You take over 8 MILLION breaths in a day. You hardly ever think about them. Thank goodness for that, because if you had to think about every breath, you wouldn't have the capacity for much else. If you break down the mechanics of breathing you begin to realize there is a lot going on. In order to fi...

Do you find you use a banister to pull yourself up the steps, or do you jump with your "good" leg so the painful one doesn't have to do any work? Maybe you go up leading with the better leg and try to keep the "bad" knee out of it entirely. These are all good compensatory strategies, but they do not...

It has been said that you are only as young as your spine is flexible. I think there is some truth to that. A flexible spine allows you to be more balanced, move more easily, and even breathe more fully. It is difficult to maintain spine flexibility because we rarely get the opportunity to stretch i...

Turning in bed can be painful or challenging for people with arthritis in their low back or hips, but it doesn't have to be. If you use the correct body mechanics, you can take the stress off your joints and easily get in and out of bed. When you learn to roll rather than lift your body you let the ...

The deep neck flexors are a group of muscles that support and stabilize your head. They need to be able to engage in order to maintain a comfortable upright posture. When the head migrates forward this group of muscles becomes inhibited and cannot activate. People who do a lot of sitting or computer...

Your hips and low back are the foundation for movement. Their position will determine what muscles you use and how much stress you put on your joints while standing, walking, bending, and most other daily activities. Very often the alignment between the hips and the low back becomes offset. Tight hi...

Getting up and down from the floor can be quite challenging when you have arthritis. Previous videos have shown how you can do this on your own. If you are looking for an even easier way you only need a step stool for easy and pain-free trips from the ground. 

Getting up and down is a lot easier wi...

How good are you at activating your butt muscles (gluteal muscles)? When people think about muscles they most often think in terms of how strong or weak they are. In many cases improving your ability to control your muscles is more important than making them stronger. Your ability to activate muscle...

Make a double chin! No thank you. I often hear this misguided piece of advice as a posture correction tip, even from other physical therapists. First of all, it's just unflattering, no one wants to walk around forcing a double chin. Good posture will make you look better, not worse. Secondly, it jus...

FREE YOUR BLADES! The shoulder is made up of two bones, your humerus (upper arm) and your scapula (shoulder blade). To have a healthy movement pattern in the shoulder there has to be a specific and coordinated sequence of movement between the two. It is very common for people to take on a pattern wh...

Your ability to control a pelvic tilt will inform how you stand, sit, walk, climb stairs, and even sleep. The pelvis is the connection between the spine and the legs and as such, its position will determine how well you can engage the muscles in your thighs, hips, and trunk. When you lose the abilit...

Rounded shoulders are a common postural issue more prevalent today than ever. Long periods of sitting and scrolling on the phone keep us in forward positions for long periods of time and our body starts to adapt to them. This type of postural stiffness can cause shoulder pain, neck pain, and even lo...

We all spend a lot of time sitting. Be it on a couch or at a desk over a computer screen this position causes your head to migrate forward in front of your shoulders. When that happens you are forced to look up using only the upper neck while the lower neck bends forward in the opposite direction. T...

The bridge is one of the most common exercises performed by people with arthritis, and for good reason. Bridging exercises are an effective way to improve strength in the gluteal (butt muscles) and flexibility in the hips and are easy on the joints. However, when I watch people perform bridges they ...

Strengthening your core muscles will help to stabilize your spine preventing pain and injury. Common core exercises require you to get on the floor and require maximal muscle engagement, however, effective spine stability is more about coordinating muscles to control your body rather than overload s...

The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body and requires adequate muscle strength, flexibility, and coordination to remain healthy. If any of these things are lacking the shoulder can operate inefficiently causing the rotator cuff to shut down and further arthritis pain. These 3 simple resista...

Getting up and down from the floor is an important life skill, but can be difficult or even dangerous for many people. It requires strong leg muscles, good mobility in your ankles, knees, hips, and back, and good balance. People who struggle to get on and off the ground often make the activity much ...

Throughout the night, immobility and dehydration deplete the synovial fluid in your joints making them feel stiff and uncomfortable. Synovial fluid is a thick liquid located in your joints cushioning the ends of your bones and reducing friction when you move. Arthritic joints are very sensitive to s...

Putting on shoes and socks can be pretty difficult if you have arthritis in the hips, knees, or low back. It requires flexibility in your joints and a certain amount of coordination of your muscles to easily cross one leg over the other. This exercise teaches you how to maximize your ability to move...

Your ability to walk has a large impact on how you live your daily life. It can influence your independence, social interactions, comfort level, and even your mood. Over time you may have noticed your gait got a little slower, smaller, or less stable. We tend to limit movement when we lose ability o...

Your sleep position can greatly impact how you feel in the mornings. You may be habitually adopting positions that put a low-level strain on your joints. When you maintain that strain over hours you end up with pain and stiffness in your joints, especially if you have arthritis. Whether you prefer t...

Having arthritis does not mean you have to give up on playing sports. For those who are able, continuing to engage in athletics improves strength, coordination, flexibility, and fun. The recipe for reducing arthritis pain. So much of how you feel will depend on how you move so you have to listen to ...

The forearm is made up of over 20 different muscles. Many of those muscles start at the elbow and travel all the way to the fingers. Stiffness in the fingers, wrist, or elbow could possibly come from inflexibility or irritation of the forearm muscles. These muscles are divided into two groups, the f...

Managing stairs is one of the most physically demanding things we go through in our day-to-day lives and a frequent cause of pain for people with arthritis in the legs or low back. You need a different type of strength and control for going down stairs than going up. That is why some people feel mor...