Mindfulness – quite the buzz word these days. I’ve seen articles fly by on my google homepage about: Mindful eating Mindful showering Mindful meditation Mindful exercise How about Mindful Physical Therapy? I haven’t seen an article about Mindful PT fly by on my homepage. But really, PTs have been teaching mindfulness forever – we just […]
Special Kids Foundation
August in Chicago is a time for summer fun with numerous activities such as festivals, concerts, the beach, biking, running or kayaking the Skokie lagoons. Every August, for me, is when the Special Kids Foundation (SKF), a board that I’m on, meets to determine the grant recipients of the year. The SKF offers grants to […]
Doctors Now Recommend Physical Therapy as an Option Over Opioids
I’d like to share a story about a patient named Gail. Gail had severe low back pain lasting a week that began after doing an intense core exercise class. She was evaluated and received manual therapy and extensive body mechanic instruction, as to prevent further injury to her back. This instruction included how to […]
Patient Spotlight – Raj Ponna of Mount Prospect
How did you get involved in running, triathlon and cyclocross? Growing up in India, I was never physically active even falling behind in regular kid’s play. In 2008, I surpassed 180 pounds, so I made a resolution to lose weight. I started with a 1 minute jog to walk ratio on the treadmill then some […]
Senior Women Walk Across America Inspiring Others to ‘Accomplish Big Goals’
Two years ago, while visiting my daughter in Tampa to run the Gasparilla half marathon, we had a chance encounter with three amazing senior women. Before running the half marathon, we picked up my race packet from the expo and then stopped by a Starbucks. While standing in line for coffee, we met three senior women, […]
What the Heck is PT?
Denise’s definition of Physical Therapy (PT): Physical Therapists are movement experts working with people of all ages, from infants to the elderly, who understand how the body is supposed to move for any given activity in order to get you back to do doing the things you love. PTs use their highly skilled hands to […]
Finding your Path
In May, my daughter, Jenna, graduated from the University of Tampa and is one of the lucky ones to already have a job post-graduation. However, this is not unexpected, as she took full advantage of her time while in school building connections, seeking out mentors and having paid internships since the beginning of her sophomore […]
Patient Spotlight – Kayleigh: Why Do You Run?
Why do you Run? I like to compete and do well in races. Running makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something even though while racing I feel like I’m dying. I’ve found that my mood is better after a run and it is a good escape from the stress of school. My goal is to […]
Shut Up and Dance
Well it’s that time of year again — to review what’s happened in the past year and set goals and resolutions for the new-year. This past year I finally met one of my longtime goals; I completed a marathon in Milwaukee, WI. As I’ve found with other big life events, this marathon came with the […]
Patient Spotlight – Glenn
Glenn came to me 4 weeks before he was supposed to do his first marathon, the iconic Chicago marathon. He was unable to run because of knee pain and his longest training run to date had been 16 miles. I assured Glenn, with his background of being a sprint triathlete, that he could finish this […]
Transitions
Summer in Chicago is a time to celebrate warm weather with numerous outdoor activities filled with festivals and concerts to help us forget the long winters. But, in our house, summer means its Triathlon season for our son, Drew. Drew has been doing triathlons since he was 13, when he fell in love with the […]
The Risks of Sitting
There are 168 hours in a week. If you subtract sleeping, exercising, doing errands or chores, that leaves approximately 114 hours, or 67% of our time left. What are we doing with 67% of our time? Sitting…..Travis Saunders, a Ph.D. student and certified exercise physiologist at the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at […]
Patient Spotlight – Carney
Carney Minasian How did you start doing triathlons? About 10 years ago I began running, per doctor’s orders to exercise, as I was 40 pounds overweight and had chest and arm pain. In 2009, I had some eye surgery and wasn’t allowed to exercise for 9 months, which made me a bit crazed from having […]
Patient Spotlight – Joan
How did you start “Joan’s hiking buddies”? When I retired in 1999, I didn’t have enough friends to support retirement. So, I joined hiking groups, but after a few years I realized I wanted more than their scheduled events, so I started my own group, Joan’s hiking buddies. I regularly email a newsletter to about […]
CHANCE ENCOUNTER IN TAMPA
Did you ever have a chance encounter with someone that absolutely brightened your day and brought life into such clear focus? Well, my daughter and I had such an encounter recently, not with just 1 person but with 3 gray-haired, very athletic, healthy looking women, while standing in line at the downtown Tampa, Florida Starbucks. […]
Intention
The holiday season signals a time to begin reflection of the past year and set intentions for the new year. At the end of a networking meeting I went to last week, each of the attendees stated their intention for the next meeting, which also happened to be for next year. As others expressed their […]
A Balancing Act 2014
The holidays are a joyous but hectic time, throwing any semblance of our usual schedule or order out the window. And if you are in the midst of a training plan for an early spring race, staying on schedule can be quite the challenge. It can be a balancing act to take care of yourself, […]
Running Services
Unlike any other sport, runners rarely go for instruction on how to run optimally or efficiently in order to prevent injury. As kids, we all just ran; we didn’t worry about form or technique; we just ran because it felt good. As we get older and our bodies change, postural asymmetries and muscle imbalances can […]
Correct Toes and Shoelacing
CORRECT TOES Correct Toes is a silicone toe spacer which allows the toes to spread to their natural position, facilitating the foot to make full contact with the ground. This promotes good proprioception (knowing where the body is in space) and improved balance for all patient populations, whether you are an athlete or a senior. […]
Recent News – October 2014
I hope everyone has been getting outside and enjoying our fabulous weather the past few months. I know I have. I am now going on 3 solid months of painfree running 3-4x/week! Yeah – so grateful! Although I enjoyed my newfound cross training activities of swimming and biking, I just don’t get that “runner’s high” […]
