We just concluded our second annual coat drive for kids in honor of National Physical Therapy Month.
We set our goal this year at 70 Coats, Hats, Gloves and Scarves…here is what you helped donate:
- 57 Coats
- 14 Scarves
- 12 Hats
- 11 Pairs of Gloves
That’s a total of 94 items to be donated to local area children this winter!
The Peak Performance Team would like to extend our thanks to everyone who helped spread the word and dropped off donations to make this year’s coat drive a great success and allowed us to help children in our community that are in need of winter items.
We would like to also give a special thank you to our neighbors at Peerplace for their staff’s efforts in collecting coats and monetary donations to assist in our coat drive.
The items will be distributed to both the Salvation Army Genesis House Youth Shelter and The East Rochester Community Resource Center to help out with their ever-growing need for warm winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves for local children from toddlers to teens.
If you still have coats or other gently used winter gear that you would like to donate it’s not too late!
We are going to keep our collection bin in our lobby throughout the entire winter and distribute your donations to those in need as we receive them.
Once again thank you for your help!
The Peak Performance Team
Last week I introduced you to the causes and outcomes of “Falls”.
As an infant, we are like “Gumby” and we seem to bounce back with no apparent issues. But as we age and usually pass the 6th decade of our life, our bodies just don’t have that elasticity.
The next two articles will describe your possible medical and home intervention. As in the first article, if you even know who Gumby is …you may read this with renewed interest!
Check with your doctor on the following conditions:
Vision: your eyes are closely tied to your balance. Your eyes give your brain feedback on your body’s position. If your vision has been getting blurry, the information to your nervous system will be inaccurate, or incomplete. Have your eyes retested. Wear your glasses when you need them.
-be careful with bi or tri focal lenses on stairs or uneven surfaces. You will have to look down to see through the proper portion of your glasses. Your lenses may make objects appear closer than they really are, so moving slowly is a good strategy.
Hearing: If you are missing out on the sounds around you that may protect you, you may not even know it. Usually, you can tell that you are starting to have difficulty in a room full of people, or on the phone. You will start straining to hear clearly, maybe set your TV volume very high, or start avoiding the phone, or crowded gatherings. Rely on someone close, and if they say you should have your hearing checked, believe them. Hearing loss will also affect your balance. There are so many new advances in hearing loss and correction now, you will be surprised! Ask your doctor.
Orthostatic Blood Pressure: This is when you change positions or levels (laying down to sitting up, sit to stand) and your body doesn’t react appropriately so you get dizzy, or temporarily light headed. Taking multiple medications daily can also cause this, but I am referring here specifically to an inability of your nervous system to control pressure changes in your arteries and veins. It may help to squeeze your hand and leg muscles a few times before getting up, and then get up slowly. If you are still getting light headed, consult your doctor.
Drug interaction: More than four medications daily is the standard issue. Check with your doctor yearly on the medications you are taking and any interactions that may be causing you difficulty.
Urinary tract infection: alert your doctor immediately if you suspect a UTI. Symptoms can include fever, pain in the lower abdomen just above the pubic bone, or below the navel, burning when urinating, blood in the urine, sleep disturbances or fatigue as a result of increased bathroom trips at night, or sudden overnight changes in your ability to think or remember. The changes mentioned here can increase risk of falling. These are treatable by your doctor.
Remind your Doctor:
- about any fall you have had
- if you have weakness in one or both legs, or other leg problems
- if you use an assistive device such as a cane or walker
- about any other medical problem you have ie: heart, blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, or neurological.
- about any sickness that has left you laying down for more than a week
After your doctor’s assessment, they may recommend:
- Modifying your medication dosages
- A medical check on your symptoms
- Vision or hearing referral
- Physical Therapy for balance and strengthening
HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS!
Once your medical issues have been addressed, Peak Performance PT can help address those issues like strength and balance! Working your strength and balance has been shown to prevent falls!!! We can assist you with how to fall proof your house, and work with you on different strategies if you do end up on the ground.
We want you to be able to do those things that you love like hiking, walking, dancing, biking,or playing with your grandchildren.
We want you to be able to do the things necessary things to keep your house in order like raking, laundry, negotiating stairs, gardening, or washing your kitchen floor.
Feel free to contact us about a relative, spouse, or yourself if you feel that your balance and/or strength are limiting you from living the life you want!
I would love to help you to help yourself.
Karen Napierala PT, AT, MS
Call 218-0240
Peak Performance PT
Rochester's 2nd Annual Physical Therapy Coatdrive For Kids
In honor of National Physical Therapy Month, this October we will be holding our Second Annual Coat Drive for Kids.
Last year you helped us collect and donate 65 coats in addition to numerous hats and gloves to the Salvation Army Genesis House Youth Shelter and the East Rochester Community Resource Center.
This year we are hoping you will help us reach our goal of 70 Coats!
As the Fall weather approaches and temperatures begin to drop in the Rochester area we are reminded that there are many children in our own local area that are in desperate need of warm winter coats, hats and gloves.
You can bring your gently used and new winter clothing into Peak Performance throughout the month of October. We will have donation bins set up in our entranceway during our normal business hours.
Take a look through your home for coats, hats and gloves of all sizes that you could donate to a local child in need this winter in Rochester.
The Salvation Army Genesis House Youth Shelter is in need of winter coats for teenagers through young adults with larger sizes being the most needed this year.
The East Rochester Community Resource Center can use winter clothing for children of all ages and sizes from toddlers to teens!
Please stop in and say a quick hello to your favorite Physical Therapist or Office Team Member when you come by to make your donations, we always love to hear from our current and former patients!
We look forward to your help and the local children do too!
When I was younger, I would not hesitate to climb a tree, walk across a log, or even climb a mountain!
Now, although I do it, when I think about getting down, I am much more tentative.
I don’t know about you, but over the past few years I have even noticed my parents using their hands on their thighs or the chair hand rests as a necessity to get up!
They also seem to look down more frequently as they walk, especially outside on uneven ground.
Have you noticed any of the following in YOURSELF or A LOVED ONE?
- Difficulty negotiating your way to the bathroom at night, and/or in the dark?
- Using both hands to push yourself up out of a chair?
- Reaching to grab something to pull yourself up out of a chair, or off of the toilet?
- Keeping your eyes focused on the ground more and more as you walk, especially in new places?
- Depending on the hand-rail to navigate up and down stairs?
- Tentative to go DOWN a step, or curb without support?
- Painful knees, hips, or ankles with a “hitch in your get-along”?
- Losing your balance more frequently?
- Feeling dizzy when you stand up?
- Not being able to see as well as you used to?
Note: If you actually know what a “hitch in you get-along” is then I am speaking to you directly!!
Well, you are not alone…
Every 8 seconds in the US someone turns 60 years old!
While I believe that age is a state of mind, and 50 is the new 20….(humor me), the fact is that as we pass the 60 year mark, we often fight the effect of decreased physical activity and the natural aging process.
These are the years that you begin to experience the effects of decreased muscle mass, risk of osteoporosis, decreased vision or use of bi/trifocals, an increase in the number of medications taken, changes in bladder control and just plain gravity.
You may notice difficulty standing on one leg to get pants on. You may get that stiff feeling in your ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, or spine. (You may recall even the last time you tried to turn around to back out of your driveway that it used to be easier!)
Studies show that these are just some of the factors that predispose us to falls.
A “Fall” is defined as an unintentional loss of balance which the person comes to rest on the ground, floor, OR a lower level.
As a matter of fact, 33 % of people over 65 years old WILL fall and that rises to 50% of us after we reach 85 years old!
In 2005, 433,000 people were hospitalized with injuries after a fall and a staggering 15,800 deaths occurred as a consequence of the fall itself or a complication from it.
Falls account for over 81% of fractures over the age of 66! The estimated cost of individual expenses as a result of these falls cost $19 billion in 2000 with the projected expectation of $55 billion in 2020!
I would say that this issue is a huge burden to our health care system as well as to each of us affected with the repercussions of a fall individually wouldn’t you!?
So what does this mean for you?
Is there anything that you can do to prevent, or slow these aging processes?
First, you need to find out if you are in the risk category.
Take this quick little quiz:
Y N 1. Can you get out of a chair without use of your hands, or chair rests?
Y N 2. Do you take more that 4 medications per day?
Y N 3. Can you stand on your right leg alone for 10 seconds?
Y N 4. Can you stand on your left leg alone for 10 seconds?
Y N 5. Do you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night in the dark? ( including a night light?)
Y N 6. Are you comfortable standing on your tip toes and reaching over your head for something?
Y N 7. Can you comfortably bend over to pick up something off the floor without something to hold on to?
Y N 8. Have you fallen, OR lost your balance in the last 3 months?
Y N 9. Have you had a Urinary tract infection in the last 3 months?
Y N 10. Do you get dizzy when you turn your head quickly?
If you answered YES to more than 2 of these you are at risk for a fall!!
The more questions you answer YES to, the higher the risk.
Anything above 5 and you are at very high risk of a fall!
Over the next two weeks we will be offering a series of hints to help you stay safer, and avoid falling.
They include:
1. Fall Proof your Home: These are things you can do right away to insure that your home is as safe as possible for you.
2. Fall Proof your Life: Start looking at your present health and make sure the proper medical personnel are working with you.
3. How to “Get up and Go” independently: For those at lower risk (1-4) of the above predisposing factors, Peak Performance will provide you with a program to improve your balance and strength.
For those of you at high risk, a supervised exercise/balance program and gait screening may be necessary.
Feel free to contact your physician to clear you of any medical issues, and then contact Karen at Peak Performance Physical Therapy for an initial evaluation and custom tailored fall prevention program.
I just had a neat conversation with a patient the other day that reminded me of a perspective I’d like to share with you.
This very nice teacher who was in for knee problems, we’ll call her Sylvia, wanted to resume her fitness workouts. She missed the feeling of being active, feeling stronger and more fit, having more energy, and not to mention the calorie burning benefits of her cycling escapades.
Sylvia was accustomed to 3 hour rides on the weekends. That’s awesome to be able to go out and enjoy the outdoors for that long on a bike. Not everyone can do that. Sylvia was feeling better and really eager to get back on the saddle.
BUT, here’s the problem. She still did have knee symptoms and we weren’t sure how long she could tolerate biking for, especially outdoors where elevation changes would come into play.
Here’s Sylvia’s take on it…..”So should I just go out and ride for 40 minutes or so and see how it goes?”
Wow! Forty minutes. Is she serious? Are you wondering the same thing I was?
I asked her “When’s the last time you successfully rode for 40 minutes?” She looked at me puzzled a bit. I could almost see her musing in her head….”Mike knows I’ve been in PT for over a month or so – how could he be asking a dumb question like that?” and prior to that her symptoms were even worse before she started PT.
In actuality it had been a long time since she’d proven she could ride for 3 hours, let alone just even 40 minutes. But that prior success was her best memory. It was her only reference point.
Or at least the one she was choosing to recall.
Don’t we all do that when we’re hurt or recovering from a set back?
You kind of think back to when you were at your very best and define that as who you physically are.
That right there is a set up for disaster.
Because you and I both know what happens next.
When you say “But I used to ride for 3 hours”…then your next thought is “Then I’ll just go out for an hour or two and see how I feel”.
Sylvia needed a Shorter Memory!
With a short memory….maybe back to only a week or two, she’d realize that she had only been on the stationary bike for 5-10 minutes and proven she could do that without symptoms.
So, if she were going to try to resume outdoor cycling then maybe choosing what – maybe let’s say 15-20 minutes max might make more sense.
My piece of advice for you today is this.
- BE WIMPY!
- Yes, that’s right…I said be wimpy.
Think of it this way…
If you’ve been away from some particular activity for some time then you’ve got to Have a Shorter Memory.
Don’t think way back to 3 months ago or a year ago “When I used to do…..” but rather think back to just days or a week or two ago. If you don’t have recent evidence of SUCCESS doing some specific amount of that activity then you MUST start with tiny, WIMPY, amounts of whatever it is that you like.
You shouldn’t go out and play singles tennis for “only” a best of two sets but rather just hit some balls around for 15 minutes.
It’d be better to go swim a two laps then rest and repeat it a few times rather than go swim non-stop for 30-45 minutes with your training partner.
It makes more sense to see if you can cut just a part of the back lawn and take a break than to start in the front where you won’t let it remain unfinished (even if you start hurting).
If you or your loved ones have some musculoskeletal ailments that are holding you back from what you enjoy, now is the perfect time to call us to see if we can help you address them before you miss more of this beautiful end of summer and fall weather in pain. We’d love to help you get back to Peak Performance!
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