Looking for Shoulder Pain Treatment in Visalia?

When you are looking for shoulder pain treatment in Visalia, physical therapy is your best bet to help you bounce back!

The shoulder is the most flexible joint in the body, and it allows the arm to move in wide range of directions so that we can perform many of the dexterous tasks needed in daily life. Unfortunately, this extreme flexibility comes at a price, as certain movements, postures and habits can cause damage to the shoulder and result in pain.

The shoulder is not actually a single joint, but a ball-and-socket made up of two joints, which combine with other structures in the region to allow the arm to move as it does. Just about every movement that requires the use of our arms also involves the shoulder in some way, and it’s particularly important for reaching tasks and overhead activities.

Shoulder pain includes any pain that arises in or around the shoulder. It may originate in the joints themselves or from any of the surrounding muscles, ligaments or tendons that make up the shoulder. Most shoulder problems that result in pain are due to a tear or inflammation of a tendon, instability, arthritis or a fracture. One of the most common causes of shoulder pain is when the tendons of the rotator cuff—an important structure that keeps the shoulder in place—become trapped under a bony area of the shoulder, which is called rotator cuff tendinitis. Other conditions that can cause shoulder pain include shoulder impingement syndrome, frozen shoulder, tendinitis and bursitis.

NOTE: Quick Reference Guide to Shoulder Conditions We Treat

People who perform lots of overhead activities on a regular basis like painters, carpenters swimmers and baseball players are all at an increased risk for developing shoulder pain, and bad posture can lead to its development as well. Most shoulder pain will dissipate within a few weeks with some rest and avoidance of activities that may aggravate it, but for pain that’s more severe or lingers for awhile, physical therapy may be necessary. Physical therapy is one of the most proven effective methods to treat all types of shoulder pain, and treatment typically consists of the following:

Heat, ice, massage and other pain-relieving remedies
Stretching exercises to improve flexibility
Strengthening exercises to build back strength
Posture training for sitting and standing
Activity modification to help you avoid movements that make the pain worse

The use of physical therapy to treat shoulder pain is also supported in the medical literature as an effective way to foster improvements. In one recent study on subacromial pain syndrome, another term for shoulder impingement syndrome, the conclusion states:

Exercise therapy should be the first-line treatment to improve pain, function and range of motion. The addition of mobilizations to exercises may accelerate reduction of pain in the short term.
Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27288517

Shoulder pain can be a real inconvenience, especially if it prevents you from participating in sports, but we are here to help. Contact us to find out how we can address your shoulder pain and get you back to full strength as quickly and safely as possible.

Fibromyalgia Treatment Visalia

If you did a search for fibromyalgia treatment Visalia, chances are, our experienced clinicians can help.

Fibromyalgia is one of the most common of all pain-causing syndromes in the country. Almost 5 million Americans are affected by fibromyalgia, and between 80-90% of those who have it are women and residents in the Central Valley are not alone.

Individuals with fibromyalgia typically experience various problems getting through their daily activities, but a physical therapy treatment program can address just about all aspects of this condition and significantly improve patients’ lifestyles.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome, meaning that most individuals who get it have it for a while. Symptoms usually start to develop in women between ages 30-50, but cases occur at younger ages and in men as well. The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, but it’s thought to be due to changes in how the nervous system processes pain. In some people it may be triggered by trauma, surgery, infection, arthritis or major emotional stress, while it develops gradually over time in others.

Not just an individual condition, fibromyalgia is actually a complex syndrome with many components. For this reason, it can include many different signs and symptoms, such as widespread pain, tender points throughout the body, muscle stiffness, fatigue, depression/anxiety, thinking or memory problems, and numbness/tingling sensations. These symptoms can really get in the way of functioning normally in daily life and may also lead to reduced physical activity. Over time, this can decrease overall fitness levels and result in other health-related problems, too.

Although there is no cure for fibromyalgia, physical therapy can significantly help patients by easing symptoms and improving their quality of life. A typical physical therapy program for fibromyalgia will consist of the following:

Aerobic exercise recommendations (brisk walking, bicycling, swimming, etc.)
Stretching and strengthening exercises
Class 4, cold laser
Ice and/or heat therapy to reduce pain levels
Hands-on therapy techniques applied to painful areas (manual therapy)
Water-based, or aquatic exercise

To illustrate how physical therapy and physical activity can help, a powerful recent study provided the following remarks:

When compared with control, moderate-quality evidence indicates that aerobic exercise probably improves HRQL (Health Related Quality of Life) and all-cause withdrawal, and low-quality evidence suggests that aerobic exercise may slightly decrease pain intensity, may slightly improve physical function, and may lead to little difference in fatigue and stiffness. Three of the reported outcomes reached clinical significance (HRQL, physical function, and pain).

Reference: Aerobic exercise training for adults with fibromyalgia.

Important: fibromyalgia patients generally need special pacing and graded treatment programs. In our experience, this combined with therapeutic education and short-term use of modalities like the cold laser, can result in significant improvements.

So if you’re dealing with chronic pain and you did a search for fibromyalgia treatment Visalia to find an experienced clinician, we strongly recommend that you see one of our physical therapists for a comprehensive evaluation and personalized treatment program designed specifically with your goals and abilities in mind.

To learn more about our two locations, click here to visit our contact page.

Chronic Pain Treatment in Visalia

Chronic pain can make getting through daily life a chore, but physical therapy can help and Bacci & Glinn provides is well equipped to provide chronic pain treatment in Visalia.

Pain is a part of life. Whether it’s a crick in your neck from sleeping wrong, getting your finger caught in the car door or rolling your ankle on a tree root, everyone has had their share of painful experiences.

Pain is the body’s way of telling us that something is wrong and that you should do something to address it. In most cases, this will happen on its own after some time has passed or with some form of treatment, and after the injury has healed, the pain goes away. For some people, however, pain continues long after healing. When it lasts for three months or more, the condition is called chronic pain, which can become a complicated and frustrating problem to deal with.

When you experience an injury, sensors that detect pain become turned on in that injured area. These pain sensors then send a message in the form of an electrical signal to the brain, which processes this signal and sends out a message that you are hurting. Usually, this signal stops sending messages when the cause of pain is resolved (which means the injured area has healed.) But with chronic pain, these nerve signals continue to send messages that you are in pain even though there is no longer any injury.

It’s not always clear why chronic pain occurs, and in some cases it may develop without any known injury. For some people, pain from conditions like headaches/migraines, arthritis, back pain, infections or nerve damage is the original source of the pain signals that continue in the long term. Chronic pain symptoms may include a dull ache or feelings of throbbing, burning, stinging, soreness or stiffness.

Don’t Let Chronic Pain Control Your Life

Chronic pain can prove to be a real nuisance that gets in the way of many aspects of daily life, but fortunately, physical therapy can help. Physical therapists see patients with all types of chronic pain problems frequently, and are equipped to treat them with a variety of effective interventions, such as:

Natural treatments, no medications
Education on how the brain and nervous system are causing the pain
Strengthening and flexibility exercises
Hands-on therapy techniques
Posture and body mechanics awareness
Laser therapy if needed

Research has shown that physical therapy can be beneficial for patients with chronic pain, and the CDC released guidelines last year that encouraged the use of physical therapy over opioids to address chronic pain:

The contextual evidence review found that many nonpharmacologic therapies, including physical therapy, weight loss for knee osteoarthritis, psychological therapies such as CBT, and certain interventional procedures can ameliorate chronic pain.

So if you’ve been dealing with chronic pain for a long while that won’t seem to improve, seeing a physical therapist is the best decision you can make. Through education and evidence-based treatments, your physical therapy treatment program can certainly put you on the right path to recovery.

If you need help with chronic pain, please contact us today.

Best Physical Therapy in Visalia

If you are asking yourself the question, “Who provides the best physical therapy near me?” We encourage you to read this post and learn more about us.

Our wide range of personalized services makes us the best physical therapy clinic in the Visalia area. You can read reviews from our patients here.

At Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy, we understand that when it comes to selecting a physical therapist to treat your injury, you have several options in Visalia and the surrounding area. This may present a difficult decision for you, but we firmly believe that our wide array of services and our focused attention to individualized patient treatment makes us the best clinic you can choose.

Bacci & Glinn PT has been serving Hanford since 1981, and our Visalia clinic opened up in 2001. In more than 35 years of experience as a practice, our therapists have seen and effectively treated just about every injury under the sun, and we are fully equipped to figure out the best solution for whatever problem you may be dealing with. It’s also our experience that allows us to deliver highly successful and cost-effective rehabilitation programs for every patient that walks through our doors.

Our treatment programs emphasize active patient involvement in both pain management and rehabilitation, and our approach is both simple and straightforward. We aim to design each program with the following components in mind:

A detailed initial consultation
Thorough patient education
Function-based treatment plans
Individualized treatment
Effective customized home-exercise programs
Ongoing communication with patients and referral sources

Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy is a Full-Service Physical Therapy Clinic in Visalia

The physical therapists at Bacci & Glinn PT have extensive training in orthopedics, sports-related injury treatment and work injury management, and we also treat a variety of other injuries and conditions, including headaches, neck/shoulder pain, fibromyalgia and chronic pain.

These are some of the more common conditions that we see regularly, but it’s really our specialized services that set us apart from most other physical therapy clinics:

Pediatrics – Our expertise includes the evaluation and treatment of a variety of child and teen orthopedic disorders, including sports injuries, torticollis, scoliosis and post-surgical rehab

LightForce™ Laser Therapy – An effective alternative to drugs and surgery for pain and inflammation. Laser therapy is able to penetrate the deep tissue structures and can treat a wide variety of injuries.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy rehabilitation – A state-of-the-art rehabilitation program for patient’s with diabetic peripheral neuropathy that consists of a twelve-visit rehabilitation care path

Ergonomics – A web-based training program that aims to improve workplace ergonomics and avoid injuries in the process

As you can clearly see, Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy is a cut above the rest when it comes to experience, unique services and dedicated attention to patient care and progress. So if you’re dealing with an injury and are trying to decide on the best physical therapy clinic in the Visalia area, we strongly encourage you to consider Bacci & Glinn PT.

Give us a call today at (559) 733-2478

We are also in Hanford and have a new office location.

Best Neck Pain Specialist in Visalia?

If you’re dealing with neck pain, we’d like so share with you why we are a top candidate for best neck pain specialist in Visalia.

Whether it’s from sleeping with your head in an awkward position or spending too much time hunched over the computer, most of you have dealt with neck pain at one time or another. While not as prevalent as low back pain, neck pain is still one of the most common of all painful conditions, and it can significantly get in the way of our daily activities. Fortunately, a course of physical therapy is one of the best possible ways to address it.

Every year, about 15% of Americans experience neck pain for at least one full day. Most cases of neck pain are due to a muscle strain or sprain of tendons or ligaments in the neck, which can occur from sleeping incorrectly, bad posture, performing repetitive movements or carrying a heavy bag. For the majority of people, this type of neck pain will improve on its own over a few days or weeks. But sometimes, the pain continues for much longer, which is then called chronic neck pain.

Other causes of neck pain that may develop gradually over time include conditions like osteoarthritis, a herniated disc, disc degeneration and spinal stenosis. Whatever its case, the most common symptoms include pain that is usually gets worse from holding or lifting your head in place for long periods, muscle tightness and spasms, a decreased ability to move your head and headaches. For some people, neck pain is also accompanied by upper back or shoulder pain, and pain in the shoulder may actually be referred from the neck.

If neck pain does occur, there are a number of treatment options available.

Seeing one of our physical therapists is the best first choice for the following reasons:

Little to no side effects
All natural treatment – no additive drugs, harmful radiation, or needles
Clinically proven treatment

With the use of therapeutic exercises, neuromuscular re-education, and other interventions a physical therapist can help reduce your pain and improve your function. Each treatment program will be different and depends on the type and seriousness of the injury, but most treatment will include the following components:

Ice and/or heat
Stretching exercises
Strengthening exercises
Posture training
Functional mobility
Soft tissue mobilization & other manual therapies

To illustrate just how effective physical therapy can be for neck pain, a recent study compared one group of patients who received education only to another that followed specific exercises as well, and the results were as follows:

The exercise group showed statistically significant improvements in physical health-related quality of life, mental health-related quality of life, depression, pain threshold and muscle function compared to the education-only group.

For the Best Neck Pain Specialist in Visalia, the Logical Choice is Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy

So if you’ve been dealing with neck pain that is getting in the way of your daily activities and the things you love to do, see one of our physical therapist first and fast. Doing so is your best bet for a successful recovery and a quick return to a pain-free lifestyle. Click here to visit our contact page.

Call Us Today at (559) 733-2478

Sciatica Treatment in Visalia

If you are looking for sciatica treatment in Visalia, always see a physical therapist first for sciatica symptoms.

The sciatic nerve is the largest single nerve in the entire body. It runs from the each side of the lower spine through the buttock and into the thigh, all the way down to the foot. This nerve serves an important role in communicating messages from the spinal cord to the legs and feet, and when it’s damaged, a problem called sciatica can come about.

Sciatica is not necessarily a medical diagnosis itself, but a set of symptoms that are related to an issue with the lower back. Common lower back problems that can cause sciatica include a lumbar herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis. In each of these conditions, the sciatic nerve becomes either irritated or compressed, which brings about symptoms.

The most common sciatica symptoms include the following:

Constant pain on only one side of the buttock or leg pain that gets worse with sitting
A burning, stinging or searing pain in the leg
Weakness, numbness or difficulty moving the leg, foot or toes
Pain that radiates down the leg and possibly into the foot
A sharp pain that makes it difficult to stand or walk

If you happen to notice any of these symptoms, you may be dealing with a lower back condition that is causing sciatica. Although some individuals with sciatica may be under the impression that surgery is necessary to fix it, the truth is that physical therapy is usually just as effective and will save patients from many of the troubles of surgery. In fact, the findings of a recent study show that both surgery and non-surgical (conservative) treatment that included physical therapy led to very similar results:

Surgical and conservative treatments had long-term beneficial effects on sciatica symptoms in patients with lumbar disc herniation. Compared with conservative treatment, surgical treatment relieved back pain faster, but no relevant clinical difference was observed after three months.
Reference: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/12/e012938.full

This study shows that there is no added benefit of having surgery instead of physical therapy for sciatica symptoms. On top of this, surgery is more expensive and associated with many more risks than physical therapy. For these reasons, we strongly encourage you to choose physical therapy first if you happen to notice any symptoms of sciatica.

If you would like more information about how we can help, give us a call.

Click here for our contact information

Looking for a Back Pain Specialist in Visalia?

The experienced clinicians at Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy are a great choice if you are looking for a back pain specialist in Visalia. Physical therapy is the best option available for almost any type of back pain.

Back pain is one of the most common of all possible medical problems. In fact, at any given time, about 25% of Americans report experiencing back pain at least once within the past three months. So if you’ve never had back pain, there’s a strong chance you’ll encounter it at some point in the future.

Back Pain is Most Common in the Lower Back

Pain can develop in any region of the spine, but the lower back is affected more than any other part. In the majority of cases, low back pain is classified as nonspecific, which means no known cause has been identified that is responsible for the pain. Aside from nonspecific low back pain, there are a number of other conditions that can lead to back pain. These include a herniated or ruptured disc, lumbar spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, sciatica, osteoarthritis, spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis and injuries like a pulled muscle or ligament.

Regardless of its cause, back pain can result in similar types of problems for anyone experiencing it. The pain will usually make it difficult to perform many daily activities, especially those that require any bending of the spine, as well as trouble exercising or playing certain sports. For some people, back pain may get so bad that might not be able to perform their job and will have to miss work as a result.

We are the Back Pain Experts in Visalia

The good news is that help is available for just about any type of back pain*, and that help comes in the form of physical therapy. Physical therapists are experts at identifying the cause of back pain, and then creating a personalized treatment program designed to reduce pain levels with a number of different techniques. Any concerns about serious problems (cancer, etc.) can be picked up by our clinicians during the initial evaluation.

After a thorough evaluation and assessment of your condition, a treatment plan is developed. A typical physical therapy treatment program for back pain usually consists of the following:

Strengthening exercises
Stretching exercises
Manual (hands-on) therapy performed by the therapist
Functional training
Education on how to prevent future back pain

The benefits of physical therapy for back pain treatment in Visalia can be found time and time again in research studies that evaluate its impact on patients. In one recent study, it was found that a hands-on technique performed by physical therapists called spinal manipulation helped to reduce pain and improve function in patients with low back pain.

So if you’re dealing with back pain of any sort, we strongly believe that seeing a physical therapist is your best option available. Rest assured, the therapists at Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy will get directly to the root of your problem, and then address it with a variety of treatments that have been proven to work no matter what kind of pain you have.

Need Help, Give Us a Call Today.

Click here for Contact Information

*Ankylosing spondylitis and spinal infections have a prevalence of less than 1 per cent and the prevalence of prolapsed inter-vertebral disc is low – between 1 and 3 per cent. Up to 3 per cent may have spondylolisthesis (the slipping of one vertebra over another). Less than 1 per cent of back pain is due to more sinister pathologies including cancer (about 0.7 per cent – generally unlikely unless the patient has previously had cancer), and spinal infections (0.01 per cent). Reference