BlueRidgePTInc_Find Your Balance

Health &Wellness The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body

FIND YOUR BALANCE Physical Therapy Can Help You Stay Active

Health & Wellness The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body

INSIDE:

• Find Your Balance • Tips to Becoming More Physically Balanced

Misspelled Mania ENTER TO WIN Find the misspelled word in this newsletter and call (423) 262-0020 to be entered into our drawing for your chance to win! $10 GIFT CERTIFICATE • Relieve Pain In Minutes • Patient Success Spotlight • Do You Know Someone Who Could Use Our Help? • Being Grateful Is Good for You! • November Is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

Find Your BALANCE Physical Therapy Can Help You Stay Active

Think about the last time that you sat down with a book that you loved and made yourself a cup of tea or coffee and really enjoyed the moment. Perhaps it isn’t reading that you wish you had more time for, but instead it is a garden that has grown weeds as it has been neglected. It could be a project at your home that you have looked forward to completing or an old car that you’ve wanted to fix up. There are special hobbies and interests that appeal to each of us, and spending time with those hobbies can help you live a more balanced life. Alongside with the task of becoming more mentally balanced with the things that you spend time with in your life is the challenge of becoming more physically balanced. There are certain markers that typically indicate trouble with maintaining balance, such as frequently tripping and falling or feeling dizzy when standing too long. But even if you are not having fundamental issues with your ability to stay balanced in this way, you may still have difficulty with whole- body balance. Yoga is a great form of exercise to use to improve your ability to balance, as yoga helps to strengthen core muscles and improve coordination. Call us at (423) 262-0020 to find out how we can help you stay active and become better balanced.

There are a million and one tips that are passed down generation to generation about the key to a long and successful life. Some say the secret to a long and happy life is to focus on family; others say it all comes down to finding the right career. Whatever choices you make in your life, and whatever your values are, there are several fundamental truths that are almost always accurate: To stay healthy, you must stay active, and to stay happy, you must stay balanced. Mental and Physical Balance Staying active and staying balanced in many ways go hand in hand. Staying active refers to the amount of activity that you engage in daily. This of course can refer to how much time you spend at the gym, but it can also refer to how many steps you take in a day, how often you find yourself running around the office, and how frequently you head out to the backyard to run around with your children or your dog. Balance in many ways works on the same principles. There are some activities that you do every day because you have to do them— work often falls into this category, as do household chores. But what about the activities that you simply love to do? What about the activities that you enjoy?

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Contest for past and present patients only. Please allow 60 days if you have won a prize for the Misspelled Mania.Thank you! Congratulations To This Month’s Winner! Susan Phillips

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TIPS TO BECOMING MORE PHYSICALLY BALANCED You Can Improve Your Physical Balance By: • Increasing muscle strength • Improving stamina • Improving core strength • Practicing balancing techniques balanced person means finding ways to spend your time more wisely and taking more time for yourself as needed. It’s Never Too Late

You don’t need to grow up as an athlete to enjoy exercise as an adult. There is no point in your life where it is too late to start being more active than you currently are. There are plenty of ways to incorporate light activity into your lifestyle, such as: • Taking a walk in the evening with your family • Wearing a pedometer and trying to take more steps every day • Joining your local community center and using the pool to swim laps several times a week • Engaging in light weight training at home before work • Taking a yoga class These are just several examples of how you could incorporate more activity into your lifestyle without making many large changes to your way of life. If you feel that your physical health or an old injury is holding you back from being active, contact us at (423) 262-0020. Working with a physical therapist can help you achieve improved balance and a healthy lifestyle.

In addition to finding your mental balance with how you spend your time, becoming more physically balanced is just as important. There are certain markers that typically indicate trouble with maintaining balance, such as frequently tripping and falling, or feeling dizzy when standing too long. But even if you are not having fundamental issues with your physical balance, you may still have difficulty with whole-body balance. Yoga is a great form of exercise to use to improve your ability to balance, as yoga helps to strengthen core muscles and improve coordination. Think about the percentage of time that you spend working during the week. For most people this number is well over 40 hours per week! Then consider how much time is spent driving to and from work and around town on errands, and then consider the time spent doing things you have to do at home, like the dishes or the laundry. Then really think about how much time you are spending doing the things that make you feel better — including those hobbies that you love, but also being active and engaging with the people you care about. Part of becoming a more

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Relieve Pain In Minutes

Try this movement to improve balance.

Exercisescopyrightof

BALANCE TANDEM STANCE Startby placing one foot in front of your other foot in aheel to toeposition. Maintainyourbalance.Return tostartingpositionand repeat.Attempt this exercisealternating theopposite foot in front.Foranaddedchallengewhile in this stance, slowly turn your head to the left and hold for 3 seconds. Repeat by turning your head to the right, up, and down, all of which holding for3seconds. Iffeelingconfidant inyourbalance,challengeyourselffurther by standing on a thick pillow or with your eyes closed.

Previous Contest Winners Jack-o’-Lantern Guessing Game: Christy Starns & Michelle Bryte Scariest Pumpkin: Kim Most Original: Stan Most Decorative: Sharon Coats for the Cold Drawing: Alex Costello

Veteran’s Day Lunch November 11

Our Next Clinic Contest

CANNED FOOD DRIVE Help us help those in need this season. Throughout November, bring in your canned food items to share, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a Blue Ridge PTT-Shirt!

Calling all Veterans! In honor of your service, you’re invited to lunch, our treat, on Monday, November 11th from 12–2 pm . Please RSVP today by calling (423) 262-0020.

Do You Know Someone Who Could Use Our Help?

Patient Success Spotlight

REFER A FRIEND

I first become a patient as part of my treatment and recovery from breast cancer. I immediately felt that Dr. Countryman and her entire staff were members of my BC Care Team. After going through chemotherapy (hair loss) and a bilateral mastectomy, I was nervous about showing these changes

• Decrease pain • Increase strength • Increase activity level • Increase flexibility • Improve health • Get back to living We can help:

to my body. Dr. Kim and her professional, caring staff immediately put me at ease and helped me realize that I was still me! I am now 7 years cancer free. I for therapy on my right knee. 37 years of teaching elementary music, working and dancing on concrete floor, climbing 2 flights of stairs at my home really did a number on my knee. My orthopedists offered me a list of available providers but there was no question as to where I would go–Blue Ridge PhysicalTherapy!The entire staff challenged me to go beyond what I thought I could do with encouragement and humor. Even though I was tired at the end of each session, I always left feeling better when I arrived. Thank you Dr. Kim and all of the BRPT staff.” - L. B.

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Call Today: (423) 262-0020

YoucanwinaSubwayGiftCard.Refera friendor familymember to BlueRidgePhysicalTherapyand theyscheduleandattendanappointment.

The prognosis of memory loss and difficulty with cognition is hard to fathom if you’ve never watched it happen in a loved one. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but that does not mean there is no hope. A lot of research and attention has been put into helping people with Alzheimer’s disease live longer, happier, healthier lives, and there have been several breakthroughs in recent years that are incredibly encouraging. One such breakthrough is the realization that being active and engaging in targeted exercises can often delay the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. Exercise Is Believed to Help Alzheimer’s in the Following Ways: • Exercise can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s for those who are exhibiting early symptoms, as well as reduce the risk of developing the disease for those who have a strong genetic predisposition to the condition. • Exercise improves balance and coordination, which reduces the risk of injury from a fall and thereby reduces risk of inhibited mobility. How Physical Therapy Supports Alzheimer’s Disease Working with a physical therapist is a smart choice when facing Alzheimer’s. As part of a targeted program that is designed to introduce the best exercise practices to support optimal cognition, you will learn a series of exercises, helpful lifestyle strategies, and get the encouragement you need to be successful with your workout plan. By staying active, exercising your mind and body, managing stress and doing your best to live an overall healthy lifestyle, you will put yourself in the best position possible to put off the advancement of Alzheimer’s and enjoy life for years to come. Don’t attempt to fight Alzheimer’s on your own. Getting involved in a prevention program can pair you with the skills and support you need to stay healthy. Call us at (423) 262-0020 today to find out how we can help make a prevention plan that’s right for you. NOVEMBER IS ALZHEIMER’S AWARENESS MONTH

Gratitude and Health Research shows that the experience of gratitude can induce a sense of relaxation, improve the immune system, and decrease blood pressure. Grateful people also tend to cultivate better health habits, like eating more nutritious food, exercising, and avoiding risky behaviors. In addition, the optimism that stems from gratitude can create a healing attitude: research shows that people with optimistic attitudes have better outcomes after medical procedures. Gratitude and Joy Robert Emmons, an internationally renowned scientific expert on gratitude, has found that acknowledging the good in life has a tendencytoamplifypositiveemotions, such as joy and contentment, because it helps us slow down. “I think gratitude allows us to participate more in life,” he says. “We notice the positives more, and that magnifies the pleasures you get from life.” Consider the last time you had a good cup of coffee—did you pay attention to the warmth of the cup on your hands, or the feeling of pleasure as you took the Being Grateful Is Good for You!

firstsip? It’seasy to ignore thesesmall moments of positivity in our day as we rush from one activity to another, but stopping to appreciate them makes them more powerful. Gratitude and Resilience Practicing gratitude can make you better equipped to handle the difficulties of life that inevitably arise. In fact, according to Emmons, it’s an essential part of the process of healing from trauma. Even despair can be mitigated by the experience of appreciation for the good, however slight it might be. Many people with life-threatening illnesses report decreased distress and increased positive emotions when they practice gratitude. Recent MRI studies have mapped the gratitude circuitry in the brain, which activates a sense of reward, fairness, and decision- making—all aspects that help facilitate survival and post-traumatic growth. Emmons,R.(2010November16).Whygratitude isgood. Greater Good. Retrieved from greatergood.berkeley. edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good. Emmons, R.A.,Stern,R. (2013).Gratitude as apsychotherapeutic intervention. Journal of Clinical Psychology; 69(8), 846-855. Excerpts taken from takingcharge.csh.umn. edu/10-ways-be-more-thankful-person