Physical Therapy in Glen Cove

Physical Therapy modality helps decrease pain, treat tightness, spasms, and stimulate blood flow to assist with the healing process. The types of treatments received is usually hot/cold packs, ultrasound, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, electrical stimulation, and iontophoresis.  Next time you’re at the PT getting treatment, don’t be surprised when they use one more of of these modalities:

• Applying Hot/Cold Packs

1.       Applying a hot pack with a heated towel wrapped around the hot pack helps decrease tension or spasms and increases blood circulation which assist in the healing process.
2.       Applying a cold pack with a damped towel causes vasoconstriction of the blood vessels which helps decrease inflammation and also swelling.

• Ultrasound

1.       Transmits sound waves to tissue which penetrates the muscle causing deep tissue/muscle warming. Thus relaxing the muscles and allowing treatment of any tightness and spasms.
2.       Increases the circulation of the blood within that area to assist with healing.

• TENS

1.       Also known as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is used to decrease pain by using electrical transmission signals to disrupt the signal from the pain being sent from the affected area and nerves.

• Electrical Stimulation

1.       Is known to deliver electrodes on the skin in different locations to produce muscle stimulation. The settings can be changed by the physical therapist to be forceful or gentle.
2.       Helps improve the contraction of affective muscle and cause the muscle to contact. Improves muscle strength, promotes blood supply to the area to help with healing.

• Iontophoresis

1.       Are electric currents that allow medication to penetrate to the affected muscles.
2.       Helps treat inflammation.

With these treatments it is also suggest that daily exercise and stretching be done without over extension. Also, heat stimulation at home is suggested. For further understanding or if physical rehab is needed please contact Island Sports Physical Therapy at 631-462-9595 or visit our website at www.islandsportspt.com and make an appointment at any of our six convenient locations on Long Island.

         If you are ever suffering from chronic pain or an acute injury and you’re not sure the best way to go about taking care of it, you should begin physical therapy. Physical therapy can do a variety of things for you like rehabilitate your injuries as well as teach you how to do things to help prevent other injuries. Physical therapy will give you the confidence you need to get your life back to how it was before you ever suffered any pain.

        When you get to physical therapy, they will take a full assessment of where you’re at and what the progression of rehabilitation should be for you. Then they will prescribe you exercises for you to perform to strengthen the muscles surrounding where the injury is or where you are feeling pain to help stabilize it and prevent further injury. They will also help your joints move more easily as well as increase flexibility, coordination, and balance. As you get older, you start to lose things like range of motion and balance, and that is why it is important to go and see a physical therapist and how they can help improve these things. When you are older and having good balance, your confidence will greatly increase because you won’t be worried about falling over and hurting yourself while doing daily tasks. A physical therapist will also use a variety of manual therapies to help you recover from whatever ailment you are suffering from. These manual therapies include things like massages for muscle relaxation and increased circulation, and mobilization to help increase the flexibility within the joint as well as to get it back in alignment. All of these techniques will help decrease pain as well as other techniques that help break up scar tissue and reduce inflammation.

        Physical therapy is one of the smartest things that you can do for yourself and make sure that your life is pain-free. Physical therapy is fun and will teach you a lot and will get you back on the right track. If you are in the area of East Meadow, Island Sports Physical Therapy is available to help you with any of your physical therapy needs. Call us today!

Tennis Safety

While we are in the summer months, you should be taking advantage of the great weather to get in more exercise.  One outdoor activity that is enjoyable, as well as a great form of exercise, is tennis.  While playing tennis, you can play with a partner for fun or competitively, and when playing tennis you should play with the proper precautions and practice your skill and performance on and off the court.  

Before the competitive play, you should always warm up. Warming up increases the flow of blood around the body and loosens muscles.  This reduces risks or sprains and enhances your play. Focusing on dynamic stretching for the entire body with special emphasis on the upper and lower body is key to getting a proper warm-up.

As you play the game,  keeping posture in mind will not only reduce your risk for injury but will help you play better when serving or swinging the tennis ball.

The 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist in Tennis, Lindsay Davenport, stressed the importance of correct form. Davenport also shared her secret weapon to obtaining the perfect tennis form, and that secret is three-way lunges (stepping forward, laterally and backward.) This exercise tones the quads and creates good tennis form because the lunges mimic the motion of hitting low shots. Davenport suggests doing 10 to 20 lunges four days a week on each leg.

Davenport also mentioned the importance of alternating tennis practice with other exercises.  Davenport said her tennis training is hitting and stroke drills at a neighborhood court, weight training, pilates classes and footwork, and plyometric drills.

With all athletes in all sports, the hardest part of preparing for a big match is in the mind.  Davenport explained keeping your head in each point is the toughest thing about tennis.  You need a sense of calm and a big sense of belief.  Her pre-game preparation consists of spending a few moments in silent and visualizing the game before every match.

Island Sports Physical Therapy is encouraging you to enhance your own games as you watch the 2016 summer games.  Island Sports Physical Therapy has six convenient locations across Long Island and offers services in sports training, sports therapy, and a fitness program, along with physical therapy rehabilitation that can help you with your sports injuries or training.

Dangerous Workouts

Being in good shape benefits the human body not only physically, but mentally as well. Studies show that those who exercise regularly have better cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health than those who don’t. However, it is important that you don’t push your body too far to the point where you are harming yourself more than you are benefiting yourself. Overtraining occurs when the body goes through physical trauma and stress at a faster rate than it can recover. It is important that you know the causes and symptoms of overtraining and how to adequately rest and recover from physical activity.

If your muscles are constantly sore, you find yourself tired even after adequate rest, you are irritable, or noticing returning bodily pain, you might be overtraining. In order to prevent this, experts suggest taking sufficient rest after working out and spacing out the days you work out. If this isn’t a viable option, it is important that you should incorporate active rest into the end of your workout in order to properly heal your body. One should also make sure that they maintain a balanced diet and consume enough calories to match what their body is burning, as well as vitamins and nutrients.

Island Sports Physical Therapy has six convenient locations on Long Island and has the knowledge, experience, and resources to maximize your physical performance. They strive on educating their patients along with individualized treatments in order to solidify the patient’s recovery and prevent re-injury for years to come. ISPT knows the benefit of hard work on their part combined with hands-on care in order to ensure maximum recovery for those they serve.

As physical therapists, they understand the benefits of working out and staying healthy and have the necessary training in order to ensure that your workouts are constructive and injury free. They can provide you with the best fitness plan available for your current needs. They cater to all ages and understand how beneficial exercise can be to older people and the steps and precautions that need to be taken in order to ensure total functionality and healthy aging.

Island Sports Physical Therapy has locations in East Northport, Huntington, Nesconset, Coram, East Meadow, and Glen Cove. They can be reached online at https://islandsportspt.com, or their administrative office can be reached by phone at 631-462-9595.

Senior Physical Therapy

Fitness programming is a very important part of beginning a healthy lifestyle, it is especially important in the senior community. There are many benefits to fitness programming and there are many things that can contribute to help a fitness program such as physical therapy and resistance training.

In terms of creating a program of resistance training with physical therapy, you have to be sure to make a fair decision of where you are dividing your time as well as what should be focused on more. For seniors, it is best for seniors to focus on full body strengthening with an emphasis on balance. When working with a physical therapist, seniors can reduce the chance of falls significantly, while also help reducing pain and increase mobility. This will allow seniors to gain some independence back, safely and effectively.

Many seniors suffer from osteoporosis, so this is why it is a good idea to have some resistance and strength training into the fitness program so that they can increase bone mass and density as well as alleviate arthritis. With all these added health benefits, psychological and emotional benefits also increase. Having a better sense of independence leads seniors to have a better sense of confidence and just overall living a better lifestyle. Learning the different movements in physical therapy can also be beneficial in that they can teach things that can alleviate the discomfort that they are feeling at home if they can’t make it into the office or to a gym. Just a few simple activation exercises or even some easy everyday activities with some added resistance to them can mean the world of difference.

Fitness programming is something that should be looked at by every age bracket to improve his or her physical fitness and health but is something that someone living in the senior age bracket should consider a necessity. When looking at all the health benefits of a good fitness program with a trained physical therapist. it is an absolute no brainer for any senior to improve their lifestyle and lead a longer life.

Physical Therapy in East Northport

Gait training, or gait rehabilitation, is a form of physical therapy which helps people of all ages improve their ability to stand or walk after sustaining an injury or disability. Island Sports Physical Therapy, with locations in East Northport, Huntington, Nesconset, Coram, East Meadow, and Glen Cove, focuses on the individual first as they try to achieve their rehabilitative goals.

Fall prevention is one of the main reasons for gait training, especially for the elderly. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries in the elderly, and one-third of all Americans aged 65 and older fall each year. Gait training can be used as a preventative measure for older people who wish to remain independent or who live alone. Island Sports Physical Therapy can make sure you learn the correct movements and techniques to avoid falls.

Gait training is also used as a rehabilitative measure for people who may have lost the ability to walk due to an injury or illness. Gait training will begin once prescribed by a doctor as a part of a physical therapy routine. The patient will first be evaluated by the physical therapist to see if they are physically able to perform the movements of gait training. The physical therapists at Island Sports Physical Therapy will be able to give a patient an individualized plan of action to execute both in the home and at the office.

A person who has been immobile for quite some time may have difficulties walking again, and since gait training is exercising the cardiovascular system, the transition may be a little tough for those with walking issues. The physical therapists at Island Sports Physical Therapy realize that this can be both a physical and mental challenge, and are there to help you every step of the way towards your goal of improved or regained mobility.