Drew Pennington

Tough to say- depends on so many factors: age, activity level, injury history, changes in weight, diet etc. Knee stiffness is usually a sign of some internal joint swelling, leading to joint fullness and loss of motion.

Absolutely! Joints and muscles are the main areas of expertise for most Physical Therapists in outpatient orthopedic clinics. Get seen today and be fully back faster!

Two issues here as I see it: Injury prevention, and injury treatment. PTs have tools for both, but insurance only pays for one- treatment. We both know that prevention should be the focus. Seek out injury prevention PTs who will typically charge a cash rate and maybe you won't need PT for injury treatment!

Absolutely safe to participate in PT during pregnancy. In fact, the tools you'll learn from a PT will help reduce your discomfort and improve your mobility and function, along with helpful tips for after the baby comes! I highly recommend getting into PT to make your life more comfortable as the pregnancy progresses!

Every stroke can affect people differently, so there's no one size fits all answer here; however, PT can absolutely help to identify and reduce his fall risk, improve his ability to utilize the affect limb(s), help him gain confidence and find his safe limitations, improve his mobility and independence and give him answers to the natural questions that arise after such a significant life event.

This is super common! Low back pain, SI joint pain, and hip pain are the top three aches and pains after giving birth. Your body had to loosen it's ligaments significantly to make birth possible, and it can be a slow process to regain that joint stability. Creating joint stability requires focused movements that target the stabilizing, endurance muscles of the pelvic girdle (hips, pelvis and low back). These exercises, when selected and dosed correctly, should lead to short-term, and ultimately, long-term relief of your hip pain. This is exactly what a good PT can do for you!

Absolutely! PT treatments are proven to be fast and effective in managing Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis). Hands on techniques, like mobilization with movement, along with soft tissue mobilization, in conjunction with gentle stretching and targeted strengthening works wonders for this painful tendon irriation.

This is such a common issue in the third trimester. Your joints are supposed to be getting looser to allow for a better birth experience, but you're carrying an extra person around and need more stability. I'd suggest trying a pregnancy SI belt to see if you get pain relief. You would notice it in short order if it helps.

That sounds painful! A standard course of PT treatment for pow back pain, regardless of diagnosis, is in the 6-8 week range with pain reduction noted after 2-3 weeks. Your facet hypertrophy is likely a result of a lack of joint stability over time and your body is trying to overcome it by thickening your facet capsule. Stabilization exercises, along with improving your hip mobility, should be cornerstones of your recovery process. Hang in there!

Great question! One of the challenges in life is how fast we can lose fitness and strength and how long it takes to get it back. Most research suggests that 6 weeks is the minimum to see meaningful results for strength training. Cardiovascular fitness is similar. Remember to build back with a 10%/week rule. Increase your exercise intensity and duration by 10% to avoid overtraining aches and pains.