Are You Taking Care of Your Heart?
Have you been diagnosed with high blood pressure? Do you get out of breath going up a flight of stairs? Your heart is vital to your survival. At Nestor Physical Therapy, our therapists understand how important it is to address underlying issues and create a plan to help prevent injury and disease.
Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, accounting for one in four deaths each year. Fortunately, most forms of heart disease are preventable by making lifestyle changes, including exercising, practicing good nutritional habits, and reducing stress in your everyday life.
February is American Heart Month. Our team at Nestor Physical Therapy can help improve your heart health by helping you learn how to eat a well-balanced diet, exercise regularly, and avoid anything that can cause damage to it.
Request an appointment with one of our specialists to learn how to keep your heart healthy!
5 Tips for Better Heart Health
Taking action and maintaining a healthy lifestyle will assist you in making sure your heart is healthy. When your heart doesn’t get enough attention, significant problems might arise in the artery lining, leading to plaque buildup. Plaque forming in your arteries is the cause of heart attacks and strokes.
Here are 5 simple ways you can make sure your heart continues to perform at its best:
- Exercise to increase your heart rate: Walking and biking around your area regularly can help you raise your heart rate. Exercising regularly can help you lose weight, reduce your stress and improve your mood.
- Participate in strength training: Strength training is one of the most effective injury-prevention strategies for the body and heart. Your therapist can help you develop safe strength-training techniques.
- Maintain mobility of the joints and muscles: Regular stretching and mobility work keeps you active and makes you feel better. The more active you are, the healthier your heart is! Knowing the right workouts and therapies for your joint and muscle health will help you feel better and enhance your overall function.
- Eat healthy meals: Nutrition plays a huge role in heart health. Plant-based foods, whole grains, lean meats, and healthy fats like fatty fish and olive oil should all be in your diet. Fried foods, trans fats, processed foods, and added sugar should all be avoided.
- Manage your stress: Stress can raise blood pressure, so do your best to find daily ways to relax. The less stressed out you are, the less tension and stress you place on your heart. Exercising, getting adequate sleep, stretching before bed, or taking a nightly warm shower are all things that could help with relaxation.
The best approach to keep your heart strong and healthy is to exercise regularly. It’s a natural, safe, and effective way to help improve your heart function! Physical therapy is an excellent method to add additional physical activity to your daily routine.
What to Expect in Physical Therapy
If you’re looking for a safe way to improve your heart health, physical therapy is a great option. At Nestor Physical Therapy, our team of experts can play a leading role in preventing, reversing, and managing heart-related conditions. Our therapists can help you improve your heart health by advising you on lifestyle adjustments that include daily exercises, nutrition, and stress reduction strategies based on your individual needs.
Our team comprises movement experts who have the knowledge and training to evaluate and treat several kinds of acute and chronic pain conditions and abnormal physical function related to an injury, disability, disease, or unhealthy lifestyle.
We perform a thorough evaluation that includes your overall health status to create an exercise plan that ensures you’re getting as much physical activity as you can throughout the day. This will consist of treatments to address any injuries you may have and to help prevent other health issues.
We can guide you through proper exercises and specialized treatments to relieve your joint and muscle pain, increase your strength and flexibility, and improve your overall health by getting your blood flowing and your heart rate up. Participating in regular physical therapy appointments can help lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, significantly decreasing your chances of cardiac arrest in the future.
Our goal is to incorporate activities to improve your heart health so you can enjoy your life!
Request an Appointment Today
Caring for your heart is just as important as caring for any other part of your body. For American Heart Month, our team at Nestor Physical Therapy can help you get back into shape safely and healthily!
Contact us this month to learn how you can improve your heart health by incorporating more physical activity into your life!
Get Started with PT Now!
Return to Nestor Physical Therapy and Let’s Continue Your Journey to Wellness Together. Schedule Your Appointment Now!
Foot Study Sign Up
Nestor Physical Therapy is participating in nationwide clinical research! We are testing a device to correct hallux valgus deformity…otherwise known as Bunions!!
- Do you suffer from foot or toe pain?
- Do you have trouble finding comfortable shoes or finding shoes that fit?
- Do you have difficulty walking?
- Do you have to have to limit or stop your regular activities due to toe or foot pain?
- Do you have to stay in bed because your feet hurt?
If you answered YES to any of the questions above, you might be the perfect candidate for our research.
If you can sit in a chair for 20-30 minutes twice a week you can participate in the project.
Ask us how we can relieve your pain!
February is Heart Health Month
When’s the last time you thought about your heart health? February is heart health month, so there’s no better time to give one of your most essential organs the attention it deserves.
According to the National Library of Medicine, an estimated 16.3 million Americans aged 20 and older have coronary heart disease (CHD). The symptoms of CHD include heart attacks and chest pain. In the United States, 7.9 million individuals have suffered from heart attacks, and 9 million have experienced chest pain.
These statistics can be alarming, but rest assured that there are several ways you can help improve your heart health! The therapists at Nestor Physical Therapy have put together a list of manageable lifestyle changes you can make as soon as today to ensure good heart health for years to come.
1. Exercise regularly
Regular physical activity can help you gain muscle strength and endurance. Exercise helps your cardiovascular system work more efficiently by delivering oxygen and nutrients to your tissues.
If you are not currently exercising regularly, start by taking a ten-minute walk around your neighborhood each day. From there, increase the amount of time you walk each day and quicken your pace. You will eventually be able to work up to a more strenuous activity, like running or biking.
2. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
According to a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, eating ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by 28% and premature death by 31%.
Ten servings may sound like a lot, but remember that there are many ways to up your fruit and veggie intake. You could add fruit to your water, add vegetables to your fruit smoothie, and snack on carrots and hummus during the day instead of chips.
3. Manage your stress
Did you know that there are over 1,400 biochemical responses to stress? Some of these include a rise in blood pressure and a faster heart rate. For these reasons, stress can have long-term adverse effects on your health.
Try to take the time out of your day to practice mindfulness and check in with your body. Deep breathing activities and meditation can do wonders for anxiety. Practicing yoga may also help you decrease your stress levels.
Super Bowl Sandwiches
The Super Bowl is next weekend and if your team is not participating then the game is all about the food served. The football season does not last as long as it used to in New England since the departure of Tom Brady. Here is an easy recipe that will feed a big group at your Super Bowl party. Pulled pork can be made in a crock pot, but it will be better if you smoke it low and slow. Even if you have never made pulled pork, it is hard to mess it up. Making a competition level pulled pork can be a complex process, but I am going to keep this recipe as simple as possible.
Pulled pork can be smoked on a charcoal grill, in a pellet smoker, ceramic cooker, barrel smoker, but use whatever you own. If you only have a gas grill, use the smoker box, or make smoker packets to create smoke. Heat your smoker or grill to 250 degrees. Prepare the pork while the smoker heats up. Start with a bone in pork butt (aka Boston butt). Lightly coat it with yellow mustard. The mustard helps the spice rub stick. Next, generously apply your favorite barbecue rub. If you have never made a barbecue rub here is a quick recipe. Combine ¼ cup of each Kosher salt, black pepper, brown sugar, and paprika.
Place the seasoned pork butt in the smoker or grill. Smoke the pork butt for 2-3 hours and then start to check on it. If it starts to look dry spritz it with apple cider vinegar. Smoke the pork butt until it reaches 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer. It will take about 6-7 hours to reach 165. The fat cap of the pork butt will start to split when the pork butt gets close to 165 degrees, so you will know it is time to wrap it. Remove the pork butt from the smoker, wrap in foil, and return it to the smoker and continue smoking until it reaches 203 degrees. Total cooking time will be between 8-9 hours depending on the size of the pork butt. Once it is wrapped, you could cheat and cook it the rest of the way in the oven.
Pork butt has its own built-in thermometer. If you can slide the bone out easily you know it is done. Let the pork butt rest for 30 minutes and then pull it. Pork butt can be pulled or chopped into pieces, but it should be pulled while still hot. That’s it. There are additional steps, but they are optional. Feel free to toss the pork with a sauce, but if you cooked the pork long enough all the fat will render and make the pork juicy and tender. A North Carolina thin vinegar-based sauce is popular for pulled pork. I used a South Carolina mustard-based sauce for my pulled pork. Or go with a traditional Kansas City barbecue sauce that is sweeter and thicker.
I served my pulled pork on toasted brioche buns, topped with red cabbage and carrot slaw and finished with a mustard-based BBQ sauce. To accompany the sandwiches I served a smoke-roasted potato salad and home-made pickles. Enjoy!
Thank You’s:
High Fives all around to all Nestor Physical Therapy patients and
friends who participated in our “Refer a Friend” program last month!
Donna Carchia and Dennis Dugas
Patient Success Spotlights
“Before receiving physical therapy, my lower back hurt a lot. Sitting down caused pain, and the pain made a lot of my daily activities more difficult. After just a few sessions here, I felt great relief in my lower back and was able to eventually sit, stand, walk, run, jump, and more all virtually pain-free! In addition to this, I’ve discovered new ways to stretch and exercise my lower back, which I will carry with me and perform throughout my life. Thank you to Dr. Nestor, Dave, Alissa, and all the Nestor Physical Therapy staff! You guys are the best!”
-Tyler G.
“When I first came to PT here at Nestor Physical Therapy back in July, for an ankle sprain on my right ankle, I couldn’t do any of my normal activities like running, jumping, and I was having trouble climbing stairs. Over time with physical therapy my ankle started to feel better, and my normal activities started to get easier. Now, I am happy to say that my pain and my daily activities have gotten so much better, and I am very happy to be able to get back to more normal routines. Thank you, Nestor Physical Therapy; Alissa, Dave and Dr. Steve are amazing. They really made sure to listen to my concerns. I really appreciate them. Thank you again!”
-Kerri P.
5 Tips for Shoveling Snow
1. Warm-up first
You may not think of snow shoveling as a strenuous activity that requires a warm-up, but it is! Getting outside with the shovel before taking a second to warm up your tight and cold muscles increases your chances of injury.
Your warm-up doesn’t need to be complicated; something as simple as a brisk walk or a couple of dynamic stretches is enough to help your body prepare for the task ahead.
2. Choose the right gear
Low back pain from shoveling snow can be exacerbated by improper equipment. Make sure you have access to both an ergonomic shovel and boots with great traction. The last thing you want is to slip and fall!
3. Use proper technique
Do you know the proper technique for shoveling snow? Keeping your back straight and leading with the hips instead of the lower back is essential. Ensure that your chest is pushed out and pointing forward. And most importantly, when you lift, rely on your leg muscles with a soft bend in the knee.
4. Take breaks
While it may be tempting to finish shoveling your driveway in one go, failing to pace yourself is how you get injured. Try spreading out the work you have to do over multiple days instead.
5. Push the snow, don’t lift
It’s much easier on your body to push piles of snow down to the street than it is to carry heavy loads out of your way. Invest in a shovel specifically designed for pushing snow.
Do You Or A Friend Need Our Help This Winter?
This Valentine’s Day, don’t just focus on hearts and flowers—show your body the love it deserves! At Nestor Physical Therapy, we’re here to help you move, feel, and live your best life. Whether you’re dealing with lingering pain, recovering from an injury, or simply looking to improve your strength and mobility, our expert team is ready to help you get back on track.
Don’t let discomfort hold you back from enjoying your favorite activities or spending quality time with loved ones.
Schedule your appointment today and fall back in love with how your body moves and feels!
