physical therapy denver Archives

17Apr 2023 by Patrick Donovan

Diet and Exercise for Bone Health

Health content

Protein for Low Bone Mass Bone growth is a tough task. You can optimize your movement, improve balance, and take medications, but without a targeted nutrition plan - you're still in the dark. Protein is a key regulator of muscle protein growth. With age, we become less efficient at using protein and thus need even more of it. This video provides the equation for optimal protein intake for aging adults. Strength Training for Older Adults: Put Your Body to the Test Do you want to keep your legs strong but are not sure how to measure your strength? This excellent at-home test has been hiding in plain sight. The 5 times sit-to-stand test is all you need for a lifetime of independence. The lower, the better; don't you dare bend…

20Feb 2023 by Patrick Donovan

3 Strategies for Bone Health

Prevention

3 Strategies for Bone Health Bone loss is considered the "silent thief" of aging. You can’t see it like you can with muscle loss (or grey hairs!). When I talk about bone health in the clinic, I am more interested in your unique fracture profile. How likely are you to fall? What faulty movement patterns are you using? Are you engaged with a bone-centered diet? With the right strategies, we can reduce your fall risk profile. Please don't wait - you can start today. Today, we have three videos for your indulgence. 1. Three strategies to improve bone health 2. An effective exercise to improve posture 3. Recommendations for adequate protein intake to prevent osteoporosis." 3 Bone Building Strategies Those with low bone mass may be asking: is walking enough…

10Feb 2023 by Patrick Donovan

3 Home Health Tests For Posture

Health content

Today, we're sharing 3 home tests you can do for to gague and improve your posture. Ultimate Spine and Shoulder Posture Test The Dowel Overhead Test measures an overlooked aspect of health - your posture. By taking this measurement, you can improve flexibility and reduce restrictions in your arms and spine for a lifetime of upright posture. Get started today with improving your posture, but measure your baseline first! The Easiest At-Home Posture Test This test is a part of every physical exam I do for osteoporosis. So why not get started with it at home? Measure the fingerbreadths to the closest whole value. It could kickstart your motivation to expand your chest muscles, improve lung capacity, and decrease your risk for vertebral compression fracture. Your goal is 4 fingerbreadths,…

02Jan 2023 by Patrick Donovan

2 Tips For Hip and Osteoarthritis

Health content

#1 Tip For Osteoarthritis Treatment Preservation of your hip capsule is the MOST important factor in an effective hip arthritis treatment. If you have pain with walking, difficulty with flexibility, or trouble getting off the toilet - it could be your hip capsule tightness that is limiting you. You can't move what you can't access. If it's not strength, not muscle flexibility, it could be a tight hip joint capsule that's limiting your success. Do I Have Hip Arthritis? Hip arthritis pain is really only one thing - annoying. It annoys your daily walking, and your Zumba class, and can even annoy your sleep. The first step in treatment is making sure your symptoms align with the proper diagnosis. Check out this video to see if you meet the following…

21Nov 2022 by Patrick Donovan

Why Am I Not Getting Stronger?

Exercise

So a lot of people come in and they say, why am I not getting stronger? And I've been doing X, Y, and Z and I can do 20, 30 reps of, let's say, a dead deadlift. Well, we're gonna learn something today that's called progressive tissue overload. It incorporates good form, the right dosage, and adding weights as necessary and most safely so you can make strength gains for a lifetime. So the movement I really enjoy teaching this concept is the deadlift. It strengthens muscles in your ankles, knees, and hips, and requires a great amount of stability through your back. , so this client of mine has been working on these movements for the better part of a year, and so we're going to kind of…

03Nov 2022 by Patrick Donovan

5 Exercises for Knee Strengthening with Osteoarthritis

Health content

Strength training is hard with knee pain. Trust me, I've had three knee surgeries, and often struggle with it too. This week, we are providing resources for people that are looking for osteoarthritis treatment at the gym safely and effectively. The exercises we'll be covering in this video are: Kitchen sink squat Heel rock back Bentover row, and Knee blocked squat. Knee Blocked Squats Too much force through the knees is often a cause of knee pain. We can use the prop of a box, door frame, or chair to encourage a backwards weight shift. This recruits the hamstrings and glutes to do their very important job. I like to try this exercise with folks that have knee pain with squatting, going from sitting to standing, and rising from…

26Sep 2022 by Patrick Donovan

Modify Your Risk of Chronic Disease

Health content

Most people are aware of the common risk factors for their health. Smoking, drinking, and eating unhealthy foods - all can contribute to chronic conditions. I enjoy having a beer with my friends, and I know that that might not always be good for me. It is important that these activities be weighed against the overall risk to your life. Today, we're going to tackle the biggest three risk factors over the next few videos. Today, we'll be focusing on aging. I would encourage you to just pay special attention to these as you go through your day. First, some important terms to define: Risk Factor: something that increases risk Chronic Disease: a broad term for a condition that lasts more than 1 year and requires ongoing medical attention. Aging I'm gonna…

24Aug 2022 by Patrick Donovan

Why Strong Bones Matter

Health content

Hi everyone, Dr. Donovan here. Really excited to share what we have today on why bones matter. It's something I educate people a lot on in the clinic; how their osteoporosis profile relates to what they can do, and what they maybe shouldn't do. All of these include lifestyle modifications and different ways of moving your spine and hips to help protect them over time. Most importantly, they lower your fall risk. Lowering your fall risk will mitigate any risk of acute fracture. When we discuss osteoporosis, we're talking about bone mineral density and osteopenia. It is most common in older adults and mainly postmenopausal women, but that doesn't mean you should stop caring about your bones even if you don't have a degenerative bone disease; it's something to maintain…

19Jul 2022 by Patrick Donovan

What One-Legged Standing Can Tell About Fracture Risk

Health content

The Purpose of This Test What one-legged standing can tell you is your fracture risk. We always hear how balance becomes an issue as we age, but at what point do we need to take balance training? You can watch the above video for a quick and dirty test that you can perform at home. From this one-legged standing test we can learn how to decrease the risk for: Future fracture, Osteoporosis complications, and Hip fractures In older adults. This demographic has the most far-reaching consequences in terms of disability-reduced quality of life and increased mortality. I know it all seems like bad news, but I've got some good news coming your way. Hip Fractures How do hip fractures occur to anyone from falls, so the more we can do…

22Jun 2022 by Patrick Donovan

Finding The Right Quad Strengthening Exercise

Health content

Today, we're going to find the right quad strengthening exercise for you. We want you to have the most precise leg strengthening variation that works for your strengthening routine. Let's take us through some real-life examples you've noticed in the past few years: You can only garden two hours before you need a break You can't quite keep up with your younger friend on a hike. You're in the functional category of aging, and you're ready to increase your strength. So you performed the 30-second sit-to-stand test from the last video and you scored 11 reps that place you securely in the functional category of aging fitness. So why not make a goal of 15 reps to place you in the fun category? So now that you've measured your quad…