Category: Physical Therapy

The serratus anterior muscle is a great one to focus on for shoulder strength and health.  It’s also known as the boxer’s muscle. Not only does it keep your shoulder blade stable on your rib cage, it also helps with shoulder protraction and upward rotation.  These actions maintain space in your shoulder joint when you reach or raise your arm. After all, nobody likes the pain of a pinching shoulder.

Most of us read this question and think, “of course!”. But, can you do it without slouching or experiencing pain? Contemplate it for a moment, or even better, give it a try. If you think or know the answer is no, we encourage you to read on.

Physical therapists are big fans of movement to decrease pain. And we commonly modify activities to help minimize your experience of pain.  However, the ability to hold certain positions is necessary to work, drive and otherwise function in our modern world.  Being able to hold a typical posture like sitting or standing for an hour without pain or slouching is an indicator of your physical endurance and function. 

Mindfulness, meditation, and breathing exercises. Many of these ideas have been hot topics to help with mental health. Interestingly, many of the interventions we use as physical therapists involve practicing mindfulness with exercise and movement. For example, learning to be conscious of how you are moving and breathing, or working to change your posture. 

How are you doing with making a habit of doing your physical therapy exercises, or committing to a fitness routine? If you’re ready to make exercise part of your routine, skip the resolutions and go straight to taking steps to create an exercise habit. Committing to exercise is worthwhile because it’s a great way to decrease pain, reverse or avoid sedentary diseases, and benefit your mental health. Read on to learn practical steps that will get you into the habit of exercising consistently.

Recovery can seem like a bad word. Like you’ve done something terrible to yourself that you must atone for.  In terms of exercise, recovery is absolutely necessary in order to progress.  Recovery is the yin to exercise’s yang.  Rest is a crucial part of muscle building and to make changes in soft tissue quality.  This is not to say “rest” is laying on your couch for a year, but we do encourage you to plan rest and recovery into your fitness routine. 

Here in Boise, outdoor exercise can be limited in the summer by high heat and poor air quality.  And in winter, the darkness, mud and cold can slow us down. When the weather is finally nice out, it can be tempting to increase your exercise to “make up” for lost time.  However, this can lead to overuse. We want you to avoid overtraining injuries in the first place. Read on for some tips to avoid injury, and if you’ve already injured yourself, get into physical therapy so you can get back on track.

Whether you have a balance problem with everyday activities or want to feel more secure fly fishing, working on your balance has many benefits. Most of us are aware that we need to strengthen and stretch, but tend to leave out balance exercises as part of our fitness routine. But balancing isn’t just for yogis!