Aches & Pains , Blog , Physical Therapy , Health & Wellness

Functional Fitness: Gardening

Written by Ben Fern, PT, MPT

Anyone who visits a physical therapist knows that you leave with homework. In the PT world, we call this a Home Exercise Program (HEP). Success with injuries oftentimes relies heavily on how well our patients comply with their HEP.

Today I want to give each of my readers a HEP… get out in the garden!

How will it help?

Improves your fitness, flexibility, and strength

Gardening is a low intensity exercise that involves numerous functional movements such as squatting, lunging, bending, pulling, pushing, lifting, and eating. You do not need an expensive gym membership or piece of exercise equipment, all you have to do is walk out the back door to your own personal workout facility… your yard! When you are done with your workout, not only will you have done all of those functional movements that we love so much in PT, but you will see the accomplishments as the garden will look better, the food will grow better, and you will taste the rewards.

Provides a healthy reward

Gardening does not just make you stronger, more flexible, and more fit. You also get the freshest and most healthy food available. When you grow your own food, it not only tastes better because you can pick it at the height of freshness, but it also tastes better because you grew it!

Improves your cognitive ability

Gardening allows you to unplug from the busy, fast-paced society that we live in and allows you to:

slow down
experience nature
learn from all of the seasons and cycles that occur in nature
and clear away some of the stress of life.

There are a million rabbit holes that you can go down (hopefully not literally!). You may start learning about new varieties of plants that you didn’t know existed. You may become interested in learning about fruit trees, or pollinators, or keeping bees, or composting. The possibilities are endless!

Gardening builds community

What are you going to do with all these veggies? Any gardener knows that a small plant in the spring can lead to abundance in the summer and fall, which is why I don’t plant zucchini… everyone has extra! Share your produce, show off your tomatoes, find someone who likes brussel sprouts (I think those people exist), and maybe take a class to meet like-minded individuals who share the same interests.

So your homework, from your local PT and fellow gardener, home orchardist, and beekeeper, is to get out in your garden this year and reap the rewards.

Health & Wellness , Foot Pain Relief , Aches & Pains , Blog , Physical Therapy

Starting Off on the Right Foot

Written by Jeremy Jordan, PT, DPT, ATC, CSCS

Living in the Midwest often presents challenges for the “fair weather” runners. As spring/summer approaches many individuals have an increased desire to begin returning to a more active lifestyle, which oftentimes includes running. After a long Iowa winter, it is important to prepare your body to return to higher impact activities. As Physical Therapists, it is common for our profession to see an increase in running related injuries in the spring and summer. These injuries are often related to acute muscle strains or overuse injuries that can be prevented with a few simple tips.

HOW TO PREVENT INJURY

Warm-Up

Warming up prior to running or exercise can be very effective in preventing injuries and improving performance. A simple 3-5 min walk prior to running helps to increase heart rate and increase blood flow to your muscles to help you get into a running rhythm faster.

Hydration

Maintaining an appropriate level of hydration is important for your body to function normally. Drinking water helps to regulate your body temperature and improve muscle function. Pre and Post running hydration will help you improve performance and recover faster.

Recovery

Stretching and foam rolling are a couple of commonly used techniques when discussing recovery of function following running. Static stretching post running, when your muscles are warm and pliable, has been shown to help improve muscle length. Foam rolling post running has been shown to assist with improving range of motion and decreasing myofascial restrictions following running. These techniques help with reduction of post running soreness and decrease recovery time.

Running Mechanics

Running with proper body mechanics plays a major part in regards to injury prevention. Understanding and practicing proper running mechanics will help you become a more efficient runner and assist with preventing overuse injuries related to abnormal str

ess on muscles/joints. If you want to learn more about running mechanics, check out our Running Series Brochure!

BE PROACTIVE

Understand When Soreness is OK

As a Physical Therapist, I often speak with my clients about the importance of knowing the difference between soreness and pain. Muscle soreness is an important component to improving muscular strength and function and overall progression, but without proper recovery this soreness could lead to pain or injury. Most injuries can be prevented with a few simple measures.

Whether you are an ultra-marathoner or a “fair weather” runner, all runners could benefit from improving running mechanics. We have many great Physical Therapists available to assist with evaluating running mechanics and improving overall technique/running efficiency.

A healthy runner is a happy runner.

Health & Wellness , Aches & Pains , Blog , Physical Therapy

Putting Yourself First Isn’t Selfish!

Written by Natalie Krug Wierda, PT, DPT

Stress, anxiety, depression & other mental health issues have no doubt been hot topics over the last year in our Covid-19 world. There is overwhelming evidence that exercise can help to overcome some of those feelings. Most people already know this but still fail to put themselves first in lots of areas of their lives, not just with exercise. Our society is built on an idea of being gracious and putting others needs before ourselves. I’m here to say that putting yourself first isn’t selfish!

Stress Impacts Health

In physical therapy, I frequently see patients that are overwhelmed with the circumstances of their everyday lives. They come to therapy with an injury but also present with additional family stress, work stress, financial stress-the list goes on and on.

This in turn impacts their overall health, ability to heal from injury and also puts strain on their personal relationships.

One of the most common mistakes I see is the failed ability of a patient to put themself first! This only heightens the negative feelings and stress felt from day to day. It’s important to put ourselves first sometimes. It doesn’t matter how you do that and it doesn’t have to be in the form of exercise (let’s be honest, I know a lot of people don’t like to exercise!).

You can find joy and release from stress and anxiety in the simplest of ways!

So what can you do to help?

Make a list. Make a list of the things you like doing with your time and set aside time to actually do them! It can be simple things like: looking through old photos and reminiscing on happy times, taking a bubble bath, spending time with children or grandchildren, baking or cooking your favorite recipe-again there are no rules here! It can be any activity that you enjoy!
Take a break from social media. Research shows social media increases feelings of inadequacy & dissatisfaction. This in turn makes us feel more depressed and more anxiety ridden and less able to focus on ourselves and our relationships.
Focus on the things that mean the most to you. For me, it’s spending quality time with my family. When I’m happy they are happy. Putting my focus on them eases my stress and eases feelings of negativity.
Take a break, period. Sometimes life gets you to a point of burnout and that’s ok! It’s ok to take a break, it’s ok to take a step back, it’s ok to say I need to make a change,
it’s ok to ask for help from those around you. The ones who love you want you to be happy and want to see you be your best!

It’s not tough to understand these concepts but it has to be a choice you make to put yourself first! If you can accomplish even some of these tasks, I promise you that you’re going to improve yourself, your overall health and your relationships!