It is no news that the United States has been struggling with the obesity epidemic for the last several decades. Every year more and more weight loss companies come out with the next new “quick fix” or diet, yet the numbers continue to rise. In 2010, a government-run organization which aims to improve the health of Americans set a goal of lowering the rate to 30.5 for youth by the year 2020. Just three years away, and the rates have only continued to increase; more specifically, by 3...

A recent study reported a significant increase in rates of knee osteoarthritis found in individuals living today compared to previous generations (http://www.pnas.org/content/114/35/9332). Researchers at Harvard University studied skeletal remains of people over the age of 50 in the early industrial era (1800’s to early 1900’s) and compared them to those of people living during the late 1900’s to the year 2000.  They found evidence of knee osteoarthritis in 6 of people liv...

Ever heard the expression “quality over quantity”? In some way or another, regardless of the situation, most of us have probably agreed with this. What’s the point of doing a lot with little return if you can do less with more return?  Now, apply this thought to your everyday life. As a society, many of us spend our days racing around from meeting to meeting, constantly checking our email, or thinking of the next thing we have to do on our endless check list. According t...

Our bodies are meant to move. Even as I sit here writing this blog, I find myself readjusting my position, stretching out kinks in my back and neck, and trying as hard as I can to fix my horrendous posture. To me, this is my body telling me that sitting for an extended period of time is not a natural state of being.  Perhaps it is even dangerous to my health. Throughout the past several years, researchers have looked into this idea on many different accounts. There is now loads of informa...

Physical Therapy Month October is National Physical Therapy Month. This is a time to raise awareness of the profession’ vision to: "transform society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience." Physical therapists work with diverse patient populations, and there are many areas of specialty practice including orthopedic, sports, neurologic, pediatric, geriatric, and acute care. The one thing that all physical therapists have in common is that they diagnose and treat movement ...