Don't be wooed by the individual "best" therapist in the city. This is America and more is always better, right? Why settle for one amazing therapist when you could have an entire office of "the best" practitioners in the city?
Post-Surgical Physical Therapy Tips: 3 Ideas to Make Your PT Routine Stellar
In case you are (or, actually, in case you aren't) a big planner, we've got some tips for your post-surgical recovery that will make your physical therapy routine at least one thousand times more enjoyable. Follow these three easy tips and you'll be on your way to recovery before you even start your rehab routine.
Getting Back to Sport With a Sports Rehab Program
In short, find a physical therapy office that is dedicated to get you back to sport because they know how important competitive sports (of any level) are from personal experience. They'll understand the drive to get back to your game and will design the most effective sports rehab program to get you moving again, better than before. Work with therapists who understand the fine art of manual therapy, it'll do wonders in your recovery. If you're really committed to your sport of choice, come in for some personal training. It might just be the thing that keeps you in the game.
Physical Therapy: The Secret Weapons for Gait and Balance Disorders
Most people take for granted the ability to walk the streets of New York City, something we all do for miles on end every single day. When just getting one foot off the ground is a struggle, however, you're suddenly painfully aware of all the miles between subways, the height of bus steps, and the endless expanse of stairs in any walk-up apartment. Having a strong gait and steady balance aren't just a nice idea, they're necessary for any New Yorker anxious to get out and about in the city.
Osteoporosis: Don't Let it Break Your Back
Osteoporosis is an ailment that weakens bones and bone tissue, leaving bones weak and susceptible to breaks. While there are osteoporosis sufferers of all genders and ages, the disease usually affects post-menopausal women and seniors due to the gradual loss of bone density that occurs during the aging process. The best way to combat osteoporosis is to live a healthy lifestyle from a young age (peak bone density levels are reached around age 25) but physical therapy can definitely help cases of fully developed osteoporosis or healing from fractures due to this condition.
Expert Tips on Navigating Insurance Ins and Outs For Physical Therapy Coverage
There's nothing more confusing than figuring out insurance benefits; in network versus out of network, medicare benefits, secondary insurance plans, co-pays, etc., can all make your head spin when you're trying to figure out how to plan your physical therapy recovery. Insurance should be the last thing you are worried about when you are in the midst of your recovery plan and we understand that, which is why we go above and beyond to make your experience with us as stress free and accessible as possible. This means we work with your insurance plans, even if you don't think we are "in-network" or if it seems like your Medicare coverage might not be enough.
Yes! We take Medicare!
Total joint replacement programs aren't the only area of physical therapy we excel in for our Medicare patients. We also are a great facility for serving patients with gait and balance problems, back problems (spinal stenosis, etc.), or who are in need of relief from chronic pain.
Physical Therapy: An Answer to Chronic Pain Syndromes
Chronic pain is a serious affliction of pain lasting longer than three months. Often chronic pain is a neurological disorder, sometimes occurring without any damage or injury to the body. Unlike acute pain, chronic pain may not even be a warning to change behaviors or treat damaged tissues and bodily injuries. It can be a little tricky to comprehend, but the brain and nervous system, in an effort to protect the body, go on high alert in chronic pain conditions and can cause pain sensations activated by the brain without any damage occurring in the body.
Injury Prevention Programs on the Rise
Coming to physical therapy BEFORE you have an ALC injury?? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? However, when you think about the benefits it starts to make a lot of sense. First of all, injury prevention is only going to make you better, faster, stronger, and more competitive in your sport of choice. It's like personal training, but with an expert not only in physical fitness but also in body mechanics.
Translating Yoga Lingo 101
If you're familiar with the Upper West Side yoga scene in Manhattan, you probably hear a slew of confusing yoga phraseology every day. Words like Iyengar, Bikram, and Vinyasa flow are either part of your daily vocabulary or the reason you haven't ventured into a yoga class yet. It's intimidating enough to put on those spandex pants and wander into a room full of super fit UWS yoga aficionados, but add in Sanskrit and you'll find your new Lululemon pants never make it inside a studio. Here's a little guide to help you translate your way into a yoga class.
Sprains and Strains
We've all been there. You're playing tennis in Riverside Park one Friday after work and you are about to send a glorious backhand sailing over the net, when out of nowhere a tennis ball makes its way under your foot and you crash, in all your glory, to the ground. You know before you even try to stand up your ankle has twisted and you see crutches in your imminent future.
The Geometry of Running
Once you're comfortable with that idea (running is falling forward!) you can start to take a look at stride angles. The stride angle is the angle of opening between the legs, measured from the hips to the knees. The larger the stride angle, the more ground a runner can cover. Studies have shown that for every one degree you increase you stride angle, you increase your stride length by two percent. It doesn't sound like much, but when you're running a race and your stride angle is six degrees larger than your opponent's, that means you're covering twelve percent more ground than the guy next to you. Good luck keeping up with that.
Physical Therapy for Hip Labral Repair
When bones break they begin to bleed and clot, which then starts to slowly calcify and turn to bone itself until the break is completely healed. Unlike bone, cartilage has almost no potential to begin a self-healing process. To heal a tear in the cartilage, like a hip labral tear, you either need to undergo surgery or, in certain cases, a comprehensive physical therapy program.
Achilles Tendon Physical Therapy
A tear in the Achilles can feel like a shot up your calf as the connective tendon snaps and releases the tension it creates between the base of your muscle and top of your heel. As with a meniscus tear, you might be able to address this injury with a carefully thought out physical therapy plan and avoid surgery altogether. Which is, as always, where Sloane Stecker Physical Therapy comes into the picture!
Three Tips to Master Bakasana
Everyone loves the elusive bakasana (crow pose) that seems to regularly appear during your standard Vinyasa yoga class. And who would blame them? Crow pose is a challenge, builds stamina and strength, helps the practitioner engage bandhas, and it just looks really, really cool.
Unfortunately sometimes the vision of your perfect bakasana is easier to dream up then it is to manifest and you wind up with buckling arms and a face full of your mat. With these three tips you should be able to skillfully make your way into a firm, graceful bakasana with just a little determination and consistent practice.
Meniscus Tears and Physical Therapy: To Operate or Not to Operate?
At a certain point it seems like no one is exempt from a certain amount of knee pain. Whether you're older, younger, an athlete, or just a regular Joe-- you'll likely have an issue with your knees at some point in your life. The damage can be from a sports related accident, even stepping down the stairs wrong could do it, or the damage could be unavoidable degenerative effects of your day to day activities. The question then becomes: To operate or not to operate? Ultimately the decision is one you should carefully ponder with your specialist, but we do have a solid argument for physical therapy sans surgery to consider as you're weighing your options.
Physical Therapy for Shoulder Damage
Rotator cuff repairs are another relatively common injury and studies are showing that great physical rehab programs are just as important as a great surgeon. Getting you back to sport, the daily grind, and basically back to your active and happy life is always our focus. There are a variety of reasons you might be experiencing shoulder pain and while you might not always need surgery, you always need physical therapy. Our physical therapy programs for frozen shoulders, shoulder repair, arthritis and rotator cuff repair are all supported by one thing you won't find at just any physical therapy office in New York-- our amazing Noraxon technology.
ACL Recovery & Physical Therapy
Sloane Stecker Physical Therapy Lincoln Square offers an amazing setting in Manhattan's Upper West Side to undergo physical therapy for your ACL surgery.
Sunset Stretch Yoga Thursday's 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Check out our new Sunset and Stretch classes at Sloane Stecker Lincoln Square on Thursdays from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. Early bird gets the worm when you pre-register: $35 two-for-one. This class is guaranteed to have you sleeping better, operating more smoothly, and generally radiating happiness in no time. See you there!
Yoga for Mobility
Yoga for runners. Yoga and Chocolate. Foam and Flow (beer+yoga). You name it, there's a yoga practice for it. What happened to yoga for health and mobility? There's almost never going to be a reason in your life to execute a perfect Surya Namaskara A, but you are going to have to get a cup out of a high shelf on the daily for many, many years to come and that's where the perfect Surya Namaskara A comes into play. You can do yoga cause it's a killer workout or because the tops are super cute, but here's three unexpected ways a yoga practice will keep you in your best body for the rest of your life.