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If you watch baseball, you’ve heard of a rotator cuff injury. Yet non-athletes can also experience gradual degeneration of this body part, as well as tears due to sudden injury. But what exactly is the rotator cuff, and how can you tell if you’ve injured yours? Perhaps most importantly, what can be done about it? A group of four muscles connect your shoulder blade to your upper arm bone (humerus), just below the outer end of your collarbone. These muscles become tendons where they attach to, and cover, the head of the humerus. This group of muscles and tendons form your rotator cuff. Your rotator cuff keeps your arm in your shoulder socket, and helps you lift and turn your arm.

Whenever you walk, run, climb stairs, jump, or stand on your tip-toes, your Achilles tendon is doing its job. It’s the thickest tendon in your body. Yet with that distinction comes some vulnerability – Achilles tendinitis being a common, yet highly treatable, overuse injury for this body part.

You use your hands to access the world around you, from fun activities to daily tasks. Arthritis in your hands can lead to decreased motion, decreased strength, and pain preventing you from doing the things you love. Conservative management includes: splinting, energy conservation, and strengthening; all of which can be very helpful to increasing the functional use of your hand while going through arthritic changes. So what can these conservative methods look like?

Spectrum Orthopaedics Electrodiagnostic lab has once again received laboratory accreditation with exemplary status from the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM). Douglas Pavlak, MD, FAAPMR is our electrodiagnostic physician.

Physical therapy (PT) is one of the most common rehabilitation techniques used to restore function and mobility after an injury, illness, or surgery. But did you know that many of Spectrum’s physical therapists also offer additional assessments of specific conditions and types of movement -- often without an injury, surgery, or referral from your primary care physician involved? 

When sharp pain is shooting through your buttocks and down one leg, that is often a sign of a herniated lumbar disk in your lower back. You may also feel numbness, tingling, or weakness. If you feel burning pain and numbness in your neck, shoulder, or arm, that could signal a herniated cervical disk in your neck. When the bundle of nerves in your spinal cord is impacted, life can become incredibly painful and challenging. Protect your spine in the ways that you can, listen to it when pain tells you something is wrong, and you’ll increase your chances of enjoying physical activities for years to come.