Prevent Backpack Back Pain Is your child’s backpack getting heavier and heavier as the school year goes on? Heavier weight and improper adjustment of their backpacks can cause children and teens to adjust their posture to compensate for the added weight. As a result, they can suffer from chronic back pain. Some conditions we see from improperly wearing a backpack include poor posture with rounded shoulders, a forward head and rounded back. Here are some simple tips to make sure your student is not feeling back pain on top of loads of homework. 1. Try to limit the backpack load to less than 10 pounds. 2. Evenly distribute the weight throughout the backpack using pockets and compartments. This will encourage better posture. 3. Wear the backpack higher up on the back with both straps tightly secured. This decreases the bag’s weight from the hips and closer to the person’s center of gravity and lowering the stress on the spine, improving balance. Use the cross-chest strap if your backpack has one.
October is National Physical Therapy Month
Although the physical therapy profession continues to evolve, the general practice of physical therapy is not new. In fact, physical therapy dates back to 460 B.C, when physicians such as Hippocrates andGalenus performed the first therapeutic massage, hydrotherapy and manual therapy techniques. Today, physical therapy is still a vastly growing profession that includes many specialties such as pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, lymphedema management and hydrotherapy. Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants treat a wide variety of conditions from ankle sprains to spinal cord injuries and everything in between. Physical therapy settings include skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, hospitals, independent and assisted living facilities, home health and outpatient clinics. A physical therapist’s primary goals are to reduce pain, improve function and optimize patients’ overall health and wellbeing.
Refer someone to LSTC for physical therapy
and when they come in for care and tell us you referred them we send you 2 movie tickets as a thank you!
And we will enter you into our drawing for a $50 gift card!
Ask a PT: Have a question about physical therapy, an injury or a pain you’re feeling?
Ask your question by posting it on our Facebook or twitter page. • Q: How did the profession of physical therapy begin?
• A: The first professional association for physical therapy started in 1921 and involved only women. The greatest demand for physical therapists occurred duringWorldWar II because of the polio epidemic. Physical therapists played supportive roles to physicians. As time went on, physical therapists became autonomous healthcare providers establishing many national organizations and academic programs. Remember to ‘LIKE’ us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ LoudounSportsTherapyCenter for the latest LSTC news, health tips, workshop information and more!
Congrats to Nancy Killian! She is out next big winner in our patient referral game raffle! Nancy referred a patient our way so in addition to some movie tickets, she also won a $50 gift card. The game starts over now. We will draw another name once we hit 13 patient referrals so play along!
21251 Ridgetop Circle Suite #140, Sterling, VA 20166 www.LoudounSportsTherapy.com 703-450-4300
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