7 Easy Ways to Increase Your Activity and Live Healthy

Do you move every day? Doing so can increase your lifespan, improve your mood, help you maintain a healthy weight, increase your strength, flexibility, endurance, and balance, and help you manage chronic pain and other health conditions. Regular physical activity is so important that our physical therapy team is always looking for tips to offer our patients that will help them get moving. Here are seven suggestions to keep in mind!

1. Walk More

No need to overcomplicate things. Even just standing and walking more throughout your day can help you stay physically active! To get your steps in, be sure to take the stairs, stand at your desk, go for walks with your loved ones or co-workers, and avoid sitting for more than an hour at a time. 

2. Break It Up

While a good goal is to get at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity, you don’t necessarily have to do all 30 minutes at once. It’s still possible to benefit from doing several shorter bouts of exercise throughout the day—perfect if you have a packed schedule and only short windows of time to get moving.

3. Find A Support System

In our experience, our patients do better when they have other people in their lives who support their efforts to get more active. So, encourage your loved ones to join you in your commitment to get moving, or sign up for a group workout class—whatever you need to help you stay more accountable.

Are you currently living with a chronic health problem? Connect with an online or in-person support group in your area so you can interact with other people living with your condition and motivate each other to stay more active.

4. Create a Routine

Whether you love to work out in the morning, take a mid-day brisk walk during lunch, or hit the gym after work, it’s helpful to do your workout close to the same time every day. This helps you establish a consistent routine so you can get the most benefits out of your exercise over the long-term.

In addition, consider adding your workouts into your weekly planner, just like you would do with any other appointment. Knowing when you’re going to workout ahead of time helps you stick to your plan.

5. Use Those Commercial Breaks!

Commercial breaks are annoying. But instead of flipping the channel or scrolling through your phone the next time an ad comes on, you can use it as an opportunity to stand up and get a little activity in. Whether you choose a quick yoga flow, some simple chair stretches, or even your physical therapy exercises, there’s plenty you can do right in the comfort of your own living room.

6. Do What You Love

It doesn’t really matter what type of physical activity you do—what matters most is whether you’re consistent with it! So, figure out which types of exercises you love and focus on these.

7. Consult With a Physical Therapist

A lot of people don’t get enough physical activity every day because they’re dealing with chronic pain that can make it difficult, uncomfortable, and sometimes unsafe to move. One of the biggest benefits of working with a physical therapist is that he or she can provide services that alleviate your pain, improve your balance, function, and strength, and increase your confidence and self-efficacy so daily exercise is manageable. 

Ready to see how physical therapy can help promote a healthy active lifestyle? Call our office today to schedule an appointment.

How Does Nutrition Help Relieve Pain and Inflammation?

Are you living with chronic pain or inflammation? If so, there may be a simple solution for you: changing your eating habits. Proper nutrition can play an important role in managing your discomfort. Many people live with chronic pains every day, unaware that simply eating the right foods can actually help them find relief. Maintaining a healthy diet, in addition to frequent exercise and reduced stress, can help alleviate your inflammation and chronic pain. For more information on how nutrition can help you find relief, contact our office in Orland Park, Homer Glen, and Crestwood, IL today.

Why do we experience inflammation?

In many cases, inflammation is natural. Without inflammation, injuries would not be able to heal completely. It is the body’s way of promoting healing in response to physical harm or sickness. Pain and inflammation typically go hand-in-hand, so if you are feeling pain in a certain area, there’s a good chance that it’s also inflamed. With any wound, infection, tissue damage, or buildup of toxins in your body, your immune response will be triggered in order to initiate the healing process, thus resulting in inflammation.

While inflammation generally is a positive response, chronic inflammation can be an indication of a deeper underlying condition. Without treatment, chronic inflammation can lead to much worse outcomes, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers. If your pain or inflammation has persisted for three months or longer, it is important to consult with a physical therapist as soon as possible, in order to get it under control.

Treating pain and inflammation with nutritious foods is a natural, easy, and healthy way to ease your discomfort.

A nutritious, anti-inflammatory diet:

Several patients who choose to participate in an anti-inflammatory diet report a significant decrease in symptoms. You can help speed up the healing process as the body purifies itself during the inflammation process by switching to a diet that complements the removal of toxins. The three basic components to an anti-inflammatory diet include:

  • Less dairy and grains. In order to strengthen your body’s immune response as much as possible, you’ll want to try and avoid simple carbs and sugars completely. That means no pastries, no donuts, and no white breads. Dairy products should also be extremely limited, so be mindful of serving very little cheese or milk with anything. Whole grains such as barley, oats, brown rice, and wheat are best when practicing an anti-inflammatory diet.
  • Less red meat. It is best to avoid red meat altogether in an anti-inflammatory diet, but if you must add some in there, it should be very scarce. One small piece of steak, one time per week, should be your maximum limit. The proteins in red meat require extra work from your kidneys to process; therefore, eating a lot of it will slow down your healing process. The good news is that chicken and fish are just fine for an anti-inflammatory diet.
  • More vegetables. One of the best ways to reduce inflammation is to increase your veggie intake. This diet is most successful if you eat up to nine servings a day, with the vegetables preferably served raw. Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are some the best options. It is okay to substitute fruits for a couple of your servings, in order to break it up, but vegetables should be your main ingredient for the most part.

Contact us for assistance:

The diet above should help reduce your pain and inflammation. Additional steps you can take to relieve discomfort and improve your health include exercising daily, managing your stress, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

If these tips don’t prove to be successful, or if you’d like more assistance in making them a part of your everyday lifestyle, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll set you up with a consultation to discuss how we can help you achieve your health and wellness goals!

Sources:

https://www.apta.org/PatientCare/Nutrition/


The Connection Between Nutrition and Pain Relief

Find Relief for Your Aches and Pains with Nutrition Changes

Could you be feeding your chronic aches and pains without even realizing it? If your pain problems have steadily worsened, you may need to look at your nutrition choices.

Certain foods have been known to alleviate inflammation, where some foods can aggravate it. In fact, according to Harvard Health Publishing, “A lot of chronic pain is the result of chronic inflammation, and the evidence is quite strong that your diet can contribute to increased systemic inflammation.”

Eating too much and/or eating the wrong types of foods can trigger your inflammatory reactions that contribute to muscle, nerve, and joint pain. Fortunately, you can reverse this cycle by adopting a healthy nutritional strategy as part of a holistic physical therapy program at GoodLife Physical Therapy.

Physical therapy and nutrition

The good news is that the right foods can fight inflammation just as easily as the wrong foods can exacerbate the issue. Simply switching to a more nutritional diet can help put you on a healthier, less painful path.

This diet highlights fruits, vegetables, fish, whole grains and healthy oils such as olive oil—all delicious choices with high nutritional value and low inflammatory potential! Even your choice of spices can make a huge difference in your comfort. Turmeric, for example, is a powerful natural anti-inflammatory agent. Your physical therapist can point you to the right nutritional changes for your specific needs, in order to help control your pain.

Weight control is another key aspect of pain management. Your physical therapy plan may include recommendations as to how many calories you should consume, what kinds of foods you should eat to avoid additional weight gain, and any other necessary changes to your eating schedule or patterns.

Increasing your physical activity will also help you get the most out of your new nutrition routine. For example, muscle building through strength training boosts your metabolic rate, helping your body burn calories more easily. Other physical therapy techniques to ease chronic aches and pain will help you become much more mobile—allowing you to boost your workout regimen, lose more weight, and take more strain off of your joints and tissues.

What should I know about pain and a nutritional diet?

How many times have you heard the old expression, “You are what you eat?” Certain kinds of foods are known to cause or aggravate inflammatory responses and chronic pain. You may be doing yourself more harm than good if you regularly consume:

  • Foods heavy in processed sugars and/or trans fats (including cookies, donuts and margarine)
  • Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and other members of the nightshade family
  • Caffeinated foods and drinks
  • White bread or other highly-processed carbs
  • Alcohol
  • Red meat

These foods can make you feel painful in various ways. Sugar and aspartame, for instance, raise both your insulin levels and your pain sensitivity. Caffeine and tomatoes both raise your body’s acidity levels, promoting inflammatory pain. But for all these foods (and several others), the bottom line is the same: an increase in your aches and pains.
Additionally, fatty and sugary foods can lead to extra weight, which can accelerate joint degeneration and aggravate pain. It can also place undue strain on your muscles and may even encourage the development of bulging or herniated discs, leading to neurological issues such as sciatica.

Nutritional changes can help with…

  • Obesity: Pain related to obesity can become a vicious cycle. Being overweight causes a patient pain, so they become more sedentary. Becoming more sedentary causes them to gain more weight, which leads to more pain. Nutritional diets can help shed unwanted weight and decrease pain on the joints.
  • Osteoarthritis: Once a person has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, managing their pain becomes the most important key to leading a comfortable life. Certain foods can decrease inflammation, easing arthritis pains.
  • Inflammation: American diets tend to have a lot of vegetable oils and other inflammatory foods in them. This can make the pain from inflammation even worse. In many cases, a physical therapist will prescribe a diet with more antioxidants and anti-inflammatory foods to help manage pain.
  • Autoimmune Disorders: The combined total of various autoimmune disorder patients (such as Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis) now outnumber cancer patients in America by a wide margin. Autoimmune disorders are frequently linked directly to deficiencies in a patient’s diet.
  • Diabetes: Diabetes and pre-diabetes pave the way for more serious conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease and blindness. More than 90 percent of patients with diabetes also experience neuropathic pain. Diet and nutrition will play a key role in managing these conditions.

Discover how nutrition can help you find relief

Eating for health can include eating for pain management. Contact our physical therapy center or visit us in IL to make this strategy work for you!

Tips for Healthier Nutrition Choices in 2020

This Year Resolve to Make Healthier Choices!

Many people kick off the new year resolving to diet. This year resolve not to go on a
diet, but resolve to Make Healthier Choices all throughout the year. Start out each week
with a plan to make one small healthy change to create long term healthy habits. Slow
and steady wins the race. Eat a piece of fruit after dinner most nights instead of dessert,
carry a water bottle with you to increase your fluid intake and paying attention to portion
sizes are just a few ways to resolve to a healthier you.
Find new ways to eat fruits and vegetables
  • Scramble your favorite vegetables with eggs or add it to an omelet.
  • Add fruit to yogurt, cereal and oatmeal
  • Reduce your portion of meat at a meal and have an extra serving of veggies or a
    salad
  • Try hummus with carrots, celery, cauliflower, or other vegetables
  • Guacamole…It’s heart healthy and delicious!
  • Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies
Eat more mindfully
  • Step away from your phone, computer or TV while consuming meals and snacks
  • Pay attention to what you’re eating.
  • Take the time to chew, taste and enjoy the food.
  • Be mindful of eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.

Stay Positive!

  • Don’t beat yourself up about enjoying a food that’s not as healthy. Food can be tied to a
    lot of problematic feelings for many people and this can lead to emotional eating. The
    trick to avoid getting stuck in the trap of “eating your feelings” is to look at your food as
    providing nourishment to the body.
  • Don’t give up!!
    • One bad meal or day does not cancel out all your efforts. Get back on
      track at the next meal. Every new day is an opportunity for a fresh start.

For a more personalized approach to meeting your nutritional goals, consult our Registered Dietitian, Eileen Conneely.

References:
1. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
2. Fruitsandveggies.org
3. Reader’s Digest

 

You Are What You Eat — and Good Nutrition Can Help You Feel Good

In your everyday struggle against pain and inflammation, do you reach for a pill bottle, or do you seek healthy lifestyle changes? The latter choice will do more for you in terms of long-term function, mobility and safety. But what kinds of lifestyle changes should you pursue? In addition to regular exercise, including the types of targeted exercises you might receive in physical therapy, you should examine your sleep, your workplace ergonomics — and your nutrition. Here are five ways that the proper nutritional strategies can help you control pain and inflammation for life.

1. Certain Foods are Natural Anti-inflammatories

Why get your anti-inflammatory effects from an NSAID or steroid when you can get them from the foods you eat every day? Many of the menu items in the traditional Mediterranean diet, for instance, posses natural anti-inflammatory properties. Foods such as whole grains, fatty fish, olive oil, turmeric, cherries, and cayenne pepper can reduce inflammation and the pain that comes with it. At the same time, you’ll be eating fewer inflammatory foods such as red meat, fried foods and processed meats, turning the pain management scales decidedly in your favor.

2. Nutrition Can Help Regulate Your Immune System

When your immune system malfunctions, pain often results. Autoimmune disorders are responsible for such painful chronic conditions as rheumatoid arthritis. Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, selenium, probiotics, and vitamins A and D can help you avoid or control autoimmune diseases, thus helping you enjoy greater comfort and a higher standard of overall wellness.

3. Eating Right Can Help You Lose (Painful) Weight

Obesity has been associated with all kinds of problems, from heart diseases and type 2 diabetes to liver disease and certain kinds of cancer. But did you know that obesity also hurts? Those added pounds can put a lot of stress on your joints and muscles, especially in the back, hips, knees and feet, where they can contribute to osteoarthritis development. If the rising number on the scale corresponds to rising pain levels, the right dietary changes can turn things around. Focus on foods that are rich in nutrients, low in fat and sugar, and served in sensible portion sizes. You’ll shed pain as you shed pounds!

4. Proteins Build Muscle for Better Physical Support

Weak muscles are more vulnerable to injury, pain and inflammation; they also allow your posture to sag, throwing your weight off-balance, subjecting your entire musculoskeletal system to unnecessary discomfort. Physical therapy exercises can help, but your muscles still need the basic building material known as protein. Getting plenty of lean, healthy proteins (from foods that are relatively low on the inflammation scale) can help you build a body that resists pain and injury.

5. A Healthier Gut Means Less Inflammation

Your gut flora have a lot of influence on your overall health and comfort. Eating whole grains, lentils, avocado, low-fat yogurt and other probiotic foods can help you maintain high levels of “good bacteria” in your gut. This positive balance can help reduce inflammation throughout the body.

Our Physical Therapist Can Help You Eat for Pain Relief

Our physical therapist has a detailed understanding of how nutrition (both good and bad) affects physical health, wellness and comfort. If you’ve been dealing with chronic pain and inflammation, pay a visit to our physical therapy center. We can evaluate your situation and recommend the necessary changes to get you feeling better!