Injury prevention · Fresno & Clovis
Maybe it’s getting through a long drive, lifting at the gym, or taking a walk without cutting it short. Pick an activity to see what you can try and what I’d look at in the clinic.
Sleep
If your neck or back feels stiff in the morning, notice whether the stiffness eases once you start moving. If you’re waking up tired, start with a consistent sleep schedule. Sleep is part of recovery, and position is one thing we can explore if you’re uncomfortable in bed.[1, 2]
Desk work
Maybe you can turn your head freely in the morning, but by the third call your neck feels tight. I’d look at the setup and positions you actually use. Being able to change positions matters when you spend much of the day at a desk.[3]
Driving
Notice when the discomfort starts. The first few minutes, the last hour, and that first step out of the car give us different things to check. If you can reproduce the stiffness with a sit-to-stand in the clinic, we have something we can retest.
Home & yard
Carrying the first bag of soil may feel fine. The tenth one might be where your back starts asking for a break. That’s a useful detail. We can look at the amount of work, the way you do it, and what happens when we change one of those.
Exercise & sports
More hills, a heavier lift, or a new league can change how much work your body is doing. Strength and other exercise programs can lower injury risk in some sports. What you build first depends on the demands you’re preparing for and what you tolerate now.[4, 5]
Walking & balance
A longer walk, a curb, and a turn on uneven ground each ask something different of you. Balance and functional exercise can reduce falls in older adults. A separate trial found that a gradual walking and education program delayed repeat episodes of low back pain after recovery.[6, 7]
Want to see what changes over time? Use the movement and flare log (PDF, page 32) to record what you tried and how it felt later or the next morning.
Functional Manual Therapy
First, I want to hear what happens, what you’ve already tried, and what you want to get back to. Then we pick a movement that matters to you. If it’s getting out of the car, I might ask you to stand from a chair so we can see what feels familiar.
My training in Functional Manual Therapy helps me look at how your joints move and how you use your muscles together. During a treatment visit, I may use hands-on work or change how you do the task. Then we try the same movement again. If it feels the same, I use that information to decide what to check next while you’re still here.[8, 9]
How I use manual therapyNotice when you first want to shift or stop, and what the first stand after the drive feels like. Those details make a more useful comparison than simply calling the whole trip good or bad.
Pick one thing that repeats, like your first video call or standing after lunch. Compare when you notice discomfort and what you have to do about it.
Tell me what you did, how long you spent doing it, and when the stiffness showed up. Both the afternoon and the next morning can help us decide what’s worth adjusting.
Start with the part that makes you hesitate. Is it kneeling, bringing a foot forward, balancing, or having enough energy left to stand? If we check it together, we can use a stable support and compare ways of shifting the work so you have more than one option.
Yes. We can talk through what you’re preparing for, whether that’s a longer hike, more time on the golf course, or a return to lifting. We’ll look at what the activity asks of you and where it makes sense to build gradually.
Tell me what you were doing when it started, when it tends to come back, and what has helped before. That gives us a place to start. You can also read my guide to recurring back pain.
It can be an option. Some disc changes also show up in people who feel fine. I look at how the scan fits your symptoms and exam. I’ve worked with people who made progress with physical therapy after surgery came up as an option. If a surgeon has recommended an operation, ask what the timing depends on and whether a trial of physical therapy fits your case.[10, 11]
We’ll spend 30–45 minutes talking through your concern and checking how you move. You’ll leave with an explanation of what I found and an idea of your options. If you choose to book treatment, it’s $200 per hour.
Free 30–45 minute evaluation with David Quenzer, DPT, in Clovis.