For many people, knee pain can be a way of life, limiting their ability to climb stairs, squat down to get something off the floor, enjoy long walks, shopping and a host of other daily activities. The knee joint is one of the most complicated joints in the body and has to bear up to 6 times your body weight with running or jumping. This incredible joint has to move over a million times each year and over 80 million times over a lifetime. This is also the reason why things can go wrong, causing injury and pain.
NEWSLETTER Health &Wellness
TO STRONGER HIPS AND KNEES 3
POWERFUL STEPS
NEWSLETTER Health &Wellness
TO STRONGER HIPS AND KNEES 3
POWERFUL STEPS
INSIDE : • Improving Your Sports Performance • Exercise of the Month
• Staff Spotlight • Healthy Recipe
For many people, knee pain can be a way of life, limiting their ability to climb stairs, squat down to get something off the floor, enjoy long walks, shopping and a host of other daily activities. The knee joint is one of the most complicated joints in the body and has to bear up to 6 times your body weight with running or jumping. This incredible joint has to move over a million times each year and over 80 million times over a lifetime. This is also the reason why things can go wrong, causing injury and pain. Just like taking care of your heart, your joints need attention to maintain a healthy state. Here are easy ways for you to take care of your knees, avoiding arthritis and other joint problems: 1. Stretch your hamstrings, quadriceps and adductor muscles each day. By keeping these muscles flexible, the forces on your knee joints can be balanced, allowing your joint to bend, rotate and for your patella (kneecap) to track properly. 2. Keep the muscles around your hips and knees strong. Especially the gluteals and quadriceps muscles. Studies show that those adults, especially over 55 who have stronger gluteals and quadriceps, tend to have less back pain and more ability to do daily activities.
3. Exercise regularly. While this is good for the whole body, the knees especially need exercise to keep their cartilage healthy. The cartilage does not have much blood supply and requires its nutrition from joint fluid. Most of the joint fluid absorbs into the cartilage only through movement and compression of the knee. Therefore, it is important to do weight bearing exercise such as walking, running and other sports. However, if you have arthritis, it is advised to do more low-impact activities such as biking, elliptical machines, aquatic exercises, etc. Having a regular physical therapy checkup ensures that your joints are working at their peak performance. In addition, any problems will be discovered early, preventing the onset of arthritis and joint injury. If you do have arthritis or have had surgery, then a regular physical therapy check up is especially important. If your attention is on that sore knee, then it is time you called us for a free knee joint analysis. Talk to one of our expert physical therapists today and see how life can be with freely moving knees. If you feel like your hips and knees are weak and you would like to learn more about getting stronger and moving better give us a call.
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IMPROVING YOUR
SPORTS PERFORMANCE
Joint Strength Incorporate strengthening exercises into your sports routines. This is especially important for runners and weekend warriors. A little strengthening exercising can go a long way to prevent sports injuries and soreness. The stronger your muscles are around your joints, the better ability you have to play and avoid injury. Joint Coordination You have an inherent sense of where your joints are in space (proprioception) and how they are moving in space (kinesthetic sense). This allows your brain to coordinate the muscle movements around your joints. By improving your balance and coordination with specific exercises, you greatly reduce the chance of injury and will enhance your sports performance. If you would like to enhance your ability to run, play sports and prevent injury, then talk to one of our physical therapy specialists today.
Whether you are a high school athlete or just like to exercise for fun, improving your body’s ability to exercise is a good challenge. While there are many different ways to train for your particular sport, including nutrition, we are going to focus on improving your joint performance and stability. This will allow you to run longer, cut faster, and throw better. Joint Stability Improve your sports ability through joint stability. When a joint is more stable, muscles can function better. For knees, ankles and hips try balance exercises on uneven surfaces such as foam or a folded towel. Try standing on one leg while doing small knee bends. Joint Flexibility Joints need to be flexible in order to move through their proper range and allow muscles to pull correctly. For many people who are runners, stretching must be done every day to maintain muscle and tissue elasticity. Dynamic stretching is often best, where the stretch is done in a moving fashion, such as in Yoga. This is different than a prolonged stretch.
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GLUTE BRIDGE WITH MARCHING Begin on your back with feet about 12 inches from your bum and hands by your sides with palms up. Press your heels into the ground and lift your pelvis up until your knees, pelvis, and shoulders form a straight line. Hold your bridge while you lift your right knee toward your chest, until your hip is at 90 degrees. Return the heel to the floor and lift the left knee. Great For Runners Try this movement if you are experiencing pain. EXERCISE OF THE MONTH
Staff Spotlight
Jill Van De Loo is excited to be here in Fairbanks. She’s from Wisconsin originally but has spent most of her career in Kentucky and Tennessee and last year in Oregon. She has been a physical therapist for 23 years graduating from Des Moines University in Iowa and returning to get her Doctorates in PhysicalTherapy in 2008. Jill has worked in a variety of settings but majority of the time in outpatient orthopedics. She has specialized in women’s and pelvic health for 5 years. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring and photographing the beautiful outdoors or reading a good book. Willow Physical Therapy would like to welcome our new traveling P.T. Jill Van De Loo!
Mexican Cauliflower Rice Skillet HEALTHY RECIPE
Patient Spotlight
INGREDIENTS • 1 lb ground beef • 1/4 medium onion diced • 1/2 red pepper diced • 3 tbsp taco seasoning • 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 12 ounces cauliflower rice • 1/2 cup chicken broth • 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese or Mexican Blend
INSTRUCTIONS In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef until almost cooked through (just a little pink). Add the onion and pepper and continue to cook until no longer pink. Stir in the taco seasoning. Add the tomatoes and cauliflower rice and stir to combine. Stir in the broth and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the cauliflower rice begins to soften (8 to 10 minutes for frozen). Sprinkle the skillet with the cheese and cover. Let cook until the cheese is melted, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from heat and top with your favorite toppings like sour cream, avocado, and chopped cilantro.
I am now able to resume normal activities and be more active. “Willow Physical Therapy greatly improved my overall quality of life. I am now able to resume normal activities and be more active. Most importantly, I was given tools to help myself at home should my problems reoccur.” - B. McNeal
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