Shockwave for Shoulder Tendinopathy: The Conservative Path That Works
You have been dealing with this shoulder for months. It gets better with rest. It comes back the moment you start using it again. Anti-inflammatories take the edge off for a while and then stop working. If you had a cortisone injection, it helped the first time and...
Shockwave Therapy vs. Cortisone Injection: When the Shot Stops Working
She thought she had found the answer after the first injection. She was a physical therapy assistant, someone who understood musculoskeletal care better than most patients walk in with. The cortisone injection to her wrist worked. The pain reduced, she could do her...
Bulging
You got an MRI. The report says "bulging disc" or "herniated disc," possibly with additional language like "protrusion," "nerve root impingement," or "mild to moderate stenosis." And now you are trying to figure out whether those words mean surgery is in your future....
Low Back Pain vs. Sciatica: How to Tell the Difference and Why It Matters
People use the word "sciatica" to mean a lot of things. Some use it correctly, to describe radiating leg pain originating from nerve root irritation in the lumbar spine. Others use it interchangeably with low back pain. Others have been told by a provider, a family...
Load vs. Capacity: The Framework That Changes How You Think About Pain
Most people think about pain as something that just happens to them. The back goes out lifting a laundry hamper. The knee swells up after a long hike. The shoulder starts aching during a workout that seemed routine. The event gets the blame. "I threw my back out...
Exercise Therapy for Back Pain: The Evidence-Based Plan That Actually Works
He had been wearing Icy Hot pads to work for so long it had become routine. He was an arborist and tree climber, physically demanding work. He had been managing chronic low back pain since a motorcycle crash at fifteen. Over the years, he had learned to adapt his job...