Summer is prime-time for gardening, with flowers blossoming and the weather making outside activities more enjoyable than ever. Gardening is a great way to get outside and take advantage of the fresh air, but it can also put a strain on your upper extremities. It is important to keep your hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders safe while you garden, so you can continue to keep doing the activities you love while you can! Ergonomic gardening tools can be found online, and many can also be found at your local gardening supply stores. By using specially designed tools, you can avoid pain and greatly decrease your risk of injury while working on your garden.
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GARDEN WITH CARE!
TRIM YOUR PAINS AWAY WITH ERGONOMIC GARDENING TOOLS
Exercise Essentials Try these exercises to relieve hand & wrist pain!
Healthy Recipe Enjoy this delicious healthy grilling recipe!
Nature’s Bounty Tips for adding healthy greens to your diet
H E A L T H N E W S L E T T E R
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GARDEN WITH CARE! Summer is prime-time for gardening, with flowers blossoming and theweather making outside activities more enjoyable than ever. Gardening is a great way to get outside and take advantage of the fresh air, but it can also put a strain on your upper extremities. It is important to keep your hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders safe while you garden, so you can continue to keep doing the activities you love while you can! Ergonomic gardening tools can be found online, and many can also be found at your local gardening supply stores. By using specially designed tools, you can avoid pain and greatly decrease your risk of injury while working on your garden. Which ergonomic gardening tools should I consider? There are a variety of ergonomic tools that can help protect you from sustaining an injurywhile tending to your plants, flowers, and shrubbery. Some of the most beneficial ones include: • Ergonomic digging tools. Digging can cause abnormal bending, twisting, and stretching of yourwrists that could result in pain or injury. By using a curved-handle tool (such as a shovel, scooper, or cultivator) for digging purposes, you can avoid straining yourwrists while scooping out soil or planting flowers. • Ergonomic pruning tools. Pruning can strain your arms and shoulders, due to the pressure and angle of the task. Ergonomic pruning tools
TRIM YOUR PAINS AWAY WITH ERGONOMIC GARDENING TOOLS can increase leverage and make cutting in general significantly easier. Companies such as Fiskars use patented PowerGear mechanisms to ease the strain of cutting and increase consumer usability. Because of this, they are also recognized by the “Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Commendation.” • Ergonomicwatering tools. Pulling awatering hose through the garden and coiling it back up afterward can cause aches and pains in the arms and hands, especially if someone is suffering from arthritis in their upper extremities. Ergonomic watering tools include lightweight garden hoses, soakers, and drip hoses, that can be easily snaked throughout the garden, thus easing strain on the arms. Hose chests with automatic rewinding features can also be purchased in order to avoid manual coiling with achy or stiff hands. • Ergonomic container gardening. Reaching, bending, and stretching down to tend to your garden can result in pain from hunched and overworked muscles. Container gardening, such as raised garden beds and trellises, can help fix this. With container gardening, the garden is brought to you, eliminating the need to reach down to work on it. This can greatly eliminate pain in the shoulders and arms, as the muscles will be much less stressed with raised containers.
Call 516.333.1481 (Long Island) or 212.472.1000 (Manhattan) to to schedule your appointment today!
HandInHandRehabilitation.com
EXERCISE ESSENTIALS Try these exercises to relieve hand & wrist pain!
While ergonomic gardening tools are great for lowering the risk of pain and injury, sometimes they unfortunately do not always do the trick. If you still find yourself in pain this Summerwhile working on your garden, contact Hand In Hand Rehabilitation as soon as possible. One of our Certified Hand Therapists (CHTs) will take a look at your upper extremities in order to determine the root of the pain. Afterward, an individualized treatment planwill be created for you in order to relieve your pain and improve your overall function. Treatments may include manual therapy, massage, or guided exercises to get the affected area(s) back to their normal range of motion. If needed, custom orthotics can also be prescribed to help you comfortably continue doing the activities you love. If you are suffering from upper extremity pain, or you’d like to learn more about how ergonomic tools may benefit you, contact Hand In Hand Rehabilitation today! We’ll help you trim your pains away so you can get back to tending to your garden as much as you’d like. WHAT IF I STILL FEEL PAIN WHILE GARDENING?
Downwards Prayer Stretch Stand with good posture. Place the backs of your hands together in front of your chest right belowyour chin. Slowly raise your hands until you feel a mild to moderate stretch on top of your forearms. Hold for at least 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat as needed.
To learn more, visit our website at: HandInHandRehabilitation.com
1. Call 516.333.1481 (Long Island) or 212.472.1000 (Manhattan) to talk with your occupational therapist and discuss your pain and symptoms. WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?
WRIST EXTENSION STRETCH Rest your forearm on a surface for support so that your wrist hangs over the edge. Hold your palm and knuckles with your other hand and relax the tips of your fingers. Gently bend the wrist of the grasped hand upwards using your other hand. Your fingers can remain bent while doing so. Hold for 20 seconds and repeat 3 times.
2. Your occupational therapist may suggest exercises or precautionary measures to relieve or avoid pain.
3. If further assessment is needed to find the cause of your paint, your therapist can schedule an appointment with you.
WHY CHOOSE HAND IN HAND? WHAT MAKES HAND IN HAND REHABILITATION UNIQUE? Hand In Hand provides a comprehensive, patient-centered treatment approach that is customized for each individual case. We are committed to providing a personal touch with individualized attention to each patient’s needs, which is often missing from larger, corporate-owned therapy practices. We care about YOU and not numbers! We make the best custom hand braces in the area, and are happy to evaluate or modify yours, no matter where it was made. We are known and valued for our achievement of excellent patient outcomes and people travel from throughout the area to receive care. Our Mission At Hand In Hand Rehabilitation, our thorough evaluations by our experienced staff lead to successful treatment plans for your pain relief, healing, and future injury prevention needs. At Hand In Hand Rehabilitation, we have one mission: helping you reach your highest physical potential. Our treatment plans are aimed toward the achievement of your goals, taking into account your symptoms, medical history, and any health restrictions you may have. We look forward to watching you achieve your recovery, health and fitness goals! With our care and commitment, we know that is possible for anyone who walks through our doors. The Hand In Hand Rehabilitation team is here to provide support to YOU – the patient. Our success is dependent upon your success, and we strive to create a warm, welcoming environment where you can comfortably heal.
GRILLED FLANK STEAK SALAD WITH GINGER WASABI DRESSING
Ingredients
• ½ tsp kosher salt • 1 lb flank steak, trimmed • ¼ tsp ground pepper • 1 5-ounce package baby spinach • 2 cups shredded carrots • 2 cups shredded cabbage • 1 cucumber, sliced
•1¼ cups water • ¾ cup quinoa
• 3 scallions, sliced • 3 tbsp fresh ginger, grated • 3 tbsp rice vinegar • 2 tbsp lime juice • 2 tbsp canola oil • 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey • 2 tsps wasabi powder
Instructions Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10minutes. Remove fromheat and let stand, covered, for 5minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Preheat grill tomedium-high. Meanwhile, combine scallions, ginger, rice vinegar, lime juice, oil, tamari, honey, wasabi powder and ¼ teaspoon salt in a blender. Puree until smooth. Season steakwith pepper and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Oil the grill rack. Grill the steak, turning once, 4 to 6minutes per side for medium. Transfer to a clean cutting board to rest for5minutes.Thinlyslice against the grain. Toss spinach (or kale or arugula), carrots, coleslawmix (or cabbage) and½cup of the dressing with the quinoa. Divide the salad among 4 large bowls, topwith the steak and drizzle each servingwith 1 tablespoon of the remaining dressing.
NATURE’S BOUNTY TIPS FOR ADDING GREENS TO YOUR DIET Only one in 10American adults meet fruit and vegetable recommendations. More specifically, only 9.3 percent of adults eat enough vegetables daily. Seven of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States are from chronic diseases including heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Eating plenty of green vegetables every day can help reduce your risk of those and other diseases. These tipss can help make getting more vegetables convenient, simple, and delicious: • Buy seasonal offerings from a local farmer’s market. • Grow your own! Lettuce and arugula are easy to grow in containers.
• Get the whole family involved in cooking. • Cut them up ahead of time for quick snacks. • Slip ‘em into smoothies (trust us, it’s delicious).
• Make it a mission to try a new one. Summer is the perfect time to expand your palate! • Buy them fresh or frozen. Frozen vegetables today are far tastier than the ones you might have grown up with.
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