​People are getting results with the help of Alpine’s Jamie Terry, DPT, SCS. Jamie is a Sports Certified Specialist, and the first-ever graduate of the University of Montana’s Post-Professional Sports Medicine Residency Program (2011).

The feedback we’ve gotten from recipients of this new service at Alpine has been telltale. Even modest adjustments have had a great impact in reducing injuries among cyclists, not to mention major improvements in performance.
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For more information, visit our webpage describing Bike Fitting at Alpine by clicking here or call Jamie at 251-2323.

On average the human head weighs around 8 pounds. This accounts for roughly 8% of your overall body weight, yet all of this weight is held up by your seven cervical vertebrae and the muscles in your neck. Thankfully your body’s natural biomechanics places the majority of this weight directly on top of your spine allowing the muscles in your neck to provide more passive support. This delicate balance between your muscular system and your spinal cord and spinal nerves is easy disturbed.

A common disturbance occurs when unhealthy postural habits result in a condition called forward head posture. This happens when your chin juts forward, placing your head too far forward and out of balance with your spine.

The causes of this occur commonly with everyday tasks such as:
• Repeatedly looking down while typing or reading.
• Sitting improperly with rounded shoulders and a hunched back..
• Driving with your head more than 2 to 3 inches away from the headrest.
• Carrying a backpack or heavy purse slung over one shoulder.

Forward head posture can result in discomfort that if not addressed can result in chronic back pain, neck pain, and headaches.

Here are some more facts about the long term effects of forward head posture brought to you by The PT Project.

1. The effects of chronic forward head and neck postures are long-term . . . and may result in muscle strain, disc herniation, nerve impingement, and the early onset of arthritis in the joints of the neck.

2. Forward head posture is strongly linked to decreased respiratory muscle strength and breathing ability, which results in up to a 30% loss in vital capacity in the lungs as well as a significant increase in cardiac and vascular pressure.

3. For every inch of forward head posture, it is found to increase the weight of the head on the spine by an additional 10 pounds. On average, this is over a 100% increase of weight bearing stress on the spine and it’s associated neuro-muscular structures.

4. A loss of the cervical spinal curve, due to forward head posture, can stretch the spinal cord up to 7 centimeters resulting in adverse neural tension. Subsequently, this causes additional tension of the meninges and elicits additional pressure on the brain-stem nuclei leading to increased compression and disruption of basic metabolic control functions and diseases.

5. Forward head posture results in an increase in discomfort and pain, due to disrupted proprioceptive and sensory input from the first four cervical vertebrae.

6. Forward head posture results in an anterior translation of the body’s center of gravity, which in turn results in a significant loss of balance and coordination, along with and increased probability of sustaining a fall.

Take a moment right now and get a sense if your head is balanced atop your spine. If your head is forward, think about tucking your chin, as if you were gliding your chin on a marble table. Don’t lift your chin of the “table.” And avoid the temptation to push your chin down onto the table. Simply glide your chin back. This lengthens the back of your neck, taking pressure off of nerves and muscles. Check your posture often during the day to make sure you’re not falling victim to the hazards of the hazards of forward head posture.

For more information on how physical therapists can help you improve your posture and the way you feel, visit our clinic website by clicking here. Or call our clinics at 251-2323 or 541-2606.

Interval training consists of short intense bursts of exercise followed by a period of lower intensity exercise, or rest. The best part of interval training is that it can be added to any exercise routine including hiking, biking, running, or swimming.

Just add short a burst of high intensity work ranging from 20 seconds up to 1, 2, or 3 minutes. Afterward, back down the intensity to your normal moderate pace, or take a 3 to 4 minute rest. Then repeat.

These bursts will challenge both your cardiovascular and your muscular systems resulting in more calories burned and improved endurance. The duration and pace of your high intensity burst are up to you, your fitness level, and your mood that day.
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Know that these bursts should challenge you.

​Alpine Physical Therapy has been taking strides to deliver a more comprehensive health care approach. This was largely manifested with the addition of our Wellness Program in 2011 for our patients and clinic staff.

We are proud to highlight the positive feedback from our participants in their pursuit of wellness beyond their primary orthopedic complaint. Take a look by clicking here.

A recent TED talk by Rebecca Onie, a leading mind in healthcare innovation (click here for a perfect example) got me thinking about how a visit to a physical therapist could potentially be much more than a visit to improve, for example, right knee pain.

Rebecca started Health Leads, a progressive program now implemented in numerous pediatric hospitals that connects patients and their families to community resources to improve many of the root causes of many health problems. Rebecca has recruited and trained college volunteers to help low-income families access food, heat, and other basic needs to improve their daily healthcare while spending time in a waiting room.

Rebecca insists that “At the end of the day, when we measure our healthcare, it will not be by the diseases cured, but by the diseases prevented.”

Be sure to check out a wealth of other inspireing “ideas worth sharing” on the TED talks on the healthcare topics (by clicking here). and on the right hand colunn of our own health blog here at HealthAndFitness101.com.
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Be sure to check out our web page on our Wellness Program at Alpine by clicking here.