View Cart (0)
News
Stretches To Help with Lower Back Pain
Do you suffer from lower back pain? If so, you’re certainly not alone. Lower back pain affects 72.3 million people, or three out of 10 adults in the U.S., according to a survey from The Harris Poll. The survey, which … Continue reading
How Can I Improve My Fascial Fitness?
Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue that envelops every organ, bone, muscle, blood vessel and nerve fiber, and keeps it all in place. As you can imagine, fascia health is extremely important. Performing exercises to strengthen the fascia … Continue reading
Using Warm Compresses to Alleviate Arthritis Pain
May is Arthritis Awareness Month! Nearly one-fourth of adults in the U.S. suffer from arthritis, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Arthritis, which has symptoms that include swelling, pain, reduced range of motion and stiffness, … Continue reading
What is Fascial Training and Why is it Important?
It seems everywhere you look; people are talking about the benefits of fascial training. But what is it exactly and why should we care? This new and exciting fitness method is rapidly gaining popularity among athletes and everyday fitness enthusiasts … Continue reading
Beginner Exercises That Can Help You Stay Active
If you take anything away from National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, it should be to exercise regularly. Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health because of all the associated benefits. Exercise can … Continue reading
National Blood Pressure Month: A Reminder to Know Your Numbers
May is National Blood Pressure Month. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects one-third of Americans, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a major contributor to heart disease, heart attack and stroke, which are leading causes of … Continue reading
National Physical Fitness and Sports Month 2023
May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month! This annual month-long recognition is dedicated to inspiring people of all ages and abilities to be more physically active. Whether you’re a fitness or sports enthusiast, or you’re new to exercising, this … Continue reading
StayPut®: Your Ultimate Safety Solution
Slips and falls are some of the most common accidents that occur in homes, hospitals, and workplaces. Resulting injuries can range from minor bumps and bruises to serious head injuries and fractures. Fortunately, you can take proactive measures to prevent … Continue reading
Why Non-Slip Material is Important
Patient safety is one of the most important responsibilities of health care and assisted living facilities, and it’s no secret why. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye—which is why non-slip material is so valuable to have in your … Continue reading
How to Exercise on a Budget
It’s no secret that gym memberships can be quite costly. Depending on the type of gym you join—i.e., boutique fitness studios versus health club chains—the extra fees can be a source of frustration, especially in addition to other monthly bills. … Continue reading
Tools of the Trade – Occupational Therapy Edition
Occupational therapists (OTs) help patients develop, improve, and maintain the skills needed to participate in daily living. In therapy sessions, OTs simulate everyday life activities, or occupations, so patients can work on regaining and retaining their independence. Basic physical activities … Continue reading
Occupational Therapy Month 2023
April is Occupational Therapy Month; a time to celebrate, honor and recognize the work of occupational therapy practitioners around the country. Nearly 130,000 people in the U.S. work in this extraordinary profession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over … Continue reading
Best Home Gym Equipment for 2023
Since the pandemic happened, a lot of people started working out from home and have not looked back. Working out from home has its benefits. The biggest one being not having to leave the convenience of your own home. One … Continue reading
Workout While Sitting Down
If you work in an office, you spend a lot of your time sitting down. Making you inactive during most of your day. Our bodies are meant to be active throughout the day, so we can get that blood flowing … Continue reading
How to Choose the Right Pillow for a Better Night’s Sleep
Sleeping on a pillow that’s hard as a rock? Sometimes the easy solution to better sleep is having the right pillow. This week sparks the 25th anniversary of National Sleep Awareness Week, it’s a reminder to choose the right pillow … Continue reading
National Sleep Awareness Week 2023
“Am I getting enough sleep?” is a common but important question that we should all ask ourselves from time to time. A good night’s sleep is essential to feeling refreshed and energized the next day. Without sufficient rest, we become … Continue reading
How to Prevent Heartburn
Heartburn can be very uncomfortable, especially if it happens frequently. That burning pain in your chest and throat can make doing everyday activities more difficult. But the good news is that you can manage it. By changing your lifestyle, you … Continue reading
What Causes Heartburn?
Having frequent heartburn? Even though the name suggests it, heartburn has nothing to do with the heart. (So much for another heart-related blog for American Heart Month.) Heartburn is identified as an uncomfortable, burning pain felt in the chest and … Continue reading
Get Your Heart Healthy for Valentine’s Day
Nothing makes the heart grow fonder or stronger like a good workout. Not only is the heart a symbol of love, but it’s also what’s keeping you alive and healthy. To ensure your heart stays well and strong, it’s important … Continue reading
American Heart Month 2023
Ah, February! The time of the year where you learn what your heart desires… and we are not talking about Valentine’s Day. February is American Heart Month, a great time to learn and focus on your cardiovascular health. This year, … Continue reading
Grip Strength Can Be a Prognostic Factor for Dexterity.
Did you know that grip strength can tell you a whole lot about an individual’s dexterity. Dexterity is extremely important to allow us to perform various tasks and activities of daily living. Understanding the relationship of grip strength and dexterity … Continue reading
Quick Exercises to Help You Lose Weight
Feeling lost when it comes to weight loss? Weight loss isn’t something that happens magically overnight, but with some hard work and dedication, you can certainly reach your goals. Diet and exercise are both key, as well as patience and … Continue reading
Exercises are Strategies. Strategies are Exercises.
Clinicians will often prescribe therapeutic exercises to address various impairments and functional limitations. These exercises are specific in nature to help patients improve strength, range of motion, decrease pain, decrease disability, and improve overall general functional mobility. Exercises can have … Continue reading
How to Maintain Your New Year’s Fitness Resolution
For some, it is easy to keep their gym goals as they have been doing it for years. But what about the people who have made it their goal to go to the gym for their new year’s resolution? Around … Continue reading
Can’t Grip Dumbbells? Here Are Some Alternatives.
Some patients may experience difficulties with gripping exercise equipment, such as dumbbells. Grip strength can be affected by impairments and functional limitations due to a medical condition or injury. The clinician may have trouble choosing alternative exercises for these clients, … Continue reading
Exercises to Help Manage Knee Pain
Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or someone who simply enjoys walking, your knees play a vital role in everyday activities. So, it can be quite debilitating when you start experiencing knee pain—at any point in life. Knee pain is a … Continue reading
What Can I Do for Achilles Tendonitis?
Achilles tendinopathy is a common condition experienced by many individuals. Those who participate in recreational or competitive sports may be susceptible to developing this condition.1 Evidence indicates clinicians should utilize mechanical loading to decrease pain and improve overall function.1 Exercises … Continue reading
How to Manage Knee Pain
Click. Click. Click. You know you’re getting older when your body starts making sounds in areas that you’ve never heard before. If you hear a clicking sound when you go up or down the stairs, it’s probably your knees. … Continue reading
What are the Most Important Questions to Ask During an Initial Interview with a Patient?
The initial interview is probably one of the most important moments of a patient’s episode of care. This is an opportunity for clinicians to learn how to receive prudent information that will help guide them during clinical decision making. The … Continue reading
4 New Exercises for the New Year
Happy New Year! It is a new year and possibly new you. If you are one of the many people who made their new year’s goal to start exercising again, it is time to get motivated! Sometimes it can be … Continue reading
How to Individualize Pinch Grip Strength Evaluations? The Baseline BIMS Pinch Dynamometer.
Pinch grip strength is an important objective measurement that is generally taken during regular physical examinations of patients presenting with various impairments and functional limitations. Pinch grip strength is important to assess as it allows us to perform everyday tasks … Continue reading
How You Can Prepare for a Healthy New Year
With the holiday season ending and the new year fast approaching, it is important to set your goals on what you want to accomplish for next year. Since the pandemic, having and maintaining a healthier lifestyle has never been more … Continue reading
How To Individualize Hand Flexion Strengthening? Try the CanDo® Digi-Flex Multi®.
Hand strengthening is important to help address grip strength deficient, muscular imbalances, and improve overall function. Hand flexion strengthening is important for certain tasks including activities of daily living. Hand flexion strengthening is also important as it makes up many … Continue reading
Best Exercises to do with a Cold
Want to work out before or during the holiday season but have a slight cold? If you are feeling under the weather but still feel up to exercising, by all means go for it. Just know that your body is … Continue reading
Can You Objectively Measure Pain?
Pain is a common symptom associated with a patient’s clinical presentation. Understanding pain is extremely important to help guide clinical decision making as well as the entire episode of care. Pains allows us to truly understand what the patient is … Continue reading
Can You Exercise with a Cold?
Aaachoo! The weather is getting colder, and you know what that means…a lot of people are getting sick. Sometimes it can be unavoidable because both your coworkers and the people you live with at home have a cold. But can … Continue reading
Trouble Measuring with Goniometers? Give These a Try!
Goniometry is important to objectively measure the range of motion of a given patient. This information will help guide clinical decision making and help the clinician develop the most effective plan of care. However, sometimes it can be difficult to … Continue reading
Holiday Shopping List 2022
Tis the season to start shopping for loved ones, coworkers, and friends! Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time to start thinking about what gifts you are getting for the holidays. Not sure what you should get? No worries! … Continue reading
The CanDo® Wrist/Forearm Exerciser.
Clinicians will prescribe certain exercises to help address individual impairments and functional limitations of a given patient. Typically exercises may include very general exercises including wrist curls and stretches. A lot of these exercises are very generic and can be … Continue reading
How to Begin Exercising
Exercising is one of the best things you can do to keep your body healthy. If you are a beginner, it can be a daunting task to try to figure out where to even begin. You go to the gym, … Continue reading
7 Ways to Measure Posture.
Measuring posture is important when we are evaluating our patients. Understanding the clinical presentation of our patients allows the clinician to further understand how this may influence their respective impairments and functional limitations. However, sometimes we do not possess the … Continue reading
Preparing for the Thanksgiving Feast
This Thursday is turkey day! Thanksgiving is a great holiday to spend with family. It is also a bit of an excuse to gorge yourself with all the delicious food. Only to regret it later that you consumed too many … Continue reading
Treating the Wrist and Hand? Don’t Forget About Proximal Stability!
When we are treating a specific region of the body, we also need to understand how other regions contribute to what the patient is experiencing. This can be true when treating a patient for hand or wrist pathologies. Sometimes we … Continue reading
How to Stay Safe During Flu Season
Have you noticed people starting to cough and sneeze in your office yet? You may think they just have a cold, but it might be the flu. Yes, flu season is here, so it is important to be well informed … Continue reading
What Tools Do I Need for Long-Term Self-Management?
Once patients are discharged from an episode of care, they usually will review a self-management program to be performed at home. Self-management programs are crucial for patients to continue to progress and reach their respective goals. For patients to be … Continue reading
Fight Diabetes with Exercise
For people who have diabetes, the benefits of exercise can’t be said enough. This is because exercise helps lower your blood sugar levels and boosts your body’s sensitivity to insulin, thus countering your body’s insulin resistance. Here are some exercises … Continue reading
How to Make Pinch Strength Testing Individualized? The Baseline BIMS 5-Position Pinch Dynamometer.
Pinch strength testing is an essential objective measurement that should be performed with every physical examination. This information is important as it can tell us a lot in regard to a patient’s function and their overall quality of life. However, … Continue reading
National Diabetes Month
November is the month where you start thinking about eating turkey and buying presents. It is also a month about raising awareness about diabetes. Every year during the month of November, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has an event to … Continue reading
How Should We Evaluate In-Hand Manipulation?
So, what is in-hand manipulation (IHM)? In-hand manipulation, or IHM, is defined as the “adjustment of an object within the hand for optimal orientation after grasp.”1 IHM can be classified as the skill into shift, rotation, and translation. It plays a major … Continue reading
Hand Exercisers for Gamer’s Wrist
Gamer’s wrist is an injury that everyone who uses a keyboard or game controller wants to avoid. It can happen with age, certain medical conditions such as arthritis or the overuse of your wrists and thumbs. It can be incredibly … Continue reading
Pain Scores. Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
We often will subjectively measure a patient’s pain level to capture what they are currently experiencing. This can be achieved with obtaining different values including numerical, visual, or even with faces. Gathering this information is important as it can help … Continue reading
What is Gamer’s Wrist?
Do you enjoy playing video games during your free time? Well, you are a part of the majority then, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) roughly two-thirds of Americans play video games regularly. That is more than 215 million … Continue reading
If You Have a Balance Pad, You Need a Mat to Go with It!
Does your cell phone have a case on it? Of course, it does! Anyone with a smart device typically will want to protect it using a case. Users want to keep their investment safe and secure. The same goes for … Continue reading
The Most Popular Chiropractic Tools
The number one most popular chiropractic tool is the chiropractor’s own hands, but sometimes their hands need some additional help to provide the best care possible. If you ever looked around a chiropractor’s office, there are all sorts of tools … Continue reading
How To Improve Shoulder Range of Motion?
Individuals who experience shoulder pain may have difficulty with performing shoulder range of motion to participate in daily activities. Daily activities may include dressing, bathing, grooming, reaching, among many other tasks to help us throughout the day. Those who are … Continue reading
National Chiropractic Health Month 2022
Wow it is October already! It is that time of the year for all ghosts and ghouls to come out. Alongside this spooky month comes the appreciation for chiropractic health. That is right, this October the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) … Continue reading
How Do I Manage Tight Muscles?
Individuals may experience tight muscles or muscle spasms on occasion whether it was the result of an injury or insidious onset. Those individuals may seek the guidance of a medical professional to help decrease pain and improve overall function. However, … Continue reading
Fall into Physical Fitness with these Fun Tips
This week marks the first full week of Fall! With the end of summer comes changing leaves and dropping temperatures. But that does not mean you can’t still enjoy some outdoor physical activity. You might just have to adjust your … Continue reading
Want to Feel Your Core Working? Try Pressure Biofeedback Gauges
Core stabilization exercises are excellent to improve strength, flexibility, range of motion, and better balance. However, performing these exercises can feel challenging. Sometimes we aren’t sure if we are activating the ‘right’ muscles when performing the exercises. Perhaps we need … Continue reading
Postnatal Exercises You Can Do After Pregnancy
Postnatal exercises can help you recover, make you stronger and even improve your mood. If you’re eager to get moving, you might be wondering when it would be safe to return to exercise. While every pregnancy is different, if you … Continue reading
How Should We Strengthen the Shoulder? Rhythmic Stabilization.
Shoulder pain is a common condition experienced by many people. Individuals may need to strengthen specific muscles to help reduce symptoms. Traditional shoulder exercises typically will focus on one plane of movement. However, the human body moves and functions in … Continue reading
Is it Safe to Exercise While Pregnant?
Pregnancy might seem like the perfect time to quit exercising or even allow you to put it off until after childbirth. This is likely due to feeling more tired than usual, and possible back aches associated with carrying extra weight. … Continue reading
Should Grip Strength Testing Positions be Standardized?
Grip strength testing is an objective measure that is highly utilized among clinicians. Grip strength testing can tell us a lot about an individual. However, when we proceed to test these individuals, the question becomes, how should we test them? … Continue reading
How to Clean Your Yoga Mat
Have you thought about cleaning your yoga mat? The truth is, with frequent usage, your yoga mat can quickly accumulate all your sweat, skin oils, dirt and grime. Between yoga classes and core workouts, your yoga mat might be harboring … Continue reading
Grip Strength: A Prognostic Factor of Dexterity
Clinicians may choose from several objective measures when evaluating an individual for dexterity dysfunction including manual muscle testing, range of motion, special tests, and dexterity tests. All of these will provide valuable information to help guide clinical decision making throughout … Continue reading
What Can I Take for Back Pain?
Back pain is no joke. Sometimes the pain can be so bad that you end up in urgent care. Which is why it is important to listen to your physical on what exercises you can do to help manage back … Continue reading
Don’t Forget About Hand Extension Exercises!
Commonly, clinicians will prescribe wrist and hand exercises that primarily focus on hand flexion. While this is important for performing activities of daily living, we cannot forget about hand extension. Strengthening hand extensors is important to prevent imbalance of antagonist … Continue reading
How Physical Therapy Can Help with Back Pain
Backaches are no fun, especially when they happen suddenly and for no real reason. One minute you are fine and the next minute, you bend down wrong to pick something up and now you are in pain. While becoming a … Continue reading
Boring Pronation/Supination Exercises? Give this one a try
Are you still prescribing boring pronation and supination exercises to your patients? Looking for something new and different? I would recommend looking at the CanDo Pronation/Supination Wrist Exercise Wheel. What is the CanDo Pronation/Supination Wrist Exercise Wheel? The CanDo Pronation/Supination … Continue reading
Exercise You Can Use to Practice Pilates
Pilates is a very popular exercise method that can be done by just about anyone. This is because Pilates uses your core and your whole body to gain balance, strength, mobility, and flexibility. This can help you with your everyday … Continue reading
Let’s Cut to the Chase: You Need CanDo® Perf 100 Exercise Bands
Let’s start with these questions: How many of you still use scissors to cut exercise bands for your patients? How many of you waste time trying to cut exercise bands with lousy scissors? How many of you struggle doing this, … Continue reading
The Benefits of Pilates
No matter what you exercise you do, any kind of exercise is good for you. Whether that be lifting weights or going for a run. Pilates is an exercise method that can be done by just about anyone regardless of … Continue reading
What Can I Do with the CanDo® Wrist/Forearm Exerciser?
There are many great products out there that are great to address wrist and forearm dysfunction. CanDo® Wrist/Forearm Exercisers are great options to help individuals achieve their respective goals and improve their overall daily function. These products can be utilized … Continue reading
How Ball Chairs Can Get You Moving More
It’s time to swap out your office chair for a stability ball chair! In keeping with last week’s blog about finding time in the day to exercise, we have one more tip, using a ball chair. Having a ball chair … Continue reading
What Can I Do with CanDo® Inflatable Balance Discs?
There are many great products out there that are helpful in addressing balance and strengthening deficits. CanDo® Inflatable Balance Discs are great options to help individuals achieve their respective goals and improve their overall daily function. These products can be … Continue reading
Ways to Get Moving More During Everyday Life
When it comes to getting into exercise, “I just don’t have time” is one of the top excuses for not having daily exercise routine. For some, just the thought about having to get up and do regular exercise after a … Continue reading
CanDo® Twist-n-Bend Exercisers: More Than Just Strengthening
Building strength for the upper extremity, including the wrist and hand, is important to be able to carry out everyday activities. CanDo® Twist-n-Bend Exercisers are a great option to help address specific impairments and functional limitations, as well as achieving … Continue reading
Aquatic Therapy with CanDo®
Aquatic therapy is an amazing alternative form of physical therapy. It uses the physical properties of the water to provide benefits as you do various exercises in it. These benefits include avoiding joint strain, reducing swelling and increasing muscle strength. … Continue reading
How Do I know If an Intervention is Beneficial?
There are plenty of interventions we utilize when we implement them into a plan of care for our patients. Each intervention can help address impairments and functional limitations for each individual clinical presentation. In our minds, we think whenever we … Continue reading
Benefits of Doing Aquatic Therapy
Do you go to physical therapy and enjoy swimming? By combining the natural properties of water with the movement of your body, you’ve got a very effective physical therapy solution. Aquatic therapy is an extremely beneficial form of physical therapy … Continue reading
Should I Use Heat or Cold Therapy?
The use of modalities is helpful to reduce pain, improve the body’s ability to heal, and enhance overall function. Heat and cold therapies are two modalities that are traditionally used to address impairments and functional limitations of patients. There are … Continue reading
Pinch Grip Testing: An Essential Clinical Utility
Pinch grip is important for individuals to perform activities of daily living and various everyday tasks. Testing for pinch grip strength is important to be able to understand impairments and functional limitations a patient is experiencing. What are we evaluating … Continue reading
Introducing the New CanDo® Slide Board
Looking for a low impact exerciser that doesn’t put a whole lot of pressure on your knees and joints? Then you might want to try our new CanDo® Slide Board! The CanDo® Slide Board allows users to challenge themselves, develop … Continue reading
4 Ways to Perform Thoracic Extension Exercises
Thoracic extension exercises are a great way to focus on individual impairments and functional limitations. Thoracic extension exercises can help improve range of motion, flexibility, and overall posture. There are numerous ways to perform this exercise. Here are some … Continue reading
Workouts You Can Do This Summer
Today marks the first day of Summer! That’s right, and with Summer comes warmer weather for you to enjoy. Beach volleyball, tennis, paddle boarding…the number of outdoor activities to do are endless. It is just a matter of picking the … Continue reading
How Can I Improve my Grip Strength?
Assessing grip strength is important as it can tell you a lot about your patient. Not only grip strength, but other variables including all-cause mortality, frailty, and many other pieces of information. Therefore, we should focus on finding way to … Continue reading
What are CanDo® Intensity® Loops?
Go beyond traditional exercise bands and crank up the intensity with the CanDo® Intensity® Loops! One of the most durable bands we offer, the CanDo® Intensity® Loop is designed to give a greater resistance than our standard CanDo® bands. Ideal … Continue reading
Introducing the CanDo® Impact Massager!
Do you have tight, sore or inflamed muscles? A good percussion massage will have your muscles feeling a lot better. Percussive massage therapy is a new way to give a massage, and honestly it is a game changer. No longer … Continue reading
Best Exercises for Scoliosis
Our spines have a natural curve to it to distribute weight evenly throughout the body. Scoliosis is a spinal deformity that causes an irregular curvature in the spine. This curvature can sometimes be painful depending on the severity. Thankfully there … Continue reading
What is Therapeutic Alliance?
Therapeutic alliance is “a general construct that usually includes theoretical definition the collaborative nature, the affective bond, and the goal and task agreement between patients and clinicians”.1 Developing the therapeutic relationship between the patient and clinician is so important to … Continue reading
National Scoliosis Awareness Month 2022
Tomorrow is the start of June! With June comes the start of summer and the realization that we are already halfway through the year. It is also a month where we celebrate National Scoliosis Awareness Month. Scoliosis is a spinal … Continue reading
How to Perform Long Axis Hip Distraction at Home
Performing hip traction is a manual therapy technique utilized to help decrease pain, improve range of motion, and enhance overall functional mobility. Manual therapy, including traction muscle stretching, has shown to be beneficial to decrease pain, function, ad well-being for … Continue reading
Introducing the CanDo® UBE!
Ever wonder what it would be like to have an upper and lower body exerciser all in one device? Well wonder no more because your answer is here! Introducing the CanDo® Bi-Directional Upper Body Ergometer (CanDo® UBE for short). This … Continue reading
How to Measure Lumbar Range of Motion? A Bubble Inclinometer.
Range of motion is assessed by a qualified healthcare professional to identify impairments and functional limitations. Range of motion is an objective measurement that can be used to measure progress of a given individual during their episode of care. When … Continue reading
How Physical Therapy Can Help with Blood Clots
Blood has the crazy task of moving throughout the body continuously, but then quickly stops when you experience a cut or injury. This healthy and sometimes lifesaving stoppage of blood is called a blood clot. Most of the time when … Continue reading
Don’t have Dumbbells Available? Use Cuff Weights Instead!
We commonly will prescribe exercises using dumbbells to perform specific therapeutic exercises. However, sometimes patients are not able to use these products due to potential issues including pain with gripping, skin integrity, and other problems. What are some alternatives we … Continue reading
Get Moving for National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
Every year during the month of May, National Physical Fitness and Sports Month provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate and promote exercise. Physical activity is very important in maintaining your overall health and well-being. That is why below we have … Continue reading
Mentor, Mentee, or Both?
Clinical education is a part of a student’s academic program to learn how to apply the skills learned in the classroom and transition those techniques to a clinical setting. Students are typically paired up with a clinical instructor to help … Continue reading
National Physical Fitness and Sports Month 2022
Physical activity is very important in maintaining your overall health and well-being. As an annual observance, during the month of May, National Physical Fitness and Sports Month celebrates and promotes physical activity and the benefits of exercise. This month promotes … Continue reading
Should We Attend Other Conferences Besides Our Own?
As Occupational Therapy Month comes to end, I have had time to reflect on my experience attending the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Inspire 2022 conference earlier this month. I had the honor and privilege to attend the AOTA Inspire … Continue reading