Hamstrings Archives | Apollo Soft Tissue and Spine

6 questions to help solve your low back and neck pain.

Dr. John Appleman — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 09:00:05 +0000

Chronic Low back or Neck pain

If you’re reading this, you most likely suffer from some sort of chronic low back or neck pain. Ask yourself these following questions to help solve the problem:

Is your pain worse in the morning?
Does the pain get better after waking up and moving around?
Have you had multiple or previous episodes of moderate to severe pain?
Does the pain usually last 2-10 days before going away?
Trouble sitting or standing prolonged periods of time?
Are movements “guarded/protected” or noticing decreased range of motion?

If you answered “yes” to a majority or all of these questions, you most likely are suffering from a disc injury whether you have been diagnosed with it or not. Internal Disc Derangement (IDD) accounts for upwards of 40% of all low back pain and the majority of neck pain!

Disc injuries are often made worse by the presence of adhesion. Adhesion is the most common cause of pain and decreased range of motion in the body. Adhesion acts like glue in muscles and restricts movement. Restricted motion causes more load on injured discs, leading to more pain and long term problems such as disc bulging or disc herniation.

The good news is that a large majority of disc injuries do not require surgery if you seek out an expert to help restore full range of motion and take pressure off of the disc. Disc injuries respond well to conservative management and treatment. By fixing and removing adhesion, range of motion is restored and discs are essentially “decompressed” and unloaded. Leaving you with little to no pain and able to return to regular, daily activity.

We are 2 of only 3 providers in the Denver Metro Area certified to provide you with a proper diagnosis and provide the treatment your neck or back problem needs, even if other practitioners have missed it. Our treatment has helped many people looking for answers to their pain. We have helped patients prevent surgery and those still suffering with pain after surgery. If you answered “yes” to most or all of the questions above, chances are we can help! Call Apollo today at 720-593-2047.

The post 6 questions to help solve your low back and neck pain. appeared first on Apollo Soft Tissue and Spine.

Numbness, Tingling, Aching, Burning Pain?

Dr. John Appleman — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 09:00:40 +0000

Nerve Entrapment

The buildup of muscle adhesion (1st video) can cause an unfortunate problem called nerve entrapment (2nd Video). There are over 100 places in the human body where a nerve can become trapped causing symptoms of numbness, tingling, aching, burning and pain. The symptoms result from increased tension on nerves. Nerves transmit information from the environment to the spinal cord and brain. There are many places in the body where nerves are adjacent to, and must slide through muscles.

Nerves need to be able to slide past and through different structures otherwise they will not be able to function properly. Muscles can develop adhesion; if the adhesion builds near a nerve, the two structures can become adhered together stretching the nerve causing problems. The stretching and increased tension injures the nerve and usually causes tingling down either the leg or arm.

I’m sure you have heard of conditions called carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, piriformis syndrome, tarsal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, ulnar nerve (cubital tunnel) syndrome etc. These syndromes or conditions rather, are broad general labels put on a patient’s symptom without giving a complete and accurate diagnosis of why this particular condition is taking place. A typical treatment for these conditions consist of icing the affected area, stretching regimen, and ingesting more over-the-counter drugs than your body can handle. We now know that the treatments described above will not help in resolving your problem. In many of the listed syndromes above, muscle adhesion causing a nerve entrapment is the real culprit.

It is important to receive an accurate diagnosis so that effective treatment can be provided. If it’s treatable, our treatment fixes nerve entrapments, helps restore proper nerve function, and reduces pain.

If you or someone you know is suffering with nerve pain, restricted ranges of motion, and other treatments have failed to provide lasting results then they need to see Drs. Drew Ruebbelke and John Appleman of Apollo Soft Tissue & Spine.

You deserve clinical excellence! Call 720-593-2047 to schedule an appointment or contact us via Email: info@apollosofttissue.com.

The post Numbness, Tingling, Aching, Burning Pain? appeared first on Apollo Soft Tissue and Spine.

3 Reasons stretching is NOT fixing your hamstring tightness

Dr. Drew Ruebbelke — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 09:00:26 +0000

Remember the days when you didn’t have tight hamstrings or maybe you’ve had them your whole life?

One of the most common statements we hear from patients in our clinic is: “My hamstrings are really tight, I haven’t been stretching much lately, I think that’s why they’re so tight.” Contrary to popular belief, hamstring tightness is not because you don’t stretch enough or haven’t been sticking to your stretching routine. Stretching can actually cause the issue to get worse. Tightness in muscles is to protect a problem that is overloading a damaged tissue or injured joint in the body. Below are the most common reasons for hamstrings feeling “tight.”

Muscle Adhesion in the Hamstrings/ hips/ Adductors: Adhesion is the most common condition of the body, and it acts like glue in these areas. This increases pressure and stress in the hips, low back, and hamstrings, which in turn decreases your range of motion. With movement being reduced, the joints are more prone to injury in the future such as cartilage damage, disc injury, and further degeneration. The hamstrings help in protecting these joints by engaging earlier and reducing range of motion.

Nerve Entrapment of the Sciatic Nerve: Nerve entrapment is extremely common, especially around the sciatic nerve. The nerve has to glide and slide between, through and alongside other tissues from the low back to the foot. Overuse can cause adhesion to form, an glue the nerve to other structures irritating the nerve and causing it to be unhealthy. When the nerve can’t fully glide and slide past tissues, it will contract the hamstrings sooner and cause tightness. Another common symptom of Sciatic nerve entrapment is weak hamstrings.

Disc Injury: When a disc is injured, any bending of the lower back and flexion of the hips places more pressure and stress on the injured disc. If you do have an injured disc and you bend forward the hamstrings will contract to protect your disc so that it doesn’t experience an increase in load or pressure to the damaged area (disc).

If these dysfunctions persist and aren’t fully corrected, your range of motion will decrease, the hamstrings will remain tight, pain will increase, athletic performance will decrease, and degeneration in the joints will accelerate. This is why stretching isn’t helping your tight hamstrings, stretching doesn’t get rid of adhesion, it doesn’t fix your disc injury and it makes trapped nerves worse. So it is imperative that you receive an expert diagnosis and treatment for your condition.
Free Yourself From Pain and Show Your Body Some Gratitude!

Drs. Drew Ruebbelke and John Appleman specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of the above three causes. Call 720-593-2047 or visit Apollosofttissue.com to schedule an appointment.

The post 3 Reasons stretching is NOT fixing your hamstring tightness appeared first on Apollo Soft Tissue and Spine.

Have you been using your foam roller wrong?

Dr. Drew Ruebbelke — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 09:00:26 +0000

We’re sure by now that you, or someone you know, has reached for a foam roller to help with that tight quad or aching back. And while it may have provided some temporary relief, you find yourself needing to foam roll more and more, just to get less and less relief.

So what’s that about, you ask? Am I doing something wrong? Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not that you’re foam rolling wrong – It’s that you’ve been mislead about what a foam roller actually does.

The reason you feel better after foam rolling is akin to the age old trick your mother taught you, rubbing your boo-boo’s after a fall. What’s really happening here is your body is sending competing signals up to your brain. Remember the last time you jammed your finger, gave it a shake, and it felt a little better? I think it’s fair to say you didn’t un-jam that finger. What’s happening is receptors that signal pressure & movement are competing with receptors that signal pain and some of those pain signals get lost along the way. Another example is rubbing your head after you bump it. You’re simply overriding the pain response.

So should you throw out your foam roller?

Nope. I’m not suggesting you get rid of your foam roller at all. But before I can explain to you the true value of your foam roller, you need to know why you’re always stiff and injured, and why it’s too late for a foam roller to help with that.

The single biggest reason you are injured or overly stiff and tight, is because you are asking your body to do too much. Period. From sitting at your desk all day at work, to trying to set a new personal best in the gym, our bodies aren’t meant to handle all of these 21st century “conveniences.” So Overuse/Repetitive Stress Syndrome sets in…

When we overuse our muscles, we cut off the blood supply to them. The body is chemically tricked into responding as though it were injured. As a result, scar tissue, or adhesion, is laid down to repair the damage. Adhesion acts like glue in a muscle, making it weaker and less flexible or mobile.

When you warm up a muscle, the adhesion becomes more pliable, which is why foam rolling has exploded in popularity as a pre-workout tool. The foam roller warms up the muscle by pumping blood through it. This in return makes it more flexible and allows you to temporarily circumvent the problem, without any functional improvement.

Foam rolling is nothing but a temporary solution because it is only successful at compressing your troubled areas. In order to reduce adhesion you need to produce tension. Don’t believe me? It’s like having gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Which do you think would be most effective at removing it: a rolling pin or a butter knife?

Foam rolling does have its benefits though. It is a great way to lessen the impact of overuse. By pumping blood through the tissue, new oxygen is brought in and waste products are flushed out. Foam rolling can also serve as an early warning signal that something is wrong. This is a very good thing. Painful symptoms over time will inevitably get worse.

If you are injured or experiencing pain during your workouts, put down the foam roller and contact our office today at 720-593-2047 today to live your lifestyle pain free. Show your body some gratitude!

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