Horizon Rehab Blog -

Physical Therapy Away From Home

Posted on: July 31st, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

Keeping up with your physical therapy can be tough on vacation, but these tips can help you.

Summer is a busy time for everyone. The weather is nicer, we like to spend more time outside and, for many of us, summer is a time where we get away from home to have some fun. While vacations are a lot of fun, they can interrupt progress that you’re making in your physical therapy sessions if you completely stop.

Horizon Rehab is here to help you. While it’s not ideal to interrupt therapy, we understand the busy schedules and desire to get away that comes with summer. If you are going to be away during your therapy, there are some things you can do to help yourself and not lose all the progress you’ve been making.

Stay Stretched Out

It’s amazing how much of a difference stretching can help with a variety of physical ailments. Performing simple stretching exercises, whether it’s for your legs, your back, your neck or something else, can help you stay loose and helps prevent your muscles from swelling and tensing up.

Weight Exercises

No, we’re not expecting you to pump iron and lift a lot of heavy weight while doing dynamic exercises. Instead, focus on slow, controlled lifting exercises that can help improve your core strength and keep your muscles toned. This can be accomplished using everyday items around the house, like a cans of soup.

Stay In Touch With Your Physical Therapist

If you are going to be traveling, speak with your physical therapist to see if he has any recommendations for you and if there are any exercises you can do away from home. Additionally, if you start to feel any sort of pain while you’re away, call your physical therapist and let him know what is going on.

Horizon Rehab is here to provide you with a wide range of physical therapy services, including pain management, spine therapy and balance evaluations. We encourage you to contact us to learn more about our services.

Juvenile Arthritis Management Tips

Posted on: July 17th, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

Check out these tips that can help manage your child’s juvenile arthritis symptoms and prevent flare ups.

No parent wants to see their child in pain or struggle with a medical condition. But for thousands of families across the United States, juvenile arthritis presents daily challenges for children, causing pain, swelling and limiting mobility because it can hurt to move.

According the Arthritis Foundation, nearly 300,000 children under the age of 16 are dealing with the effects of juvenile arthritis, commonly referred to as JA. Horizon Rehab is here to be your resource, to help you aid your child in managing JA and live a more normal life. Browse through these tips to help your child.

Maintain a Medication Routine

Kids can be forgetful. And while it can be frustrating when your child forgets to clean their room, when they forget to take their medication, there can be consequences. When it comes to JA, even forgetting one dosage of medication can lead to a flare. Set a routine and make sure your child sticks to it.

RICE is Your Friend

No, we’re not talking about the food. RICE refers to a treatment philosophy for treating injuries, standing for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. If your child’s symptoms are flaring up, limiting their activity, putting ice on their aching joints, massaging or wrapping the area and elevating the affected area can help.

Keep Your Child Active

This may seem counterproductive, especially for a condition that causes pain in your child’s joints. But if your child stays active, it can help prevent a flare. How much activity each child can handle will vary, so have a discussion with your doctor to determine how much activity your child can handle.

Horizon Rehab offers a wide range of physical therapy services for adults and children, including programs to help deal with chronic pain and fibromyalgia. Contact us to learn more about these programs.

Tags: juvenile arthritis management
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Injury Prevention Tips for Runners

Posted on: June 17th, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

Make sure you stay healthy while you run with these injury prevention tips.

Summer means more time outside, which naturally leads to more exercise outside. For many of us, summer presents more opportunities to run outside. And while it’s always good to get more exercise, it’s important to remember not to push yourself too hard too fast.

For many runners, especially seasonal runners who run more during the warmer months when they can get outdoors, injuries can be a real possibility. Horizon Rehabilitation Centers is here to offer tips to help you prevent those injuries so you can keep running while the weather is good.

Injury Prevention Tip: Don’t Forget to Stretch

You may think that because you’re running, you may not have to stretch. We aren’t talking about holding a hamstring stretch before you start running, as that won’t do you much good because your muscles aren’t warmed up. Instead, take a stretch break about 15 minutes into your run, or go through a long cool down stretch after you finish your run.

Injury Prevention Tip: Know Your Limits

You can feel great after a long run, but if it’s your first time running in a while, it’s best to start slow. If you could run 10 miles a day last summer, but you haven’t gone for a run in a while, don’t start with trying to run 10 miles this summer. Instead, start with a lower mileage goal and build on your successes every week.

Injury Prevention Tip: Find Level Ground

This can be a tough one if there isn’t an abundance of running trails in your community, but finding a trail with a level surface can save you from hip injuries and varied strength in your legs. If you run on normal surface streets, there is a natural tilt to the pavement that means one of your legs is working harder. Consider running at a local track or find trails in your area.

Horizon Rehab wants you to remain healthy during the summer. If you have sustained an injury while running, you are welcome to stop in and see us and learn more about our sports and orthopedic therapy services.

Tags: injury prevention tips, running injuries
Posted in Exercise Safety, Fitness | Comments Off

Healthy Aging Tips for Men

Posted on: June 12th, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

June is Men’s Health Month, and Horizon Rehab brings you these healthy aging tips for men.

Things change as we get older, especially for men, and that’s just fine. Maybe you’ve noticed a lack of energy lately, or activities you used to be able to do easily now seem tougher. At Horizon Rehabilitation Centers, we offer physical therapy programs designed to help you return to fitness and function. But, we also are here to provide you with tools and tips that allow you to stay healthy and remain in good shape. As part of Men’s Health Month, Horizon Rehab offers these tips to help men as they age.

Healthy Aging Tip: Start Eating Right

The sad truth is you can’t get away with eating the same foods when you’re 55 as you could when you were 25. Loading up on burgers, fries and other junk food is more damaging to your health as you age. But you don’t need to cut fat out of your diet, just make sure you’re eating the right fats. Omega-3 fatty are actually good for your hearts, and can be found in proteins like fish and nuts.

Healthy Aging Tip: Exercise More

The key here is to exercise the right way. It’s going to take your body longer to recover from injury if you push yourself too hard. Instead of focusing on lifting weights until your muscles burn, focus on activities that will improve your aerobic endurance. You don’t have to push yourself to get results. Spending a couple hours a week walking at a steady pace or riding bicycle offer plenty of benefits for men as they age.

Healthy Aging Tip: Laugh More

We could all stand to laugh a little more, because laughing offers a number of health benefits, including reducing stress, lowering blood pressure and relieving pain. So, whether you’re spending time with your family or going to see a funny movie, give yourself more opportunities for a good laugh.

Horizon Rehab is here for you at any age. We offer sports and orthopedic therapy to make sure you’re ready to exercise, as well as TeleExercise classes that allow you to exercise from home. Contact us to learn more.

Tags: aging tips for men
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Avoiding Injury While Exercising

Posted on: May 27th, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

It’s important for seniors to remain active and exercise, but there are some precautions to consider.

Horizon Rehab is committed to helping you recover from injuries with dedicated rehabilitation services. But, there are steps you can take to help reduce your injuries while exercising. As we age, taking steps to avoid injury while exercising becomes more important, because the injuries can cause more damage and require more effort to recover properly.

Today is National Senior Fitness Day, and Horizon Rehab wants to make sure you have all the tools you need to avoid injury so you can remain active as long as possible.

Avoiding Injury Tip: Start Slow

No matter how old you are, it’s important to remember not to try and do too much, too fast as you exercise. You’ve likely had the feeling of extreme soreness that comes with trying to lift as much weight as you can after an extended period of inactivity. This is never a good approach for exercising, but working out this way can become more dangerous as you age. Instead, start with manageable exercises to create a strong base to build on as you get stronger.

Avoiding Injury Tip: Mix it Up

We’ve all seen the strength competitions on television where competitors have arms the that seem to be the same size as tree trunks. Those results aren’t typical and shouldn’t be something you strive for as you age. Instead, it’s important to mix up your workouts. Focusing on different muscle groups each workout not only helps you increase your overall fitness, but also reduces the risk of injury. When you focus on one muscle group and work those muscles repeatedly, you will tire that muscle out and increase your risk for pulling, straining or even tearing the muscle.

If you sustain an injury while exercising, competing in a sport or in any other capacity, Horizon Rehab can help you. Contact us to learn more about or our orthopedic and sports rehabilitation services.

Tags: exercise safety tips, senior citizen fitness
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How to Manage Your Arthritis

Posted on: May 15th, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

Arthritis can be a painful condition, but there are steps you can take to help yourself feel better.

Arthritis can be a debilitating condition. It causes pain, limits mobility and robs you of your independence the longer you have it. And while Horizon Rehab offers pain management rehabilitation programs to help deal with chronic pain, there are steps you can take from the comfort of your own home to help improve and effectively manage the symptoms of arthritis.

May is National Arthritis Awareness Month, and Horizon Rehab is here to offer you some tips to change your lifestyle and perform simple exercise to help you live in less pain, regain your mobility and retain your independence.

Living Healthier

If you’re overweight or obese, you have an increase risk for developing arthritis or making the condition worse if you already have it. By exercising and maintaining a healthier diet, you can improve your fitness and help take some pressure off of your joints to improve your symptoms.

Quitting smoking can also do a lot to help reduce the symptoms of arthritis. Smoking can break down the connective tissues between the joints of your body, which actually worsens the effects of arthritis. Quitting smoking can go a long way to helping you feel better while giving you a variety of other health benefits.

Focus on Low-Impact Exercises

Arthritis causes your joints to become inflamed and ache. The way to combat this is with gentle exercises that encourage constructive movement that helps loosen your joints. Exercises you should do include:

Adjusting the way you sit
Regularly stretching muscles in your arms and legs
Walking around regularly to avoid being sedentary for too long

Strenuous exercises like weight lifting, running, jumping, tennis and other aerobic sports will actually do more harm than good as it relates to arthritis. These types of dynamic exercises can lead to the worsening of symptoms and increase pain while reducing mobility.

Horizon Rehab’s staff is here to help you reduce your pain and regain your independence. Contact us to learn more about our pain management programs.

Tags: arthritis management
Posted in Arthritis | Comments Off

Remote Rehab

Posted on: April 2nd, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

Remote Rehab: Care for People Everywhere
The topic of making healthcare available has been a hot-button issue in our country for the last few years. This need has spurred a new trend that is sweeping the healthcare industry and addressing availability problems. TeleMedicine helps those that need the treatment and care by being a resource when they don’t have immediate or convenient access the care they need.
Originating in the healthcare industry, this trend has been slowly become more common in the rehab industry. There are many patients with conditions like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis that have the mobility restrictions that make it difficult to make it to a clinic to receive the therapy they need.

The Solution: Horizon Rehab’s “Remote Rehab”
Horizon’s Remote Rehab program offers an easily-accessible method to get some of the therapy and exercise that these patients are looking for from the comfort of their own homes. All a patient needs is a computer, a web cam, microphone, an active email account and an Internet connection to login to the portal.

The Instruction: How Remote Rehab Works
Horizon Rehab will provide an instructor to lead the class in mostly chair exercises that all patients can do on their own. The instructor will be able to see the patients, and the patients will have the option of showing themselves to other patients if they wish. Once the patient has signed in, they will see the instructor and other participants that are willing to show themselves. The instructor will lead the class through the exercises that they have on the agenda while giving feedback to the participants on an as-needed basis.

The Execution: Signing Up for Remote Rehab
To get signed up for this great program, call Horizon Rehabilitation at 402-393-9390 and we will be happy to assist you. For more information on our Remote Rehab services, visit our website and stay tuned to our blog for more posts related to this program.

Tags: horizon rehab, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, rehabilitation, remote rehab, TeleMedicine, therapy
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Welcome to Our Blog

Posted on: April 2nd, 2015 by Horizon Rehab Blogger

Welcome To The Horizon Rehab Blog

Horizon Rehabilitaton is totally committed to providing our patients with the best therapy offerings. To continue that commitment, we have established this new blog to help give you another way of connecting with our business. Our goal is to provide you with great information related to a wide variety of health and wellness topics. These topics will be centered around new products, services we provide, industry news, tips and advice to help you live life to the fullest.

Every month, you can check the Horizon Rehab Blog to find something unique that we hope will help you while also improving your everyday health. We will provide you with topical information that we hope will help you learn something and give you another tool to make sure you stay in good health.

Based on the topics of each individual blog post, we will also provide you with links to some resources you may find helpful and best suited to the topic of the day. Our hope is to not only provide you with the information you need about a certain topic, but to also provide you additional resources that will aid you in staying healthy while also helping your rehabilitation be more successful.

This blog was created to benefit you, our customers. We value all of you and hope that you find the information in our blog interesting and useful. Be sure to check back regularly for updates. From all of us here at Horizon Rehabilitation, we appreciate your business and look forward to interacting with you soon!

Tags: horizon rehab, rehabilitation, therapy, welcome
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