6551 S. Revere Parkway, Suite 215, Centennial, CO | (303) 960-2075

Firefighters as the New Pro Athletes

According to a recent article in The Denver Post, the Denver Fire Department is taking a new approach with their firefighters, which includes the use of physical therapy. They’re implementing a new health and wellness program that not only helps the injured firefighter recover from injury more quickly, but also works with them to try to prevent injuries in the first place. This new program includes working with a physical therapist, and can sometimes include daily treatment.

Firefighters as pro atheltes

According to the article, the total cost of their workers’ compensation injuries has already dropped 42%, and has reduced overall costs by thousands of dollars! It’s great that there’s a new approach to health and wellness, and that they’re showing significant benefit. It is also exciting to see a large and local organization with a program like this.

Ask most physical therapists, or many others in the health and wellness community, and they’d tell you that having such a focus on prevention of injury, or reduction in the risk of injury, is an important one. Prevention can provide several benefits to the both the individual and to the business. It can reduce the long-term impact and improve quality of life for the individual, and reduce the missed days of work and money spent on treatment (whether it’s a worker’s compensation case or not).

Back in Step Physical Therapy wants to take a similar approach to preventative care. It could be from the workers’ compensation perspective. It could be someone who just wants to enjoy their day to day activities or hobbies without getting slowed down. Either way, we can help determine what could currently increase your risk of injury, and then develop an individualized program to make corrections.

Contact us to get started, or check out our services page for options and more information! If you are an employer and interested in learning what we can do for your staff, learn more about our corporate services.

Tech(nology) Neck

A recent article on CNET.com gives a great description of what all of our world’s technology is doing to our bodies. While we are texting our friends about tonight’s dinner plans, typing a report on our laptops, or responding to a work email, we are providing a beating not only to our bodies physically, but also to how our brains respond to our environment.  With our growing use of various technologies, we are placing more stress on our necks, thumbs, eyes, and back. Not only that, but it can contribute to things like poor quality of sleep, decreased memory, and decreased focus.

Technology use can also result in poor posture. This can impact lung capacity, which, in turn, can create many other problems. According to CNET’s article, people who spend more than 4 hours per day in front of a screen are at an increased risk of both short-term and chronic pain. And if you use a smart-phone? Depending on what position you have your head and neck, you could be adding up to an additional 60 pounds of force on your neck!

(Photo courtesy of The Washington Post and Dr. Ken Hansraj M.D.)

An article from The Washington Post provides additional information about the problems caused by working with technology. They report that the average person will spend 700 to 1,400 hours per year in these positions. If you’re a high school student, they project an additional 5,000 hours per year!

So what can you do about it, aside from just taking a break periodically? It’s important that you also do some activities or exercises to balance out these extra stressors. Make sure that you’re working on improving your posture. Do other mentally stimulating activities that don’t require screen-time.  Not sure what to do, or finding that what you are doing isn’t enough? Come in and see our physical therapist at Back in Step Physical Therapy to get assessed, and we’ll create a custom program for you. Contact us here.

Millennials and High Intensity Workouts

Recently, The Denver Post published an article about a rise in injuries for millennials, particularly in those that participate in things like  Tough Mudder, CrossFit, other high intensity interval training (HIIT), and even things like barre classes. The reason?

People are pushing themselves to complete these activities, no matter what. They are being done with poor form, poor mechanics, pushing through fatigue, or working at a level of conditioning that the individual isn’t quite ready for.  Many of these people eventually seek out care, and wind up in physical therapy. We are finding that they are often struggling with neuromuscular imbalances. In other words, certain muscles are weak, and others are overworking. The key is to focus on stability and flexibility, and then working those elements back into their routines.

Let’s talk about doing a simple squat – no weights, nothing fancy, not moving into another position. We’ll be using the image below for reference.

Image courtesy of Precisionnutrition.com.

The image at the top left is an example of good form. The others show faults in form, like having a rounded back, holding the head too far forward, or rising up on the toes. All of these are examples of poor form. Poor form can prevent the correct muscles from doing the jobs they’re made to do, and promote the use of other muscles that aren’t supposed to be as active. A squat can relate to things like getting up from a chair or sitting down, or going up and down stairs, so it’s important that you’re body is able to do it the right way. Otherwise, every time you go to get up from your chair when you’ve been training with poor form in your workouts, you’re just repeating the same improper technique.

At Back in Step Physical Therapy, we do assessments to help find out what’s contributing to your aches and pains, whether it’s poor form or muscle imbalances, and we’ll get you back on the road to conquering your workouts, whatever they may be! Contact us for an appointment, and we’ll get you back in step.