Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an annual campaign for spreading knowledge and awareness of the disease throughout the month of October. About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop breast cancer over the course of their lifetime, and approximately 40,000 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2015 from the disease. As of this year, there are more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S., including women currently being treated as well as women who have finished treatment. The disease is not just limited to women, either, as about 2,350 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in 2015.

Although these statistics paint a grim picture, there is a light in the black when it comes to breast cancer. Incidence rates in the U.S. began decreasing in 2000, and death rates have been steadily decreasing since 1989, which is thought to be due to advances in treatment as well as increased awareness of the disease. The most important factor in the decrease in incidence rates, though, is early detection through screening.

It is imperative for women to participate in an early screening test. The National Breast Cancer Foundation suggests that when breast cancer is detected early in the localized stage, the five-year survival rate is 100%. There are three main tests used for breast cancer screening, including a mammogram, a clinical breast exam, and a breast self-exam. Your doctor will be able to inform you on which screening test is best for you.

A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast, and is the best way to identify early stages of breast cancer. It is recommended that women ages 50 to 74 get a mammogram every two years.

A clinical breast exam is an examination where a doctor checks a woman’s breast using his or her hands to check for lumps or any other abnormalities. This exam should not be done as a replacement for a mammogram as it is not as effective.

The breast self-exam should be administered once a month by women of all ages to check for a lump or any other changes within the breast. While only a mammogram can detect breast cancer before a lump is formed, it is important to familiarize yourself with your body in order to alert your doctor of any changes. Your doctor can also give you a rundown of how to administer a breast self-exam.

Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare PC offers the very best physical therapy in Ontario County. We treat all your wants and needs with our trusted and experienced Physical Therapists and staff. To begin to feel pain and stress free, start your Physical Therapy journey today and schedule your evaluation by calling (585) 396-1400.

Getting Back in Shape After Childbirth

Pregnancy is a time of change for a woman’s body, both physically and emotionally. Along with these changes, the gift of a new baby also brings unwanted body weight. Women who are an average weight before pregnancy can gain anywhere from 25 to 35 pounds.

A great way to begin your your fitness journey is to make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle. The extra calories from junk food may have been excusable when you were pregnant but following childbirth it is best to watch your calorie intake. Foods such as chips, sodas and cookies should be cut out and replaced with meats containing lean protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and low fat dairy products.

Diet is extremely important but you will see no improvement without getting up and moving around! Exercise helps to maintain both physical health as well as your mental health. New mothers need at least six weeks of rest before getting into intense physical activity, but following this break, walking is a good way to ease back into a routine. Walking is easy on the body and doesn’t cause any extra bleeding, especially if your child was delivered through a cesarean section.

Once ready to get back into a fitness routine, weight lifting is a great way to speed up your metabolism, or if you are looking for a more gentle routine, look into swimming, water aerobics, post natal exercise classes, and low impact aerobics. The exercises should be gradual as there should be no rush to get back to your pre-baby body. Consult with your physical therapist about exercises to help strengthen the body without overly exerting yourself.

Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare PC offers the very best physical therapy in Ontario County. We treat all your wants and needs with our trusted and experienced Physical Therapists and staff. To begin to feel pain and stress free, start your Physical Therapy journey today and schedule your evaluation by calling (585) 396-1400.

National Obesity Month

Did you know that there are more than forty medical conditions associated with obesity? Not only could being obese affect your daily activities but it can result in serious medical conditions. Obesity is defined as having an extreme amount of excess body fat, resulting in a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Most healthy men and women have a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. BMI is a simple calculation by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by his or her height in meters squared (BMI = kg/m2). Obesity has become an increasing issue for Americans, one-third of adults are affected and 17 % of children are suffering from obesity today.

There are many factors that can lead to obesity, such as poor lifestyle choices, unhealthy diet, little to no physical activity or exercise, medications, psychological factors, diseases (hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome, insulin resistant), childhood weight, hormones, and genetics. Although genetics play a role, your healthy lifestyle choices help to reduce the chance of obesity.

Obesity rates remain at all time high, causing the death rate in obesity to increase. Obesity is closely linked to many deadly diseases such as: stroke, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, over 11 types of cancer, sleep apnea, kidney stones and infertility. Not only does it medically affect you but psychologically. People who suffer from obesity are more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders.

The best way to prevent obesity is to establish a healthy lifestyle. Incorporate exercise in your daily routine such as going to the gym, yoga, or even going for a walk! Simple changes in your daily activities can help burn calories. Another way is to cut out the junk food and sugary drinks! Americans are always on the go so we love to stop and grab fast food, energy drinks, soda and sugar-filled coffees! Limiting your sugar intake will definitely help to reduce the excess calories. As a parent, you should encourage healthy eating habits to your children at a young age, as well as helping them maintain physical activity especially if obesity runs in your family.

Obesity has become an epidemic in our society, men, women and children are suffering across America from the ramifications of obesity. Living a healthy lifestyle plays an important role in the prevention of obesity but there also are ways to help treat your obesity! Working with your doctor to discuss a healthy weight loss plan and diet or working with a personal trainer to help burn body fat.

There are many tips to prevent weight loss,  obesity is a growing problem and the more people become aware of the consequences of being overweight, the more motivation they may have in making a healthy lifestyle change permanent!

Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare PC offers the very best physical therapy in Ontario County. We treat all your wants and needs with our trusted and experienced Physical Therapists and staff. To begin to feel pain and stress free, start your Physical Therapy journey today and schedule your evaluation by calling (585) 396-1400.

Kinesio Taping

We have all seen those colorful bits of tape that are intricately placed all over athletes, but you may not have known what it was. You may have thought to yourself, is that actually helping them? The answer is yes, and this new therapeutic method is a way to help sports injuries and keep athletes in the game.

So what is kinesio tape exactly? Well, it is a tape that when it is applied to your ligaments it can help correct any problems due to injuries or prevent further injuries from happening. It is able to change the tone of your ligament, move lymphatic fluids, and also correct any movement patterns that have been ruined due to injury. Kinesio tape will help alleviate pain associated with your injury. When it comes to lymphatic fluids, kinesio tape will help with the moving and draining of it to help you get back to normal!

Kinesio tape allows you to continue training or playing sports while recovery from your injury. The tape’s light-weight design is also key in allowing you to remain active while recovering. When using the kinesio tape, many different body systems are impacted. The tape triggers everything from your circulatory system to your neural system to your muscular system. This is what makes kinesio taping so unique. Kinesio tape will trigger the neuromuscular feedback that allows the muscles to fire stronger than it previously did.

If you have been nursing an injury for a while and are itching to get back on the field or court, ask your physical therapist about the benefits of using kinesio tape. Kinesio tape is able to stay on for days and is great for patients of all ages. At Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare, PC, their kinesio taping certified physical therapists will teach you the correct way to apply the tape if it is the best option for you.

Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare PC offers the very best physical therapy in Ontario County. We treat all your wants and needs with our trusted and experienced Physical Therapists and staff. To begin to feel pain and stress free, start your Physical Therapy journey today and schedule your evaluation by calling (585) 396-1400.

Physical Therapy and Pregnancy

Natural as it is, pregnancy still takes a large toll on a woman’s body.  During her pregnancy a woman is likely to feel uncomfortable at times. Fortunately, extensive research has revealed that there are safe exercises that a woman can do while pregnant in order to alleviate some of her discomfort such as lower back or pelvic pain. You might have heard of it before and you might even have rolled your eyes at the idea but there is a reason that Prenatal Yoga and Aqua Aerobic Centers exists, they really do make a difference.  

A simple, easy way to alleviate pain while pregnant is to avoid being in the same position for a long time; this means do not try to stand all day or try to get rid of back pain by spending the day on the couch.  Instead try to alternate sitting and standing, walk around when possible, and be conscious of your posture and try to stand upright whenever possible to avoid hyperlordosis from the stress of the pressure in carrying extra weight.

But therapy for pain relief from carrying that extra weight of a child goes so much further than that.  In addition to simple aerobic exercises there are manual therapy techniques, active exercises, stretches and other techniques that a woman can do to alleviate some of her pain and better enjoy her pregnancy.  One such technique that a woman can do at home is a ‘back tuck arch’. This exercise simply entails that the woman stands with her back to the wall and alternates between anterior and posterior pelvic tilts.  This exercise can not only help alleviate back pain but also help a woman get a better concept on how her transforming body, which she does not know so well, is affected by her movement and how focusing on her posture will make her more comfortable for the duration of her pregnancy.  For thousands of years pregnant women have been active and there is no reason to stop that trend now, besides, what better proof of success is there than history? For more information on how to be safely active during pregnancy as well as how to handle your bodies changes after pregnancy contact Lake Country Physical Therapy and Sportscare!

Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare PC offers the very best physical therapy in Ontario County. We treat all your wants and needs with our trusted and experienced Physical Therapists and staff. To begin to feel pain and stress free, start your Physical Therapy journey today and schedule your evaluation by calling (585) 396-1400.

Physical Therapy and Headaches

Could it possibly be, that the days of popping two, three, four advils a day can finally be over! Managing pain from headaches can be tough because headaches can be the result of so many different things. Luckily, physical therapists can be trained to help you manage pain from tension-type and cranial neuralgia, facial pain headaches, and headaches originating from the jaw (which our physical therapists at Lake Country PT & Sportscare are uniquely trained for). Just because you don’t know what is causing your headaches does not mean that they should be ignored.

Think about any of the recent headaches that you have had.  One of your natural instincts is to massage your temples, shoulders, back, or neck just to find some relief.  Even if there is no pain in that area, the fact that your body is instinctively telling you to relieve stress there is a sign that the area is probably a trigger point to the ache that you are experiencing in  your head.  If your untrained mind and hands can relieve some pain then imagine what a trained physical therapist can do.

Although most headaches do resolve on their own, severe headaches that recur should be addressed as they are affecting your day to day life.  In many cases, physical therapists can work with patients to find a way that works for them to relieve that pain.  Some of these methods can be as simple as correcting posture in order to minimize pressure points that might be causing your headaches. The physical therapists who are trained in manual therapy will start with a hands on body work in order to evaluate and relieve your musculoskeletal pain. Hands on approaches such as the Primal Reflex Release Technique can reveal trigger points in just seconds. In fact, our very own Dr. Robert Christakos and Dr. Zoe Fackelman are one of less than 100 people in the world trained in this method. It’s hard to believe that, when trained, a person can help you figure out what’s wrong just by touching you, but it’s true!  So leave your advil in the medicine cabinet and let a trained professional help you instead.

Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare PC offers the very best physical therapy in Ontario County. We treat all your wants and needs with our trusted and experienced Physical Therapists and staff. To begin to feel pain and stress free, start your Physical Therapy journey today and schedule your evaluation by calling (585) 396-1400.

Labrum Tears are Becoming all too Common

Labrum Tears are Becoming All too Common

by lakecountrypt, August 5, 2015

In a day and age when many athletes specialize in one sport, there are common injuries that are recurring in all sports. While leg injuries are common in basketball and football, shoulder injuries are all too common in baseball. Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare can help aid in the rehabilitation of shoulder related injuries, including labral tears.

Like the hips, there is a labrum in both shoulders. Labrums are made up of tissue and are inside of the shoulder to provide cushion for the ball and socket joint. The natural movement of the shoulder is forward and backward but not a full rotation above the head. This makes the shoulder susceptible to injury while playing baseball because the throwing motion is unnatural. Many baseball players specialize in the sport at a very young age and play year-round to enhance their skills and try to be the best they can be. While this is good for skill level, the shoulder takes weekly wear and tear. Since the off-season is brief, the shoulder has little time to rest. Overuse can lead to tearing of the labrum which sometimes requires surgery and almost always needs physical therapy to heal.

The professionals at Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare can help in regaining strength after a labrum injury. The highly skilled physical therapists will tailor a therapy program around a patient’s specific needs and aim to have his or her normal activities resumed as soon as possible. Through various physical therapy practices, the patient will receive top of the line treatment from consummate professionals.

Labrum tears can be painful and have a profound impact on everyday life.  Let Lake Country Physical Therapy & Sportscare help you regain normalcy after any injury through their passionate and personal care.