Although advancements in technology have helped create a more efficient world, it also may have come at a price. Screens have replaced the outdoors and with that has come a rise in childhood obesity causing an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and joint problems. To help your child stay active, Horizon Rehabilitation Centers offers these exciting ways to get moving.

• Bring video games to life.

If you are having a difficult time pulling your child away from their controllers, a marathon run may not be the way to entice them. Instead, look for creative outlets to get them moving. Laser tag offers live action excitement and provides an outlet for their gaming without sacrificing physical stimulus.  Paintball outings similarly allow them the chance to run, jump, and get outdoors. Don’t be afraid to take the plunge with them. By creating a weekly family outing, you not only help them get physically fit, you also build an important bonding opportunity that creates lasting memories.

• Don’t be afraid to go extreme.

Not every child is a born basketball or football star. Pushing a selected popular sport on them may hinder their exuberance for outdoor activities as well as potentially hurt their self-esteem.  Instead, look at alternatives. Horseback-riding, rock-climbing and scuba diving all offer important physical benefits and gives them exciting opportunities to truly enjoy the outdoors. Discovering an unexplored sport can inspire new friendships as well as install a sense of pride and accomplishment. By encouraging them to participate in one of these activities, not only will they have the tools to stay healthy, but they may also find a lifelong passion that could actually help shape their future career choices and goals.

• Explore the outdoors.

Every well-constructed video game has a story. If you are having difficulties getting your child to unplug then bring the story outside. Read up on local legends and hot spots. Research famous historical figures around your town. Create a family exploration by making treasure maps and costumes. By doing so, you’re not just getting them to walk out the door—you are also creating an exciting adventure that far surpasses anything they could find on a screen.

Enjoying the outdoors is not only healthy but it provides valuable bonding time for you and your loved ones. At Horizon Rehabilitation Centers, staying active can help eliminate future health complications and strain. By trying these tips today, you can help make a difference for your child that lasts a lifetime.

Your PR on your 10K during yesterday’s run felt amazing. This morning’s shin splints? Not so much. Keep these five pointers from Horizon Rehab in mind as you exercise to stop injury in its tracks:

1. Wear proper footwear. Do you prefer running, training, or walking? Your shoe depends on your answer. A walking shoe should have good shock absorption and a smooth tread, whereas a jogging shoe offers firm traction and extra control and stability in the heel.
2. Work on flexibility. Whether weight lifting or sprinting is your go-to movement, flexibility of muscles and joints are key to preventing injury. Reaching to achieve full range of motion will not only protect your muscles, but help you increase athletic performance as your body works as it’s designed. Incorporate dynamic stretching into your pre-workout routine to get blood pumping and muscles warmed up, and cool down with static stretching to prevent a buildup of lactic acid that causes soreness and stiffness.
3. Always use proper technique. Your body works as a single unit. Misusing one muscle will negatively impact the entire machine. When performing a new movement, work slowly with a focus on using proper form. Building muscle memory performing the move properly will help you gain speed of motion safely.
4. Respect recovery days. Physical activity creates micro strain and tears in your muscles, and they depend on rest periods to rebuild stronger than they were before. Skipping these rest days overworks your muscles before they’ve had time to strengthen, further deepening the tears. Build at least one full day of recovery into your weekly routine, but listen to your body and add more if you’re encountering excessive pain.
5. Drink fluids. Muscle tissue is comprised of 75% water. Depriving your system of this energy source not only over-fatigues muscles, but places you at further risk of injury when they prevent you from achieving proper form or give out unexpectedly mid movement. Hydrate before, during, and after your workout, aiming to down a minimum of half a gallon of liquid each day.

Taking care of your body through exercise is wonderful, but doing it safely is even more important. If you’ve experienced an injury mid-workout and aren’t sure whether you should keep going, make an appointment to meet with one of our trained staff at Horizon Rehab, who’ll help get you back on your feet.

Whether you’re a world class athlete or a senior citizen living at home, good balance is very important. It can help you become a better athlete, or maintain your independence at home. As important as balance is, it can be a challenge, as well. In fact, thousands of injuries are attributed to balance issues each year.

At Horizon Rehab, we believe that a strong sense of balance is a first line of defense to preventing injuries, and there are exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home to improve your balance. Use these exercises to give your life more balance and prevent injury.

Build a Strong Base

There are a lot of components that go into maintaining steady balance, but a good base is critical. Your legs hold you up, and making small adjustments to your gait or the way you stand can provide you more support and improve your balance. To improve your functional leg strength, you can do exercises as simple as shifting your weight from one leg to the other. Begin by standing on one leg for 30 seconds, then switch legs. You can go for longer as your balance improves.

Adding Weight

No, we’re not talking about explosive weight training with a lot of dynamic movements. Instead, use smaller, hand-held weights to make your balance exercises a little more challenging. This exercise involves doing the same exercise of standing on one leg, just with dumbbells. Start by standing on your right leg, holding a low-weight dumbbell in your left hand. Hold this pose for 30 seconds before switching arms and legs.

Physical Therapy

Sometimes, balance issues need to be treated with physical therapy. Horizon Rehab’s physical therapists are experts at helping improve your balance, and will design a program to meet your specific needs and goals. We also offer a wide range of physical therapy services to treat a variety of conditions. To learn more about how we can help improve your balance, contact us or visit one of our offices.

No one likes being hurt, but if you’re the athletic type, you have a higher likelihood of this occurring. After a few weeks or months off the field, many athletes return to the sport they love only to ask, “Where did my muscles go?”

With these tips from Horizon Rehab, you can avoid some of the muscle loss that occurs when you are recovering:

• Keep training.

If there’s one thing the therapists at Horizon Rehab know, it’s that you don’t stop training. Yes, it’s true that you will need to rest after an injury, but you shouldn’t cut exercise out entirely. If anything, this could lead to future injuries. Our staff of physical therapists can show you the types of activities you need to do to maintain your strength.

• Don’t dramatically cut back on your calories.

One mistake we see athletes make is that they eat the amount of calories they would need if they were sedentary. The problem with that is your body’s metabolism increases during recovery, because it needs more energy to repair the damage. So while you shouldn’t eat as much as you do when you’re active, you also shouldn’t cut it down to the intake levels you have when you’re healthy and inactive.

• Eat the right kinds of food

Protein is important when you’re building muscles, and it’s also important when those muscles are recovering from injury. It can actually speed up your recovery. Calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese and vitamins A, B, C, and D also fall in this category.

• Cut out fats—but not all of them.

Certain fats can actually make your inflammation worse, and should be avoided during recovery. These include trans-fat, saturated fat and omega-6 rich vegetable oil. You probably already avoid these, but many times people reach for comfort food during recovery, and comfort foods often include these things. What you should do is consume the omega-3 fatty acids—they actually won’t increase your inflammation.

You don’t have to go it alone when it comes to recovering after an injury. We are here for you every step of the way. Call us today to set up an appointment and continue your journey to recovery.

If you suffer from osteoarthritis or meniscal tears, chances are your doctor has talked to you about the possibility of surgery. However, before you expose yourself to the expense and possible risks of going under the knife, we would like to suggest an alternative: physical therapy.

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) released a study that found that there were no significant differences in functional improvement after 6 months between patients who underwent surgery and physical therapy and those who had just physical therapy alone.

This study good news for you! If you’ve had an athletic injury or find your movements limited by osteoarthritis, you can cut out a major step in the healing process. At Horizon Rehab, we can offer you individualized treatment plans that focus on functional outcomes. It’s this personal focus that Mary Ann Wilmarth, former chief of physical therapy at Harvard University, says is key in treating these two conditions.

“The individualized treatment approach is very important in the early phases of rehabilitation in order to achieve desired functional outcomes and avoid setbacks or complications,” she said in an article on the American Physical Therapy Association website.

A torn meniscus is a common knee injury that’s caused from twisting or turning too quickly, usually while the foot is planted and the knee is bent. Think of a basketball player who’s turning away from their opponent to get the ball in the basket.

Osteoarthritis is a condition where the protective cartilage on your bones wears down over time. It’s usually associated with advanced age. It can impact any joint in the body, although it usually occurs in the hands, knees, hips and spine.

We treat both conditions at Horizon Rehab. Contact us today to set up an appointment and begin your journey of better health, less pain and increased mobility.

The school year has officially begun! Student athletes everywhere are returning to the gym, track or field, ready to start their sports season. Here at Horizon Rehab, we want to make sure you start your new term off right. That’s why we’d like to discuss a few exercises you can do to avoid sidelining injuries:

Hip extensions:

Lie down so you’re facing the ceiling, with your knees bent and feet flat. Lift your left leg, with the knee still bent. Use your hands to push your right foot onto the floor and lift your hips off the ground. Keep your left leg at the same hip angle and keep your back straight. When you feel a bracing sensation in your abs and a strong contraction in your right hip, you know you’ve done it right. Hold this position for 2 seconds, then switch to the other side.

Kneeling stretch:

Find the softest pad you can get and kneel onto it with your left knee. Put your right foot flat on the floor in front of you. Reach behind and grab your left ankle. Straighten your back and pull your left ankle towards your buttocks. Then brace your abs and squeeze your left butt check. Slightly shift your weight forward, pushing your hips forward as you do so. This should produce a stretch in your right hip and quad. Hold this stretch for at least 10 seconds, but no more than 2 minutes. Then switch sides.

Knee hug:

Stand up with your feet hip-length apart. Keeping your back straight, hug your left knee and bring your thigh to your chest. Release the leg and take a step backwards. Do a reverse lunge without resting your left knee on the floor. Squeeze your left buttocks and push your left hip forward. You should feel a stretch in front of your left quad and hip. Stand up straight again and repeat on the other side. Do 10 reps on each side.

These are just a few stretches you can do before practice or the big game. We hope that you have a successful season and don’t experience any injuries, but if you do, we’re here for you. We regularly work with student athletes to make sure they can keep playing!

You call your baby’s name, and he has difficulty turning to face you. Your daughter’s head is always tilted as if she’s saying, “Huh?” Your infant just can’t seem to breastfeed from one side.

If you’re witnessing these symptoms in your child, chances are they have torticollis, or what’s known as wry neck syndrome.

Before you panic, we’d like to point out that it’s not an uncommon condition. Some studies estimate up to one in ten children will develop torticollis. It’s caused by a tightness in the muscles that connect the breastbone to the skull. This can happen due to position in the womb, a reaction to some medications or as a result of a fracture.

Some of the symptoms include:

• A tilting of the head or neck to one side.
• Inability to turn head completely.
• Difficulty breastfeeding from one side.
• A small bump on the back of the neck.

If you see these signs, take your baby to the doctor for a diagnosis. He or she will run a series of tests, which may include X-rays and an ultrasound.

Fortunately, infant torticollis is completely treatable. Here at Horizon Rehab, we have the Spine Health—For Kids program. This program evaluates spine conditions specific to children, and can educate you on the best approach for your little one.  We can walk you through a series of exercises that can strengthen your baby’s neck muscles and reverse the effects of torticollis.

Things such as crib positioning and tummy time can also help. Babies naturally like to look out of the room when they’re placed in the crib, so facing them towards the wall forces them to move their neck, thus strengthening their muscles. For tummy time, place your child on their stomach on the floor while they are awake and interact with them.

At Horizon Rehab, we love helping patients both young and old. Contact us today to set up an appointment and start your little ones on the road to good health.

When Erin Orr first came into Horizon Rehab, she was the opposite of the bubbly, cheerful 25-year-old she is now. Her whole life she had sat on the sidelines while her family—all runners—took part in physical activity. The problem was that she quickly became winded whenever she tried to join.

“I just felt really crappy. I thought it was just who I was,” she told the Omaha World-Herald.

It was so bad that Orr would have to stop in the middle of a meal to take a breath.

That all changed when doctors found the cause of her breathlessness—a pulmonary sequestration, or a mass on her lung. Up to that point, her mother thought she had severe allergies. Orr opted to undergo surgery to remove the mass.

But, her physical recovery wasn’t instantaneous. She had a reaction to the anesthesia, causing her to lose some of her fine motor skills. Orr wasn’t able to tie her shoes, and had to use a walker to get around.

Then she began working with Horizon Rehab’s own Jake Costello. Together they set goals for her physical therapy—with running at the top of her list.

There were a number of obstacles they had to work through. The surgery had been invasive, and Orr had some scar tissue that caused her pain while it was healing. Additionally, years of inactivity meant she needed to strengthen some of her muscles. Costello was able to show her the exercises she needed to build that strength up.

Soon, Costello said he started seeing changes in his patient.

“She got so excited thinking about the potential of not being out of breath after walking … I saw her bubbly, fun personality start to come out,” he  told the Omaha World-Herald.

Within three months after the surgery, Orr was able to run 1 mile. By May, she signed up for a 10K. Today, Orr is training for a marathon.

Way to go, Erin! Good job, Jake! We love hearing stories like these. If you have a success story about working with Horizon Rehab, contact us today! We feature testimonies on our website.

You’ve talked with your surgeon, you’ve made arrangements with family members, you’re mentally preparing yourself for the Big Day – ACL surgery takes a lot of pre-planning. But what happens afterwards? The team at Horizon Rehab has laid out a few things you can expect during your recovery period:

You’ll have a love/hate relationship with ice. You may get tired of applying yet another cold pack, but ice helps visibly reduce the swelling and pain post-surgery. Follow your physicians instructions so you get plenty of time with an ice pack each day, but not so much that you damage the nerve endings surrounding the knee.

You’ll be moving a lot sooner than you think. Amidst the pain and swelling, it may seem impossible, even counterintuitive, to make any kind of movement. However, keeping your leg in one position creates deep scar tissue that limits your eventual range of motion. Your doctor will give you a number of mini moves to do while you rest to start flexing, stretching, and moving knee and surrounding muscles within days after surgery, and performing them when and as instructed will up the speed and quality of your recovery.

Your entire lower body will get a workout. Your knee is just one part of the giant machine that is your body. Focusing solely on its recuperation and no other muscle atrophies surrounding functions while placing undue stress on your healing knee. Exercises to work your ankles, calves, hips, and glutes will help distribute the weight and stress off of our knee and make your body work as a solidary unit once more.

Your recovery takes at least six months, but there are milestones along the way. Six months can feel like a long time before you’re competing in your sport at 100% capacity once more. However, the recovery is broken down in such a way that you can expect to undergo new challenges and see plenty of results every 2-4 weeks. From bearing weight, to getting off crutches, to use of a step machine and practicing agility exercises, you’ll be so motivated by mini-success along the way that the big 6-month mark will feel like just another step.

By following your physician’s routines, eating a healthy diet, and letting sheer determination drive you, you’ll be back on your feet sooner than you’d think. Our trained physicians at Horizon Rehab would love to be a part of your recovery team. Give us a call to partner with us today!

The aches, the pains, the fatigue, the stress – fibromyalgia tries hard to demand all of your attention and consume your life. With these tips from Horizon Rehab, you can structure fibromyalgia around your life, and not the other way around.

1. Keep a pain diary. Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or you’ve managed Fibromyalgia for years, writing down a record of different pain and its triggers can help you spot trends to avoid in the future and brainstorm solutions in the short term. Journaling can also be a cathartic way of releasing accompanying emotions.
2. Boost Activity. It may seem counterintuitive to move when your body is aching, but light exercise helps prevent muscular atrophy, as well as promote a flood of feel-good serotonin throughout your body. Simply add movement to your daily routine – park farther away in the parking lot, walk your dog an extra lap, and channel energy into household chores like vacuuming and mopping.
3. Join a support group. Sharing fears, frustrations, and moments of celebration with others experiencing similar situations can help you feel grounded, and support groups allow you to learn about others’ coping strategies, medications, and knowledge of the subject.
4. Eat purposefully. The right fuel in your body can help compensate for pain and weakness related to the disease. Foods rich in protein and potassium help muscles grow and function efficiently, and limiting intake of processed or fried foods and refined sugars will help prevent energy crashes and grogginess.
5. Make modifications at work. Continuing at your job after your diagnosis not only helps keep your mind distracted from chronic pain, it also allows you maintain independence and confidence in your abilities. Talk with your employer about changes that will help you be most productive, like undertaking a flexible schedule that lets you come in later or taking a nap over the lunch hour to regain energy.
6. Take time to focus on your holistic health. Focusing on your physical needs so frequently often means you forget to feed your mental, emotional, and spiritual needs as well. Set aside time each week to do something that makes you feel more like you, and give yourself permission to relax and enjoy them. Is it spending time searching for and preparing a new recipe? Have you always wanted to try a new instrument? Find your niche and feed it.

It’s a bumpy road, but the trained physicians at Horizon Rehab are here to walk with you and your fibromyalgia every step of the way. Give us a call to set up an appointment to discuss further adaptations for a happier, healthier you.