Central: (231) 421-9300

Superior Physical Therapy Blog

The Superior Method
Condition Banner

Learn about common pain-causing health conditions, their progression paths, their causes, and effective treatment options. Our blog offers valuable information to people who experience pain and anyone who wishes to learn more about long-lasting, safe, and noninvasive treatments.

These articles also explain how Superior Physical Therapy addresses these common health problems through an innovative approach called the Superior Method. This approach aims to accurately identify the underlying cause of pain in order to develop a more tailored and collaborative treatment plan.

When Your Hips Stop Moving, Your Golf Game Starts Hurting

When Your Hips Stop Moving, Your Golf Game Starts Hurting: How Applied Functional Science Physical Therapy Restores Pain-Free Swings   Golf may look effortless, but the golf swing is one of the most complex athletic movements in sports. It requires...

Read More

Anatomy of Shoulder Pain Relief

Anatomy of Shoulder Pain Relief   Shoulder pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints among adults, often affecting sleep, work, and daily activities. At Superior Physical Therapy, we approach shoulder pain not just by addressing symptoms but by...

Read More

Functional Healing for Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

Functional Healing for Shoulder Impingement Syndrome   Shoulder pain when reaching, lifting, or sleeping on your side? You may be dealing with Shoulder Impingement Syndrome—a common yet often misunderstood condition. While most treatments focus only on the painful joint, the...

Read More

Cortisone Injections vs. Class IV Laser Therapy: Short-Term Relief with Long-Term Considerations

Cortisone Injections vs. Class IV Laser Therapy: Short-Term Relief with Long-Term Considerations   As a physical therapist, I often see patients struggling with persistent musculoskeletal pain—from knee osteoarthritis and tendinopathies to plantar fasciitis. Two common treatment options are cortisone (corticosteroid) injections and Class...

Read More

Why Cortisone Injections are Making Your Shoulder Pain Worse

Why Cortisone Injections are Making Your Shoulder Pain Worse  Shoulder impingement syndrome remains one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints seen in primary care and orthopedic practice. Subacromial corticosteroid injections have long been used to reduce pain and inflammation, often...

Read More

Functional Movement Assessment Prevents Pain and Injury

Functional Movement Assessment Prevents Pain and Injury Pain and injury can usually be traced to one or more movement deficiencies. Most develop slowly, starting with small movement limitations that go unnoticed until the body can no longer compensate. A Functional...

Read More

A Movement Screen Can Keep You Pain Free

A Movement Screen Can Keep You Pain Free Pain rarely shows up out of nowhere. Most aches, stiffness, and injuries are the final chapter of a much longer story—one that starts with small, often invisible movement limitations. A movement screen...

Read More

7 Movement Problems a Functional Movement Screen Reveals

7 Movement Problems a Functional Movement Screen Reveals   We often go through life unconcerned about how well our body is moving, until pain stops us in our tracks. What if you could tell before your back, knee, or shoulder...

Read More

A Smarter Path Forward for Healing Low Back Pain

A Smarter Path Forward for Healing Low Back Pain    Low back pain is rarely caused by a single problem—and it’s almost never solved by a single solution.    Applied Functional Science (AFS) Physical Therapy focuses on understanding how the body...

Read More

You Don’t Have to Live with Stenosis

You Don’t Have to Live with Stenosis    Lower back pain comes in various forms, and one prevalent type is stenosis, derived from the Latin term for narrowing. Also known as arthritis, degenerative disc disease, or disc space narrowing, stenosis involves the...

Read More

Identify and Heal Sacroiliac Pain

Identify and Heal Sacroiliac Pain   Lower back pain is a common ailment, and the second most prevalent form is known as sacroiliac pain or SI pain. Understanding the anatomy and symptoms of the sacroiliac joint (SI joint) can help...

Read More

Healing Disc Herniations with AFS Physical Therapy 

Healing Disc Herniations with Applied Functional Science Physical Therapy   A disc herniation can sound frightening. Words like bulge, tear, or nerve compression often lead people to believe their spine is fragile or permanently damaged. But the truth is, many disc herniations heal successfully—especially...

Read More
1 2 3 22
Vlog- Everything You Need To Know About Lower Back Pain

By Dr. Andrew Gorecki, Physical Therapist In this Vlog (Video Blog) learn how the lower back pain symptoms are almost never caused by the lower back itself… Part 1 is an anatomy lesson which describes how the lower back is...

Read More
What Does an Injection Do for Lower Back Pain?

One of the top 3 most common treatments for lower back pain or sciatica currently is a cortisone injection.  So, what exactly does a cortisone injection do? As a physical therapist and a past lower back pain sufferer who has...

Read More
There Are Only Two Types of Back Injuries

There Is no question that the world we live in is full of information about any topic you can imagine.  This can be helpful and it can be a challenge at the same time.  Especially when trying to find accurate...

Read More
5 Reasons Why Your Lower Back Hurts When You Walk

As a lower back specialist who has worked with thousands of people suffering with lower back pain and having experienced over a year of lower back pain myself and every possible intervention known to man I know for a fact...

Read More
For Everyone Wondering WTH Cupping Is During The Olympics

Just in case you were wondering what those purple, circular bruises are on Michael Phelps. If you were watching the Olympics this weekend and wondering what’s on Michael Phelps’ shoulder… …and neck… …and back, you are not alone! There’s a...

Read More
Dissecting The Facts About Lower Back Pain

Musculoskeletal diseases affect more than one out of every two persons in the United States age 18 and over, and nearly three out of four age 65 and over. Trauma, back pain, and arthritis are the three most common musculoskeletal...

Read More
Is There Hope For Back Pain and Sciatica Suffers?

Is There Hope for Back Pain and Sciatica Sufferers? How We Can Tell if It’s Possible that a Person Can Heal Naturally. When you study the dismal outcomes of lower back surgeries (50% failure rate) I can see how it...

Read More
Random Exercise Produces Random Results

  This is one of my favorite quotes from the guru of movement, Dr. Gary Gray.  This is a fact that cannot be denied.  Research has proven over and over again that physical training whether it be endurance, flexibility, strength,...

Read More
Life As A Low Back Pain Sufferer

The healthcare system in the United States for lower back pain right now is just simply not good enough.  If you look at the statistics, they are overwhelming.  Right now we see that over 265 million prescriptions last year were...

Read More
Do You Know What Inflammation Really Is?

Inflammation is defined as a localized protective response elicited by injury or destruction of tissues which serves to destroy, dilute or wall off the injurious agent and the injured tissues.  The inflammatory response can be provoked by physical, chemical and...

Read More
Is The MRI Lying To You?

I want to make it known that in order to fix lower back pain and find a real permanent solution, an MRI and an x-ray is not necessary.   In fact, I would argue that it actually make the outcomes for...

Read More
Is Sleep The Most Important Element of Low Back Pain?

This morning I woke up with the first thought of how great I slept last night.  This is a rare event for me lately with a business to run, patients to treat, a toddler who sometimes sleeps all night and...

Read More
Superior Therapy Logo
Superior Physical Therapy is all about your priorities, professional service, a satisfying experience, best value, and your success. We want you to feel at ease when you come to visit us and to feel great about yourself when you leave.
Podcast
Stretch Me LogoPain-Free Living
mcf
Contact Information
Office Hours: 
7am - 7pm Monday to Friday
Superior Physical Therapy (West) 
3899 West Front St., 
Traverse City, MI 49684
Superior Physical Therapy & Spine Center (Central) 
722 Munson Ave, Traverse City, MI 49686
© Copyright 2026 Superior Physical Therapy All Rights Reserved.
chevron-down