With the start of spring, many of us begin planning our gardens, including weeding, raking, and preparing for planting. Gardening has many health benefits, but injuries can occur. The low back can be particularly susceptible to injury during gardening as bending, lifting, and squatting can cause you to twist your body into awkward positions or to overstretch, leading to muscle strains or sprains. Check out our 8 tips to prevent low back pain this gardening season!

Winter sports involve dynamic athletic activities engaged in in cold weather and packed snow and ice, heightening the risk of injury significantly. Common winter sports injuries include knee ligament and meniscus tears, wrist fractures and sprains, concussions, and shoulder injuries like dislocations or rotator cuff tears. Physical therapists can help winter sports participants recover effectively from injury and return to winter sports. Check out our 10 tips for winter sports injury prevention!

Mangiarelli Rehabilitation physical therapy assistant Patti demonstrates three exercises to improve posture. Good posture refers to proper alignment of the body in static and dynamic positions, holding the body against gravity with the least strain and tension on your muscles, joints, and ligaments. Physical therapists can assess and address any postural impairments, designing a personalized posture training program involving stretching, targeted strengthening, body mechanics instruction, and manual therapy.

During autumn, many of us engage in outdoor tasks to prepare our homes and yards for the winter, including raking copious amounts of leaves. Raking leaves can be quite physically demanding, requiring repetitive movements like pushing, pulling, lifting, twisting, and turning that can place biomechanical stress on the low back, shoulders, and neck. It’s important to take steps to prevent injury while raking leaves and prepare your body for the physical demands of raking. Check out our 6 tips to prevent leaf raking injuries this autumn!

Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, played on a tennis-like court using a softball-sized, hard-plastic ball and a wooden racket to serve and volley the ball back and forth. While fairly easy to pick up, pickleball requires fast movements of the upper and lower body, sudden pivots and cuts, and side-to-side shuffling, which can contribute to injury. Physical therapy can help pickleball players not only recover from an on-court injury, but also prepare for a successful pickleball season through targeted strength and conditioning.

Check out our 7 tips for an ergonomic workstation! An ergonomic workstation is one that supports your body in a neutral position and reduces the risk of discomfort or pain that the stressors like sitting at a desk and computer for long periods of time can place on our bodies. Poor office ergonomics and posture can contribute to ongoing aches and pain, such as neck strain, low back pain, wrist discomfort, or eye strain. However, proper workstation ergonomics—correct chair height, appropriate equipment spacing, and good desk posture—can help you stay productive but healthy and comfortable at work.

As we step into spring, many of us are planning and starting our gardens, weeding, raking, and preparing for planting. Gardening has numerous health benefits: building strength, promoting sleep, boosting mood, and getting quality sunshine and Vitamin D. However, gardening does place stress and strain on joints and muscles when digging, planting, weeding, mulching, and raking, particularly the knee. Gardener’s knee is a common gardening-related injury that involves inflammation, swelling, and pain in the bursa at the front of the kneecap. To prevent knee pain when gardening, check out our gardening injury prevention tips!

Check out our latest blog highlighting 10 tips for exercising in the cold. Exercising outdoors, even in winter, can be very beneficial. Exercising in the cold can actually help you burn more calories, enhance your endurance, positively affect your metabolism, and improve your mental health. However, it is important to take precautions when exercising outdoors in the cold to stay safe. Check out our 10 tips to safely exercise outdoors in the cold!

Swelling is a natural part of the inflammatory process after an injury to help protect the injured area and facilitate healing as the body sends white blood cells and supportive fluids to the injured site to repair and heal. However, prolonged swelling can limit your range of motion and negatively affect your muscular strength. It is important to manage and limit swelling with the help of a physical therapist. Check out our 7 tips to manage swelling after injury!

Autumn brings with it stunning landscapes of red, gold, and orange leaves. However, the aftermath of the turning of the leaves can involve raking and bagging an enormous number of leaves in our yard. Weekly leaf raking during the fall can take quite a toll on your body if you are using incorrect biomechanics that strains your back, neck, and shoulders. The low back is particularly vulnerable to injury when raking due to the repetitive movements and constant bending and lifting of raking. Check out our tips to protect your back this season when raking leaves!

Mangiarelli Rehabilitation physical therapist Sarah demonstrates several stretches and exercises you can do to improve your posture. Good posture refers to proper alignment of the body in both static and dynamic positions, holding the body against gravity with the least strain and tension on your muscles, joints, and ligaments. Proper posture keeps your bones and joints in optimal alignment and decreases wear and tear on them. Physical therapy can help you improve your posture through targeted stretching, strengthening, manual therapy, and posture training.

Carrying a backpack can have significant biomechanical, physiological, and discomfort impacts on the wearer, placing undue stress on the body, changing posture, and leading to back, neck, and shoulder pain. It’s essential that parents take steps to prevent backpack-related musculoskeletal pain in their children this school year. Check out our ergonomic tips for backpack safety!

Running in the summer heat places tremendous stress on your body, raising your body temperature, increasing your heart rate, and causing you to sweat more. It is essential to take proper steps to ensure safe summer runs that enhance your running skill without overtaxing your body or leading to heat-related illness. Check out our 12 tips for running safely in the heat!

Hiking is a fun outdoor activity to engage in with family and friends throughout the summer and has numerous health benefits. However, hiking can be arduous, placing significant physical stress on the body as you navigate varied terrain and high temperatures. Check out our tips for preventing common hiking injuries like knee pain, ankle sprains, and heat exhaustion and what to do to ensure a safe hike this summer!

Stress causes a cascade of physical responses in the body, triggering the fight or flight response. While acute stress can be beneficial to react to a stressful situation, chronic stress can have far-reaching negative effects on your physical and mental health, impacting your nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, reproductive, immune, and gastrointestinal systems. Once the stress cycle has been activated, it is essential to move through the stress response and complete the stress cycle to prevent chronic stress. One of the best ways to complete the stress cycle and bring your body back to a calm state is exercise.

Check out our 10 spring gardening injury prevention tips in our latest infographic! While gardening has many health benefits, it also is a physically demanding activity that can place strain and stress on your body. Keep these 10 tips in mind to prevent injury while gardening this spring!

In Northeast Ohio, the winter months can bring frigid temperatures, ice, and snowy weather. However, the colder weather doesn’t mean that those outdoor activities are canceled. Whether you’re an athlete, a runner, an outdoors lover, or just need a break from the inside, you can still exercise outdoors safely by following these 10 tips!

Mangiarelli Rehabilitation physical therapy assistant, Patti, demonstrates how to lift an object correctly and safely as well as several common but incorrect and unsafe ways to lift. The holiday season requires quite a lot of bending, lifting, and reaching. If you lift improperly, it can lead to back, shoulder, or neck strain and limit your holiday activities. As we enter the holiday season, it’s critical to review how to lift heavy objects safely and take steps to minimize strain and fatigue during your winter and holiday activities.

Hamstring injuries are one of the most common sports injuries, particularly in sports requiring high speed, agility, and explosive power. The hamstring muscles are critical for lower body movement, bending the knee to run and jump and controlling actions such as kicking. Preventing hamstring injury is essential and can be achieved through a targeted strengthening program. On the blog, Mangiarelli Rehabilitation physical therapist Mike demonstrates exercises you can do to strengthen your hamstring muscles.

The season of autumn brings spectacular fall foliage. However, once the vibrant beauty of the colorful leaves fades, we are left with the job of raking and bagging enormous amounts of leaves. Weekly leaf raking can take a toll on your body, particularly if you are engaging in incorrect biomechanics that strain your back, neck, and shoulders. Check out our tips to help you avoid injury when raking this fall!