Most people know that physical therapy does an exceptional job of easing their pain, improving their ability to stay active, and helping them recover from surgery, injuries, stroke, and neurological conditions. But they don't have a clue what type of treatment they might receive when they need physical therapy. The...
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common nerve condition that results in 400,000 carpal tunnel release surgeries every year. Whether or not you end up needing surgery depends on factors such as when you get treatment, the severity of your symptoms, and the extent of your nerve damage. The experienced team...
Recurrent back pain, also known as chronic back pain, refers to pain that lasts longer than three months. During that time, your pain may come-and-go or turn into a constant problem that pervades your daily life. Chronic back pain is the most common cause of disability in people younger than...
Vertigo makes you feel disoriented, but normally the sensation that you're spinning lasts a few seconds. By comparison, Meniere's disease causes episodes of vertigo that go on for at least 20 minutes. Imagine how that would disrupt your day, not to mention put you at risk of falling. Though Meniere's...
Dry needling is well known for easing the pain of trigger points, those tight, painful knots that form in your muscles. When used to treat fibromyalgia, dry needling does more than relieve pain. It also improves anxiety and fatigue and helps you sleep better. The team at Prolete Physical Therapy...
Whether you need to recover from an injury or your goal is to improve mobility limited by a disease like arthritis, the path toward wellness depends on physical therapy. The treatments we provide at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine lay the groundwork. However, the speed of your recovery and...
If you live with chronic lower back pain, you’re all too familiar with the way it drains your energy, prevents you from working, and keeps you away from the activities you enjoy. When facet syndrome causes your ongoing pain, you can overcome your symptoms and manage the problem for the...
Knotted muscles, also called trigger points, can turn into a constant source of pain that goes beyond the knot. Touching the trigger point often causes pain in other parts of your body. As long as the trigger point exists, it keeps activating nerves and sending pain messages to your brain....
You may not think that physical therapists have anything to do with brain aneurysms. But physical therapy forms the foundation of your recovery after your aneurysm is treated. As specialists in neurological physical therapy, the team at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine works closely with people when an aneurysm...
Up to 36% of adults know the daily challenges of foot pain. If you’re in this group, you know it takes only a minor foot problem to make your day miserable. A more severe problem can lead to disabling pain. Anyone who struggles with foot pain may find the relief...
Once back and neck pain appear, they can quickly turn into a chronic problem. The best way to avoid the debilitating effects of spine-related pain is to follow a plan that keeps your back strong and prevents problems from developing. At Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, our team specializes...
Orthopaedic injuries occur when your body sustains an impact that’s strong enough to break bones or tear soft tissue. You can also sustain stress injuries that start out small and progress to cause a significant problem. Age-related degenerative conditions also lead to orthopaedic injuries. The team at Prolete Physical Therapy...
The pain of a tight, knotted muscle may go away on its own. But many patients end up with ongoing pain or pain that’s severe enough to need treatment. That’s when it’s time to talk with our team at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine about the benefits of dry...
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears represent half of all knee injuries. Contrary to popular belief, a torn ACL is seldom caused by a direct blow to your knee. Instead, ACL tears most often occur during athletic activities when you suddenly pivot, change direction, or rapidly stop while running. You can...
Neurological injuries arise from a multitude of causes and can affect every part of your body. Though the term neurological injury is sometimes used to mean a brain injury, it also encompasses spinal cord injuries, skull or spine fractures, and peripheral nerve damage. For most people with a neurological trauma,...
An acute injury seldom leaves room to wonder about seeing a doctor. You know that you suffered an injury, it really hurts, and so you seek medical care. Many other types of pain, however, leave you guessing and asking questions. When does lingering pain demand medical care? When should my...
The well-known benefits of physical therapy like helping you overcome pain, restore mobility, and accelerate recovery from an injury or surgery are reason enough to choose this type of treatment to support your health. But the specialists at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine know that physical therapy can do...
Having a sudden attack of dizziness or vertigo can be downright dangerous if you happen to be driving a vehicle or near the edge of a balcony or cliff when you lose your balance. The team at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine in Milford, Connecticut, offers comprehensive vestibular evaluations...
An over-the-counter (OTC) orthotic may be all you need if you want to make your shoes more comfortable or get a little extra cushioning for your feet. But if you have structural or biomechanical problems with your feet, a one-size-fits-all insert isn’t going to help. In fact, it could make...
As physical therapists who specialize in sports medicine, our team at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine creates customized rehabilitation strategies you can only receive from a therapist with extensive training and experience in the field of sports and orthopaedics. Following an injury, we know how to restore your ability...
Whether you’re a competitive athlete who’s anxious to get back in the game or you simply want to walk normally again, nothing is more important than fully rehabilitating from a hip, knee, leg, ankle, or foot injury as quickly as possible. That’s exactly what you can achieve when your rehabilitation...
Chronic back pain is the leading cause of disability in adults. While you can sustain an injury, chronic back pain is just as likely to develop gradually over years of daily habits that put extra stress on your spine. The team at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine in Milford,...
Rheumatoid arthritis is surrounded by interesting facts: The disease affects women three times more often than men. Children often outgrow juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, yet the disease is chronic and progressive in adults. And most people don’t know that cigarette smoking is the strongest environmental risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis. Of...
If you have heel pain, chances are you have plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis accounts for 10-22% of injuries in runners and affects 10% of the general population. We help many patients recover from plantar fasciitis at Prolete Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine because physical therapy modalities such as massage, stretching,...
You may wonder what a dry needle is and why you’d consider such a procedure. So, let’s start with a few explanations. For starters, it’s called dry needling because the needle isn’t used to inject any medication. It’s literally dry. The needling part refers to the technique, which uses the...
Are you ready to get back into the gym routine? You’re not alone! Health-related plans — including dieting and exercising — are the most popular types of New Year’s resolutions. However, this is a big commitment and one you need to prepare for. Over half a million Americans are injured...
If you have a musculoskeletal problem that has you constantly reaching for your bottle of painkillers or anti-inflammatories, you may feel temporarily better, but the discomfort will return. It always does. That’s because these medications do little to address the underlying cause of your pain, instead only providing you with...
Your knee is a complicated structure and one of the largest joints in your body. It contains bones, ligaments, cartilage, tendons, and other components that can become injured as a result of trauma or overuse. One of the most common knee injuries occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is...
TREATING THE PAINFUL TENDON Tendon-related pain is a very common condition seen in Physical Therapy clinics and gyms across the globe. There are also several different types of tendon pathologies, including tendinitis (acute inflammatory reaction within a tendon), tendinosis (chronic structural weakening of a tendon), and tenosynovitis (irritation...
COMPARTMENT SYNDROME Compartment syndrome is a condition in which the pressure within a limb increases and compresses nerves, blood vessels, and muscles. The ischemia to these tissues can result in pain, feelings of limb tightness, swelling, and paresthesias such numbness and tingling. This condition most commonly occurs in...
DOES RUNNING INCREASE YOUR RISK OF DEVELOPING KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS? One of the most common questions that Physical Therapists get asked is whether running will increase your risk of developing knee osteoarthritis (OA). In the past, many healthcare practitioners told their patients that running would wear down the cartilage of...
YOU ARE NOT YOUR MRI The advent of advanced imaging has done wonders for modern medicine. We are now able to take a detailed look inside of the body and see a huge variety of medical conditions, including fractures, tumors, spinal cord compression, arterial dysfunction, basically if you...
FLEXIBILITY VS MOBILITY Flexibility and mobility, while often used interchangeably, are actually not the same thing. Flexibility is defined as the body’s ability to achieve a certain position, and usually involves outside forces that move the body part into that position (i.e. using straps, having a partner push...