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Blogs

Senior Health & Fitness Day

5/25/2022

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Participating in aerobic activities and muscle strengthening exercises are the best ways for seniors to prevent health concerns and remain independent. Experts say older adults should engage in moderate
exercise and strength training each week, however less than one-third meet this recommendation.

Fitness Can Help Seniors:
  1. Reduce fall risk and increase the ability to live independently. Older adults who exercise may reduce their risk of falls by more than a third compared to sedentary peers.
  2. Maintain strength, healthy joints and muscles. This can reduce and prevent arthritis, joint swelling and pain due to improved body mechanics and decreased pressure on joints.
  3. Helps reduce or control blood pressure. High blood pressure is a common concern among older adults. High blood pressure can be controlled with lifestyle changes like physical activity and exercise. Moderate activity, such as brisk walking, can lower high blood pressure.
  4. Reduce the risk of colon cancer. Colon cancer is in the top 5 most common cancers in the world. Preventive strategies such as lifestyle modifications with regard to obesity, physical activity, diet and smoking can decrease risk. Physical activity may prevent approximately 15% of colon cancers.
  5. Reduce the risk for diabetes. Being active makes your body more sensitive to insulin. Insulin can help manage diabetes as it is the hormone that allows your body to use blood sugar for energy.

Physical Therapy Can Help Seniors:
  1. The goal of physical therapy is to help restore and improve functionality, reduce pain and increase mobility for better strength and balance.
  2. As people age, they tend to lose flexibility, strength and often their balance. Loss of these functions could lead to a fall with potential for injury. Physical therapy helps improve mobility or provide appropriate activity modifications.
  3. Strength training and exercise provided in physical therapy can also help alleviate the symptoms of arthritis. People with arthritis can benefit from physical therapy because it provides exercises to help preserve the strength and use of the joints.

There are several ways one can stay active, including:
  1. Go for a brisk walk
  2. Work in the garden
  3. Mow the lawn
  4. Dance
  5. Bicycling
  6. Attend a fitness class
  7. Water aerobics - decreased stress on joints

The most important thing one can do is to keep moving! Find an activity that you enjoy and try to participate in it a few times per week. This will help increase blood flow to areas of healing, decrease stress, improve sleep and increase your endorphins. If it is hard to get started due to pain for physical limitations, physical therapy can help!

Resources:
  • The Importance of Physical Therapy for Seniors
  • Exercise Programs That Promote Senior Fitness
  • High Blood Pressure and Older Adults
  • Effect of exercise on colorectal cancer prevention and treatment
  • Physical activity is very important for people with diabetes!​


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These PT Pro Tips are brought to you by our Thiensville & Third Ward therapist, Alissa Pearson PT, DPT.

​Alissa enjoys being active. You will often find her hiking, paddle boarding, playing soccer, and playing with her dog. She loves experiencing different cultures through food and enjoys trying new restaurants. She also developed a passion for competing in bodybuilding in 2019 which she is continuing to pursue outside of work.

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PT Plus Virtual Scavenger Hunt!

5/24/2022

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*Updated 6/1/2022, removed letters from website & listed next to clues to reveal the answer.
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Join the fun this National Scavenger Hunt day and partake in the PT Plus Virtual Scavenger Hunt. It might be the only scavenger hunt you can enjoy without leaving your couch!

How to Play: 
  1. Follow all of the clues below to find letters around the PT Plus Website. 
  2. Use the letters to form the Scavenger Hunt Keyword.
  3. Email the Keyword to lmcgraw@ptplus.com by 12:00pm on Friday, May 27th and you will be entered to win a PT Plus exclusive 20th Anniversary Hat! 


Scavenger Hunt Key Word:
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Website Clues:
  • ​Letter 1 & 6: ​The Snyder's are the owners and operators of PT Plus. Did you know there's a page on our website dedicated to learning more About Us? View this segment to find the first letter!

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  • Letter 2: Each clinic has dedicated therapists ready to treat you! At the bottom of each clinic location page, you can find the committed provider who will be there. We recently hired a new therapist for our Slinger clinic, if you see him, you might find the next letter. 

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  • Letter 3 & 7: Physical Therapy can help with so many different conditions! We have a page dedicated to answering, Can We Help You? The answer is likely yes! But scroll through all of the conditions we can help you with to find the next letter.

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  • Letter 4, 8, & 9: If you are new to PT Plus, we might ask you to complete some Patient Paperwork! We always email it ahead, and have printed copies in our clinics, but did you know that we also have them all available to you on our website! If you look under Resources > Forms & Patient Info you can see all we have available to you, and you will find the next letter. 

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  • Letter 5: All of our therapists go through a training and mentor program when they onboard with PT Plus to learn from our seasoned therapists so you can feel confident being treated by every member of our team! If you'd like to learn more about each therapist, you can also read more on their individual bios. Check out our Elm Grove therapist, Lindsey Mills' bio to find the next letter. 

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  • Letter 10: We can tell you about ourselves all day, but we like to let the results speak for themselves! Find our results page to see the stats, read real patient testimonials, and to find the last letter! 

Good luck and thanks for playing! 

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How Physical Therapy Can Help with Fibromyalgia

5/12/2022

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There are between 4 million and 10 million people suffering with fibromyalgia (Fibro) in the US. Some studies say there are 3 million new cases a year. 75-90% are women, usually diagnosed between the ages of 20-50. People with fibromyalgia are twice as likely to be hospitalized, have a lower quality of life, and are 3x more likely to suffer from depression. There are higher death rates from suicide and injury and higher rates of other rheumatic conditions.
 
But what is fibromyalgia? To be exact, we really don’t know. Historically, fibromyalgia has been a diagnosis of exclusion. All other possibilities were ruled out, and if one didn’t fit, you were diagnosed with Fibro. As our understanding improved, we were able to pinpoint some similarities in patients. Typically, sleep was affected, and pain was widespread (all 4 quadrants of the body). In the ‘90’s, we were using a palpation method as part of the diagnosis for Fibro. There were 9 pairs of points throughout the body that were compressed with a finger. If one was painful, that would be positive. To receive the Fibro diagnosis, you would have to test positive in 11 of the 18 points. We don’t use this test anymore and are back to diagnosis by exclusion. Blood tests are performed to rule out other conditions that could lead to Fibro-like symptoms. Pain scores are administered, and history reviewed. There may be some promise for a blood test called the FM/a test, but studies are still ongoing.
 
Common symptoms of Fibromyalgia include widespread pain, brain fog (commonly referred to as FibroFog), fatigue, lethargy, sleep problems, digestive problems, heat intolerance, and feeling depressed. The most prescribed treatment for Fibro is exercise. Unfortunately for many Fibro sufferers, when they exercise, they are often wiped out for several days. Clinically, we find that people with Fibro can do things, but have no reserve, so their ability to recover is poor.
 
So how can PT help with fibromyalgia?  A customized approach is the only way to treat fibromyalgia. Often this is based on the severity of the symptoms. PT is one of the members of a needed team. In order to get better, we need proper nutrition. You can eat something, but that doesn’t mean you absorb it. We find people with Fibro are often deficient or in the low normal range for magnesium. Gut health is paramount to good nutrition so you can absorb the nutrients you need.
 
In order to move, you need to feel better. Typically, we will work with you through various manual techniques to try to reduce your pain symptoms. We have a variety of approaches we can use, including Primal Reflex Release Technique (PRRT), positional release (strain/counterstrain), soft tissue mobilization, joint mobilization, muscle activation, active release, and trigger point dry needling. As you start feeling better, we get you moving. Exercise starts as specific neuromuscular re-education. We try to retrain how your nervous system interacts with your skeletal system. This improves “functional strength”. As you progress from there, we can move into more traditional exercise, such as hypertrophy strengthening and cardiovascular conditioning. The key is the progression from pain relief to functional strength to traditional strength. In this pathway, we reduce the rebound effect of exercise and allow the body to adapt at it’s on pace to the new demands being placed on it.
 
Resources
Fibromyalgia Prevalence: est. 10 million people in the U.S. (fmaware.org)
Fibromyalgia | Arthritis | CDC

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Written by PT Plus therapist and co-owner, Mark Snyder

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May 2022 Newsletter

5/9/2022

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Welcome to the May 2022 issue of In Focus with PT Plus Physical Therapy
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What's New at PT Plus
Thank you for helping us Celebrating 20 Years!
We celebrated with a CPR training course and a game of company Jeopardy. After, we built Snack-to-Go packages for Kathy's House. And finished the celebration with some axe throwing & shuffleboard at North South Club.

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Memorial Day Closing
Please note that Monday, May 30th, is Memorial Day. All PT Plus Clinics will be closed all day and will open again Tuesday morning. We hope you will enjoy the holiday with your family and friends!

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May is Global Employee Health & Fitness Month
This month aims to improve the health of workforce around the globe and we're participating. PT can help keep you active in day-to-day life and participating in fitness programs you enjoy. This month we will be sharing more tips and wisdom on social media to help you Live Your Best Life! Follow us to join the fun: 
​Facebook  -  LinkedIn  -  Instagram


Leave us a Review
Support a locally owned small business by referring your family and friends. We care about all of our patients and rely on the word-of-mouth marketing that you provide. If you have a testimonial about PT Plus to share, we would love to hear from you!

Leave a Google Review:
Bay View – Brookfield – Elm Grove – Greenfield – Thiensville
Third Ward – Racine – Slinger – West Bend

​Leave a Yelp Review:
Bay View – Brookfield – Elm Grove – Greenfield – Thiensville
Third Ward – Racine – Slinger – West Bend

Featured Testimonial
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If You Like a Good Bargain, You're Going to LOVE Physical Therapy. 
It's no secret that prices have been going up. Gas is expensive. Food is expensive. The housing market is crazy. If you're looking for ways to pinch some pennies or stretch your dollars, physical therapy might be just what you're looking for.
Physical Therapy Saves Cost


A study that looked at the claims data of 472,000 Medicare beneficiaries with back pain found that when PT was the first treatment, costs were 19% lower than when people got injections first and 75% lower than for people who were sent straight to surgery. The study also found that in the year following diagnosis, people who got PT first had costs 18% lower than those who got injections, and 54% lower than those in the surgery group.

Another example happened in 2006 when Virginia Mason Health Center in Seattle teamed up with Aetna and Starbucks. They sent workers with back pain to see both a physical therapist and physician for their first treatment. Use of MRI dropped by 1/3, people got better faster, missed less work and were more satisfied with their care. The cost savings was so great that Virgina Mason was losing money on treating back pain, so Aetna ended up paying them more for PT treatments because they were saving so much money.

Physical Therapy First Means Fewer Visits…A paper published in Physical Therapy looked at outcomes when patients went to a PT first vs. seeing a physician first for back pain. It found that patients who went to their physician first needed 33 PT visits on average, while those who went to their PT first only needed 20. Seeing a PT first saves money, but it also saves time.

It Also Means Better OutcomesA study of 150,000 insurance claims published in Health Services Research, found that those who saw a physical therapist at the first point of care had an 89 percent lower probability of receiving an opioid prescription, a 28 percent lower probability of having advanced imaging services, and a 15 percent lower probability of an emergency department visit.

High quality research consistently shows that taking advantage of direct access and getting to your physical therapist quickly leads to better outcomes in fewer visits with lower costs. We think that's a deal worth taking advantage of.
​

References
  1. https://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2010/11/03/4743604/0_ANovelPlanHelpsHospitalWeanItselfOffOfPriceyTests.pdf
  2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33245117/
  3. https://www.apta.org/news/2017/07/26/study-says-cost-savings-of-physical-therapy-for-lbp-are-significant#:~:text=Researchers%20say%20that%20not%20only,over%20treatments%20that%20begin%20with
  4. https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/77/1/10/2633027?login=true
  5. https://newsroom.uw.edu/news/early-physical-therapy-benefits-low-back-pain-patients 

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Bay View
3073 S Chase Ave. Bld. 28 #630
Milwaukee, WI 53207
Brookfield
19045 W. Capitol Dr. #101
Brookfield, WI 53045
Elm Grove
700 Pilgrim Pkwy. #L8
Elm Grove, WI 53122
Greenfield
2915 W. Layton Ave.
Greenfield, WI 53221
Racine
1532 Green Bay Rd. #200
Mount Pleasant, WI 53406
Slinger
410 E Washington St. #2
Slinger, WI 53086
Thiensville
208 N. Main St.
Thiensville, WI 53092
Third Ward
241 N. Broadway Ave. #403
Milwaukee, WI 53202
West Bend
140 E Water St.
West Bend, WI 53095

Central phone: 262-796-2850
Central fax: 262-796-2851
​Central email: patientcare@ptplus.com
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  • About
    • About PT Plus
    • Meet Our Team
    • Community Outreach
    • Join Our Team
  • Services
    • Can We Help You?
    • What To Expect
    • Results
  • Locations
    • Bay View
    • Brookfield
    • Elm Grove
    • Greenfield
    • Third Ward
    • Racine
    • Slinger
    • Thiensville
    • West Bend
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Updates
    • Forms & Patient Info
    • FAQ
    • Blog
  • SCHEDULE