Just Do It With Duffy & Bracken Physical Therapy

Let's be honest! For some of us exercising is a lot like eating vegetables, you don't necessarily like eating them but you know they're good for you so you eat them anyway. I feel this way about exercise, I don't like doing it but I know it's good for me.

The studies are endless supporting the benefits of physical activity and its impact on our overall health. Exercise is said to help boost your immune system and reduce stress, not to mention the plethora of conditions it helps to reduce your risk of like heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure.

So we know it's good for us, now what?

I find that sometimes the real challenge is making the commitment to include physical activity into our daily routine. With so much going on in our lives exercise can easily get scratched off the do-list. We even know the simple ways to get exercise into our day like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking the car far away from the store entrance yet, we still choose to take the easy way out. Some of us get motivated and then stop after a couple of months when we don't visually see our desired results.

At the end of the day all our reasons for being inactive changes nothing; we still need to find a way to get moving. It's for this reason I love the Gravity Training System (GTS) we have here at Duffy & Bracken. It gets rid of our excuses because it provides everything you need in one machine.

Here's how:

1. It's quick - in just 30-40 minutes you can incorporate a full-body workout into your day.

2. You'll feel that it's working - during and after a session you will feel the burn because it heats up all your major muscle groups at your preferred level of resistance. Trust me, you'll have the soreness to prove it.

3. You'll be motivated - our small group classes encourage and challenge you to keep going. The camaraderie of working out with a group goes a long way because your support system is right there in the room with you. 

4. You'll be guided - a GTS trainer instructs each class. Our trainers help you learn how to work out properly and avoid injury. They advise you when adjustments to your form are needed and encourage you to push harder when you're slacking off.

No matter your fitness level we can help! The physical therapists at Duffy & Bracken can create a wellness program customized just for you. Becoming active is great, but far too many people get injured because they simply do not know how to exercise properly or are trained by individuals without the proper knowledge. As the musculoskeletal experts, physical therapists can help you in ways that no other health or exercise professional can.

No more excuses! Call us at 212-402-5430 to schedule a GTS class and get active today!

Kieffer Pearce

PR & Marketing Director

Learn to Move Again With Physical Therapy

I have been a sports and musculoskeletal therapist for over 15 years working with professional tennis and soccer players, marathoners, triathletes etc. But since the birth of my first child last year, I have a renewed interest in motion analysis and rethinking the way in which we adults move.

Babies develop motor patterns and discover how to get around by learning to balance and control the force of gravity. They start with head control, then rolling and gradually progress to walking. Fast forward into adult life and we let gravity control us --- yes as babies we learn to control gravity and therefore move but as adults we let gravity take control --- and when we do we increase our risk for musculoskeletal breakdown.

Musculoskeletal conditions are the number one contributors of health care costs in the USA. It comes at no surprise that low back pain tops the list. We spend hours at our computer desk and we let the computer screen and office set up decide our neck and spine posture --- the result.... chronic neck pain, low back stiffness and postural headaches. We have gotten very good at compensating; walking with our necks, climbing subway stairs with our backs, we can't even roll in bed without crying "ooh aah ouch". All of this is because we aren't aware of how we move. As babies we move with a purpose to learn to use our bodies efficiently. As adults we move to take care of stuff. And this stuff has caused us to tune out.

ALAS! It's not too late to relearn what you have forgotten. You can RE-MEMBER your body again! Your hips and ankles can work in synergy the same way your shoulder girdle can work with your pelvis. Most overuse injuries can be prevented; most strains can be avoided if we can get balance again.

All of the above is preventable - a concept we must embrace - PREVENTION!

Step 1: know there is help and it is affordable without MRI's.

Step 2: get help --- do a Functional Movement Screen to identify the compensation.

Step 3: relearn what is already part of your own developmental muscle memory i.e. learn to control gravity again.

Then hit DELETE to all faulty movement patterns!

Here at Duffy & Bracken Physical Therapy we teach you to move again. We offer Functional Movement Screens daily to identify the areas where you most likely will break down. Plus, we have a studio that offers Gravity Training classes to work on your strength and movement efficiency. Visit our website to learn more about our wellness programswww.duffyandbracken.com.

Renuka Pinto, MPT, PGDR, CSCS, CES

Renuka@duffyandbracken.com