Tom Willemann Health Tips

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Pulled Hamstrings: Stretch Your Way Back

Pulled Hamstrings: Stretch Your Way Back

Running along the back of the thigh from the pelvis to the shin, the hamstring muscles are responsible for bending the knee, along with moving the hip and other lower extremities. Thus, when a hamstring is strained, or pulled, the rest of the body can be affected. With a hamstring strain, pain and mobility indicate theContinue Reading »

Stretching and Strength-training for Safer Soccer

Stretching and Strength-training for Safer Soccer

While any athletic activity has an inherent risk of injury, soccer has traditionally been considered less dangerous than, say, American football, hockey and lacrosse. Significant tragic events in soccer usually involve the goalposts; either the player hits the post or a faulty goalpost lands on a player.Fortunately, these events are extremely rare. Still, some dangersContinue Reading »

Avoid Rotator Cuff Surgery with Physical Therapy

Avoid Rotator Cuff Surgery with Physical Therapy

Your shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint made up of three dominant bones—the humerus, clavicle and scapula. The rotator cuff consists of a group of four tendons and associated muscles that collectively work to keep the arm bone within the socket of your shoulder bladewhile allowing your arm to raise and rotate. Although damage to the rotatorContinue Reading »

Self-Treating Acute Low Back Pain

Self-Treating Acute Low Back Pain

What is Acute Low Back Pain?Acute low back pain is one of the most common reasons people go see the doctor and/or miss days at work. 80-85% of people will experience low back pain within their lifetime. In addition, low back pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability, according to the GlobalContinue Reading »

Hip Replacement: Game, Set, Match?

Hip Replacement: Game, Set, Match?

Jake Johnson was an avid tennis player before pain from a degenerative hip joint took him off the courts. When his doctor said that he needed total hip replacement surgery, he thought his tennis playing days were over. But were they? In the past, most surgeons recommended against playing tennis after a hip replacement. Today, artificial hipContinue Reading »

Does Running Form Affect Rate of Injuries?

Does Running Form Affect Rate of Injuries?

A recent article highlighted in the New York Times discussed a study published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise .  It looked at the incidence of injuries  among runners who favor heel striking compared to forefoot striking.  Apparently they indicated a two fold increase in heel strikers rates of injury when examining aContinue Reading »

Treating Country Club Elbow

Treating Country Club Elbow

The term “country club elbow” evokes pleasant images of green lawns, polo shirts and tall glasses of iced tea. Unfortunately, this moniker refers to a far less pleasant condition: the combination of tennis elbowand golfer’s elbow—a chronic, painful syndrome associated with the two sports. The condition can cause a shooting pain down the forearm andContinue Reading »

Back to Action After Knee Surgery

Back to Action After Knee Surgery

Tibial osteotomy is a surgical procedure that realigns the angle of the lower leg and changes the distribution of pressure within the knee.  Physicians most often recommend the surgery for people 40 to 60 years of age who have osteoarthritis on only one side of the knee. In the knee, the femur (thighbone) of the upperContinue Reading »