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Shoulder Cortisone Injections: Benefits & Risks

Shoulder Cortisone Injections: Benefits & Risks

By Alex Parker, Physiotherapist | Edited by the BVP Team Shoulder cortisone injections are often recommended to relieve pain from conditions like rotator cuff injuries or subacromial impingement. But how effective are they really, and what are the risks of repeated use? In this article, we break down what the latest research says about the benefits, limitations, and potential side effects of corticosteroid injections for shoulder pain. After a look at the research, here’s what you need to know. Do…

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Shoulder External Rotation Exercises

Shoulder External Rotation Exercises

You’ve probably seen people doing external rotation exercises as part of their warm up before sports, activities or heavy exercises that involve the shoulder. They are often used as a treatment to shoulder impingement and generally prescribed by a Physiotherapist or other health professional.  Being scared to re-injure the shoulder, most people utilize them in their warm up even after the injury has resolved.Shoulder impingement is an extremely common condition of the shoulder and one that I often see in a clinical…

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Understanding Hip Rotation

Understanding Hip Rotation

What is external and internal hip rotation? You’ve probably heard that your glutes (aka ass) are important muscles. They directly influence hip rotation & position and when activated correctly they can help your body move in an ideal way for specific tasks. The glutes are one of the muscle groups responsible for external (outward) rotation of the hip.  External rotation is important because it increases torque in the joint.  When you add this rotation it removes the slack within the…

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Effective Training of the Triceps

Effective Training of the Triceps

Arm day at the gym usually means incorporating a tricep exercise variation. However, the triceps brachii muscle group consists of three separate heads. This begs the question, which exercises do we need to ensure that we stimulate sufficent hypertrophy for all three? Is there one exercise for all of them, or do we need to do three different exercises to work on each head? The triceps brachii is a large fast-twitch muscle group with its primary function being to extend…

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Injury Risk and Butt Wink

Injury Risk and Butt Wink

An Intro to the Butt Wink Lumbar positions, particularly around the butt wink, is an extremely complex and controversial topic where many people fall on either side of the fence. The term ‘butt winking’ is frequently used to describe the ‘dip’ movement of lumbar flexion in the bottom of a squat. Over the past decade, the consensus was that any lumbar flexion or movement outside of maintaining a neutral spine would significantly increase the risk of a back injury to…

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Gym Program Duration

Gym Program Duration

How often do you mix up your gym program? People often speak of muscle confusion, they change up their programs frequently in order to ‘confuse’ the body so it will adapt to the changed stimuli. However, frequent change to programs without giving the body time to adapt to them can be harmful for a number of reasons. Moritani et al. Showed that lifters training for an 8 week block on a new program did not experience muscle growth for the…

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Is Ice Application Harmful?

Is Ice Application Harmful?

Over the years we’ve become accustomed to hearing ‘put ice on it’ anytime we injure ourselves.  After someone suffers an injury I often hear “should I use ice or heat?”.  Unfortunately the answer is, it depends and the rationale is complex. R.I.C.E For as long as I can remember the household acronym for acute injury management has been R.I.C.E .  It stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.  The combination of these four things is what is generally prescribed as the…

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Crossfit, safer than we think

Crossfit, safer than we think

This is not a discussion about the benefits of CrossFit.  In fact you would be hard pressed to call me a CrossFitter.  I have only participated in a small handful of classes since its mainstream introduction.  This sport is not something that I regularly participate in or is it something I generally advocate to others.  This makes it a strange topic for me to discuss.  However, I do see it as another form of exercise to help individuals achieve their…

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Ankylosing Spondylitis Awareness Month

Ankylosing Spondylitis Awareness Month

Well, I’m a little bit late to the party but, better late than never right? Last month in April it was Ankylosing Spondylitis Awareness Month.  For those of you who do not know, Ankylosing Spondylitis is a form of  spinal arthritis that predominantly affects young males and carries on into adulthood. Although it is predominantly of the spine, other joints can also be affected. Common symptoms of this condition include stiffness, discomfort, chronic pain and fatigue.Cause and TreatmentThe cause of Ankylosing…

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Exercise Advocates

Exercise Advocates

  Movement for MovementThis picture sums it up well.  As a Physiotherapist I am placed in a prime position to encourage others to participate in physical activity.  In the span of a year one physiotherapist could see hundreds of different individuals. It is well established that exercise is a great source of ‘medicine’ to help cure, prevent or manage a number of health conditions. Unfortunately the reality is that many of us fall into the habits of our usual routines.  This…

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