The Body Blog
Dry Needling and How it is Incorporated into Physical Therapy
As a physical therapy practice in Reno, we use many therapies to help patients recover from injury, increase mobility, and relieve pain. One of our more effective techniques is dry needling. And while it has gained popularity in the past several years, it is important to note that it is not a silver bullet and is still most effective when coupled with other therapies, such as retraining movement. It is also very different from acupuncture, even though they often get grouped or misunderstood since both therapies use needles. However, these two therapies are distinct in their application and underlying [...]
What Causes Piriformis Pain and How to Treat It
By: Dr. Sarah Martinez, DPT With the approach of summer and promises of warmer weather, I am seeing more patients come in with hip and glute pain that are a result of piriformis muscle overuse. This happens when we start to overuse muscles we haven’t really worked all winter. For example, patients get overactive too soon - hiking and biking long distances or challenging routes without building back up to those activity levels. In this article, we will be exploring: What the piriformis muscle is How it gets overused The symptoms of piriformis strain Some exercises you can do [...]
Exercises for Rotational Sports Training
Our goal at Battle Born Health is to always help you be stronger than yesterday, and a big part of that is working with patients to train in advance of going out and playing their favorite sport. Training before playing helps you build strength and stability so that you are much less likely to be injured. What is a Rotational Sport? Spring and summer bring a whole host of rotational sports out to play. A rotational sport is any sport where you are rotating your body to swing or hit. Think tennis, baseball and softball, golf, and pickleball. You [...]
The Importance of Recharge Time for Women
What does “me time” mean? What does it mean to take time for yourself as a mom; as a woman? Every person reading this will have a different answer. As a physical therapist and functional medicine specialist, I can tell you that taking time for yourself goes way beyond a bubble bath, or meditation, or a long walk. All of those things are good if they work for you, but to truly feel the benefits of “me time” and making time for yourself, you have to find what recharges you and make it a consistent part of your routine. [...]
Three Recipes for Gut Health and to Relieve IBS
Recipes that Help Heal Your Gut April is National IBS Awareness Month and anyone who has suffered with this condition can tell you it really impacts your quality of life. Many symptoms of IBS are controlled by what you eat and how your body is processing, or not processing those foods. For our functional medicine patients, we use principles and recipes from the GAPS diet, which is an elimination diet that involves cutting out grains, pasteurized dairy, starchy vegetables and refined carbohydrates. It is our mission to help make you stronger than yesterday and these recipes for gut health [...]
GAPS Diet for Gut Health and to Relieve IBS
The Importance of Gut Health Almost every functional medicine patient who works with Dr. Danielle Litoff, DPT struggles with some type of gut health issues that are making them sick. Many women suffer from excess gas and IBS because of what they are eating and how their body is processing, or not processing, those foods. April is National IBS Awareness Month and we want to take this opportunity to talk about IBS and your health and provide some information on the GAPS diet and corresponding tips and recipes. What is the GAPS Diet? The GAPS diet is an elimination [...]
Spring Cleaning Dos and Don’ts for Cleaning Out Your Closets
April showers bring May flowers! And spring is the perfect time to do some deep cleaning or organizing you may have avoided over the long winter months. So throw open those closet doors and let’s get things refreshed! When organizing or cleaning out your closets, there is usually lifting and bending involved. Having proper technique is critical to not injuring yourself during this process. Dos and Don’ts of High Shelves High shelves are usually where we put things we don’t need very often. Using proper technique when getting things off of or on to a high shelf is especially [...]
How to Exercise WITH Your Cycle
Women cycle every month and this affects how they should exercise and eat. Women have times in the month where their energy and hormones are high, and others where they need to treat themselves more gently. Working out and eating WITH your cycle helps to keep your metabolic rate stable and makes your workouts more effective for fat burning and strength building. In this video, Dr. Danielle Litoff, DPT and Functional Medicine Health Coach walks you through the typical 28-day cycle and explains what you should be eating, when you should push yourself, and when you should incorporate rest [...]
How To Make Health Habits Stick
It’s February. Have you stuck to your New Year’s resolution? If not, don’t feel bad. It is so common that there is even a National Quitter’s Day that falls on the second Friday in January. This year it fell on January 13th, 2023. So why is it so hard to make resolutions or new habits STICK? I can speak to health habits in particular and the biggest two reasons are: 1. the person doesn't have a good “why” for the change in habit, 2. or it does not fit into their lifestyle. When resistance is greater than the pleasure [...]
Jump Around, Jump Around (Properly!)
A Three-Part Series on Jumping “I came to get down, so get out your seat and jump around!” So while you now have that ‘92 jam by House of Pain stuck in your head, you can enjoy this article about how to jump properly so you don’t end up in a house of pain yourself! (You see what we did there?) Alright, enough. On to the real information. Jumper’s Knee and Improper Jumping Form Sports like basketball, volleyball, hurdles, and many more require a lot of jumping from the athlete. Jumping incorrectly can cause all kinds of knee problems [...]
