hawkins test

What Is Shoulder Impingement?

Shoulder impingement is where the tendons and connective tissues in your shoulder get pinched or compressed, causing pain and inflammation. It happens when the space between the bones in your shoulder joint narrows, usually due to repetitive overhead motions or age-related changes.  This pinching can irritate the rotator cuff tendons

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hunched shoulders adaptation pain

What Is a Bankart Lesion?

A Bankart lesion is the most common type of shoulder dislocation where the humeral head of the upper arm bone moves toward the front and downward with applied force. This can cause the glenoid labrum of the shoulder socket to tear, making the shoulder joint less stable and more prone

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shoulder joint anatomy

What Is a SLAP Tear and Do You Need Surgery?

A SLAP tear is a tear of the labram cartilage that lines the shoulder socket, often involving the attachment of the biceps tendon to the labrum. SLAP tears (Superior Labrum Anterior and Posterior) can be acute, chronic, or degenerative and often occur with other shoulder injuries, such as posterior labral

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massage therapy on shoulder

Full Guide to Shoulder Pain: Causes, Treatments, and Evidence

Shoulder pain is any discomfort, aching, or pain experienced in or around the shoulder joint. Symptoms can manifest in the front, back, top, or at the armpit. Given the complexity of the shoulder joint and pain, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing the pain. This guide

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cluneal nerves posterior view

Does Cluneal Nerve Entrapment Cause Back Pain?

Cluneal nerve entrapment, also known as cluneal neuritis, cluneal nerve compression, or clunealgia, is where cluneal nerves get “stuck” or irritated at the passage through the fascia near the iliac crest of the pelvis. There are three types of cluneal nerves: superior, middle, and inferior. The superior and middle nerves

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massage therapy cancer

Why cancer patients should not be denied of massage therapy

People with cancer or a history of having cancer treatments may get turned away from getting a massage or other spa treatments. In 2015, journalist Joanna Moorhead, who was diagnosed with cancer, wrote her experience in The Guardian about the vulnerability she felt when she filled out a questionnaire that

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massage therapists taking a workshop CEUs

RMT vs LMT: What’s the Difference?

What’s the difference between a RMT and a LMT? While the titles registered massage therapists (RMTs) and licensed massage therapists (LMTs) are often used interchangeably, there are significant differences between them if you’re considering a career in massage therapy. One key contrast between RMTs and LMTs lies in their education and

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woman receiving craniosacral therapy treatment from a therapy

Is Craniosacral Therapy Legit? What You Should Know Before You Try

Traditionally, craniosacral therapy (CST) is a gentle type of manual therapy that focuses on treating the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround the brain and spinal cord—collectively, the craniosacral system. Practitioners use light touch to release tension and stress, believing low amplitude of the craniosacral rhythm indicates low vitality in

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man text neck smartphone

What Is Text Neck and Should You Fix It?

Text neck is a repetitive stress injury to your neck where your hang or flex your neck in a forward position while looking at your phone or similar devices for a long time. Symptoms include having a forward head, hunched shoulders, and a rounded upper back, which makes many clinicians believe

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Kinesio Tape being applied on a wrist and forearm

How to Use KT Tape for Wrist Pain & Does It Work?

Kinesiology tape, or KT tape, is often used as a conservative treatment for pain relief and to support the joints to reduce the risk of injury and improve athletic performance. It’s similar to regular athletic tapes that you often see in drugstores, but unlike them, KT tape is more elastic,

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KT Tape for shoulder pain

How to Use KT Tape for Your Shoulders: Does It Really Work?

KT Tape is one of the many brands of Kinesio Tape that has become wildly popular over the past few years. This class of tape was invented about 50 years ago by Dr. Kenzo Kase, a Japanese chiropractor who wanted  to mimic a practitioner’s hands while the patient is away

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A physical therapy technician shows a brigadier-general and two other officers Kinesio Tape on a patient’s arm.

What Is Kinesio Tape and How Does It Really Work?

Kinesio Tape is a brand of elastic therapeutic tape that is supposed to alleviate pain and improve range of motion. It’s often applied to body parts where injury and pain often occurs, such as shoulders, knees, ankles, wrists and forearms, and lower back. It’s similar to other brands of athletic

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