Start This Spring Right: Be Active & Healthy!

With the weather getting warmer and more favorable to outdoor activity, this is a great time to start practicing healthy habits by being physically active. Physical Therapists prescribe exercises to address dysfunctions in an individual’s body. We rehabilitate patients from ailment or injury, as well as, give guidance on what patients should do to prevent a recurrence or new injury altogether by finding muscle imbalances and faulty movement patterns. Exercise can help eliminate or ease complaints of pain, restore normal biomechanical movement, and increase functional ability. A comprehensive exercise routine can help foster all the aforementioned with the method of payment being consistency!

Although doctor referred patients are given a prescription to seek Physical Therapy services, I believe for a majority of cases the patients' truest prescription for health is exercise! This theory also holds true for the general public including those with or without a disease or physical aliment. As a Health Care Provider, Physical Therapist and Health Fitness Specialist, it is my absolute duty to promote the medicinal benefits that a consistent exercise regimen presents. These benefits include decreasing the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. Another important exercise-induced health benefit that directly relates to Orthopedic Physical Therapy (a sector of physical therapy practice at D&B) is the preservation of bone mass that comes along with consistent exercise. When bone mass is kept healthy, it negates or delays the potential for osteoarthritic conditions to flourish. Common osteoarthritic complaints in orthopedic physical therapy tend to be back pain, neck pain, knee pain, and shoulder pain. If your bones stay strong and healthy, your risk for joint pain decreases markedly.

Everyone can benefit from being physically active. For what it's worth, I practice what I preach and try to get others to follow my lead. Personally, I have created a fitness challenge for myself for the month of April, of which I perform some form of exercise for at least 30 minutes a day for each day in the 30-day month of April. I named the effort “#30four30.” 30 (30 minutes)---four ([for] The Month of April is 4, The 4^th month of the Year)---30 (30 days).  I have gotten friends, family, and patients to join me on this journey. It's a great way to stay active, motivated, and to become and remain healthy.

At Duffy & Bracken we offer our patients programs that help them begin their fitness journey the right way and continue it without injury. Our GRAVITY Small-Group Personal Training classes offer a safe effective total body workout in just 30 minutes. It’s great for all ages and fitness levels. Invest in your health by starting your fitness challenge now! Get out there and exercise, now and forever! It's an inexpensive way to feel expensive! You're guaranteed to do a world for your mind, body, and pockets.

Clifford Civil, PT, DPT, ACSM-HFS

P3 Pregnancy Program: Don't Become A Statistic!

P3 is a program I developed after my first pregnancy to help women achieve their full potential as moms to be and new moms!

Let's back track a few years, after I gave up my stint with the sports world where I spend almost a decade of my career......and settled into my current Downtown NYC clinic!

Every day we saw women for pregnancy related headaches, shoulder, back and knee pain and then two years later I found myself pregnant...... and I decided "NOT ME", I'm not becoming a statistic.

So the P3 pregnancy program was born four months after the birth of my first child and of course I repeated the program again when I had my second.  

So come along with me on this journey through my blog where I will share tips, secrets, and honest truths plus teach you how to have the best pregnancy journey ever!  

Stay tuned and check out an overview of the program below.

Renuka Pinto, MPT, PGDR, CSCS, CES

The P3 Method: Plan, Prepare, Prevent

The P3 Method is tailored to your particular needs and is even covered by some health insurance plans. The class is held by appointment only, and can be scheduled at your convenience.

Your custom program may include the following:

MANUAL THERAPY

One-on-one, hands-on approach to address musculoskeletal changes

PELVIC MUSCLE RE-EDUCATION

A technique that uses computerized equipment to measure baseline pelvic floor strength at onset of pregnancy and then re-train pelvic floor post delivery

PELVIC FLOOR EDUCATION

Kegel and breathing techniques to facilitate integrity of pelvic floor

POSTURAL RE-EDUCATION AND MOVEMENT TECHNIQUE

A visual and proprioceptive feedback is utilized to adapt to bodily changes

 

STRENGTH BUILDING

GRAVITY small-group personal training is a non-impact tool to help build muscle strength and cardio efficiency

CUSTOM SHOPPING

Individualized education on baby products in relation to your body type and muscle strength (e.g. sling versus carrier)

BABY TRAINING

Specific stretches and strengthening exercises to prevent post-delivery musculoskeletal breakdown when caring for your newborn

GETTING YOUR BODY BACK

Post-delivery exercise program to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight

Q&A

Tips on how, what, when, and where while pregnant, immediately postpartum, and post-labor

© Total Gym

What is Structural Integration?

As a relatively new member of the Duffy & Bracken team, I want to introduce myself and tell you a bit about what I do.

I offer a kind of deep tissue body work called Structural Integration. I became a practitioner of Structural Integration because it worked for me! In college I started having lower back pain which continued well into my forties, occasionally forcing me to miss work.  At times I was confined to my bed, immobilized by the pain. Then in 2000 a colleague told me about her success in relieving her lower back issues with Rolfing Structural Integration. Having consulted a number of chiropractors who had helped me back on my feet and had stabilized my back for a few months, only to be set back by the next incident of pain, I was pretty desperate. I’d heard that Rolfing was painful, but I was willing to try anything.

To make a long story short, I have been free of lower back pain since completing my series of Structural Integration treatments, assisted along the way by the practice of yoga, stretching, and learning to manage my stress levels. My experience was so positive that in 2003 I left the corporate world and completed my training in Structural Integration. And I learned that Rolfing is not necessarily painful when a practitioner works closely to tailor the work to the client’s experience and feedback.

So what is “Rolfing”? Its original and descriptive name is Structural Integration, so named by its developer, Dr. Ida Rolf, but it was affectionately nicknamed Rolfing by its fans and practitioners. The nickname stuck. A PhD biochemist by training, Rolf was an original genius who evolved the work initially to help a neighbor’s child. To pursue her mission of offering greater well-being through better body alignment, Rolf traveled the world teaching her methods to chiropractors and osteopaths.

Structural Integration works as a systemic approach to re-balance the tone and resilience of your body’s tissues, in order to make space in your joints and better align your skeletal system. With more length and alignment comes easier movement, more energy, and, in most cases, reduced pain. It has since spun off a number of close cousins, including KMI (Kinesis Myofascial Integration), the form of Structural Integration in which I am trained. That’s a mouthful! Simply put, Kinesis Myofascial Integration (KMI) = movement + body structure + awareness. 

Structural Integrators talk a lot about “engaging the fascia.” The fascia is everywhere throughout the body. It’s the connective tissue that wraps and permeates all our muscles, uniting at muscle ends to form tendons and attachments to bones. Over time fascia can lose its elasticity and become shorter, tighter and denser as a result of aging, injury, repetitive activities, or habitual postures that we have acquired along the way. This constricts our movements and “freezes” us in postures that hamper our vitality and sense of well-being. The good news is that fascia can be softened and re-hydrated so that moving parts can move more easily. 

Practicing KMI, I seek to help you restore your natural posture, balance, and ease of movement by freeing bound up and constricted connective tissues. I use manual manipulations which combine movement and deep touch, over a series of sessions. I often describe it as “making new space for you to grow into.” It’s definitely not “relaxation massage,” but I always want my clients to leave the D & B office relaxed, restored, and more tuned into their body’s messages.

The KMI series is designed for 12 sessions, each session with a specific goal and territory. The result is a “full body tune-up” that invites you to a more vital and energetic sense of self. Depending on your needs, we can also design a series of fewer, more targeted sessions. If you’d like to have a free consultation, I am in the Duffy & Bracken office on Fridays or give me a call at 708-275-1279.

 

RD Hunting, CMT, CST