6 ways to protect your mobility for life (a little gift for you)

Did you know October is National Physical Therapy Month? We’re pretty happy about that.

Because it’s our mission to reimagine Physical Therapy.

And that includes helping you optimize your function, and ultimately your healthspan, or the amount of time you spend in good health.

And because it’s National Physical Therapy month, we wanted to give you six concrete things you can do to preserve and optimize your musculoskeletal system for life:

Core strengthening and mobility:

Pilates is our go-to method for developing core strength. Core strength, meaning the strength of the muscles in your back, abdomen, pelvic floor and hips, is the foundation of injury prevention. Pilates also trains the deep stabilizing muscles in our shoulders, hips and spine.

The strength developed in Pilates is necessary for everyday activities like standing up out of a chair, lifting kids/grandkids, driving a car, gardening, carrying groceries and walking upstairs.

Beyond making everyday activities easier, the strength developed in Pilates also allows you to do higher level activities like sports and weight lifting with optimal form, thus decreasing your injury risk and improving your performance. Call/text (206) 535-7356 us to try out a session! Your core will thank you.

Weight lifting:

Weight lifting is necessary to maintain (and increase) our muscle mass as we age. Beginning at age 30, our muscle mass and bone density begin to decrease…unless we do something to combat the loss. That something is weight lifting!

Weight lifting doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. The basics should include squats, lunges, deadlifts, chest presses, rows, overhead presses and pullups or lat pulldowns. There are countless variations of all of these exercises to allow for modifications and prevent boredom.

You also need something called progressive overload, which just means you progressively lift more and more weight over time. Slow steady progressions over time will result in big gains.

If you need guidance with where to start with a weight lifting program or how to get back to weight lifting after injury, we’re here to help. Just hit reply and we’ll get you in!

Coordination and balance:

This can be simple…brush your teeth while standing in a challenging position (start feet together, progress to heel-to-toe stance and eventually one leg).

Balance exercises can get progressively harder to include vestibular challenges, eyes closed exercises and agility drills to name a few.

All coordination and balance training is aimed at improving reaction time and preventing falls, because falls lead to injuries, usually fractures.

Depending on your age at the time of a fall this could take you out of your activities for months, leading to deconditioning or if you’re older, this could be the end of living independently. I know that sounds grim, but it’s the truth. The data on falls is sobering.

If you want your balance assessed or know you’re struggling with balance, our team can help. Email schedule@elizabethrogerspt.com or call/text 206-535-7356 us.

DEXA Scan:

You don’t know what you don’t know. I highly recommend getting a bone density or DEXA Scan sooner than the recommended age of 65.

By 65 you could have osteopenia or osteoporosis and it’s much tougher to make meaningful gains in bone density without pharmaceuticals when it has decreased that much.

You can take back all the power when you know what kind of bone health you’re dealing with in your 40’s or 50’s. You’ll have a much longer runway to make changes to your lifestyle that are necessary for maintaining your bone density or increasing it if you’re showing early signs of decreased density.

All that data? It means you’re in control.

Vitamin D:

Calcium absorption is necessary for bone building and Vitamin D is a key component in optimizing absorption of Calcium from the food we eat.

Here in the PNW where we have fewer sunny days, almost all of us need to be supplementing with Vitamin D. Have your Vitamin D level checked when you do your annual bloodwork and supplement as advised by your physician. When it’s needed, Vitamin D supplementation is one of the easiest things you can do for health span optimization!

Nutrition:

Protein is necessary for building muscle. You can do all the workouts and not gain any muscles, because you’re underfueled. All the data seems to suggest approximately .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily. It takes some dedication to consistently consume that amount of protein. Again, if you’re putting all the time and effort into your workouts, it would be a shame not to reap the benefits, because you didn’t fuel properly.

Consider these 6 topics a gift from us to you.