As physical therapists debate the effectiveness of heating pads in promoting recovery, I'd like to hear what you the patient thinks.

Watch Joseph Tobias take on the ice bucket challenge for patients with ALS.

I put together a short ergonomics checklist to assess your workstation. After answering 13 yes/no questions, it'll provide recommendations for adjustments you can make to your workstation to reduce stress on your neck and back. Click the link below to get started.

Related: Simple Workstation Ergonomics Tips

Now that spring is finally here, we can get back to being active. Unfortunately, being active can often result in injuries. There are many ways to help avoid injury, such as using proper equipment and shoes, playing and training properly, and not training too much. If you do get injured, it’s not the end of the world!

There are two kinds of injuries that you can suffer during activity:

• ·Acute traumatic injuries, such as a fracture, sprain, or concussion. These will usually come from getting hit or falling.
  

• Chronic, or overuse injuries are things like stress fractures and tendonitis. They happen over time from repetitive training, and may not seem serious at first.

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something isn’t right. If you are experiencing severe pain, limping, a limited range of motion, or swelling, you should stop your activity immediately. After an injury it is always best to follow professional advice about when you can begin activity again, and in the meantime a physical therapist will have suggestions on how to stay fit.

Once you are healed, preventing re-injury is just as important as the healing process was! Be sure to warm up before and after your activity, and if necessary, use extra protective gear on the injured body part. Take it slow at first and know your limits. Before you know it you’ll be back out there feeling great!

The setup of your workstation can have a major impact on your health! Here's some simple ergonomics tips to reduce stress on your back and neck:

1. Position the top of your monitor screen to be at eye level or slightly below eye level.
2. Center your body in front of the monitor and keyboard so that you're not constantly twisting your back.
3. Forearms should be level or tilted-up slightly, and wrists should not rest while typing.
4. Chair should provide lower back support.

I find it helps to set a timer to go off every half hour to remind yourself to get back into good posture position. I'll go into more detail on workstation ergonomics in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!

For a personal assessment of your workstation, schedule an appointment.

Related: Ergonomic Needs Assessment

What do you do if you hurt your ankle? Everyone knows about R.I.C.E: rest, ice, compression and elevation.

Then it became P.R.I.C.E: protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation.  

From now on...Call the P.O.L.I.C.E.

No, not New York's finest, but a better way to heal: protection, optimal loading, ice, compression, and elevation.

More recent studies have shown that injuries heal better when the appropriate amount of stress is placed on the healing body part. While we've always been taught to rest an injury, it’s now known that rest can lead to weakness and stiffness as the injury heals. Hence the O.L. in P.O.L.I.C.E. - for “optimal loading”.

With complete tendon tears, unstable fractures, or severe pain, optimal loading could mean no loading at all. As for minor injuries, activity can help the injured body part heal properly. Loading could mean light range of motion for a mild sprain. It may also include as much weight bearing as the injury can tolerate without increasing pain, as well as keeping the joints around the injured area moving to keep them strong and flexible.

Optimal loading should not increase your pain, but help an injury heal better. When in doubt, check it out. If you’re not sure what to do, don't hesitate to ask your doctor or physical therapist for advice.