a result, I had […]
My Story of Hypermobility and Chronic Pain
Guest Post by Emilie Totten When people used to ask me, “What hurts?” I’d find it difficult to describe. For nearly 10 years, I’ve had pain in some form or another in many different parts of my body. I used to tell people that it was like a “traveling demon”, showing up in different ways […]
How to overcome winter running challenges
Despite temperatures in the 20’s and below, long weekend runs of brilliant sunshine and fresh snow on the trees, can be the most enjoyable. But the weekday runs, for people who work traditional hours, create some challenges: Darkness upon waking and/or when returning home from work Plummeting temperatures Falling snow Snow and ice on […]
Running Gear: 9 Must-Haves for Winter Running Performance
My favorite part of running is being outside, so when winter rolls around, with its plummeting temperatures, snow and darkness, accommodations and some financial investment in winter running gear needs to be made. When my friend Gary began running 6 years ago, he realized to continue running through the Chicago winters, it would take quite […]
How to Lift Properly to Avoid Back Pain and Injury
Did you know that low back pain and sciatica is the #1 reason people go to see their doctors? Low back pain or sciatica (pain, numbness, or tingling down the back of the leg) can be caused by many things including spinal stenosis, arthritis, a herniated lumbar disc, or a sacroiliac dysfunction. Often these conditions […]
“I Can’t Do What I Did 10 Years Ago”
Now that I’m in my mid 50’s, I notice I don’t sleep as well as I used to. And, after the first couple of steps in the morning, my feet and ankles feel very stiff. My older patients and friends complain of back stiffness upon waking in the morning. In fact, no matter the age […]
Client Spotlight: Don Reck
Why did you begin building birdhouses? When I retired over 10 years ago, I needed a hobby, something I could do in a man cave. So, I began making birdhouses and bird feeders as I love birds, particularly the blue jay. Their blue color streaked with white is so beautiful. For my backyard I made […]
What is Mindful Movement?
Mindfulness – quite the buzz word these days. I’ve seen articles fly by on my google homepage about: Mindful eating Mindful showering Mindful meditation Mindful exercise How about Mindful Physical Therapy? I haven’t seen an article about Mindful PT fly by on my homepage. But really, PTs have been teaching mindfulness forever – we just […]
Special Kids Foundation
August in Chicago is a time for summer fun with numerous activities such as festivals, concerts, the beach, biking, running or kayaking the Skokie lagoons. Every August, for me, is when the Special Kids Foundation (SKF), a board that I’m on, meets to determine the grant recipients of the year. The SKF offers grants to […]
