Your Winter Blues Healthy Life Plan

Tired of the winter blues? Want to start living a healthier life? Here are some quick and easy lifestyle tips to get back into the groove of an energized healthy life:

Eating a well-balanced diet

Having a meal that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins helps keep inflammation at bay, keeps blood sugars steady and increases energy levels.

Staying hydrated

By drinking plenty of water throughout the day you are helping your joints stay lubricated, promoting good bowel health, and avoiding kidney damage.

Getting regular exercise

At least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week will help improve your balance, decrease risk of falls, increase bone density, and decrease risk of injury.

Getting enough sleep

Aiming for 7-9 hours of sleep per night helps improve concentration and productivity, boosts the immune function, and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Managing stress

Techniques such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing exercises, and regular walks can help with relieving chronic stress, increasing calmness, sharpening concentration, and with mental clarity.

No party for you ;)

Benefits of avoiding smoking include, and increase in circulation, decrease in coronary heart disease and stroke, improved lung function, decrease in risk of lung cancer and shortness of breath, and decrease of coughing.

Benefits of avoiding excessive alcohol consumption include, improved mood, more energy, feeling of less tiredness, improved immune system and decreased risk of liver disease.

How about them apples?? Visiting your doctor regularly

Check-ups and screenings with your doctor can reduce the risk of getting sick, detect health conditions or diseases early, increases lifespan and improves your health.

It's important to remember that a healthy lifestyle is a journey, not a destination. No one is perfect and it's okay to slip up and make mistakes. The key is to make healthy choices most of the time and be kind to yourself when you fall short.

Discomfort and soreness are a part of life. What is not normal is living with pain. If you are still experiencing that pain, it's time to talk to your physical therapist or primary care physician.

Try to stay away from narcotics, injections and knife happy surgeons as a primary option for your treatment. There are no magic bullets, but majority of pain symptoms can be resolved with conservative measures like exercises, manual therapy and pain management.

• Aimee Cervantes, Rehab Tech at Rehabon Physical Therapy. Aimee is a PTA graduate and has experience at different settings of Physical Therapy. She plans to take her licensure exam after her wedding! Aimee's hobbies are crafting and graphic design. She enjoys seeing her ideas come to life!

• Irfan Ibrahim is an Owner/Physical Therapist at Rehabon Physical Therapy, Downers Grove IL 60515. He enjoys sunshine and rainbows with his three children. Loves hiking, biking and golfing but he has accepted to live with his mediocre skills. Questions??!! Email him: Irfan@rehabon.com follow him on Facebook

Corticosteroids for Joint Pain: Friend or Foe?!

Cortisone, also known as a corticosteroid or a steroid, is a hormone your body naturally produces via the adrenal glands. When delivered as a medication, corticosteroids reduce the activity of your immune system, which relieves inflammation and pain for people with different kinds of arthritis (as well as a wide range of other inflammatory diseases). As we know, there is no cure for osteoarthritis so steroid injections are commonly given to help ease that pain. But what if these injections could possibly make that pain worse?

Two small unpublished studies found that on average, knee arthritis advanced more quickly among patients who got corticosteroid injections than those who didn’t. The researchers looked at scans that were taken at the time of the injections, as well as two years before and after, and found more severe cartilage deterioration by the two-year follow-up mark among the steroid-taking group.

Although these studies show that corticosteroids may progress osteoarthritis, it does not mean that there’s no benefit for it for people who suffer from joint pain. Corticosteroids have still shown to be very beneficial for short term pain relief for patients to improve their functional activities.

All in all, corticosteroids should be the last resort when it comes to relieving joint pain. Remember to Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate as your first measure when first experiencing any type of joint pain. Always be sure to consult your physical therapist before you take that final step towards a corticosteroid injection.

Source: Common treatment for joint pain may be linked to faster arthritis progression, research suggests (nbcnews.com)

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Discomfort and soreness are a part of life. What is not normal is living with pain. If you are still experiencing that pain, it's time to talk to your physical therapist or primary care physician.

Try to stay away from narcotics, injections and knife happy surgeons as a primary option for your treatment. There are no magic bullets, but majority of pain symptoms can be resolved with conservative measures like exercises, manual therapy and pain management.

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• Zuhair Haque, Exercise Specialist at Rehabon Physical Therapy. Zuhair enjoys basketball and he cannot wait to start the DPT program at North Central College in 2023. Zuhair has an extensive experience for working for multiple physical therapy/rehab organizations.

• Irfan Ibrahim is an Owner/Physical Therapist at Rehabon Physical Therapy, Downers Grove IL 60515. He enjoys sunshine and rainbows with his three children. Loves hiking, biking and golfing but he has accepted to live with his mediocre skills. Questions??!! Email him: Irfan@rehabon.com follow him on Facebook

Rehabon's SPOOKtacular Workout

With Halloween in the forecast, we are bound to consume more candy than we would during other time of the year! Whether it be leftover candy that was meant for trick or treaters, or even stealing some of your favorite candy from the trick or treaters you have at home you’ll need a workout plan to help burn off some of that sugar. Here’s a full body, fat burning circuit that you can do in the comfort of your own home that will help you in not feeling so guilty for binging on all your favorite candy!

We are ready to SPOOK you.

Do 3 to 5 rounds of these exercises in a circuit:

Sit ups: Suck in your belly button to engage your core and perform 10-15 reps!

Push Ups: Start in a plank position flat on the floor, or if that is too difficult for you, you can use a table or a piece of stable furniture with your hands shoulder width apart. Your body should be at a 45° angle with the ground. With your body stable and completely straight, bend the arms to bring the chest close to the table. Push-back to the starting position.

10 Reps!

Overhead Press: Stand by holding weights (if you don't have dumbbells, you can use cans, gallons of milk, bags of candy etc) in your hands with elbows bent 90° and at shoulder-height. Press the weight all the way over your head and lower under control back to the starting position (90°) Keep your torso stabilized by engaging the glutes and abdominals to prevent arching your lower back. 10 reps!

Overhead Squat: Stand with your feet together and bend your knees and hips to lower yourself. Keep your weight on your heels and raise your arms overhead. 10 Reps!

Kicks: Stand with your weight on one leg. Without leaning forward, kick out to the front, to the side, and to the back as prescribed, 10 times each direction keeping the knee straight. All movement should come from the hip. Repeat the sequence with the opposite leg.

*If you have an exercise band you can place it around your ankles for some extra resistance*

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Discomfort and soreness are a part of life. What is not normal is living with pain. If you are still experiencing that pain, it's time to talk to your physical therapist or primary care physician.

Try to stay away from narcotics, injections and knife happy surgeons as a primary option for your treatment. There are no magic bullets, but majority of pain symptoms can be resolved with conservative measures like exercises, manual therapy and pain management.

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• Zuhair Haque, Exercise Specialist at Rehabon Physical Therapy. Zuhair enjoys basketball and he cannot wait to start the DPT program at North Central College in 2023. Zuhair has an extensive experience for working for multiple physical therapy/rehab organizations.

• Irfan Ibrahim is an Owner/Physical Therapist at Rehabon Physical Therapy, Downers Grove IL 60515. He enjoys sunshine and rainbows with his three children. Loves hiking, biking and golfing but he has accepted to live with his mediocre skills. Questions??!! Email him: Irfan@rehabon.com follow him on Facebook