How Physical Therapy Aids in Osteoporosis

Being diagnosed with osteoporosis as well as a bone fracture can be a scary endeavor. You may find yourself afraid to engage in activities that could potentially cause a new fracture or worsen your existing injury. However, following a treatment plan created and supervised by a physical therapist can not only help you get back on your feet, but also help you feel confident about doing so.

What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones, occurring when an individual loses too much bone mass or density, fails to create enough bone mass or density, or a combination of both. This results in your bones becoming fragile and susceptible to break from a minor fall, or in more serious cases, from everyday actions like knocking into furniture. The term osteoporosis means “porous bone.” Under a microscope,a healthy bone looks like a honeycomb, while in someone with osteoporosis, the holes and spaces in the bone are much larger, signifying a loss in bone density and mass. As your bones become less dense, they become weaker and more likely to fracture or break.

How can a Physical Therapist help? For many people, they do not know they have osteoporosis until they suffer a fracture from an activity that usually would cause them no difficulty in their younger years. For example, some patients can endure  a spinal fracture in their vertebrae from something as simple as rolling over in their beds. In these cases, a physical therapist can teach their patients how to go about their daily activities while managing the pain of their fracture, and doing resistive exercises to strengthen the surrounded areas and aid recovery.
 
The best way for someone suffering with osteoporosis to prevent fractures and injury is to work with a physical therapist for preventative care. A physical therapist can teach their patients measures to avoid hurting themselves, such as lifting without using your back, move without twisting the spine, fall prevention strategies, and practicing exercises that are safe and keep patients active.

Holiday Mishap Prevention

Make the most out of this holiday season without having to wind up in the emergency room! The holiday season is one of the most injury prone times of the year, so make sure you stay accident free! Here are some frequent holiday injuries, mishaps, and tips to avoid them!

Fires are one of the most common holiday mishaps. Make sure to avoid them by putting out fires in fireplaces after you are done. Fires to Christmas trees are very common as well. The most common instances occur because the Christmas tree lights catch on fire, as well as the Christmas tree being near something heated. To avoid accidents, make sure that when you are not home, you turn all Christmas lights off to avoid potential dangers.

Mistletoe and other holiday plants make for great decoration; however, if they are eaten. they are extremely poisonous. Make sure that when you decorate with them, they are out of the reach of small children and animals!

Lastly, falls are extremely common. Whether it be when you are hanging the holiday wreaths, decorating the Christmas tree, or participating in a snow sport, make sure to take precautions to avoid falling and injuries. Make sure to wear protective footwear, and that if you are doing a snow sport, your equipment fits your properly. If you are hanging something, make sure you are on a level surface, to avoid falling.

If any injury is to occur, be sure to go to a physical therapist and get it checked out. Stay safe and have a great holiday season!

Avoiding a Winter Back Injury

One of the most common causes of back injuries during the winter month is snow shoveling. If you have knowledge of the best ways to remove snow without straining the back, this type of injury is preventable.

Choose the right snow shovel. What helps take some of the effort out of the dreaded snow removal chores is an ergonomic snow shovel. Requiring you to bend your knees only slightly and arch your back very slightly while keeping the shovel blade on the ground is a shovel that will minimize painful bending with a curved handle or an adjustable handle length. To help reduce the amount of weight that you are moving, choose a small lightweight plastic blade.

Thoroughly warm up: Those who are less prone to injury have warmed up flexible muscles as opposed to cold, tight muscles. For about for five to ten minutes before shoveling or any strenuous activity, do your back a favor. With a brisk walk, marching in place, or another full-body activity, get your blood flowing. Next, with some gentle stretching exercises stretch your hamstrings and lower back. Finally, for 30-60 seconds limber up your arms and shoulders.

Rather than lifting it, whenever possible push the snow to one side. When you are shoveling, make sure you are directly facing the object that you plan to lift. Do not bend at the lower back; bend at the hips, and push your chest forward and out. Keep your back straight, bend your knees and lift with your leg muscles. Do not lift an object that is too heavy for you, and keep your loads light. Minimizing the chances of injuring your lower back, keep your hands about 12 inches apart to provide greater stability when gripping the shovel.

Instead of shoveling a large pile at once, shovel small amounts of snow because it is less strenuous. Rather than attempting to shovel the full depth at once, in deep snow, remove a few inches off the top at a time.  Every 10-15 minutes take a break when shoveling. To keep your muscles warm and flexible, use this opportunity to stretch your arms, shoulders, and back.

Bouncing Back After Baby

Getting back into pre-pregnancy shape after baby. It’s something we all dread, since we know it’s not as easy as it looks. We all see celebrities weeks after giving birth with washboard abs, and sit there in envy. However, losing the weight that rapidly just isn’t realistic for most of us and the lifestyle we live.

Feeling like you gained a lot of baby weight? Relax, it’s normal! Most women gain between 15 and 40 pounds during pregnancy. According to leading doctors, post pregnancy the average new mom should aim for losing 1-2 pounds per week.

Have a hard time getting exercise in because you’re so busy with your baby? Try combining the best of both worlds- going on long walks while pushing the stroller, or even a mom-baby yoga class. These are good ways to get exercise, and even make new friends!

So what’s the easiest way to shake off the baby weight? The key factor is everything in moderation. Make sure you keep a balanced diet. This means eating healthy but not starving yourself. One should be eating between 1800-2000 calories a day while breastfeeding. One of the best and quickest ways to lose weight is to breastfeed, which burns an average of 500 calories per day, as well as to regularly exercise. If you keep a healthy nutritious diet and exercise regularly and rest a lot your body should bounce back in no time!

Alzheimers Awareness and PT

November is Alzheimer’s disease awareness month, and for those of you who don’t know, it is a condition which affects 5% of Americans age 65 and older and is the fifth leading cause of death among senior citizens. This disease is the most common form of dementia, damaging brain cells and affecting how we speak, think, and interact with the world around us over time.
Your risk of being diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease increases as you age, and having a relative with the disease can further increase your risk.

How Can a Physical Therapist Help?

Research shows that physical activity can improve memory. Regular exercise may delay the onset of dementia as well as delay the decline in ability to perform daily activities for people living with Alzheimer’s disease.

As trained experts, physical therapists can design individualized exercise programs for people living with Alzheimer’s disease. In the early and middle stages, physical therapists focus on keeping people mobile and able to continue their roles in their homes and communities. During the later stages, physical therapists assist patients in performing their daily activities as long as they can, reducing the burden placed on family members and caregivers of the person diagnosed. Physical therapists can also instruct caregivers on how to manage the needs of a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.

People living with Alzheimer’s disease often develop other conditions linked to aging – like arthritis or broken bones. Physical therapists are trained to treat these conditions, and take into account the impact of Alzheimer’s disease on other health conditions and on their patient’s ability to understand and follow through with important instructions.
The therapist may use various training methods to simplify instructions, and use unique Alzheimer’s specific approaches, including:

Visual, verbal, and tactile cueing – The physical therapist provides cues such as pointing to objects or gesturing signaling the patient to perform different tasks. For example, lifting up both arms can signal to a patient to stand up.

Mirroring – This technique involves the physical therapist serving as a “mirror,” standing in front of the person to show them how to move.

Task breakdown – Physical therapists give step-by-step instructions to their patients by breaking down a task into short, simple pieces, to be completed separately to maximize safety.

Hand over hand facilitation – The physical therapist guides the body part of the patient through the motions of completing a task, showing them how to do the activity through guided example.

Physical therapists are trained medical personnel who through their care, can help improve quality of life and possibly delay the need for institutionalization of their clients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Healing Frozen Shoulder with Physical Therapy

The Cause

From scar tissue, there is a stiffening of the shoulder and as a result there is painful movement and a loss of motion. It is debatable on what exactly causes frozen shoulder. Some believe that it is caused by the body launching an attack against its own substances and tissues; this is called an autoimmune reaction. Others believe frozen shoulder is caused from the lining of the joint becoming inflamed.

Physical Therapy

A thorough evaluation will be performed by your physical therapist. To rule out other diagnoses, an extensive health history evaluation will be conducted. A “capsular pattern” which is a specific pattern in your decreased range of motion is common with frozen shoulder and this is what your therapist will look for. Diabetes, thyroid disorder and autoimmune disorders are all associated with frozen shoulder; these are factors that your therapist will take into consideration in order to determine a proper diagnosis.

So you can live your life the way you used to prior to your injury, your physical therapist’s overall goal is to restore your movement.

Physical therapy for each stage of frozen shoulder:

Stages 1 and 2

In order to help reduce the pain your physical therapist will help you maintain as much range of motion as possible. To increase your range of motion your therapist may use a combination of stretching and manual therapy techniques to help relax the muscles prior to other forms of treatment. Heat and ice treatments may be included.

Stage 3

Your therapist will start to use more aggressive stretching and manual therapy techniques, the focus of treatment will be on the return of motion. In addition, you may begin exercises that help strengthen the affected area.

Stage 4

In the final stage you will return to normal, everyday pain-free activities. The primary focus will be the return of “normal” shoulder body mechanics. With a variety of manual therapy techniques, your therapist will continue to use stretching and strength training.

Why Using A Fitness Tracker is Best

Everyone is always concerned with their well-being, whether its trying to lose those extra few pounds, to watching what they eat, going to the gym, and overall just trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Well, there is a fairly new and knowledgeable way to enhance your ability to do so: the fitness tracker. The fitness tracker is now an in trend, wrist-worn band that tracks metrics such as distance that is walked or run, calorie consumption, your heartbeat and quality of sleep. What could be better? Its an all in one product that gives you the utmost insight to your body.

Once you get the readings on how your body works, you can use the information to help us live healthier and improve in the areas that are needed. The first step in doing so, is establishing a baseline. Which is going about your daily activites like you normally do. Once that is established it will help provide you with the best ways to incorporate healthier alternatives into your day. For instance, going on a walk after a meal, or going to sleep an hour earlier. Counting how many steps you do daily, and making the goal for the day higher or lower.

This is definitely one of the best motivating products to promote health. You tracker even gives you feedback on your activity, and on certain trackers it even lets you set goals. If a goal is too low, the tracker may set it higher, and if the goal is too high, the tracker will set it lower, it order for it to be more achievable. This product gives you long term results and makes you motivated than any other product to achieve it.

Its time to finally achieve the healthier and happier lifestyle you have always wanted, in the most simplest way. Time to get started, go purchase your fitness tracker now, you won’t regret it !

Did you know that you do not need a referrals for physical therapy? For more information call The Physical Therapy Alliance (516) 568-4444 with locations in Massapequa, Valley Stream, Wantagh and Lindenhurst.