In Hard Times, Charles Dickens wrote, “There is a wisdom of the Head, and there is a wisdom of the Heart.” While many of us may know what needs to be done to live a healthy life, we don’t always follow such wisdom. In honor of Valentine’s Day and American Heart Month, here are some reminders from some Physiquality experts and the American Heart Association (a.k.a. the AHA) on how to care for your heart wisely (in the physiological sense, at least). Read More
February is prime skiing and snowboarding season. The holidays are behind us and, according to Punxsutawney Phil, we have six more weeks of winter and snow. But before you head to the mountains, you might want to do some conditioning to prepare those muscles for the work ahead. Read More
It’s easy to recognize when someone is standing or sitting with good posture versus bad. So why are we so resistant to suggestions to improve our poor posture? Because there is a formidable foe to good posture — gravity.
Good posture takes self-awareness and effort to maintain correct alignment, whereas poor posture is giving in to the constant pull of gravity. With correct posture, our body is balanced front to back in relation to the pull of gravity. But since many of our daily activities require us to look down or reach forward and down in front of us, gravity takes its toll over time. The result can be muscle adaptation and fatigue, joint degeneration and pain.
The biggest posture mistake that people make is not recognizing when their posture is faulty, even if there’s no pain. One way to assess your posture is to ask a friend or family member to observe you from the side when you’re standing and sitting. In addition, approximate the daily activities you do for prolonged periods of time and have them observe you in these postures as well.
When standing, ask your observer to visualize an imaginary plumb line down your side. Starting from the head, it should go through the ear lobe, through the middle of the shoulder joint, through the hip bone, slightly behind the knee cap and finally slightly in front of the ankle bone. Any deviations from this can cause stress to joints and force you to work much harder fighting gravity.
While sitting, you should maintain the 3 curves in your spine often described as a letter “s,” rather than slumping into a letter “c.” These three curves disperse force throughout our back, so they are important to reducing stress to the intervertebral discs. Your sitting surface should allow your feet to rest flat on the ground, and your knees should be bent to 90 degrees and your hips at about 90 degrees or a little less. You can also place a small towel roll or pillow in the lumbar area to passively hold your posture.
There are lots of exercises that you can do to improve posture. Here are three that I’d recommend.
1.Chin tucks
Sit with “good” posture as described above and think of a turtle pulling its head into it shell. Look straight ahead and pull your chin straight back. If your neck is stiff, you can assist by pressing your chin back with two fingertips. Your chin should not tip up and you should not be looking at the ceiling if you are doing this correctly. Hold 5 seconds and repeat 5 times. Do this 3-4 times a day, especially if you work at a computer for hours.
2.Shoulder blade pinches
Sit or stand with good posture and with your arms relaxed at your sides. Squeeze your shoulder blades in back so they move closer to your midline; think of trying to assume a soldier’s military pose. Hold 10 seconds, then relax. Repeat 5-10 times.
3.Prone back extensions
Prone means lying on your stomach, so you can do this on a bed, but you might need a pillow under your abdomen to avoid having your back overarch. Put a towel roll under your forehead so your neck is straight and you are looking down at the bed or floor. Your arms are by your sides. Lift your chest off the bed or floor and hold 2-3 seconds, lowering slowly and keeping your neck in alignment. Repeat 10 times.
Kristina Holland, PTA, has been a physical therapist assistant for 5 years at Clinton Physical Therapy Center, a Physiquality network member in Clinton, Tennessee.
For further reading:
Deardorff, Julie. Improve posture with this exercise. Chicago Tribune, September 13, 2011.
Carter, Jessie. Are you a Donald Duck or a Pink Panther? TotalGym.com, June 8, 2011.
“Maintain good posture,” Trismus. All About Dental Health, May 2011.
Millar, A. Lynn. “Posture,” Action plan for arthritis. 2003.
With Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving approaching next week, the eating season has begun. While people often approach holidays like Thanksgiving with the attitude that it’s only one day of splurging, it can have long-term effects. A study by the National Institute of Health showed that despite only gaining 1-2 pounds a year over the holidays, people held on to the weight, leading to health problems later on.
When deciding what to serve or eat, there are a few things you should think about leaving out. Alyssa Cellini, a nutritionist with ProCare Physical Therapy (a Physiquality network physical therapy clinic in New Jersey), suggests replacing the following holiday menu items with healthier fare:
* Eggnog. One cup of eggnog contains 60 grams of sugar — the same as eating two glazed donuts. It also contains 20 grams of fat, half of most people’s daily allowance. Think about replacing it with a glass of wine.
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Fresh veggies or a manicured lawn aren’t the only benefits of gardening. Find out about the health benefits of putting your green thumb to work in our latest pqBlog entry at www.physiquality.com. This post features advice from Physiquality network members Joyce Klee PT of Clinton Physical Therapy Center in TN and Desirea Caucci PT DPT of Conshohocken Physical Therapy in PA.
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Thursday, August 18th, 2011 | Knee | No Comments
As teens return to high school and start practicing varsity sports, parents sit on the sidelines and hope it’s not their child that has a serious injury like an ACL tear. Which types of athletes are at a higher risk for ACL injuries? What can athletes do to prevent them?
A brief aside: This post focuses on how to prevent non-contact ACL injuries, defined by Lee Couret, a Physiquality network physical therapist and owner of Southshore Physical Therapy in Louisiana, as an injury without any external force applied to the limb or joint.
All of our experts agreed that female athletes were at a much higher risk for non-contact ACL injuries. Robyn Smith, a physical therapist at The Center for Physical Rehabilitation (a Physiquality network physical therapy clinic) and lecturer on ACL injuries in female athletes, says that female athletes sustain ACL injuries “anywhere from 1.5 to 4.6 times more often than males in the same sport.” A variety of intrinsic factors cause these higher rates of injury, including alignment, anatomical differences, a smaller and thinner ACL, and coordination.
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