February is American Heart Month, and at Rose City Physical Therapy, we like to spread the word about heart health, prevention, and how physical therapy can help!
The heart is vital to survival, so it’s important to keep it healthy by avoiding anything that could damage it!
Fortunately, most forms of heart disease can be prevented by making lifestyle changes, including quitting smoking, practicing good nutritional habits, reducing stress and exercising in the right way. For someone who hasn’t been active for some time, or has dealt with a past injury or surgery, a challenge restoring mobility, strength and activity to allow them to focus on heart health can be an issue. That’s where physical therapy can really help. Our orthopedic physical therapy specialists will help restore your motion and strength to get rid of the old aches and pains, and guide you on a path to allow a heart-healthy exercise and conditioning program.
Physical therapy at Rose City Physical Therapy can help you improve your heart health and fitness in various ways, and set you up for a healthier year ahead! Call today to schedule an appointment!
6 Tips for better heart health for yourself and your loved ones
Exercise tolerance, endurance, and quality of life can be affected by heart disease. Unfortunately, people tend to put off taking care of themselves until they begin to notice their neglect is affecting their quality of life. Eventually, your inaction will make it difficult for your heart to keep up with your body’s daily demands.
Listen to your body! You can prevent debilitating conditions by listening to your body’s signals and getting help early on. Taking action and maintaining a healthy lifestyle will assist you in making sure your heart is in tip-top shape!
The following are some of the ways you can make sure your heart continues to perform at its best.
- Exercise to increase your heart rate: Have you invested in a health monitor or fitness tracker yet? Maybe 2022 is the time to do this! There are so many on the market and they make it so easy to keep track of your heart rate during normal activities or during exercise. The American Heart Association recommends 30-minutes of moderate exercise five sessions per week.
- Participate in strength training: It’s not just about aerobic exercise! Maintaining muscle strength will enable you to perform functional activities and keep an active lifestyle. Research has shown that strength training benefits your heart and bone health.
- Maintain mobility of the joints and muscles: Stretching keeps you active and makes you feel better. Knowing the right workouts and therapies for your joint and muscle pain will help you feel better and enhance your overall health. Before starting any stretching or exercise routine, you can check in with your therapy team to see which may be best for you based on injury prevention, and goals.
- Eat healthy meals: Nutrition plays a huge role in heart health. Choosing a healthy diet full of fruits, vegetables, fish, and fiber-rich whole grains helps prevent heart disease. You should avoid saturated and trans fats, processed foods, salt, and added sugar. We can provide references to some great nutritionists we collaborate with to help you with this aspect of heart health.
- Maintain a healthy weight: That diet that everyone is talking about may not be the best for YOU. Avoid fad diets and exercise trends, instead stick with proper nutrition, balanced approach to eating and regular (consistent) exercise.
- Manage your stress: Sometimes we don’t realize how much stress we are holding in our body until we slow down. Stress is not only about ‘feeling stressed’ and can manifest in different ways such as raised blood pressure or even chronic pain. Doing things you enjoy is a natural way to relieve stress and find your happy place. Exercising, getting adequate sleep, meditating, or practicing positive self-talk can help you calm down and help with relaxation. The less stressed out you are, the less tension and stress you place on your heart.
Physical therapy can help you take care of your heart
If you’re looking for a safe way to improve your heart health, physical therapy is a great option.
Our therapists can help you improve your heart health by advising you on lifestyle adjustments that include daily exercises, nutrition, and stress reduction strategies based on your individual needs.
We are an evidence-based clinic and will use a comprehensive examination and functional movement assessment to help plan your individualized care. Our thorough evaluations lead to successful treatment plans for your heart health, pain relief, healing, and reduced risk of future re-injury and heart disease.
The goal of rehabilitation is to teach you to become as independent as possible. Participating in regular physical therapy appointments can help you maintain a healthy weight, lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, all of which will significantly decrease your chances of a cardiac event in the future.
Our patients have found high levels of success in our treatment services due to our implementation of research-based and high standards of care.
Give our clinic a call today
Physical therapy will help you get back into shape in a safe, healthy manner while also taking your heart’s limits, needs, and overall function into consideration.
Our team at Rose City Physical Therapy would love to help you live the highest quality of life possible. Contact us this month to learn how you can improve your heart health by incorporating more physical activity into your life!