Freedom In Movement Physiotherapy and Wellness

Lumbar Spine and Sacrum Lower back pain can come from different sources, muscles, joints, ligaments or discs and sometimes the source can be all of the above at the same time.  We need to identify the source and the level of the cause (L1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) and sometimes it could be at the sacrum level, where the sacrum and the pelvis form a joint, the sacroiliac (SI) joint .  In this blog, we are going to talk about the pain at the sacrum level specifically. Sacroiliac (SI) Joint - marked red at the right side Pain at the SI joint can be caused by tight muscles along the spine, like the superficial erector spinae or the deep multifidus that can run from the neck down the sacrum.  When the myofascial system becomes so tight from working out or prolonged posture, it can pull so hard on the sacrum and cause a shift of the sacrum position, which cause compression on the nerve root travelling through the SI joint and cause a lot of pain. Lumbosacral Nerves/...

Shoulder pain is such a common reason to seek physiotherapy and we see lots of it at our practice. Sports injuries, a fall or repetitive movement with a slouched posture all could lead to shoulder tendinitis or pain.  In severe cases, the tendons could tear or the bony structure of the joint could fracture and that would complicate the healing process for sure.  No matter what is the cause of the pain, maintaining a good posture is always important in shoulder rehabilitation  after the fracture is healed or after surgical tendon tear repair is needed. (This is a great video for posture correction:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R54QoUbbow ) The earlier you come for an assessment in order to start moving that injured or painful shoulder the better the recovery down the road would be.  When the physiotherapist suspects fracture or tear, we will refer you to your medical practitioner right away for further investigation.  Most of the time, we nee...

It's definitely a different time we are in.  SARS did not create such a spread like COVID-19 .  Most of us could continue the normal without much worry in 2003.  At first, I thought and hoped it would be the case this time as well with COVID-19 but boy was I totally wrong.  Maybe most of the public health officials were dumbfounded as well.  COVID-19 was a surprise and spread like a wildfire all of a sudden, causing businesses and schools to shut down and creating so much anxiety and uncertainty in our world. It all happened in mid-March when there was a huge spike up in number of cases in Canada. Our family was very lucky to be able to travel to Cuba in January 2020 when the Asian countries were starting to lock down.  The virus did not spread this way yet then.  It was the very first trip for our young family of four and probably would be the last for a while.  Taiwan was the first to take precaution and limited travel to and from China....

  It is the month again when we remember the importance of physiotherapy in our health care system and celebrate with our colleagues across the nation.  It is wonderful physiotherapy has been listed as an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It validates how we as physiotherapists are helping people and making a difference in their lives.  We struggle sometimes with our professional identity as different professions are doing parts of what we do.  However, the reality is that we are unique as a profession bridging the medial doctors and patients' recovery, with wide ranges of expertise from neurological, pulmonary, musculoskeletal rehab to wound healing.  Sometimes if not most of the time we serve an important role to guide patients when doctors are too busy to comment on patients' long road of recovery after seeing them briefly for a few minutes.   A perfect example that happened to our family recently was that my mother injured one of ...

     It feels like a new era that we are offering  Virtual Care  but in reality, some physios are offering virtual care for years as their regular day-to-day practice.  It's not something new but it's the only option right now for non-urgent cases during the pandemic season.  Some people embrace it as it is empowering and convenient.  They feel they are enabled to help themselves and not dependent on anyone else.  They also like the convenience of not leaving their home.  Some people though don't see how it would change their pain without therapist putting hands on them or providing modalities as treatment. What is physiotherapy exactly?  It has become a question for all of us to answer and to define again.  However, maybe nothing has changed; there are just different ways to deliver physiotherapy and different priorities to consider when choosing how to deliver the service.     As a physiotherapist practicing manua...