As a gardening enthusiast you’ve probably spent many hours reading and researching how to produce a healthier, more beautiful garden. But have you ever thought how gardening can produce a healthier you? Research shows that gardening for 30-45 minutes daily has significant health benefits such as decreasing the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as contributing to healthier bones, muscles and joints.  Gardening is generally thought of as relaxing, but if your form is flawed, or your body is not is good condition you can suffer long-term damage to your neck/back, knees, shoulders and hands.

 

The following are some tips from the physical therapists at BREAKTHRU Physical Therapy to avoid injury during gardening and outdoor work.

The body is capable of moving through three planes of motion – forward to back, side to side and turning right and left.  Any functional movement is going to be a composite of these planes, yet stretches or exercises are typically performed through just one plane or uni-planar.  Although everyone could benefit from multi-planar (or movement through more than one plane) stretching and training, people who play rotational sports such as golf, tennis, or baseball should pay close attention to exercising in functional movements rather than traditional single plane training.

An important aspect of life is the ability to rotate hips, lumbar spine, thoracic spine, and cervical spine all independent of each other.  If you notice when you walk, your opposite arm and leg should be moving forward with each step.  This creates rotation of the thoracic spine and hips that goes unnoticed most of the time.  The body is incredible at compensating and will ‘make up’ for a loss of rotation by creating extra movement in another area such as the knees or lumbar spine.  As you can imagine, years of additional stress placed on body parts that are not supposed to endure that force, will result in degenerative changes (i.e. arthritis), disc herniations, or other medical problems.

When exercising, think about the four main functional muscle groups – the push muscles, the pull muscles, the chop muscles, and the lift muscles.  Rarely in life do we push or pull while sitting down and moving just our arms.  Rather, the movement should be a combination of using the muscles in the arms, back/chest, and legs to create the desired motion.  The summative movement will occur through all three planes – forward and back, side to side, and rotating.

Training in this functional method will not only give you a better overall workout, but will also make you stronger, more powerful, and more resistant to injury.  If you already go to a gym, I would recommend scheduling a consultation with a personal trainer, and ask them to assist you with establishing a functional training program.  If you have pain or do not belong to a gym, seek a consultation with a physical therapist or physician prior to starting a functional training program.

Ken Guzzardo, PT, DPT, OCS

Doctor of Physical Therapy

Board Certified in Orthopedics by the American Physical Therapy Association

Breakthru Fitness and Physical Therapy

Facility Director, Voorhees

The sports world is becoming more and more competitive and what better way to get ahead of your competition than by starting a sports performance training program.  Sports performance training programs are designed by experienced certified coaches to help improve your child’s athletic ability and potential all while keeping the young athlete safe and injury free.  Sports performance programs are for athletes of any age and skill level. Programs are tailored to the athlete for their specific needs whether it is a basketball player looking for a few extra inches on his or her vertical, or a soccer player looking to increase their overall speed or a baseball/softball player looking for some extra power in their swing, sports performance training programs can help with it all.

 

Here is a list of many of the benefits you will get by starting a sports performance program. For starters increase your speed, agility and quickness. With a sports performance program you will learn how to accelerate, decelerate, stabilize, & change direction quickly while maintaining proper form. Next, gain strength with a personal weight training program. With your own personal weight training program not only will you increase your strength you will learn the proper mechanics and techniques of every lift. Another great benefit of a sports performance program is plyometric training. Through plyometrics you will become a more explosive and powerful athlete. Along with plyometrics, learn how to use Olympic lifts, such as a power clean or power snatch, to improve overall explosiveness. Another great advantage of sports performance training is, personalized sports nutrition guidelines.  Whether you’re a football player looking to bulk up for the next season, or a soccer player looking for the right diet to sustain energy for an entire game, a sports performance program can help. Last and most important is that many sports performance programs are built for groups of friends or teammates with similar.  With a small group of teammates working together and competing against one another, pushing one another it only helps more to achieve full athletic potential. Like every coach you have ever had said “competition only breeds success.”

So as you can see, a sports performance program is the perfect way to get ahead of your competition for the upcoming season.  

Written by: Matt Walker NPTI Certified Personal Trainer/ Nutritional Consultant, USAW Sports Performance Coach

Summer is here and if you are like me, you are looking forward to fun in the sun.  But if you are like most Americans your back pain may be getting in the way of what you enjoy doing.  If you are one of the few with a healthy back, here are some quick tips to keep you safe.  For those of you with back pain, here are some suggestions on how to reclaim your health and get back your life – pain free.

The two primary causes of back pain are traumatic injury – involvement in a car crash, falling off a ladder, etc; and lifestyle injury – a simple twist while getting up from the couch.

 

Lifestyle injuries usually come from a sedentary lifestyle. Most of us sit far too much. Sitting causes muscle tightness in your hip flexor muscles (which attach to your spine) so when you stand up these tight muscles get tighter and may compress your spine. Sitting also pushes the vertebrae in the wrong direction and places abnormal forces on the spine and the muscles that support it. 

Those who told you, “sit up straight,” were right.  Poor posture can result in muscle imbalances.  When one muscle is stronger than its opposing muscle the stronger muscle has a tendency to contract and shorten.  This can pull the bone it attaches to out of its proper position.  This misalignment can cause pain and affect the function of the joint the muscle is attached to.

When you ask a friend to give you a hug and “pop your back” back into place, you feel temporarily better.  But unless you have treated the cause of the misalignment, the shortened muscles, the pain and misalignment will return.  Physical Therapists spend years learning to correct such situations.  Fixing the cause. Providing not just temporary (and often immediate) pain relief.  But actually fixing the problem so the pain does not return. 

The most common cause of a lifestyle injury is improper lifting technique.  Learning the proper way to lift will help you minimize the risk of neck, back, and shoulder pain and injury.