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Empire Physical Therapy & Athletic Rehabilitation, PC Blog View all posts

Plantar Fasciitis vs. a Sprain: How to Tell the Difference
Your feet get you around for a lifetime, but they contain many ligaments, tendons, and bones. When you experience pain, it can get confusing. Learn the differences between plantar fasciitis and a foot sprain, and how physical therapy can treat each.
Sep 7th, 2023

Physical Therapy for Rotator Cuff Injury: What to Expect
Approximately 2 million people injure their rotator cuffs each year, and these injuries cause shoulder swelling, considerable pain, and mobility problems. Learn how important physical therapy is in treating these injuries and more.
Aug 8th, 2023

5 Ways to Manage a Sciatica Flare-Up
Sciatica causes agonizing pain and a host of other uncomfortable symptoms in your hips, lower back, buttocks, and legs. Learn more about your sciatic nerve, sciatica risk factors, and how to calm symptoms, including seeing a physical therapist. 
Jul 14th, 2023

When to See a Professional for Ankle Pain
Ankle pain can be traced to sports injuries and conditions like arthritis, but how do you determine when to treat it at home and when to seek professional treatment? Learn how here.
Jun 8th, 2023

Why Do I Have Knee Pain When I Sit Down?
As your body’s strongest joints, your knees are crucial to your movement, and when pain strikes, you can feel sidelined. Sometimes knee pain worsens when you sit, but why? Learn more here.
May 16th, 2023

5 Risk Factors That Are Linked to Plantar Fasciitis
Are you in agony from severe heel pain, discomfort along the bottom of your foot, and limited mobility? It may be plantar fasciitis, which 1 in 10 people deal with. Learn about the major risk factors and effective treatments for the condition.
Feb 15th, 2023

Is Working From Home a Pain in Your Neck?
Working from home gives you flexibility and other perks, but if your office isn’t set up properly, it can be a pain in the neck — literally. Learn about why you’re more prone to neck pain and what we can do to remedy it.
Jan 10th, 2023

Avoid These Foods If You Have Gout
In Henry VIII’s time, gout was known as a disease of the wealthy. It still plagues over 9 million people, and most are regular folks. Learn about what puts you at high risk for gout and how tweaking your diet could help prevent painful flares.
Dec 11th, 2022

Understanding Your Options When You Have a Labrum Tear
A labrum tear is one of the most common and potentially painful shoulder injuries that can also limit your mobility. Learn about the labrum, what leads to tears, and the important role physical therapy plays in recovery from tears or surgery.
Nov 8th, 2022

How Stretch Therapy Can Help Your Plantar Fasciitis
Are you one of the 10% of people who suffer from the pain, inflammation, and movement limitations brought on by a tight and inflamed plantar fascia, the ligament that runs the length of your foot? Learn why stretch therapy brings welcome relief.
Oct 11th, 2022

What Can I Expect During My Knee Replacement Recovery?
You may shudder if your doctor recommends a total knee replacement, but if other pain and immobility treatments have failed, this is your best bet. Learn about the procedure and the critical part physical therapy can play in your recovery.
Aug 9th, 2022

What You Need To Know About Labrum Tears
Labrum tears affect the cartilage in your ball-and-socket joints, the hips and shoulders. If the tear is severe, surgery is required. Physical therapy can play an important role in preparing for surgery and recovering from it. Learn more here.
Jun 1st, 2022

4 Reasons to Consider Shoulder Replacement
Physical therapy and other noninvasive treatments can address severe shoulder pain and immobility, but they aren’t always enough. If you need shoulder replacement surgery, physical therapy can help prepare you for and recover from the procedure.
May 5th, 2022

Do I Need Special Shoes for Plantar Fasciitis?
Although a host of effective treatments exist for the painful foot condition plantar fasciitis, switching to the proper shoes is one of the simplest and most effective. Learn more about the condition, its symptoms, and treatments here.
Apr 7th, 2022

5 Signs of a Lower Back Injury
Lower back pain from an injury can lead to chronic pain, a loss of mobility, and other discomforts. Learn about lower back injury symptoms and how physical therapy can put you on the road to recovery quickly.
Mar 13th, 2022

Can Physical Therapy Help My Shoulder Pain?
Chronic shoulder pain stems from many conditions. It's painful, limits your mobility, and eventually affects your mood. Learn about the part that physical therapy plays in restoring your mobility and freeing you from pain.
Feb 14th, 2022

What Causes Joint Pain Besides Arthritis?
Don’t automatically assume that your joint pain stems from arthritis. Though the condition is responsible for many symptoms, many other problems lead to joint pain. Learn about some of them here and effective treatments.
Jan 11th, 2022

Gout and Knee Pain: How Are They Linked?

You might think that gout, a painful type of inflammatory arthritis, only attacks the big toe, but it can wreak havoc on your knee. Learn about what causes gout, why it’s agonizing, and treatments that work.
Dec 13th, 2021

5 Common Types of Tendonitis
Your tendons do important work. In conjunction with your muscles, they allow you to move your limbs and be active. When tendonitis strikes, you not only hurt, but your movement is limited. Learn about common types and treatments that can help.
Nov 5th, 2021

Train With NormaTecⓇ Compression Boots
If you’re plagued by post-workout leg pain, swelling, and muscle fatigue, or you’ve suffered an injury, learn about an innovative treatment that improves blood circulation, relieves discomfort, and builds strength: NormaTecⓇ compression boots.
Oct 8th, 2021

5 Risk Factors for Plantar Fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis causes excruciating pain and swelling in your heel and arch that limits your mobility and quality of life as it progresses. Learn who’s at higher risk for the condition and what treatments offer relief.
Sep 6th, 2021

What’s Causing Your Excruciating Back Pain?
Back pain can be a nuisance, but when it turns into agony, it’s life-limiting. Learn why you may be suffering with serious back pain and how physical therapy can rid you of pain, increase your flexibility, and restore your mobility.
Aug 12th, 2021

7 Movement Patterns in a Functional Movement Screen™
Physical therapists depend on the Functional Movement Screen™ test to reveal a patient’s stability and flexibility, balance abilities, and pain issues. Learn about the seven components of FMS and how they help your PT create a treatment plan.
Jul 20th, 2021

High Volume Vs. Low Volume PT Clinics
Have you ever felt like a faceless entity when receiving care from a physical therapist? What if you could get individualized care and attention from a PT practice that keeps its patient volume low? Now you can.
Jun 28th, 2021

Common Baseball-Related Injuries
We all know baseball is as American as apple pie, but digging into a slice of pie involves much less risk than pitching and running around the baseball diamond. Learn about the most common baseball-related injuries and how they can be treated.
May 10th, 2021

Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Knee Pain
You may think your knee pain isn't a big concern, but failing to seek treatment could put you at risk for worse discomfort, injury, and even surgery. Here’s why you should be proactive about knee pain and which treatments could help.
Apr 1st, 2021

Common Injuries for Female Athletes
Whether you’re a solo runner or happily playing on your local adult soccer team, you’re more prone to certain injuries if you’re a woman. Learn what those injuries are, how to prevent them, and how a physical therapist can treat them.
Mar 2nd, 2021

How To Strengthen Your ACL and Prevent Injuries
ACL injuries are very common and cause significant pain, swelling, and life-altering mobility problems. Seek treatment if you have one, but if not, we offer some preventive strategies you can easily adopt. Learn more here.
Feb 2nd, 2021

Understanding the Different Types of Tendinitis
Tendinitis isn’t a one-size-fits-all condition. You have over 1,300 tendons, the connective fibers that tie bone to muscle, and any can be damaged by wear-and-tear and injury. Learn about the most common types here and how they’re treated.
Jan 1st, 2021

Solutions for Your Knee Pain
Knee pain’s origins are many, but no matter how it starts, it can be excruciating and cause swelling and severely limited mobility. Physical therapy treatments can get you back to your old pain-free, active self.
Nov 15th, 2020

How Exercise Can Improve Your Arthritis
There’s a secret weapon you can use to fight the onset of arthritis, or its pain and stiffness if you already have the disease. That weapon is physical exercise. Learn why exercise is critical and what movements are safest for you.
Oct 13th, 2020

Living With Plantar Fasciitis
If you can’t stand the burning, stabbing pain in the bottom of your feet anymore, get help for your plantar fasciitis. There are a wide range of treatments available, and all are safe and noninvasive. Never fear putting weight on your heel again.
Sep 16th, 2020

Things You Do Every Day That Worsen Your Back Pain
Playing sports isn’t the only thing that leads to back pain. It’s the everyday movements and habits that can trip you up. Read on to learn tips you can put into practice to prevent problems or worsening pain.
Aug 14th, 2020

6 Tips to Protect Your Lower Back
The scourge of low back pain affects an astonishing 80% of our country’s population at some time in their lives, but did you know that there are quite a few preventive steps you can take to keep it at bay?
Jun 15th, 2020

The Many Benefits of Blood Flow Restriction
Whether you want better training results, faster recovery from injury or surgery, or increased strength while living with a chronic condition, blood flow restriction training and rehabilitation treatment may be the answer. Learn why here.
May 27th, 2020

We Have Telemedicine: Learn How It Works
Telemedicine — or virtual care — is now crucial in our city, which has been hit so hard by COVID-19. Learn about how we can still provide the same high level of care you’ve grown to appreciate, but deliver it differently.
Apr 6th, 2020

6 Ways You Can Improve Your Joints
You may think that joint pain and damage is inevitable, but there is a host of activities you can do to support your joints. Best of all, they’re not difficult to incorporate into your routine and can help you feel better all the time.
Feb 11th, 2020

How You Can Deal with Rotator Cuff Injuries
Rotator cuff injuries can be painful and, in some cases, progressive. Physical therapy can help improve your range of motion and strengthen your shoulder either as a stand-alone treatment or following surgery.
Oct 22nd, 2019

5 Tips for Strengthening Your Ankle After a Sprain
Every day, 25,000 people sprain their ankle in the United States. It’s a common injury, and once you’ve had one – you’re at risk of another and another. Strengthen your ankle after a sprain to reduce the likelihood that you suffer a repeat injury.
Sep 1st, 2019

5 Ways You Could Be Worsening Your Knee Pain
Prolonged pain in your knees comes from many causes. If you're not careful, you could be making your knee pain worse without knowing it. Learn more about the potential causes of knee pain.
Aug 1st, 2019

5 Easy Stretches for Remedying Plantar Fasciitis Pain
If plantar fasciitis is making those first few steps an agonizing experience, it’s no stretch to say that some easy stretches can help remedy your pain. Find out how to do each one, and watch your pain go away!
Jun 20th, 2019

How to Alleviate Sciatica and Prevent it From Returning

The tingling, numbness, and pain from a pinched sciatic nerve interfere with your everyday life. Take steps at home to help find relief. These strategies complement those offered by the team at Empire Physical Therapy & Athletic Rehabilitation, PC.
May 16th, 2019

7 Tips for a Successful Hip Replacement Recovery
While the results of a total hip replacement may be exciting, it takes some time to recover. While you’ll say goodbye to chronic pain and mobility limitations, recovering from the surgical procedure needs a balance of rest and physical therapy.
Apr 15th, 2019

Returning to Sports After an ACL Injury
It’s the first question everyone asks: When can I get back in the game? Recovering from an ACL injury takes time and patience, but you’ll be rewarded with a healthy knee that will carry you to victory.
Mar 1st, 2019