CSSPT News
Corvallis Sport and Spine Physical Therapy started a blog! Click HERE to check it out.
On June 5, 2009 Lisa and her husband Michael welcomed Daniel Blake Toney into their family. He weighed 6 pounds and 7 ounces and was 19.75 inches long. Both mom and baby are happy and healthy. We are all so excited for their new addition!
Golf Tournament for OSU Wrestling Team
On July 2nd, four of our physical therapists participated in a golf tournament which benefited the OSU Wrestling Team. The event was organized by OSU wrestlers. It was a beautiful day for a round of golf and one of our therapists, Craig Iseli, won a prize for having the longest drive of the day!
New Balance Girls on the Run 1K/5K
One June 6, 2009 our staff participated in the New Balance Girls on the Run 1K/5K at Willamette Park. Besides running/walking, we also had an informational booth where we provided education about injuries and stretching techniques. We will be hosting another booth at the Fall Festival Run on September 26, 2009.
CARDV Mother's Day Run/Walk for Safe Families
Five of our staff members participated in the CARDV Mother's Day Run/Walk for Safe Families on May 9, 2009. This 5K Run/Walk benefited the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV), whose mission is to provide services and support to those affected by sexual and domestic violence as well as and provide education and leadership within the community to change the societal conditions that cultivate these forms of violence. It was a beautiful day to be out in the sunshine, getting exercise, and supporting this wonderful cause!
Oregon State University's Annual Wheel-A-Thon
On May 6th, Corvallis Sport and Spine Physical Therapy put together a team for Oregon State University's annual Wheel-A-Thon. This event, put on by the students in the Physical Therapy Club, raises awareness about persons with disabilities and benefits the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic on campus. Each team in the event had to complete an obstacle course, in a wheelchair, as many times as possible in twenty minutes. It was a mind-opening and comical experience for all those involved.
Zumba for H.E.R.
On March 8th, five of our staff members participated in Zumba for H.E.R. This event was organized by the OSU students in Exercise and Sports Science 340 and benefited Project H.E.R. (Help. Enlightenment. Resources) a network of breast cancer survivors that provide support to women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Zumba is a fusion of Latin and International music and dance themes that create a "feel good" work out for both the body and mind. It was a wonderful afternoon where the girls got to dance (and laugh) their worries away while supporting a great cause!
Newest Member of the CSSPT Team
At 10:47am on September 2, 2008, Parwana Schell and her husband Daren welcomed their first child. Hannah Maria Schell weighed in at 5lbs, 13 oz and measured 19.75 inches long. Both mom and baby are happy and healthy!
June 18, 2005 in the Corvallis Gazette Times
Get in the zone
By Lynn Welp
"Did you know that according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, emergency rooms treat more than 400,000 outdoor garden- and garden-tool-related injuries each year?" Carrol Esterhuizen asked while standing in her friend's garden.
Esterhuizen is a physical therapist and business partner with Laura Hoffman PT, owners of the Corvallis Sport and Spine Physical Therapy clinic.
"We see many gardening-related injuries each year due to overuse, incorrect body mechanics, bad lifting or bending," she said.
The key to pulling weeds and not your back, she says, is to treat gardening as a sport, which should always begin with a warm-up. Walk about the garden, stretching your arms, hands, legs and spine — the joints most easily injured while using those "green thumbs."
Stretches should always be slow and held in a sustained position, gently breathing into a stretch and not jerking or bouncing for the best effect.
Stretches geared for gardeners can be found on their Web site at: www.csspt.com/gardening.
SAFE GARDENING
"It takes a combination of good body mechanics and good tools for safe gardening," Esterhuizen said. Good tools without good body mechanics are insufficient.
To protect the back, neck, shoulders and knees, you should center the task in the power zone. This is the area of the body where you have the most power to perform activities, and the back, shoulders and knees are protected when you center work here.
To find your zone, Esterhuizen says to envision a box in front of your body — the bottom of the box would be at your waistline, the top at your eye level, and the sides at the side of your body with your elbows snug to your sides and your lower arms turned out at a 45 degree angle.
When lifting, shoveling, weeding or pruning, remember to position your body in such a way that your belly button faces the activity that you are doing. With your back straight, work inside this imaginary box/zone in front of the body.
Good tools are also important for healthy gardening. Easy-to-grip tools with long handles for additional leverage are a gardener's best friend. People with arthritic hands should use tools with bigger grips, holding them with the palm and not just the fingers. Adding friction — with gloves or rubberized handles — keeps you from gripping too hard, which could cause repetitive motion or overuse injuries. Lightweight tools benefit gardeners with arthritic hands as well. An example is using a small-headed shovel to dig with.
Cushions or knee pads are also useful gardening tools to protect the back and knees when getting down on the ground to weed. Standing for prolonged periods requires good shoes for healthy feet. Popular open-heeled garden clogs may cause you to twist an ankle and wrench your back when your heel shifts unexpectedly on uneven surfaces.
Plan your attack on weeds
"Be realistic about pulling weeds or doing yard work. Plan what you need to accomplish and how much time is required," Esterhuizen said. Most injuries occur when gardeners think they can do as much in a day as they did when they were younger.
Minimize repetitive stress injuries by varying activities frequently, changing to activities that use different muscle groups. For example: weed for a little while, tackle some pruning, and then plant, before going back to weeding. It's essential to bring your body into an upright position every 30-45 minutes.
"Stop gardening before you become fatigued," Esterhuizen stressed. "Most injuries occur when we just want to do that last chore. If you feel stiff and sore, ice the affected area for 15-20 minutes and rest the next few days. If the pain persists, consult your physician or physical therapist."
Think outside the box
Thinking outside the box may mean using a flower box or planting in a raised bed instead of a traditional flower bed to prevent stooping. Consider hiring help for the heavy work if you need assistance and take some exercise classes to get and keep in shape throughout the year.
Esterhuizen offers us these practical tips for specific gardening activities. (For our demonstration she used the help of her friend Paige Green-Dinsmore and Paige's garden. The latest trends in gardening tools were supplied by Garland Nursery. "Green Fingers" Dinsmore, as Carrol aptly calls her, knows what it takes to keep fit for gardening — she used 30 yards of soil and 5 yards of rock and gravel to create her garden in Philomath two years ago and teaches pilates, yoga and step classes at Timberhill Athletic Club and OSU.)
- Weeding — Bending or stooping over to pull weeds moves the activity out of the power zone and places the intervertebral disc in a vulnerable position if maintained for an extended period of time.
Get down on your knees, using a knee pad, to bring the activity closer to your power zone. The hard ground can irritate the bursa that overlays the knee cap and cause prepatellar bursitis. Women are more prone to develop this condition — thus the name ‘housemaid's knee.'
For those having trouble getting down on their knees because of balance issues, there are benches with foam pads for assistance. When turned upside down, the bench legs serve as hand grips to make getting down and up from the ground easier.
If you are unable to kneel, there are long-handled or expandable weeding tools that enable you to weed from a bench or while standing upright. - Pruning — When pruning, the correct tools are important to avoid injury to muscles and joints. Keeping the tools sharp makes pruning a lot easier on your hands.
Use loppers with extendable handles and gear action designed to increase cutting power with little effort. Ratcheted shears are supposedly better for your hands than spring-resistant ones. The latest trend, though, is pruning shears with rotating handles to relieve stress on the hands, especially for those that do a lot of pruning.
"We often see patients come into the clinic with rotator cuff tendonitis because they spend hours pruning with their elbows held above the level of the shoulders — outside the power zone," Esterhuizen said.
Blood circulation in the rotator cuff is decreased after age 40, and holding the elbows above shoulder level fatigues the rotator cuff quicker than working below shoulder level. When these muscles are overused and tired they could develop shoulder impingement or related problems.
The back and neck are also prone to injury when pruning for extended periods. Reaching over your head overextends the neck and back, compressing the joints and narrowing the space in which the nerves and spinal cord move, which can cause injuries. Using a ladder brings the gardener up to the level of the work that needs to be done to keep the back and neck in a safe, neutral, upright posture. - Shoveling — When digging, turn the entire body before emptying the contents of the shovel. Avoid lifting, twisting and throwing, especially when the soil is wet. Keep the digging edge of the shovel sharp to a 45 degree bevel. A sharp tool will cut through soil and roots much quicker. Caked on dirt and rust make your tools less efficient.
- Lifting — It's especially important to remember to keep the power zone concept in mind when lifting. Bring your imaginary box down as close as possible to the object, bending your knees, and keep your belly button facing the object and your back straight, using your legs to do the majority of the work. Keep contents as close to your body as possible when carrying.
Do no lift loads that are too heavy — use a hand truck or get some help. Push instead of pulling, if there is a choice.
Consider using fiberglass containers, which are much lighter than terracotta pots. Buy potting soil in smaller quantities, which are a bit more expensive, but much cheaper than visiting the physical therapist or doctor.
Take a break
Gardening need not be all work. Give yourself permission to take a break now and then. Sit in the shade sipping lemonade and give yourself time to smell the flowers. Combined with good body mechanics, centering work in the power zone, pacing activities and stretching often, these are the tools needed to pull those weeds and not your back.