Stay Healthy El Paso

If you have been diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis, you are going to want to listen to this episode. We talk more about unique, and often misdiagnosed back problems and what you can do to start healing your back problem so you can get back to doing what you love, without being hindered by this back problem.

This is part II of the interview series where we had our PT Dr. Sam came on and shared how she has been enjoying working for El Paso Manual Physical Therapy. She has been with us for a few months now and she has grown quite a bit as she found her love for the individualized approach we offer here in our clinic.

In this episode, our new Physical Therapist Dr. Samantha Hinnant  came on to share her experience with us, and how she went from a traditional physical therapy setting into our unique, and individualized manual physical therapy setting.

The biggest concerns people often have, in terms of getting injections, is if they would need to continue getting injections every few months just to keep the pain away. This of course is quite concerning because injections are really not solving the underlying problem, they are more like a band-aid, and if the underlying problem is not addressed, then yes, it is quite likely that more injections are needed.

In this episode i talk more about this and what would be appropriate to start addressing the underlying problem so you can avoid injections, or any additional injections in case you have had them in the past.

One question we often get from patients who are experiencing pain in their buttocks is if it is sciatica or piriformis. Many who are experiencing this type of pain, often write it off as sciatica, not even knowing about piriformis, or the other way around. This can be quite confusing because the pain is similar and the piriformis can set off the sciatica and vice versa.

In this episode I shed some light on these two symptoms to help you get a better idea of what to look out for in case you are dealing with this type of pain in the behind, or even know of someone who is wondering what is causing their discomfort.

If you are experiencing sciatica pain, or have in the past, you may have tried all sorts of things to find relief. You probably also tried stretching and it may have felt pretty good at the moment, but what many don’t realize is that even though it may feel good when you first stretch out your muscles, is that the sciatica nerve really doesn’t like to be stretched. Nerves in particular don’t like to be stretched because it can aggravate the nerve even more.

I’ll go into more detail about why that is and why stretching can make sciatica pain worse. I also share what to do instead.

If you are dealing with a rotator cuff tear but you don’t want to have a surgery, or even get injections but you want to find a way to naturally heal your rotator cuff tear then this episode is for you.

One question that keeps coming up is, can you really heal a rotator cuff tear naturally? And the question is yes, it depends. Of course, in some cases, it may be best to go ahead and let a surgeon fix a rotator cuff tear that is just too extensive, but if it's not that bad, you may be able to use these tips I'll share in this episode to start healing your rotator cuff naturally.

What to do if your elbow hurts? Could it be tennis elbow? That's one of the questions we sometimes hear from patients. Or even, why is it called Tennis Elbow, if they don’t play tennis? In this episode I shed some light on how a tennis elbow happen, what are the common causes for your elbow to start hurting, and i'll go over a few home remedies that you can try if you have pain in the elbow.

Have you ever experienced wrist pain without knowing where the pain came from, and what could have caused the pain if you didn’t fall, had an accident, or hurt your wrist in any way that you can remember.

We sometimes have patients that come to us for wrist pain and they too wonder about the same question, which is why I thought it would be highly beneficial to talk about it on this podcast. In this episode I talk about the most common causes for wrist pain that you should know about.

If you have ever dealt with lower back pain, you most likely have tried different things to ease the pain, some may have worked, others maybe not so much. We often get asked about natural remedies for lower back pain, so in this episode, Ill go over a few natural remedies you can try to ease your lower back pain.

These remedies are especially helpful if you want to avoid taking pain medications all the time, avoid getting an injection, or worse, having to have a conversation with a surgeon about surgery. We definitely want to avoid any of these often unnecessary procedures and treatment methods, if you can get by with the natural options I will share in this episode.

When dealing with a neck and shoulder problem, one of the things that can help so you at least can get a better night's sleep is to find a pillow that is just right for you. But often the question is, what type of pillow is best for me? What type of pillow should I get? And also the question about softness, hardness, shape and form, is what many are challenged with to find the pillow that will help them get better sleep at night.

One thing that many who are suffering from neck pain are challenged with is their quality of sleep, they often toss and turn because their neck keeps bothering at night. We see that with our patients all the time, which is why in this episode, i'll go over a few things you must know in order to pick the right pillow for your particular neck and shoulder problem.

Having a rotator cuff tear can be quite debilitating, and frustrating, when all you want is to find relief, but you don’t want to get injections all the time, or worse, have surgery to fix your rotator cuff problem. Of course, there are times when getting an injection, or considering surgery might be the better option, but in this episode, I’ll share some natural remedies you can try at home to start getting relief from your rotator cuff problem, so you can avoid getting that injection, or surgery.

We often get patients that come to see us because they have been dealing with lower back pain for quite some time. They have tried different things, but whatever they had tried, didn’t quite give them the relief they had hoped for, at least not long term relief. Most often, it wasn’t that what they were doing was the wrong thing, some of the things they did, were actually the right thing to do, but they either didn’t do it long enough, didn’t progress, or they didn’t have the right insights into fixing their lower back problem for the long term.

In today’s episode I'll go into details on how to start fixing lower back pain to get lasting results, not short term, but real results, long term.

Do you suffer from frequent headaches or migraines? Are you looking for natural remedies so you don’t have to rely on pain medications, or worse, potentially having to get injections to help you cope with your headaches and migraines? Too many people come to see us for frequent tension headaches, and they often also complain about migraines that interfere with their daily life. Usually when they get an episode of headache or migraine, they simply are not very productive, they just want to lay down, close their eyes, and they are missing out on life.

In today’s episode I’ll share 9 natural remedies you can try to help reduce the frequency of tension headaches, and hopefully eventually even get rid of it for good.

Are you suffering from frequent tension headaches and migraines? Have you wondered what is causing these types of headaches, and most of all, what you can do to ease the pain and discomfort? If you have any of these types of headaches or migraines, then this episode I will give you more clarity as I'll share with you the top eight reasons for tension headaches and migraines.

Are you dealing with lower back pain and you think that it might be degenerative disc disease? Have you had an X-ray or an MRI, and have been told by a physician that you have degenerative disc disease? Sometimes they call it DDD for short. Most people dealing with degenerative disc disease, don’t get a full explanation on exactly what it is and what to do about it. In this episode I give you some insights into what Degenerative Disc Disease is, and how you can know if that is what you have.

Our PT Student Kevin just spent the past 12 weeks with us and he shared about his experience when he first started his internship with us, and also after his time with us. One of the things he said was that “it was not what he had expected”. Of course in a good way. But tune in to hear about his experience learning about Manual Physical Therapy and how it has impacted his experience.

Knee cartilage problems often cause achiness, pain, crunching sensations, grinding sensations, those types of knee cartilage problems are completely fixable.

Now I'm not saying that the crunchy or grindy can go away, but it can reduce in pain and discomfort. You can reduce any swelling that you've got going on. And most importantly, it is possible to get back to exercising, to going up and down steps, and doing the things that you love to do without worrying that you're going to end up having some surgery later on.

Unfortunately, a lot of people in the medical field don't believe that it's even possible to fix a knee cartilage problem. And often when patients go to see them, they resort to fixing this type of knee cartilage problem with medications, injections and surgery.

I'll be talking to you today about the three most important exercise tips when repairing knee cartilage problems.

Oftentimes people with knee cartilage problems run into achiness, crunching, grinding and stiffness in their knee. They're having trouble going up and down steps, getting out of bed first thing in the morning is extremely painful and stiff for some of these people.

And treating knee problems like this is confusing. They just don't know where to get healthy people will go find their doctors and they'll recommend medications and injections. In today’s episode, I'm going to be talking to you about the secret knee cartilage repair exercise so you can start improving your knee health.

Waking up in the morning with stiffness in the lower back is not a great way to start the day. In fact, it can be quite debilitating if your back is hurting, if you need to take things slow because you are too stiff to get moving.

This often happens if you have arthritis in the lower back and in this episode I share some helpful tips to help with lower back arthritis.

Knee swelling is a very common problem many of our clients have quite frequently. Often they don't even know what caused their knee to swell up. In this episode I will go over the most common causes for swelling in the knee and what you can do about it.

Have you ever wondered why your knee starts hurting after you have been walking for a little while, or maybe if you are running, you are noticing that your knee starts to hurt quite a bit?

In today’s episode we are going to talk about some of the reasons why your knee may start hurting, what the underlying cause could be, and what to do about it.

In today’s brand new episode we are going to talk about Misdiagnosed Plantar Fasciitis.

We often get patients who are dealing with heel pain but are not quite sure why they are experiencing this pain. They wonder if it is Plantar Fasciitis or something completely different.

In today’s episode I shed some light onto what Plantar Fasciitis is, and what it isn’t. Because too often, the heel pain is just a symptom but not the real problem that needs to be addressed.

If you often, or frequently suffer from tension headaches, you may wonder, why does this keep happening and what can you do to stop these headaches from coming back.

In this episode we will discuss the 3 biggest signs of a tension headache, because there are different types of headaches that you can have. In this episode we especially focus on tension headaches so you can determine what your next steps to solving this issue could be.

We also touch on four of the most common treatment options to help with tension headaches to find short term, and even long term relief.

Have you ever wondered what causes you to get a pinched nerve in your neck or shoulder? We hear this question from patients that come in with a pinched nerve problem all the time. In this episode I will shed some light onto what exactly is a pinched nerve, why does it happen, what it feels like to have a pinched nerve, and also go over a few treatment options to heal a pinched nerve in the neck or shoulder area naturally.

We often get asked, “Why do I have this neck hump? What can I do to fix it?” Too many have developed this hump at their lower neck and started to develop neck and shoulder problems because of it, even tension headaches and other problems.

This is a fixable issue and in this episode we are going to talk about why this neck hump develops, what other problems come with this hump, and what you can do to start fixing this issue so you can avoid the associated problems that come with this neck hump.

If you are dealing with a rotator cuff problem, or have in the past and worried it may return, in this episode we are going to talk about why a rotator cuff tear happens, and the three phase process to naturally fix it.

One question we get asked all the time, from people with back problems, is which muscles they need to focus on, and which exercises they need to do to focus on those muscles.

In this episode, we are going to talk more about the three most important muscles for good lower back health. We touch on the different muscles, as well as the concept about exercises.

Because it really is situational, and it depends on each individual's specific situation if you have a back problem. Because there are different things that you could do at this time versus, if you are a little bit better than certain exercises that may have hurt you in the past, could actually be beneficial to you now.

People that suffer from low back pain, especially if they have gone to see a doctor, and they have had any sort of diagnostic imaging like  X-rays or MRI. They have probably been told that they either have a disc injury, a pinched nerve, arthritis or even stenosis. There are all kinds of common problems that doctors will spot on an MRI or an X-ray as well.

In this episode I will shed some light on the different causes of lower back pain so you are informed and may be able to get to the root cause of your back problem.

One of the most common back problems we hear about are herniated discs, bulging discs,  degenerative discs, and slipped discs. These terms can be confusing for people with back pain and may leave them guessing what treatment options to pursue. As confusing these different terms are for many, they can be quite painful and limiting.

In this episode, Dr. David goes over some of the most important things you must know about these disc problems.

Many who are having back problems, often complain about pain and discomfort in their upper back. In this episode we are going to talk more about upper back pain, what the common problems are, what it feels like, as well as a few treatment options to help you ease your back pain.

When you have upper back problems, it usually also affects your ribs, shoulders, and can even go into the neck as well. Overall, upper back pain is not comfortable, and can interfere with life quite a bit. But there are options that don’t necessarily require you to see a specialist if you want to try out some home remedies first. In this episode I share such remedies.

Have you ever wondered what arthritis is, how you would know if you have arthritis in your knees, or even what to do if you have been diagnosed with knee arthritis?

We hear questions like these all the time, which is why we are going to talk more about this in today’s episode.

If you are looking for answers, or guidance around finding relief for your knee arthritis problem, this episode will shed some light on this topic and give you insights as to what you can do moving forward.

When you are dealing with knee problems, you may not want to go see a specialist right away. Maybe you want to try a few home remedies first to see if you can get a handle on your knee problem.

In this episode, Dr. David talks more about different at home treatment options and home remedies that you can try on your own. He shares quite an extensive list of different options, before he covers a few additional options in case these home remedies are not helping with your knee problems.

We've had lots of clients in the clinic, over the past few weeks, coming in with knee problems and they specifically have meniscus involvement. In this episode, Dr. David talks more about some of the most common questions patients have in regards to meniscus, and meniscus tears.

Some of the things he sheds some light on is, first and foremost, what the meniscus is, why it tears, how it feels like to have a meniscus tear, as well as what happens if a meniscus tear stays untreated, and what treatment options are available to heal a meniscus tear.

Dental health is often a topic that is rarely talked about but in today’s episode, Dr. David had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Philip Buckler, a Dentist here in El Paso. Some of the topics that were discussed are, how many times should one brush their teeth each day. Is a high-end electrical toothbrush better than a regular toothbrush? They also discussed flossing and why it is so important. Dr. Buckler even gave some great insights into what its like to have dentures.

Staying healthy does not only include healthy diet and exercise but practicing good mouth and teeth hygiene is just as important.

In this special Episode, Dr. David had an informative conversation with his PT Student Lilly, who is just finishing up her final clinical rotation before she moves on to become Dr. Lilly.

Lilly shared her experience working at El Paso Manual Physical Therapy and all the amazing experience she gained being taught by Dr. David.

In this episode, Dr. David had the great pleasure of speaking with one of his patients, Tony Stafford about staying healthy as you get older. Tony used to be in the military, then went on to teach English and American Literature at the University of Texas here in El Paso. He loves to read and write, he even just finished his third Novel.

One of the things that is very important to Tony is to stay healthy, fit, and active. Even though he is already in his 80s, because he has been focusing on his health, and staying active, he doesn’t look, nor feel his age.

We went on to talk about ways that have helped Tony stay healthy, some things that have worked for him and some that didn’t, and Tony gives some great examples of what to do to stay active as you get older. One very interesting point Tony made is mindset. You’ve got to have a health mindset in order to stay healthy. Without the right mindset, staying healthy, fit, and active can be quite difficult for many as they age.

In this episode, Dr. David highlights the employee of the month Zarah Castro and speaks with her about Massage, how she found her passion for it and how she got started.

More about our guest speaker:

Zarah is a Licensed Massage Therapist at El Paso Manual Physical Therapy. She was born and raised in El Paso and attended Eastwood High School.

She loves to help people with stiff, achy tight muscles find relief so that they can be more active, healthy and mobile. She especially enjoys helping people skip using medications, injections and definitely unnecessary surgery. When not massaging, she is active in playing the drums with her church band, hanging out at her favorite coffeeshop "Coffee Party", and spends lots of time with her family.

In this episode, we will review 8 signs to look out for if you suspect you may have a sciatica problem. In addition, we will also covers 5 tips on what you can do about it today.

Sciatica is the number one problem many people are suffering from. They don’t always know if their problem is a sciatica problem, and if they do, they often don’t know what they can do. Of course, surgery is the last thing on their mind, which is why we here at El Paso Manual Physical Therapy focus on treatment that will prevent surgery, injection or any other invasive treatment methods.

In today's episode, you will discover some of those natural ways of treating sciatica problems.

In this first episode, Dr. David was being interviewed by Amber, his right hand in the clinic. Dr. David shares more about who he is, how he got into Physical Therapy, as well as how he works with patients.

He goes on to talk more about his passion for finding natural treatments to help his patients in a way that allows them to heal without needing surgery, injections, or long-term pain medications. Instead he uses his skills to manually help his clients get better, reduce and even eliminate pain and discomfort so they can go on and live a happier life, stay mobile and active, without the pain that had been interfering with their lives.

In this fist episode, he talks more about Knee Problems, how it affects his patients as well his own personal experiences with knee problems and how he was able to get better without needing surgery.