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5 Activities to Get Moving and Improve Your Health

5 Activities to Get Moving and Improve Your Health

The notion of taking part in some sort of physical exercise may be the farthest thing from your mind, especially if you spend your days hobbling painfully from your bed to your reclining chair and back.

However, the fact is that your fitness, health, flexibility, mobility, and overall quality of life can be greatly enhanced by being involved in physical activities. Here are our physical therapist’s five exercise ideas that you may enjoy incorporating into your lifestyle!

Activity #1: Cycling

When’s the last time you got on a bicycle, whether it was stationary or not? Cycling gets you where you want to go while offering several health benefits. The aerobic workout can help you improve your heart health, while the simple act of operating the bike exercises your balance and builds leg strength. If you have back pain or knee problems, cycling is also lower-impact than running!

Taking your bike for a ride on the weekends or in the evenings after work is also another way to fit in some fun exercise.

Activity #2: Running

Some people may cringe at this one because running isn’t for everyone! Running is more demanding on the heart, lungs, and knees than walking, but these demands can turn to be very good for what ails you.

The famous “runner’s high” you may have heard so much about seems to offer its pain-reducing benefits for chronic pain sufferers. The phrase “No pain, no gain” also seems to apply here. That routine feeling you get from running could encourage your brain to step down its baseline pain sensitivity, making your other aches and pains seem less bothersome.

Activity #3: Walking

Walking gives your circulation a healthy boost without making excessive demands on your body. It also gets your weight-bearing joints moving — and that’s a huge benefit if you struggle with arthritis.

Walking is one of those ideal activities that require no special equipment and makes perfect practical sense. Need to make a short trip to the store near your house? Why waste gasoline when you can get some fresh air and low-impact exercise instead?

Activity #4: Swimming

If even walking hurts too much these days, maybe you should take a dip in the pool instead. Swimming is tremendously helpful for people with arthritis or extremity injuries because the water eases the forces of gravity on the body. Even if you can’t swim, try some healthy walking or dog-paddling in the water.

Activity #5: Weight Training

Lifting weights isn’t just for “muscle-heads.” Weight training can help you build the muscle tissue that helps to support your joints. Stronger muscles tire less easily and are less vulnerable to painful strains. Working with weights also helps you maintain your bone density and avoid age-related muscular atrophy.

Staying healthy through diet

It’s no secret that maintaining a healthy lifestyle takes work, but once you get into the groove of it, it becomes much easier and even enjoyable.

You can start by choosing nutritious foods. This is one of the easiest ways to improve your health (although we know those sweets are hard to get rid of.) Be sure to include lots of healthy whole grains, nuts, vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and legumes in your diet as well. We are what we eat, after all!

How can a physical therapist help?

A physical therapist is a licensed movement specialist. They know how to properly evaluate your health and prescribe the right activities for your needs and goals.

Our physical therapist can evaluate your health and prescribe the right activities for your needs and goals. At the same time, you may be able to enhance the benefits of your activities with other safe, helpful modalities such as massage, ultrasound therapy, dry needling, cold and heat treatments, acupuncture or laser therapy.

These therapies can promote tissue repair, ease inflammation, reduce pain, and increase your ability to keep moving and having a great time.

You can pursue any or all of these activities at your leisure, or you can ask our physical therapist about integrating them into a full-scale physical therapy program. The latter approach could prove especially wise if you’re rehabilitating an injury, unsure of your exercise tolerance, or battling a particular chronic pain issue.

Get moving today: call our clinic to learn more!

Upping your physical activity doesn’t have to mean training in a fancy, state-of-the-art gym. The simplest steps have a dramatic impact on health, and it’s possible to improve your activity at home, work, or during recreational activities.

Life is too wonderful to spend it in bed or your chair. Contact Nebraska Orthopaedic Physical Therapy to schedule a visit. It’s the healthiest move you could make!

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