Prevention is a much better choice than the alternative, which is to notice a problem (ex: poor balance since that is our focus this series!) and ignore it or assume there is nothing you can do about it and let it continue to worsen with time. I am amazed how many patients I meet that have resigned to “getting older” means I will just have to live with this balance problem or knee pain or weakness. Be Proactive! With this mindset, the issue will continue to grow bigger until it becomes a major problem (ex: hip fracture from a fall). Once you’ve traveled down this path, you know it takes more time, effort and energy to recover and manage the issue effectively. Being proactive about managing your health is even more important as you age since you are at a higher risk for experiencing declines in your overall health and in your ability to move around. If you want the secret to aging here it is: stay mobile and active and eat more veggies! We all know about prevention. This is why most of us go to the dentist 2x a year. It is also why we go to our annual physician check-up. However, how many of us go to an annual balance, strength, flexibility, stamina checkup? Zero that I know of. So Penrose Physical Therapy is offering a FREE event… Read More

Yoga has along list of health benefits. They include greater flexibility, stronger muscles, better posture, balance, reduced emotional and physical stress, and self-esteem. Yoga and its many forward folds have to be eliminated for the osteoporosis crowd. However, the rotational poses actually increase bone density as I will explain. Dr. Loren Fishman, a physiatrist at Columbia University in rehabilitative medicine has been gathering evidence on yoga and bone health. And his aim was to determine whether yoga might be an effective therapy for osteoporosis. But the idea that yoga helps bone density is not widely accepted in the medical community. Knowing more than 700,000 spinal fractures and more than 300,000 hip fractures occur annually in the United States, Dr. Fishman hoped that this low-cost and less dangerous alternative to bone-loss drugs is worth pursuing. Medication As An Intervention Bone-loss medications can produce adverse side effects like gastrointestinal distress and fractures of the femur. Indeed, a study published in “Clinical Interventions in Aging” found that among 126,188 women found to have osteoporosis, all of whom had Medicare Part D drug coverage, only 28 percent started bone drug therapy within a year of diagnosis. But most people do know that the prescribed medications come with complicating factors and risks. Dr. Fishman and colleagues wrote recently, yoga’s “side effects”,  “include better posture, improved balance, enhanced coordination, greater range of motion, higher strength, reduced levels of anxiety and better gait.” How does yoga work to increase bone density? “Yoga… Read More

This was a reply by one of my patients that really was at a loss of how to move without bending the spine. She truly loved Yoga and wanted to know if there was any possibility of modifying yoga. Yes it is possible and I will explain more. How to bend without bending at the spine is one of the most common questions I get from my osteoporosis and osteopenia patients. It is often one of the most difficult things to learn in the beginning and once you have it down it becomes how you move all the time. Anytime our body has to learn how to move differently it feels very awkward and difficult. Learning to bend without bending the back will also prevent a low back injury! (We really should move like this all the time for good spine health!) Why Bother Changing How We Bend? First of all, why is it critical to learn to avoid bending the spine with osteoporosis and osteopenia? Because bending the spine when it rounds like the letter “C” places stress on the softened bone and can create a compression type fracture. More than likely you won’t feel it! They call them “silent” vertebral compression fractures and the research says 700,000+ happen a year. It’s more common than cardiac and stroke events combined! One happens every 45 seconds. If you can learn to bend correctly, you will decrease your risk for creating a compression fracture. Think about all the… Read More

Since we have been talking about balance and falls, we need to talk about what can often lead to falls: vertigo. Let’s start with the basics about vertigo. True vertigo is the sensation of spinning or movement (such as the sensation of swaying). If you’ve ever been sea sick, this is a bit like the swaying sensation, and if you ever got “the spins” in your younger years after too much fun with alcohol, this is similar to the sensation of spinning that some people exercise. There are 2 types of vertigo: “Inner ear vertigo” is the most common type that we help people deal with in the clinic. I’ll discuss it more below. Central vertigo is related to damage to the balance centers of the brain. This includes things like strokes, MS and Parkinson’s. People with central vertigo tend to feel more unbalances or unsteady in general, versus having sudden attacks of spinning. Today I want to focus on inner ear vertigo. People with inner ear vertigo have very specific symptoms. Typically, they have a hard time turning their heads rapidly and walking in busy environments (like the mall). Certain positions can cause a sudden sensation of spinning which can be pretty scary at times. These positions include tipping the head back, bending forward, laying down in bed, or rolling over in bed. What Does This Mean? So what’s going on with these people? Do you remember when you were a kid and you would spin around in the grass until you got really dizzy and fell… Read More

The last few weeks we’ve seen a lot of people coming into the clinic with balance issues. It’s a common problem that we see quite a lot, but not a lot of people know that physical therapists can help with your balance. We like to have a bit of fun when we’re testing people’s balance. We like to play ‘one-legged darts’ and do the ‘can you walk in a straight line?’ test. This tells us how steady (or wobbly) people are on their feet. After we’ve done these little tests, everyone always says: “I didn’t realize my balance was that bad!” And it’s true! Most of us rarely realize we have a problem with our balance until it’s pointed out to us. Even though not all of us have superhuman balance like gymnasts and ice skaters, we need a certain level of balance to help us go about our daily activities without falling over and hurting ourselves. How Do You Tell If You’re Losing Your Balance? So I wanted to share the most common signs and symptoms to lookout for, when it comes to wobbly balance and an increased risk of falls. One of the most common ones is ‘dizziness’. Everyone has a dizzy spell now and then, but the word ‘dizziness’ may mean something different to different people. For some people dizziness might be a fleeting sensation of spinning. While for others it feels intense and lasts a long time. If you find yourself feeling as though the room is spinning… Read More

I work with clients 40+ and I often hear them say with a chuckle; “Yep, I’m shrinking and my feet are getting bigger.” Honestly, this is no laughing matter. If you are shrinking more than 1/2 an inch a year or more than 1.6 inches in your lifetime then you likely have had a fracture in your spine (the vertebral column) due to soft bones, or what we call osteopenia and osteoporosis. Don’t panic. It’s healed but it has healed in a way that has left you shorter. Think of soft bones/osteoporosis like butter and if you slouch or work in front of a computer most of your day (which is almost all of us) then that can load the vertebrae/bone and cause a “silent compression fracture”. A “silent fracture” means you do not feel it happen! You only notice the loss of height or shrinking over time. Can Height Be Gained? Can we help people gain height? Yes, but not by causing the bones to grow. We have seen patients gain an inch in height by stretching the tight posture muscles and giving them posture activities and yoga type exercises. It is a myth to think that shrinking comes with age. It’s also a myth to think you can’t do anything for the rounded upper back posture. You can improve that rounded upper back posture and certainly prevent it from getting worse. If you are a pre or post menopausal woman with a rounded upper… Read More

A gentleman called the clinic the other day. He had growing concerns and asked us: “Why does my wife keep falling over?” He continued to tell us that his wife, Sally, 71, generally has good health, but lately she’s been having difficulty controlling her balance and loses confidence every time she falls – so much so, that she’s scared to leave the house without him, or their daughter by her side, just in case she falls over and there’s no one there to help her get back up. Losing your balance is a scary thing. And it’s something we hear people worrying about all the time. It’s not uncommon that as we get older we begin to feel unsteady on our feet. People have told us that when they’re out doing their weekly food shop they have to rely on the shopping cart to keep them on their feet, or lean on a loved one to help them get around safely… Fear of falling spoils their confidence to leave the house alone. Even getting up and moving around the house independently. It’s a worrying thing that happens. And most of the time, people don’t understand why it’s happening to them all of a sudden. So why is it that falls are one of the main causes of accidents and injuries in people aged 65+? Here’s just some of the reasons why falling can become more of an issue as we get older… Contributors to Loss of Balance… Read More

Did you know that some people suffer from headaches so frequently that they consider them to be a regular part of life? That’s why things like aspirin sellers. But drugs can only relieve the symptoms temporarily – when many times, the recurring headaches may actually be the result of something else. In my years of experience, it’s often the case that, if someone is suffering from regular headache episodes, they just haven’t got to the real, underlying ROOT CAUSE of the problem. Many times, the recurring headaches may be the result of a dysfunction with the shoulder, jaw or neck… and it is usually possible that an expert in recognizing relief from headaches could help someone like you! If You Feel Let Down, Disappointed, And Even Skeptical About What Can Be Done To Help You, Then Read On… My name is Jennifer Penrose, Lacey’s leading neck pain specialist, and I have been helping people live with much less neck pain for more than a decade now – all across the state.  And what we know now is that so many people are confused by the advice they’ve previously been given, unsure about why it didn’t work out… perhaps even skeptical about their best chances of living with less neck pain in the future… and that’s why I created this one hour Workshop entitled: “The Best Kept Secrets Of Easing Neck Pain And Headaches” – and decided to make it FREE to the residents of Lacey. When you… Read More

If you or a loved one suffer from chronic pain, read this report. Reading this report may be the most important thing you do this year. It may unlock the agony of your neck pain and show you how to get back to the life you deserve… A life where you can sleep at night without tossing and turning, hoping to find one position where your neck pain stops. A life where you can read a book before bed… or newspaper on a morning… without the fear of more neck pain. One where you can wake up in the morning and not suffer from headaches or migraines… A life where you can plan family time with your kids or grandkids, without worrying over if your pain will strike! …Basically, a life without chronic or severe neck pain! Relief is Here! Finally one of the nations leading neck experts, Jennifer Penrose, a specialist from Lacey who has already helped 100’s of people over the last decade with her recovery advice – has recently released a new 7 page “Neck Pain Consumer Awareness Report” that reveals the best kept secret in Lacey… How to actually get to the bottom of your pain without talking to your insurance. Or how to not need regular trips to see the chiropractor. You don’t even need a referral from your doctor. Neck Pain “Truths” Finally Exposed This report reveals… Read More

So far in this series, we’ve covered all things neck pain, shoulder pain and even headaches. I just want to quickly recap what we’ve looked at. First we looked at why everyday activities can cause neck pain and what you can do to change that. Then we looked at how sleeping can cause neck and shoulder pain. We said it can be eased by sleeping with only one pillow and trying different sleeping positions that are comfortable and supportive. We then switched gears a little to look at headaches, and how most people think that they can be caused by something they’ve eaten, when it’s more often down to neck and shoulder tension causing a headache, and you could try things like relaxing in a warm bath to help ease the tension, or talking to a member of our team. Shoulder pain then became topic and I gave you some simple exercises that you can do from your desk to help ease it. Finally, last week we looked at how stress can actually be a big cause for headaches and that finding ways to relax can be really beneficial, including trying Yoga. What’s New This Week? This week I want to switch back to shoulder pain. It can sometimes be hard to see what you are doing wrong in your lifestyle because, well, it’s your lifestyle. Your daily routine is so well known to you that it can become second nature to read before bed, look on your tablet… Read More

Headaches area pain. We all get them now and again, but for some of us,they’re more of a regular occurrence than others… Here at the clinic it’s incredible how many people we see who tell us that they’ve suffered from headaches. So often that they just consider them to be a regular part of life. That’s why things like ibuprofen and other types of painkillers are such big sellers. But drugs can only relieve the symptoms temporarily by masking the pain. Many times, the recurring headaches may actually be the result of something else! Take a look at this emaiI received from a new patient last week as an example: “Hi Jennifer, after reading your neck pain and headaches booklet, I wanted to send you an email to see if you could help me! I’m 48 years old and the last 6 months I’ve been suffering from some of the worst headaches I’ve ever had. I sit in front of a computer daily for at least 8 hours in a job that is stressful most of the time. Recently I visited the dcotor who gave me pills to take the pain away, but the pain still exists and all I feel is constant tightness in my head. I don’t know what to do, or what the cause could be, it feels like pounding at the front of my head. Do you have any ideas? Thanks Jennifer.” – Alison, 48, Lacey. What’s happening with Alison? Of course, I have… Read More

Sometimes, it can often surprise us how the smallest things in life can actually affect our health. Small things like wearing that heavy bag on the same shoulder everyday, or that terrible posture you’ve learnt at work, but so desperately want to get rid of. That’s right everyone… it all adds up. Today I’ll be going over the importance of exercising in the workplace and how it can help your shoulder pain. The reason why I’m writing about the workplace is because not many people realize how much time you spend at work. For example, the average full-time worker spends on average every year, 1,650 hours at work. That’s equivalent to 68 days or 9 weeks of day-in-day-out work! Now, imagine if you had an office job, or if you DO, think of all those hours you actually spend sat down, not moving and potentially developing poor posture. It’s no wonder you have shoulder pain! That is why it’s important to exercise at work and to keep moving as much as possible. Having only 5 weeks away from work can take it’s toll on your body. This truly shows how long you are at work for and how it can affect your health. With that in mind, here’s a few of my tips that are handy to use to ease that shoulder pain… Yoga before and after work is a MUST to stretch away those potential aches and pains in your muscles. It is ideal to do Yoga… Read More