Preventive Medicine and Wellness Programs
A Comprehensive Approach to Your Health and Wellness
Preventive health is the key to wellness. It’s being proactive as opposed to reactive to the changes that we can make on a daily basis that can make positive changes in our lives in the present and future. Our immediate goal is to restore your function after injury but our long term goal is to provide you the knowledge and resources on how to stay on the road of healthful living. Restoring function and wellness involves all aspects of our mind, spirit and body. Our comprehensive treatment approach includes preventive programs that go beyond just treating your injury and will give you the tools necessary to maintain a healthful living.
We are busy people. Family commitments and work are major priorities that leave us little to no time to deal with our well-being. Preventive strategies do not have to take up a lot of time and effort. But preventive medicine starts with having the right attitude and desire to change behavior. Our preventive programs are integrated into your treatment sessions and tailored to your specific needs that will help you heal now and minimize recurrence later.
So let’s partner up on this journey to better health and wellness!
Advance Fitness Program
Advance Fitness is designed to further improve clients’ conditioning beyond their rehabilitation in physical therapy. This gym program allows individuals to improve their conditioning and focus on specific training and exercise independently at our Redwood City facility while benefitting from the direct supervision provided from our clinical staff. Participants exercise at their own pace, use the specialized equipment that they have become familiar with, and feel confident and safe that they are implementing exercises appropriately to avoid injury. Participants comment that this program fuels their natural desire to attain a higher level of fitness after their course of physical therapy and provides a smooth transition to independent management.
Beyond just a work out…
- Independent access to gym facility
- Constant clinical staff supervision
- Proper guidance for exercise progression
- Safe workout environment minimizing risk of re-injury
- Familiarity with using state of the art specialized gym equipment
- Easy transition into an independent program after discharge from physical therapy
Ask how to sign up for Advance Fitness, our gym membership program today!
Annual Physical Therapy Screening
Why would you need an annual exam by your physical therapist? Shouldn’t you wait until you have a problem? Consider that you have made several attempts to get back into an exercise routine at the gym but have been thwarted by injuries and now wondering if you can ever get back to running and lifting weights like you used to; or that you have been deconditioned for quite some time due to work and back strains and now you want to get a jump start back into a fitness program that won’t flare your back up in the process.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is, simply, the study of work. It combines the disciplines of physiology, biomechanics, psychology , anthropometry, kinesiology and industrial engineering in an effort to reduce physical stress on the body. Ergonomic evaluation to prevent or alleviate muscle, tendon and nerve-related injury is necessary not only in the workplace setting, but anywhere that we find ourselves spending much time sitting and/or standing performing repetitive tasks. At Advance Physical Therapy, Inc., we see a large number of people with office work-related aches and pain. The most common areas affected are the neck, back, shoulder, elbow and wrist. Our assessment includes a thorough analysis of your posture, work station and behavioral habits that may contribute to the persistence of symptoms that often winds up being a chronic problem.
There is no “one size fits all” formula for the carefully designed work space and work posture. Everyone is different and symptoms can affect each individual differently. We will provide you the resources and strategies necessary to make the right ergonomic adjustments to your work station and more importantly show you how to improve your postural alignment and stability to minimize recurrence. The critical factor is making adjustments to your environment to fit you and not for you to conform to your environment.
Pilates Mat Class Program
Pilates is a form of exercise, focused on core strength and stability and was created by Joseph Pilates in 1926. Joseph Pilates created exercises and invented equipment that would target every part of the body as well as heighten mind-body fitness.He worked with people from all backgrounds and professions, yet, grew great recognition within the dance community for his movement patterns of precision, rhythm, and whole-body engagement.
The effects of Pilates classes help people to learn how to move their bodies with greater posture, balance, and stability in ways that carry over to many other activities in their daily living and recreation. These classes have gained popularity for their attention to increasing strength, improving coordination, and decreasing stress.
Pilates mat classes are now being offered at Advance Physical Therapy clinic in Redwood City to help train members of the community as well as our patients to strengthen core stability, increase flexibility, and improve overall fitness.
Nutrition and Supplements
Our bodies require the right nutrients for healing and restoration. We are what we eat. What we eat helps determine how much or little inflammation we produce that can ultimately affect how are tissues heal from injury. Maintaining good nutritional support means taking in the “good stuff” but also avoiding the foods and external factors that may contribute to the inflammatory process.
Our bones provides the structural framework for our muscles, tendons and ligaments to work. Without the proper nutritional support, our bones can be susceptible to developing osteoporosis. Without proper nutrition, our tendons and ligaments can weaken and become vulnerable to repeated stresses placed on them. Without proper nutrition, our mental, physical and physiological systems can become “off balance” or shut down which can put us at risks for developing cancer, depression, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Part of your physical therapy treatment includes discussions about the proper nutrients that will promote your tissue healing and improper foods that causes poor healing and inflammation. Our treatment approach is the preventative approach to your health and wellness.
Motor Imagery
Motor Imagery utilizes your focused attention to activate your brain’s electrical signals into formulating the desired movements, just as in physical practice, only on a much smaller scale. The imagery helps re-create motor patterns and muscle memory by acting as a form of practice without voluntarily moving a muscle. Your brain begins to see how you want the signals to be sent, when you want them to be sent, and how great or small of a magnitude to send the signal when you imagine the physical practice. Largely, the movements you are training are based on actions you have done before, therefore, the brain has a basis of muscle memory for which to build on. Further, when imagining an action, you can even begin to train your brain to modulate the sensation signals within your body. In other words, you can begin to quiet and turn off the pain signal when performing a previously painful movement pattern. The brain training occurring during Motor Imagery manifests results similar to physical practice because you are creating, through mental practice, a new motor pattern. All motion is simply a series of electrical signals; whether they are manifested via physical practice or mental practice, the result of better, quality movement is possible.
At Advance Physical Therapy, we offer a scripted form of Motor Imagery to assist you in your healing journey. This approach simply requires you to sit still with your eyes closed and listen to a script as it is read to you. That’s it! No movement, just focus. Your brain is the epicenter for all functioning, now you get to uncover the power of your mind and unleash a more well-rounded, holistic path to total wellness.
Please contact our office for more information and see how this approach can assist in your healing!
Advance Physical Therapy is truly a one stop shop and their expertise and attention to detail is second to none. Not only did I make a quick, full recovery from my back injury, but I haven’t had a recurrence in years thanks to the knowledge I gained about postural mechanics, nutrition and preventive exercises. They went beyond treating the entire me and not just a body part. Thanks so much for the experience!