Tools to Keep You Strong After Physical Therapy
Once you are done with physical therapy, what’s next? I’m sure that your daily activities will become easier to complete but what can you do to prevent any further injuries?
The next step in your progress should be to obtain a healthy lifestyle that will allow you to stay injury free for a longer period of time. During your physical therapy, you were seen by a therapist and given exercises to stretch, strengthen and increase the range of motion in order for normal everyday movements to become pain free again. Now we need to increase the intensity of those same movements in order for your body to get even stronger to decrease the chances of you ending back up in physical therapy with another injury.
Achieving a healthy lifestyle is not an easy task since it requires that we make some changes to your old routine in order to reap the benefits. In order for you to achieve this lifestyle you should starting thinking about your nutritional habits and what you can do to increase your physical activity. American College of Sports Medicine has basic recommendations of at least 150 minutes moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise per week along with two to three full body strength training sessions per week. Strength training is important to support bone structure by strengthening muscles that attach to those bones to increase the stability and prevent injury. A combination of strength training, cardiovascular training and flexibility training is proven to decrease risk of injury, chronic disease and helps to maintain a healthy weight.
As a physical therapy patient here at Performance Therapies, you have the best opportunity to achieve this lifestyle change since we have our fitness club at our Coralville location. Personal trainers at Performance Health and Fitness can start you on a program based on your current fitness level in order to help you strengthen your body even further. Our goal is to teach you ways to work out safely and effectively to achieve your goals a lot faster. After your therapy sessions are over, please feel free to take advantage of your 3 free sessions with me, Lynde Weatherford, Director of Training Services, along with a free session with our Dietitian, Eric Bockelman, to formulate an individualized plan to keep you on the right path towards a healthier lifestyle. To get started, email me or call 319-665-2548.