Month: September 2017

How Your Gait Impacts Your Health

Posted on by AlterG

Have you ever considered how you walk? Not how fast or how stylish, but in what manner? That’s called gait—your walking style—and it can have a considerable impact on your health.

The body is an impressive, interconnected system. Making it move requires coordination between hundreds of bones, joints, ligaments, and tendons. Proper biomechanics ensure that pressure is distributed evenly and efficiently, whether you are stepping, running, or sprinting. Continue reading “How Your Gait Impacts Your Health”

Benefits of Walking When Living with Atrial Fibrillation

Posted on by AlterG

 

September is National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month, the perfect time to explore this serious, sometimes life-threatening heart condition that affects over 200,000 people a year in the United States alone. Atrial Fibrillation (AFib, as it’s sometimes called) is a form of abnormal heart rhythm caused by lack of coordination between the heart’s upper (atrial) and lower (ventricular) chambers. Symptoms may include palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, or even fatigue—“drums pounding, thunder rumbling, or fish flopping” in the chest, as the Heart Rhythm Society so eloquently describes it.
Continue reading “Benefits of Walking When Living with Atrial Fibrillation”

How Your Meals Impact Your Movement

Posted on by AlterG

With such a focus on movement in physical therapy, we sometimes forget about one of the keys to proper movement: food. Balance, coordination, strength building, recovery—all of these important elements of PT are impacted by the things we put into our bodies. Have you ever experienced grogginess after a meal? How about muscle soreness that seems to take forever to go away? Both are related—at least in part—to diet. Here are a few important ways nutrition impacts movement.
Continue reading “How Your Meals Impact Your Movement”

Creating a Walking and Running Routine that Works for You

Posted on by AlterG

If you’re considering beginning a walk or run routine, we have one piece of advice above all others: go for it! Because committing to walking or running is satisfying, energizing, and can have an enormous impact on your overall health. Stress and anxiety relief, weight loss—you name it. It’s a low-impact, low-cost way to make a truly lasting impact on your quality of life.
Continue reading “Creating a Walking and Running Routine that Works for You”

Exercises That Can Help Alleviate Gastroparesis Symptoms

Posted on by AlterG

Although relatively unknown, Gastroparesis is a chronic digestive condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people a year in the U.S. alone. This condition inhibits the otherwise strong muscle contractions that propel digestive matter from the stomach through the digestive tract, slowing the digestive process to a crawl. The result is a variety of symptoms and complications, including vomiting, acid reflux, abdominal pain, and rapid weight loss. Continue reading “Exercises That Can Help Alleviate Gastroparesis Symptoms”