Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Why Physical Therapy is a Key Component to Aging Well

As a leading authority on aging well, I would like to share with you a few of my latest featured articles on how physical therapy can help you to stay active and healthy and improve your quality of life so that you can avoid costly medical expenses and medications which are fraught with side effects.

Why Physical Therapy is a Key Component to Aging Well:

In this featured article in the Seniors BlueBook, you’ll learn why physical therapy can help with healthy aging by improving health span and assisting in a more successful aging process.

https://issuu.com/seniorsbluebook/docs/sbb_idaho1018/86

Discover how to improve your health span and age successfully with these three simple exercises for balance and strength as featured on Smart Strategies for Successful Living.

http://www.agegracefullyamerica.com/how-physical-therapy-can-help-you-age-well/

In this featured article for PT-Helper, you’ll discover how a Physical Therapist (PT) can help you improve, restore or maintain your ability to move and function in your daily life while improving all aspects of your health.

http://pt-helper.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-you-can-benefit-from-physical.html

If you’re interested in learning more about how physical therapy can help you to age successfully and improve your health span, be sure to subscribe to my e-mail list and YouTube channel as well as join our community on Facebook by liking The Physical Therapy Advisor!

Posted on Wednesday, June 6, 2018

How YOU Can Benefit from Physical Therapy

I can’t tell you how many times someone will ask me what I do for a living, and upon hearing that I am a physical therapist, he or she will immediately divulge his/her complex personal medical history about a health issue or describe some past experience with a physical therapist (PT). The stories are usually exceedingly positive or as one may expect, very negative and unfortunate. This in no way upsets me to hear about one’s personal experiences or medical history. However, it is concerning that so many people live with chronic aches and pains and (apparently) aren’t able to resolve the problem. I can’t promise that physical therapy is the panacea of all cures for what ails you, but I have seen it work miracles in people’s lives. The most amazing thing is the diversity of people I have had the privilege to interact with and help!

Often the answer or treatment plan for a person’s particular issue is not what is expected. For example, a common complaint is shoulder pain. Many people struggle to lift overhead properly and often have shoulder pain. This pain is typically from what is known as shoulder impingement syndrome leading to tendonitis of the rotator cuff.

There are many “standard” treatments for this ailment depending on the medical practitioner you ask. For example, a physician is likely to offer pain medications (and possibly an anti-inflammatory medication); advice on icing and taking it easy; and if particularly progressive, a physician may even provide a hand out regarding elastic band exercises. Some physical therapists would likely offer similar advice, such as icing and elastic band exercises to strengthen a muscle group known as the rotator cuff muscles. (The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that are important in the movement and stability of the shoulder.)

Time and time again, after a thorough examination of the client, I understand why the shoulder is hurting. The person has no thoracic mobility likely due from: years of poor posture; office work; washing dishes; taking care of children; or sitting watching TV for hours. Maybe these activities have led to a very rigid and immobile thoracic spine.

Poor thoracic mobility is a big deal when it comes to shoulder mobility. The shoulder joint is made up of the scapula (shoulder blade) and humerus (the arm bone to the elbow). The shoulder blade and the thoracic spine also make a type of joint. If the thoracic spine is stiff, the shoulder blade is unable to rotate correctly–affecting the way the ball of the humerus spins in the socket of the shoulder blade. This leads to impingement of the rotator cuff and biceps tendon which causes pain. If you don’t treat the lack of thoracic mobility, it will be very difficult to ever resolve the shoulder pain.

This real and all too common example of why a person develops shoulder pain is to illustrate why seeing a physical therapist is so valuable. How would a person know the real cause of the shoulder pain if he or she didn’t ask a physical therapist? The answer is that he or she wouldn’t know. Unfortunately, he or she would likely go round and round from one treatment to the next without fully recovering or understanding the real reason why the pain developed in the first place.

Worse yet, as the shoulder pain worsens so does one’s ability to function and his/her quality of life. In an older adult, this so often begins a downward spiral away from healthy aging and toward an abnormal aging process. This same example is seen in many of the most common orthopaedic complaints from foot and ankle pain to knee or low back pain.

The dichotomy of the human body is that it is very simple and fragile, yet a complex and robust machine! The body is truly remarkable and full of surprises. Many of the most common aches and pains a person may have can be described in a similar scenario like mentioned above.

Physical therapy can help! Some issues are not so black and white. Many issues are like peeling an onion with many layers to the problem. I believe it is crucial to have a physical therapist on your team to help you live a long, happy life performing the activities that you want for as long as you want!

Age is relative, and movement is the key to healthy living. The goal for health aging is to improve health span, which means the length of time that a person is healthy and thriving in his or her life and not just alive. Physical therapy can help with healthy aging by improving health span and assisting in a more successful aging process. We are all capable of successfully aging if we are intentional about the process.

Physical therapists can help you improve, restore or maintain your ability to move and function in your daily life. As a physical therapist, I help people participate in life, whatever that may be for each individual. To learn more about physical therapists, visit the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

How Can Physical Therapy Benefit You?

Assist in recovery from a surgery (assisting in complete recovery and integration back into daily life or sport)
Assist in recovery from a stroke or heart attack
Assist in improving strength or endurance after an illness or prolonged inactivity
Assist in improving balance and walking ability to prevent falls
Maintain independence
Pain management including low back pain, shoulder pain, hip or knee pain and/or arthritis pain
Improve athletic performance by optimizing movement patterns
Health and injury prevention in sport and in life (work or play)

Physical therapists can help guide you through any array of recovery or rehabilitation: return to work, sport, running, and CrossFit. Whatever your desired activity may be, a physical therapist can help you get moving and “living” again! Fundamentally, movement is life!

Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Why You need an annual Physical Therapy (PT) Evaluation

As we age, most of us hope to experience a lifestyle that is fun, rewarding, and meaningful. Maintaining mobility and independence are fundamental components to aging well. Unfortunately, too many older adults in the United States experience chronic disease, illness, and debility. Some of the most common chronic illnesses facing older adults (such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, pulmonary diseases, and neurological disorders) are sadly considered a normal part of the aging process, when in fact they are not.

Although chronic disease, illness, and debility are common in today’s society, it’s not part of a normal aging process. The normal aging process should allow you to maintain your most basic mobility and independence until the end of life. To insure this happens, it’s critical to be proactive about the aging process.

Physical therapy can be an important and integral component to aging well. As a physical therapist (PT), I’m a strong advocate for all older adults to see a physical therapist at least one time per year for a movement and functional screening examination. This is an opportunity to develop an exercise and training prescription to address any new physical issues or impairments that are starting to occur. A PT can help to establish a preventative training program that allows you to identify any areas of concern (such as decreasing balance, accelerated loss of muscle or bone mass).

Many of the most common chronic illnesses or impairments start off as somewhat minor annoyances. However, when left untreated, they can develop into debilitating and life changing impairments.

For example, a case of knee pain left untreated can progress and slowly limit your function. This can eventually lead to severe muscle weakness, ongoing chronic pain, and the loss of your ability to perform even the most basic tasks (such as standing up from a chair or toilet and walking independently).

Now imagine if your knee pain was proactively dealt with. During your PT evaluation, you work with your PT to develop an individualized exercise and stretching prescription. Upon implementation, your knee pain resolves! Now you have a preventative training program to decrease your risk of developing knee pain again. In addition, you’re set up for success in continuing your healthy and active lifestyle as part of aging well.

A yearly PT evaluation, including the opportunity to develop an individualized training program, is essential in order to address any physical impairment early in the process. Taking a proactive stance to address noted physical impairments is a critical step in insuring a health aging process while maintaining mobility and independence which is vital to age well.

Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2018

How Physical Therapy Can Help YOU Age Well

Most of us are familiar with the term life span, which is a reference to how long a person will actually live. A newer and even more important term is health span, which means the length of time that a person is healthy and not just alive. Physical therapy can help with healthy aging by improving health span and assisting in a more successful aging process. We are all capable of successfully aging if we are intentional about the process.

Successful aging has a different meaning for each of us, but commonalities exist in most scenarios. In order to age successfully and improve health span, you will need to fully embrace what it will take to accomplish this goal. To live safely, independently, and comfortably, consider your physical, mental, and emotional health as well as your community and any financial implications.

Mobility is vital to independence. Independent mobility is different for everyone. It may be through ambulation or use of an assistive device such as a cane, walker or wheelchair. You need to maintain the ability to be independently mobile regardless of utilizing a mobility or assistive device.

Aspects of maintaining mobility include adequate balance, strength, and endurance. As a person ages, the likelihood that additional co-morbidities (other complicating medical conditions) is also likely higher. This means that addressing the foundations of mobility (such as balance, strength, and endurance) may not be a straight forward proposition. In fact, it may be somewhat complicated. We all know that maintaining your physical health is important, but complicated medical conditions can make some feel unsure how to proceed.

A physical therapist (PT) is uniquely qualified to understand your individual medical history as well as the interrelationship between “abnormal” and “normal” physiology. A PT can guide you on how to best and safely improve the foundations of mobility in the presence of complicating medical conditions.

Increasing your life span without increasing your health span is undesirable. We all want to have quality of life in our later years. A PT can help you to maintain your independence through mobility. Physical therapy can even be used as preventative medicine to ward off many of the prominent illnesses attributed to aging. Humans were designed to move much more than our current lifestyles afford us. Maintaining your mobility is critical for all body functions and is fundamental in avoiding chronic illness.

Three Simple Exercises for Balance and Strength

Here are three simple exercises that almost anyone can perform in order to help maintain balance and improve strength.

Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Longevity Through Physical Therapy

Healthy aging looks different for everyone. A person’s prior health status, genetics, and life experiences can all weigh heavily on one’s ability to age well. Part of a healthy aging process is maintaining independence in your later years. One important component to healthy aging is how well you can maintain your mobility. Aspects of maintaining mobility include adequate balance, strength, and endurance.

As you age, the likelihood that additional co-morbidities (other complicating medical conditions) is also likely higher. This means that addressing the foundations of mobility (such as balance, strength, and endurance) may not be a straight forward proposition when seeking to maintain your activity level. Research concludes that appropriate strength training and cardiovascular exercise training is a key component to the treatment and management of most chronic illnesses that affect the aging adult.

For many, the main barrier to implementing an exercise as medicine approach is uncertainty and the fear of causing more harm. How can you properly perform the exercises needed to address the impairments requiring treatment while working around other complicating medical conditions including arthritis, joint pain (knee pain), back pain or shoulder pain?

A physical therapist (PT) is uniquely qualified to understand your individual medical history as well as the difference between “abnormal” and “normal” aging and physiology. A properly trained PT can guide you on how to best and safely improve the foundations of mobility in the presence of complicating medical conditions.

Physical therapists and the field of physical therapy can help lead the way for those desiring to age well. Physical therapy can even be used as a preventative medicine to ward off many of the prominent illnesses attributed to aging.

Listen to my past guest appearance on The Longevity and Biohacking Show, in which I discuss Longevity through Physical Therapy. Jason Hartman and I specifically discuss how physical therapy can be used to manage and prevent conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, and dementia. Humans were designed to move much more than our current lifestyles afford us. Maintaining your mobility is critical for all body functions and is fundamental in avoiding chronic illness.

As the exercise as medicine approach is coming to the forefront of recommended treatment options for chronic disease management and treatment, so has the concept of the medical fitness center (which are also known as medically oriented gyms or medically integrated health centers). These facilities are now being recognized as an important part of a healthcare system’s continuum of care. They are run by physicians, hospital groups, exercise physiologists or other ancillary health professionals (physical therapists). The staff is qualified to teach, help guide, and monitor each individual on how to safely implement the proper exercise prescription to improve quality of life and prevent or manage chronic disease and illness in order to age well.

Maybe most importantly, medical fitness centers are places where people with multiple medical risk factors, diseases or illnesses (such as diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis) can feel comfortable with the care and instruction provided in a safe and appropriate environment.

If you desire to live a long healthful life, take personal responsibility and embrace the importance of a proper exercise and diet prescription while focusing attention on how to best age well. Seek the assistance of a medical professional who can guide you through this process. We are all capable of successfully aging if we are intentional about the process.

Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Why Medical Fitness?

The United States spends more money (by a wide margin) than any other country on health care. Our health care system is set up to keep us from dying, not thriving! Sadly, our average life span barely makes it in the top 30 when compared to other nations. Worse yet, life expectancy in the United States has decreased two years in a row! Both 2016 and 2017 mark life span expectancy declines. As it stands now, the American health care system is poorly equipped to help us maximize our health span. Health span is defined as a period of time in which a person is generally healthy and free from serious disease.

Health care costs in America continue to increase without actual positive change in our health status as patients and consumers. It is imperative that we take back control of our own health care by continuing to be proactive. Part of being proactive is learning how to care for and manage common injuries and illnesses. The medical system is not designed to help you to maximize your health and well-being. It is designed to prevent you from dying and to maximize profits for the corporatocracy that controls our health care system.

Health care costs in the United States continue to outpace almost any other sector for inflation. Unfortunately, this increase in cost has not shown any actual positive change in health status. Not only are costs within our healthcare systems rising at near exponential levels, but we are also in the midst of a giant generational shift that will forever change the demographics of the United States and the Western World. During this shift, the Baby Boomers are rapidly approaching elder status. At the present pace, over 8,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day!

Many have turned to science to find the fountain of youth to help us all live longer (without much success so far). Maybe more importantly we must remember that, health span is just as important as life span. How you spend your years is just as (if not more) important than your actual age. One of the most critical components to aging well and improving health span is physical activity.

We are all capable of navigating a successful aging process if we are intentional with our behaviors. Although successful aging has a different meaning for each of us and outcomes will vary, commonalities exist in most scenarios. In order to age successfully, you will need to fully embrace what it will take to accomplish the goal of living safely, independently, and comfortably within your community. We know our present healthcare system is not designed to help individuals age well, only to prevent dying. So how then can we age well? Enter the rise of the medical fitness centers!

We all know that exercise is good for us and that mobility is vital to independence as we age. In fact, many of the most chronic devastating diseases individuals suffer from are actually best managed through lifestyle choices (including proper diet and exercise).

Examples of illnesses that are in many cases best managed with an exercise and diet prescription rather than medication include:

Diabetes
Obesity
Cardiac Disease
Many auto-immune diseases
Osteoporosis
Sarcopenia

While this is not an exhaustive list, it is actually difficult to find an illness that wouldn’t be better managed through improved lifestyle choices including proper exercise and diet prescriptions.

So what exactly is a medical fitness center, and how is it different from a traditional gym?

Medical fitness centers are designed to use evidence-based practices to help individuals manage many of today’s most common illnesses.

Many “typical” large chain and smaller gyms focus on programs that tend to be based on what the public perceives as “the new thing” or what feels right to them. Typical gyms most often cater toward a younger population that does not already have medical issues. Such gyms may not have educated staff available to help those trying to manage chronic disease and/or illness.

Medical fitness centers (which are also known as medically oriented gyms or medically integrated health centers) are now being recognized as part of a healthcare system’s continuum of care. They are run by physicians, hospital groups, exercise physiologists or other ancillary health professionals (physical therapists). The staff is qualified to teach, help guide, and monitor each individual on how to safely implement the proper exercise prescription to improve quality of life and prevent or manage chronic disease and illness in order to age well.

The benefit of selecting a medical fitness center versus a traditional gym is that you will be given an individualized workout routine that is right for you in addition to a personal assessment. Rather than jumping right in without guidance or instruction, your personal baseline and needs will be assessed so you can be coached and guided through a fitness, mobility, and disease prevention and management program in order to help you to minimize the risk of injury while improving all aspects of your health.