Need a Little Help Getting Active? Try PT
You know that regular exercise is crucial to living a healthy lifestyle. The CDC recommends adults aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity a week–about 22 minutes a day, so you don’t have to toil away in the gym for hours. But hitting those numbers can still be a challenge, especially if you struggle with persistent pain or limited mobility.
That’s where physical therapy at GO Physical Therapy comes in. We’re movement experts who understand all the impairments in your musculoskeletal system that can keep you from living the active, healthy lifestyle you crave. From pain management to maximizing your athletic performance, we’ll help you meet your exercise goals.
Here are just a few of the ways we can help you get healthier. Ready to get started? Call our clinic today!
We Can Reduce Pain and Restore Mobility
Many orthopedic conditions and injuries can make regular exercise feel difficult (if not impossible). Osteoarthritis, herniated discs, tennis elbow–all can make you feel like it’s easier just to sit this one out. In reality, though, all these conditions (and others) benefit from regular exercise.
Dealing with persistent pain or limited mobility? Our physical therapists offer several options for pain relief, including several manual therapy techniques, such as soft tissue manipulation, joint mobilization, or myofascial release. We use these techniques as the first step in preparing your body for regular movement.
We’ll also show you targeted, tailored exercises to reduce pain in the affected area. Joint pain often stems from muscular imbalances or postural impairments that stress the impacted joint, leading to discomfort and setting you up for more serious injuries. Strength training will help reduce your pain and get you moving again.
We Can Let You Know If You’re At Risk for an Injury
Did you know you don’t have to wait until you’re in pain to visit the team at GO Physical Therapy? We’re in the business of preventing injuries, not just treating them–and we can help you enter into a new workout plan without fear!
Our comprehensive physical evaluations test the following:
- Muscle strength and endurance
- Overall mobility
- Biomechanics, which looks at how your body’s systems work together to get you moving
- Balance and fall risk
- Posture
- Walking patterns
- Functional movements that you might perform for work, hobbies, or recreation
During the screens, we’ll look for potential impairments that might cause injuries down the line and suggest corrections to address them–before they become a problem.
For example, let’s say that you want to take up running after some time away. During your assessment, we noticed that you tend to bend forward at the waist when jogging. This habit means that every time your foot hits the ground, you cause more impact in your feet than necessary, which could, eventually, lead to an injury.
By catching the form mistake now–and working with our physical therapists to correct it–you lower your chances of suffering a knee injury (which could prevent you from exercising altogether).
We Can Help You Exercise with Confidence
Starting a new exercise program for the first time–or restarting one after some time away–can be deeply intimidating. You don’t know which exercises you should do. You have no idea if you’re performing movements correctly. You’re not even sure what types of exercise you would enjoy.
Our physical therapists can help with all these concerns and more. We can suggest an exercise program that suits your abilities, interests, and goals and work with you one-on-one to guide you through any unfamiliar movements or equipment. We can also suggest movement or activity modifications if something’s too difficult and offer reassurance that even small changes can have a big impact.
Our team doesn’t just help beginners, either. As you progress, you may find yourself plateauing or struggling with certain aspects of your performance. Our therapists can get to the bottom of things and develop a performance improvement plan so you can see the results you’re looking for.
Start the Journey to An Active Lifestyle Today!
No matter your needs, the physical therapists at GO Physical Therapy will help you get active in a way that works for you. Call us to schedule your initial consultation!
Thank You for Subscribing to GO Physical Therapy
This Pumpkin Smoothie is a cozy, creamy treat that brings warm seasonal flavor to the winter months. It’s a comforting and nourishing way to enjoy pumpkin goodness when it’s cold outside.
Try This Healthy Recipe!
Pumpkin Smoothie
- 1 can (15 oz. size) pumpkin pie filling
- 3 cups whole milk (more if needed)
- 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (up to 1 cup)
- A few dashes of ground cinnamon
- 4 cinnamon graham crackers, crushed
Well ahead of time, place pumpkin pie filling into a freezer-safe container. Freeze for a few hours or until frozen solid. To make the smoothie, add milk, and yogurt to a blender. Drop in the frozen pumpkin pie filling and blend until the frozen filling is completely pulverized. Add more milk or yogurt as needed to get the consistency you’d like. Pour into individual glasses and sprinkle the tops with graham cracker crumbs. Serve immediately!
Exercise of the Month
PRONE SHOULDER EXTENSION
Start by lying facedown on a table. Place a rolled towel under your forehead. Hold the dumbbell in one hand. Position yourself so that the arm holding the dumbbell is hanging off the table. Move your shoulder that is hanging off the table upwards slightly so that your shoulders are in line with each other. Keeping your arm straight during the movement, raise the dumbbell straight back so that at the top of the movement, your arm is parallel with your body. Lower the dumbbell back to the starting position with control.
3 Sets, 10 Reps. (Materials needed: towel, dumbbell)
An In-Depth Look at Vestibular Rehabilitation
If you’re suffering from vertigo, you may have heard you could benefit from vestibular rehabilitation. But what is that, exactly? Let’s break it down.
Vestibular rehab focuses on addressing impairments in your vestibular system, which controls your body’s sense of balance and proprioception (awareness of itself in space). It mainly focuses on issues in your peripheral vestibular system, the structures and labyrinths in your inner ear that help keep you steady.
Like any good physical therapy program, a good vestibular rehabilitation program is designed around your symptoms, condition, and overall goals. The GO Physical Therapy physical therapists will work closely with you to create your own customized plan.
What Will We Include in a Vestibular Rehabilitation Program?
The aims of vestibular rehab are three-fold. We want to help you…
- Improve your balance
- Improve your gaze stability
- And reduce your vertigo attacks
To accomplish these goals, we’ll pull from a blend of targeted vestibular exercises. These activities may not look like “traditional” physical therapy, but they’re all techniques proven to help manage vertigo and dizziness symptoms related to vestibular disorders. Here’s what you can expect:
- Habituation Exercises: We’ll help you “habituate” to your vertigo by working with you to identify movements that trigger an attack — and then have you perform those movements in a monitored environment. Over time, your symptoms can decrease.
- Relaxation Exercises: We’ll show you techniques to calm your body when you do experience a vertigo attack.
- Vision Exercises: Vision and vertigo often go hand in hand. By stabilizing your gaze, you can decrease vertigo attacks. These exercises include focusing and refocusing your gaze on a busy visual field, among others.
- Postural Exercises: These exercises address all aspects of your body’s balance systems (visual, sensory, and vestibular) to help challenge and improve your balance while reducing your fall risk.
Think you might benefit from vestibular rehabilitation? Call us today to schedule an initial consultation!
How Did We Do?
Click the link below to let us know how we’re doing! Leaving a review of your experience will help others to get the help that they deserve. We can’t wait to see you again!
