On Monday, May 4th we will be reopening the doors of the Body Tuning studio to accept in-office patients. We will be operating by appointment only and with limited staff of Dr. Tatz and Daniel. So please leave a message when you call the office and it will be returned as soon as we can.

Safety is everyone’s number one priority as we start to weigh the risk of exposure vs value when leaving the home.

Here’s what we are doing to protect you and ourselves:

• Wearing masks to limit air contamination.
• Washing hands before and after each treatment.
• Scheduling patients in 1 hour intervals to avoid any overlap between patients. You and your therapist will have the entire office to yourselves.
• Sanitize the office between each appointment. This includes high touch areas, individual treatment rooms and tables, and any equipment that you may come in contact with.
• Our building sanitizes all hallways and door knobs regularly and requires a mask and gloves for entrance to protect contamination of public spaces.

We are doing everything we can to reduce everyone’s level of exposure. If you have any concerns, or recommendations, about our safety protocols please feel free to reply to this email so we can continue to help and support each other during this reopening transition.  

We are here for you when you are ready. 

We are continuing to try and provide the service that you know and love while also ensuring you and our staff remain safe. With that in mind, we’re introducing Body Tuning online.

Body Tuning is offering group exercise classes as well as 1 on 1 sessions that will be available for participation on Zoom. Please download the app ahead of time.

Many people who begin physical exercise have the common goal of losing weight. It was no different for me, I had gained a lot in my first year of college, freshman 15 they call it, it got me, and I was driven to lose it all.

When many physical activities were creating muscle fatigue, drowsiness, and pain in my body I decided to give yoga a try. After my first class I knew yoga was something I loved. Would it help me lose weight? I wasn’t quite sure, but I loved how fluid it was and how my body was able to adapt to it easily.  I’d get sore, sweat, and feel like I got a good workout in.

Those feelings lasted about 6-7 months. After that I wouldn’t get so sore, if sore at all. I’d sweat, but because I was moving in 80 degrees or so, the feeling of a great workout changed to falling in love with a mind-body connection and understanding my movements.

A year practicing yoga and I lost that freshman 15 plus, but yoga changed for me in that interim. It was no longer about losing the weight; it was about finding an hour of self in a crazy world.

The Perils of Toughing It Out http://t.co/MbTVudAmVm

— NYTimes Well (@nytimeswell) March 3, 2014

Dear Jane,

I just finished reading your most recent article and was pleased to see that you mention the importance of physical therapy.  For the past 30 years I have really enjoyed reading your articles and found them informative. I have been a physical therapist for over 40 years and witnessed the growth and need for physical therapy in our society.  More and more people are suffering from chronic pains especially in the back, knees, shoulders and neck and are searching for answers to cure their pain.  Unfortunately, recently I have been experiencing less and less support for physical therapy from the medical establishment and insurance companies. For this reason Physical Therapy has become less and less effective, most of the attention is placed on saving money and restricting treatments from the number allotted to the length of the session. In my professional opinion the patient should come first, not the insurance company. So, I would like to ask you what insurance company would accept that a doctor of physical therapy focus their full attention on a patient for at least 45min if not longer?

Continue reading →

Common Knee Surgery Does Very Little for Some, Study Suggests http://t.co/quWrRUAJFa

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 26, 2013

We've seen this a lot. Same applies to shoulders, hips & other joints. The right physical therapist is often a better option than surgery.

— Shmuel Tatz (@bodytuning) December 26, 2013

Do you know when to use heat or cold therapy for an injury? If not, a recent review article by two University of Washington sports doctors, Matthew Karl, MD, and Stanley Herring, MD, can be your guide.

Drs. Karl and Herring point out that the application of superficial heat to your body can improve the flexibility of your tendons and ligaments, reduce muscle spasms, alleviate pain, elevate blood flow and boost metabolism. The mechanism by which heat relieves pain is not exactly known, although researchers believe that heat inactivates nerve fibers, which can force muscles into irritating spasms, and that heat may induce the release of endorphins, powerful opiate-like chemicals that block pain transmission.

Increased blood flow occurs in heated parts of the body because heat tends to relax the walls of blood vessels. That’s one reason why sports doctors recommend you steer clear of the practice of heating up already inflamed joints. Heat appears to be best for untightening muscles and increasing overall flexibility; the proper tissue temperature for vigorous heating is probably 104 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (40 to 45 degrees Celsius) and the correct duration of temperature elevation is about five to 30 minutes. Although heating can reduce muscle spasms after a back injury, heat should not be used on sprained ankles.

Continue reading →

The March 7, 2011 edition of Time Magazine was devoted to the discussion of pain and ways to treat it. From spinal cord stimulation by implants, through drug therapies and finally by complementary and alternative medicine that attempts to minimize pain with minimal damage to the body.

Implants and narcotic drug therapies carry risks along with the possibility of easing pain. We are all aware now that what was once considered an innocuous pain reliever, acetaminophen, is known to cause liver failure when used in large doses. And, ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatory medications, even aspirin, can cause stomach bleeding.

In the area of pain management, medications do not heal the body. But in the hands of a competent physical therapist, that is, one who is licensed and who has a minimum of 10 years of experience and who works hands on with the patient for at least 30 to 40 minutes, physical therapy can alleviate pain, whether it is from a structural problem, an injury, or has been longstanding and chronic.

Continue reading →