Hydrating Helps Prevent Falls

It is part of our practice to ensure our patients drink ample water during a physical therapy session. The fact that water counts for 95 percent of the brain, 82 percent of blood and 73 percent of muscle tissue explains how important it is to be hydrated.  Dehydration can pose serious health problems for older adults, especially with Hawai‘i’s hot, humid weather. Dehydration  symptoms that increase fall risk are dizziness, weakness, fatigue, confusion and low blood pressure.

Proper Use of a Foam Roller

The popularity of the foam roller has been growing so steadily in the world of fitness that it is often used as a cure-all for many different conditions. It is a great tool for increasing mobility of the spine and soft tissue if used correctly. If it’s not used the right way, you could be doing more harm than good.

Brain Exercises

There are many ways of honing your mental sharpness and helping your brain stay healthy. You could work on jigsaw puzzles, listen or play music, learn a new language, use your non-dominant hand or even socialize. Doctors often use specific neurological exams to assess the integrity of the central nervous system. One could take these same neurological exams and use them to exercise or to rehabilitate specific areas of the brain.

Are Dental Implants an Option for You?

The field of dental implants is one of the fastest growing areas in dentistry. In 2019, over 3 million implants were placed in the United States and that number is predicted to grow in 2020. Dental implants are very popular due to the high success rate of the procedure (over 90 percent) and the results of these implants are very beneficial.

Neuroplasticity: Key to Stroke Recovery

Many people who suffer from a stroke lose hope and resign themselves to their “new normal.” But it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are some important recovery ideas. Heal the brain, heal the body. When the brain is deprived of oxygen-rich blood during a stroke, it leads to brain damage. Although this damage cannot be reversed, it is possible to train other parts of the brain to take over specific tasks.

Are You Golf-Ready?

Golf is a popular sports activity. Unlike most sports, it can be played throughout the golden years, if you can stay in shape and avoid injury. The American Physical Therapy Association says that older golfers often forget that while their passion for the game remains high, their bodies have aged. As we age, we lose flexibility, muscle mass and strength. Because the golf swing’s extreme bending and twisting movements are not natural for the body, senior golfers are at a greater risk of injury.

Alternative Strategies for Sleep Apnea

About 50 to 70 million people in the U.S. are chronic sleep apnea sufferers; more than 85 percent of them are undiagnosed. The Mayo Clinic defines sleep apnea as a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. Sleep apnea sufferers may snore loudly and feel tired, even after a full night’s sleep.

Tips for Healthy Knees

The majority of patients who come into my office do not realize they lock or hyper-extend their knees while standing or walking. They often do this out of habit or because of weakness. Generally, locking your knees transfers stress from supporting muscles to the knee joint, compressing it. The result is decreased mobility and blood flow and increased friction that can lead to pain or wearing away of the joint.

Protect Yourself With a Flu Vaccination

Due to the weakening of the immune system, people 65 years and older are at high risk of getting seriously ill from the flu. During most flu seasons, adults 65 years and older experience the greatest burden of severe flu and complications. Between about 70 and 85 percent of flu-related deaths in the United States occur among people 65 years and older. And people 65 and older account for between about 50 and 70 percent of the flu-related hospitalizations. Vaccination is highly effective in preventing flu and its potential complications.

Healthy Aging & Hearing Loss

As we age, our hearing often loses its edge. Clinical research suggests that hearing loss can have a negative effect on some key measures of healthy aging as cognitive, physical and social functioning decline. A study by the National Institute on Aging indicates that people with untreated hearing loss are significantly more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Engage Your Abs for a Strong Core

Whether your goal is to reduce low back pain or slim your waist, adding exercises to your workout that engage your core can make a significant difference. The most important, yet often overlooked muscle that must be strengthened, is the transverse abdominis (TA) which is the deep, inner abdominal muscle that begins at the spine and wraps around your waist.

The Art of Falling

Falling can become a major threat to our quality of life. According to Hawai‘i’s Department of Health, it is the No. 1 cause of fatal injuries in seniors. The DOH reports that one in three people over 65 will fall this year. While there are a number of precautions you can take, you can also protect yourself by learning how to fall safely.

Exercise: A Panacea, Pt. 2: Movement/Safety

Although the medical system is driven by pain, preventative approaches are becoming more prevalent. For seniors, it is essential that falls are prevented. Any fall can cause severe damage and breaking a bone (usually the hip or hand/wrist) is quite common. The scary statistic is that one out of every five people will die within one year of breaking their hip.

Are You Aging Too Quickly?

Walk into any gym and you will see it full of baby boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest of the baby boomer generation is now 73 and the youngest is 55. But age alone does not define the actual physical condition of a person. There are two ways to age as defined by the Functional Aging Institute:1) Primary Aging and 2) Secondary Aging.

Great Partnerships

When you think of great partnerships, what comes to mind? Abbott and Costello? Sonny and Cher? Cecilio and Kapono? How about your brain and your ears? Your hearing health depends greatly on how well your brain and ears work together. Your brain counts on the ears to collect sounds and deliver them to be interpreted as meaningful information. It is this partnership that enables us to understand and communicate with others.

What is Renewable Cleaning?

Renewable cleaning is a smart “Green Cleaning” program that applies to general sanitation but focuses on the use of eco-friendly practices and products to create a healthier home environment. It utilizes safe and friendly natural cleaning products that are non-toxic, biodegradable and sustainable. Water is a key source for renewable cleaning because it is a favorable nonpolluting resource that is readily available.

Prevent Pain While Sitting at Your Desk

The reality is most of us sit too much. A study published by Microsoft revealed that U.S. workers spend an average of seven hours per day on a computer — more hours than they sleep at night! Sitting at a desk for hours on end can result in increased muscle tension at the neck, back and shoulders. And if it’s not addressed, over time it can lead to spinal pain, headaches and even more serious symptoms —pain, tingling or numbness down the arms. Here are some tips to help you stay healthy behind your desk:

OPTING FOR… ORGANIC

Last year in the United States, sales of organic food and products topped $48 billion — that’s up almost 10 percent over the previous year, according to the Organic Trade Association. And while this growing industry is showing no signs of stopping, organic farming is hardly a trend; it’s how our parents and grandparents tended to their crops and cattle. Then in the 1950s, pesticides and artificial fertilizers were introduced — creating what is now called “conventionally-grown” food. So what’s the difference and why does it matter?

Exercise – a Panacea. Part 1: Arthritis

A healthy joint is like two smooth pieces of paper sliding against each other. Arthritis, joint damage, is like adding crinkles to the papers, with the friction causing pain and problems. However, in severe cases, and even with bone-on-bone degeneration, having no pain with “activities of daily living” is easily obtainable with a lot of hard work and the right treatments.

Benefits of Diaphragmatic Breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing is beneficial for your physical and mental health as it reduces stress, lowers heart rate and blood pressure. For those with pulmonary disease, such as COPD, the diaphragm often becomes weakened causing it to work less efficiently. A physical therapist experienced in pulmonary rehab can teach proper breathing to reduce anxiety, slow breathing rate, increase full oxygen exchange, and improve physical activity.

Know Stroke Warnings and Call 911

Stroke remains Hawai‘i’s third leading cause of death and a leading cause of major disability. However, 80 percent of strokes are preventable. And those that do occur, in many cases, are treatable if symptoms are quickly recognized and treatment is quickly sought. Hawai‘i EMS data shows, however, that almost 50 percent of Hawai‘i stroke patients aren’t being delivered to hospitals by EMS ambulances.

The Fascial Self-care Revolution

Fascia is the collagenous soft connective tissue that binds all of your body’s other structures. Defined as the largest organ system of the body in 2012 by the Federative Committee on Anatomic Terminology, it is now the most studied tissue in human movement science. Here is what current research is learning about this amazing tissue that, like the mesh on a garden hose, needs to withstand pressure from the inside  (by exerting pressure itself) and also stay flexible.

Yoga: The ‘Ki’ to Mastership of Your Life

Our daily lives are filled with so many distractions that it’s easy to feel scattered and stressed. When you are chronically stressed it becomes harder to function properly, increasing your stress even more and often inviting disease. To help manage their stress, many people have turned to yoga and mind-body training because its healthy effects on body and mind are now widely recognized.

Healthy Aging and Hearing Loss

As we age, our hearing often loses its edge. Clinical research suggests that hearing loss can have a negative effect on some key measures of healthy aging as cognitive, physical and social functioning decline. A study by the National Institute on Aging indicates that people with untreated hearing loss are significantly more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Rehab for Breast Cancer Recovery

October is National Physical Therapy Month and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Physical therapy may not be the first healthcare field that comes to mind when someone is undergoing cancer treatment, but physical therapists can play an integral role in promoting a speedy recovery and in assisting a return to previous levels of activity following surgery and radiation/chemotherapy treatments.

Stepping Down Pain Free

Knee pain while descending stairs is often due to the force on your kneecap (patella), which studies show is 3.5 X your body weight. If you weigh 140lbs, the force on your patella can be as much as 490lbs! That is a lot of stress on your knee, and the pain will be magnified if you have weak muscles or degeneration of the cartilage in the joint.

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