While bicycling is a terrific non-weight-bearing aerobic activity, it can certainly be hard on the back and neck. To help avert problems, be sure to bike with your elbows slightly bent and your back at no less than a 50-degree angle to the road. It may also help to alternate rounding and arching your back every 10 minutes or so while riding. Beyond these preventive measures, it may also pay for bicyclists to visit the physical therapist when kinks in the neck and sore backs arise. When the upper body is overly extended to the handlebars, it can result in neck strain. The therapist can review your riding posture and make reccomendations that may help avert problems.

      Recreational bicycling should begin with equipment that is properly sized and adjusted to the person riding. "THE RIGHT TOUCH" safety measures undertaken to prevent injury should include protective gear and warm-up stretching.

P.S. Physical therapy helps bicyclists maintain supple spines, which facilitates the movement of the legs, arms, and neck.

      If you are gettin on in years, it will pay you to give as much attention to your flexibility as to your muscle strength. If you need help in this area, it may pay to enlist the help of a physical therapist. He or she may engage you in treatments such as Propioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. PNF calls for the physical therapist to gently push or pull your body to stretch a muscle as far as it can go. Then, the therapist has you contract that muscle for 10-15 seconds. One goal of this technique is to activate the golgi tendon organ, located within a muscle's tendon. When put to use, this organ relaxes the muscle, allowing for a deeper stretch.

      Behavorial researchers were baffled by their observations of Chinese people over age 60 exercising and walking back and forth over traditional stone paths in China. They fould people walking, dancing, and performing weight-shifting exercises on cobblestone paths. This led the researchers to wonder if they could quantify any health benefits of walking on cobblestones. They reproduced the rounded river rock cobblestone surface in a lab and asked elderly volunteers to simply walk on the surface for an hour, three times per week. Half showed significant improvement in balance and measures of mobility. This is due to a shift in reliance for balance to the vestibular system of the inner ear, away from the somatosensory system that connects skin muscles.

      Physical Therapists are skilled in prescription exercises appropriate for recovery from injury or restorative surgery such as joint replacements. Total body capacities for work or recreation often require more comprehensive functional exercises. Instruction in specific patterns and routines may be “THE RIGHT TOUCH” to achieve the desired fit for life goals.

      Postural strain may result in faulty patterns of neck and arm movements. Our physical and occupational therapists often evaluate neck and upper back flexibility and strength to measure contributing factors to complaints of headache, shoulder, arm and hand pain or numbness. Corrective exercise instructions by any of our professionals may be “THE RIGHT TOUCH” for remediation of symptoms.

      If you step out of the shower and see almost your entire footprint on the dry floor, you have flat feet. As a result of the fact that you are an "overpronator," your arches will not provide sufficient support on the medial (inner) side. This means that, if you are a runner or exercise walker, a micro-second after your heel strikes the ground, the arches on your flat feet collapse too far inward, resulting in excessive foot motion. While some pronation is good, too much increases the risk of injuries such as shinsplints, plantar fasciitis, and various knee afflictions. The more you see of your wet footprint, the more you overpronate. You should select your running and walking shoes accordingly.

      Proper foot control is essential to the efficient knee/hip and pelvis/trunk reactions during walking or running. Complaints of the ankle, knee or even hip pain may often be traced to faulty foot postures. Corrective interventions by our therapists frequently include evaluation of the shoes worn for work or recreation. Insole modifications may then provide "THE RIGHT TOUCH" mechanical stabilitation of the foot and ankle during weight-bearing activities and exercises.

P.S. Runners and walkers who overpronate should select running and walking shoes that are designated motion-control models, whith very firm multi-destiny midsoles.

      Even those who exercise regularly may neglect the "core" muscles of the abdomen, sides, and back. Like a column connecting the upper and lower body, these muscles play a crucial role in maintaining posture, balance, and trim physique, particularly as we age. Moreover, a strong core reduces the risk of back problems and helps us sit, stand, and walk for long periods without discomfort. While the traditional exercises for strengthening these muscles tend to be grueling, using a stability ball can be a fun and effective way of strengthening the midsection. This oversized, flexible ball provides comfortable support for key parts of the body, letting you work the targeted muscles without straining the others.

      Often fast-paced but more sedentary modern lifestyles provide opportunity for trunk posture control failure. Resultant complaints of low back and hip or leg pain are then frequently referred to physical therapists for evaluation and treatment. Comprehensive clinincal testing by any of our therapists includes trunk/pelvic muscle flexibility and strength measurements. "THE RIGHT TOUCH" corrective exercise intervention begins with core-control and endurance development.

P.S. The inherent instability of the stability ball makes exercising with it more effective since the midsection muscles must keep working to keep the body righted.