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If you’re like most people, you set some pretty hefty New Year’s resolutions that were designed to help you get into better shape and improve your health and well-being. While it’s easy to maintain motivation at first, staying motivated throughout the year isn’t as simple as you might think. Losing motivation happens to everyone, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on your resolutions right as you’re getting started. You just need a little help from your trusted physical therapy treatment team. Here are a few proven tips to help you get back on track.

Find Someone to Work Out With

Staying motivated or recovering your motivation is always easier when you’re working out with a friend. Use this to your advantage. Find someone you enjoy spending time with to work out with you. Align your goals, try new exercises together, and pump each other up. The more you can encourage each other and hold each other accountable, the easier it will be for you to maintain your motivation and reach your goals.

Set Smaller Goals

Many people set incredibly hard-to-reach goals as part of their New Year’s resolutions. At first glance, it seems like you’ll be more motivated if your goals are hard to hit but it’s not always the case. In fact, goals that are too hard to hit can actually leave you feeling less motivated. If you’ve lost motivation, try breaking your big goals into smaller ones. This will help you feel more of a sense of accomplishment and makes it easier to stay on track to reach your bigger goals in the long run.

Track Your Progress

Progress is always measurable but if you’re not keeping track of the improvements you’re making, it’s easy to feel like you’re not getting anywhere. When this happens, it’s all too easy to give up or slack off on your workout routines. Instead, get in the habit of tracking your achievements. If you successfully declined dessert all week long, celebrate. If you worked out longer or harder than you did the previous week, note that progress and celebrate those wins.

Treat Yourself Once in a While

When you feel like you’re constantly denying yourself treats and activities that make you feel good, it’s hard to keep going. It hurts your morale and keeps you from reaching your goals in the long run. Instead, give yourself permission to live a little. Enjoy a favorite treat every once in a while. Take an unplanned day off from your workout routine. Whatever it is, be forgiving of yourself. You can always get right back to your routine the next day. 

Meeting Your Goals Is Possible

Achieving your New Year’s resolutions is possible as long as you can stay motivated to reach those goals. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll find pushing through those plateaus and overcoming challenges much easier. If you end up injuring yourself while trying to achieve a new level of fitness, reach out to your closest location and schedule a consultation with our physical therapy experts. 

Physical therapy is one of the best ways to overcome and recover from injuries you experience throughout your life. It’s more than just fancy stretches—it’s a comprehensive assistance program that teaches your body the tools and techniques it needs to help you feel the best you can at all times. However, finding experienced physical therapy services isn’t as simple as working with the first facility you find online. You need to choose the right group for your needs, your budget, and your personality. Here are a few key tips to help you find the best option for your recovery.

1. Pay Attention to the Location

When you’re in active recovery, the last thing you need to do is spend hours in the car commuting to appointments each week. Instead of choosing a physical therapy service based on recommendations alone, choose one that’s in a convenient location. The ideal facility will be located close to the place you spend the most time prior to your appointment. This could be your house, your workplace, or even your kids’ school. The closer it is, the easier your commute to your appointments will be.

2. Discuss Insurance Coverage

Unless you plan on paying for your treatments out of pocket every time you go to physical therapy, you’re going to need to choose a provider that’s in-network. This means that the facility works with your insurance company to provide you quality care without forcing you to spend your savings on the appointments. If you’re not sure which providers are in-network, call your insurance company and get a list of local therapists they work with. If you can, choose a few from this list and get more information. IF you have a physical therapist in mind that isn’t on the list, you can still use your insurance to lower the cost of treatment. Just know that you’ll likely have to pay a higher price for each appointment than you would if you worked with an in-network provider.

3. Schedule a Consultation

Believe it or not, different physical therapists have different philosophies even if they all share the same goal of helping you feel better. This means you’ll need to schedule consultations with at least a few professionals before you can find someone you truly enjoy working with. If you can, try to do just that. Go to several appointments and pay attention to the way each therapist addresses your concerns and the types of exercises they recommend. After consultations with several providers, you’ll be able to choose someone you can trust and are comfortable working with for as long as it takes for you to recover.

Reach Out Now

Finding a great physical therapist doesn’t have to be a challenge. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be able to find someone you’ll enjoy working with in no time. If you’re ready to schedule a consultation and start figuring out a long-term path to wellness, don’t wait. Reach out to your nearest physical therapist and schedule an appointment today. 

Few things are worse than waking up with a sore back, going about your day, and falling asleep to severe lower back pain. Unfortunately, this is a reality for thousands of working people every day. If you’re one of them, you know that getting out of pain is a major priority. Before you can start looking for the solution to that pain in your lower back, you need to understand the most common causes of your chronic pain. These are a few of the issues your Wyoming physical therapy team sees most.

Poor Posture
Believe it or not, the most common cause of chronic low back pain is due to the way you carry yourself when you walk, sit, bend, and move. Your posture matters more than you might think. If you slouch or don’t take care to maintain good posture throughout the day, you put strain on your spine. The longer you do this, the more likely you are to develop back pain. The best thing you can do is start paying attention to your posture throughout the day. If you notice that your shoulders are rounded, straighten them. You can also schedule an appointment with your physical therapy team to help you identify exercises to help you maintain that good posture in the future. 

Improper Shoes
If you spend any significant amount of time on your feet, your shoes are one of the most important accessories you have access to. The right shoe can help reduce or eliminate your low back pain while the wrong shoe can aggravate even minor aches and pains. Look at the shoes you wear each day. If they provide support for your arch and cushion your foot against the hard ground, you’re doing everything you can to keep your body happy and healthy. However, if they have virtually no support or put your foot in a position that alters the natural alignment of your bone structure (high heels wearers, pay attention), it can hurt your posture and cause severe chronic pain. Switching to the right pair of shoes can make all the difference.

Sleeping on a Bad Mattress
Your posture doesn’t just matter during the day. It also plays a role in your health and wellbeing at night and the right mattress can make or break your chronic pain issues. Take a look at your bed and think about how you feel when you wake up. If you’re tossing and turning all night long or wake up with intense pain in your low back every day, it’s time to switch to a better bed. Keep in mind that you’ll want to invest in a bed that’s firm and supportive. Overly soft mattresses make it hard to maintain a good posture during the night and increase the risk of severe and chronic pain.

Don’t Ignore Your Pain
The key to taking care of chronic pain lies in being proactive. Look at your habits and make the necessary changes to help you improve your health. If you feel stuck, contact our team to schedule a consultation.

Staying in great shape during the winter months isn’t always easy, but one of the best ways to do just that is by getting in a good, long bike ride several times a week. Though the sport is relatively safe and puts less stress and strain on your joints than running or other outdoor activities, accidents can and do happen. When you find yourself injured after a bike accident, there are a few things you need to do before you start looking into physical therapy services to speed your recovery.

See Your Doctor as Soon as Possible

The best thing you can do after a bike accident is to call your doctor. Even if your injuries don’t seem severe, you should always get them checked out by your trusted physician. Remember, just because you don’t feel that hurt or notice that much pain doesn’t mean your injuries aren’t severe. You might not know the extent of your injuries without more sophisticated tests. Let your doctor know what happened when you schedule the appointment. This will help them better diagnose your condition.

Give Yourself Time to Recover

When you’re trying to maintain your physical fitness, there’s a temptation to get back on the bike as soon as you can. After an accident, that’s not always the best idea. You need to give your body time to heal and recover fully, even if your injuries are minor. If you don’t, you risk complicating the injuries and further slowing your recovery time. The longer it takes for you to get back to normal, the harder it will be for you to get back on the bike. When in doubt, take it easy and listen to the needs of your body. If pushing it feels wrong, continue taking time off.

Attend Physical Therapy If Needed

Even when you think you’ve fully recovered after a bike accident, you may still have a ways to go until you’re back to normal. If you’re struggling to figure out ways to speed your recovery or to regain your full range of motion, the best thing you can do is schedule a physical therapy appointment. During your initial consultation, your physical therapist will be able to assess your movement and review your injuries to help you find the right recovery protocol to speed things along. With their help, you’ll avoid making the injury worse and will be able to get back on two wheels more quickly and with less pain than you otherwise would.

Getting Back to Normal Is Possible

All bike accidents, even minor ones, can cause you serious pain. The sooner you can overcome those injuries and get yourself back to feeling like you used to, the sooner you’ll be able to be back on two wheels. If you feel like you’re hitting a plateau in your recovery, don’t try to push through it on your own. Schedule an appointment at your closest physical therapy location as soon as possible. The sooner you do, the easier it will be to get you back to riding like the pro you are.

If you’re like most people, New Year’s means one thing: a time for celebration. While it’s certainly a great way to end the holiday season, what comes next? Chances are that you don’t feel as great as you used to and there’s no better time than the new year to start improving and focusing on your health. Here are a few great New Year’s resolutions to help you improve your health in the long run so you can avoid searching for physical therapy near me for years to come.

Be More Active

One of the most common reasons people fail on their fitness resolutions is because they make them so strict or out of reach that they’re impossible to hit. The truth is that any increase in physical activity can help you get healthier and stay that way. Next year, commit to being more active even if that means just going on a walk a few evenings a week or parking your car further away from the office so you have to walk more before your workday starts. Whatever it is, make those commitments realistic. You can always push yourself harder once you get into better shape.

Ditch the Processed Goods

Your diet can have a huge impact on your health and wellbeing. Use this to your advantage and try to cut down or eliminate all processed goods and junk food in the New Year. You can start out slowly. Cut one junk food from your diet each week and replace it with something healthy. Instead of reaching for a candy bar when you’re munchy, switch to more natural forms of sugar like fruit, homemade vegetable chips, or even homemade popsicles. As you start to develop a taste for those healthy foods, you’ll stop craving the junk making it even easier to keep your resolution.

Prioritize Sleep

Did you know that sleep plays a major role in your physical and mental health? Ideally, you should be getting at least eight hours of good, restful sleep each night. This helps you wake up energized and ready for your day, every day. If you’re having trouble sleeping, look for ways to help you de-stress. Meditate for a few minutes before going to bed, read a good book, or take a long, hot bath. Just make sure to turn the TV off and leave your phone or tablet outside the bedroom. This will help your mind unwind and make it easier for your body to get ready for bed in the first place. 

Make the Right Resolutions From the Get-Go

If you’ve struggled to keep your New Year’s resolutions, you’re not alone. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept it. Set reasonable goals and break them into more achievable chunks. Once you hit one milestone, celebrate! Even if you still have a ways to go, you’re still making progress! If at any point you get injured during your physical activities or just aren’t happy with your range of motion, reach out and schedule a consultation with our team.