New Year, New You?

Article written by:  Erin Kethley, MPT

After the overindulgence that the holiday season seems to inevitably bring, it’s no wonder that many people make New Year’s resolutions that involve getting healthier.  In fact, it is estimated that about one third of New Year’s resolutions involve weight loss and/or beginning an exercise program.

Sounds like a great idea, right?  But, unfortunately, all too often these resolutions are short-lived.  Many times people start out too aggressively and find themselves suffering with excessive soreness or even an injury.  The key is to start out slowly and gradually progress your exercise program.  People often forget that they didn’t get out of shape overnight so they shouldn’t expect to become physically fit overnight either.

If you start to start to experience pain or get injured, you should not try to work through it.  Pain is our bodies way of letting us know that something is not right.  But, it doesn’t mean you should abandon your whole exercise program either.  Modifications can be made to accommodate your injury.  For example, a shoulder injury doesn’t prevent you from doing leg exercises.

If you are experiencing any type of pain with exercise, it should not be ignored.  Most of the time, acute injuries are significantly easier to treat than more chronic ones.  For example, if you are experiencing shoulder pain, it could be some tendonitis caused by an impingement in your shoulder joint.  Some over-the-counter medication may reduce the pain, but will not fix the problem.  Physical therapy can address any underlying muscle weakness or imbalances that could be the culprit.  If the underlying issues are identified early and treatment is initiated, these acute injuries are usually easily and quickly treated. But, conversely, if you continue to ignore painful symptoms and wait to seek treatment until the condition is much worse, then treatment can be long and much slower.  In our previous example, that simple shoulder tendonitis could end up resulting in a rotator cuff tear.

Don’t let pain or an injury de-rail your New Year’s resolutions this year.  Seek treatment at the first sign of pain or injury in order to prevent that acute problem from becoming a chronic and potentially costly one.  As always, Kethley Physical Therapy is working every day towards our goal of “Keeping Dripping Springs Moving!”

Happy New Year to you and your family Kethley Physical Therapy