Gaston Rehab Associates, Inc.

Leadership for Healthy Communities

There is a new resource out from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation called Leadership for Healthy Communities. I am confident that if the beloved city of Philadelphia can pass city legislation requiring chain restaurants to post nutrition labels just about any city in the U.S. can do so.

This is a great resource for all community leaders looking to do something about the obesity epidemic in their communities.

Workplace Wellness Resources

Employers in Charlotte, Gastonia, Statesville and surrounding areas in North Carolina may be interested to know about the new LEAN works web resource put together by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

This step by step guide can assist businesses of all sizes in putting together a preventative program to help reduce obesity among their employees. A helpful Obesity Cost Calculator can show employers just how much they may be spending on their employees annually for direct and indirect costs because of their employees obesity.

Want to put together a program, but are afraid you would not know how to start, even with guidance? Relax, Gaston Rehab Associates works with companies of all sizes implementing preventative programs that are cost effective, evidence based, and in the end put money back in the bottom line of the organization. With an ROI of as high as 3:1 you can have your organization on the way to a healthier, more productive workplace. Please be advised, results do not happen over night. Employee buy in is the best approach for programs such as this. Regardless of what you may read otherwise, a top down approach having management buy-in first, to a healthy workplace only goes so far. The people at greatest risk must buy-in before your program will be successful.

If you would like more information or would like to see if a FREE pilot program  (where we take a small sample of your existing employees and have them join our program to show you whether or not your group will likely benefit from this type of investment) is right for your organization, please contact Dr. Brian Boyle, DPT, Doctor of Physical Therapy at 704-864-4424 or by E-mail at bboyle@gastonrehabassociates.com

Nutrition Website

If you are like most people, managing your weight is a constant struggle. If you think about it, if you never put weight on you don't have to take it off. This is easy to say, but much harder to practice.

Fortunately Nutrimirror has a free web site which allows you to log in and keep track of your daily eating and physical activity. Of special interest is the calorie counter which you can look up many of your favorite chain restaurants to see exactly what is in your favorite meal. I can tell you this, I probably won't be eating two slices of Sbarro's pepperoni pizza anymore at a whopping 700 calories a slice and with 2000mg of sodium. No wonder that bottle of water doesn't seem to quench my thirst.

Another interesting area of the web site is the RMR (resting metabolic rate) calculator. This allows you to plug in some information about yourself to get a rough idea of what your body's caloric needs are based on your height and weight, age and body fat percentage if you know it. This is a nice tool if you do not have access to a RMR respirometer.

I suggest you play around on the web site and join for the free service they provide. This may just be the type of eye opening experience we all need to make better choices with the food we eat.

Council on Aging offers Older Adult Registry in Charlotte

The following was listed in the Senior Living Guide November 2008 Edition Scoop Magazine:

 

During a disaster or emergency, frail, homebound and special needs older citizens may need assistance.   Working with other agencies and organizations in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Council on Aging has created the Senior Disaster Registry- a free, voluntary, secure and confidential database to collect information from older adults, people with disabilities and those who may need assistance in the event of a disaster.  The Senior Disaster Registry is a way of alerting emergency responders to a registrant's location and gives vital information needed to best provide assistance. 

 

People aged 60 years and older, those who are frail and/or home-bound, and people needing transportation assistance in the event of emergencies are encouraged to register for the Senior Disaster Registry.  This Registry is not intended for those served in or by long-term care facilities.  

 

Registration can take place by contacting Council on Aging:

• Phone:  704-391-5216
• Fax: 704-391-5217
• E-mail:  SeniorRegistry@charmeckcoa.org

What's next: Surgery on DVD?

It seems now that just about anyone can do physical therapy and not only that, you can do it at home! Two orthopaedic surgeons developed a company called BodyworksMD (inappropriately named as it turns out) which sells DVD's on do it yourself physical therapy so "you don't have to pay hundreds of dollars in co-pays." At least they hired Paul Larosa, PT to legitimize the physical therapy aspect of the DVD. I blame Home Depot for tagging their slogan, "You can do it, we can help(TM)". Anyone that has bought a book, bought the supplies and then tried to lay tile knows exactly what I mean. Oh sure, I did it. I agonized through 7 days of back and knee breaking work because I figured I could do it myself. Did I do it? Yes. Was it worth it in the end? A resounding no. All I did was trade saving money for time, confusion, and good luck.

Now let me step back a moment before anyone tries to call me out for a program that we offer in our clinic. We do offer on-line personal training services. However the reality is that the follow up sessions are done and documented on-line after an initial evaluation to ensure proper technique, proper exercise prescription, and individual need for the exercises presented. We offer these services for clients who have equipment at home, who are busy traveling, and for those well versed already in exercise whom wish to to be told which exercises are best for their particular condition. However the major difference is we never just send someone exercises. Our youtube video on iliotibial band syndrome was placed on there as a guide for exercises that could be done and was not sold as the authority on exercises to do. We also tell our clients to view the video if they have any questions about the exercises we taught them and allow them to be able to review on their own time.

I guess I would not have as much problem with the whole series if it were just called as it should be "Two Physicians Selling Exercise Video to Offset Loss of Reimbursement Income." Why did they have to bring Physical Therapy into it? If Physical Therapy were only exercise then no one else would be able to do the exercises especially since physical therapy is a protected term in every state it seems except Maryland. Maybe the Chiropractors in Maryland will be the biggest purchasers of this product? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Who is really happy after the "Happy Meal?"

A new report was just published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, concluding that the majority of children's meals offered at the nation's top restaurant chains are too high in calories. Now this really isn't all that surprising, since most of their regular size food items are also too high in calories. What I did learn is that the recommendations for children between the ages of 4 and 8 is only 430 calories per meal. And even more surprising was that 93 percent of the children's menu meals offered at the 13 restaurants surveyed were above this benchmark for calories. Even worse many were high in trans and saturated fats and sodium.

Leave it to the spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association who responded

Exercising parental responsibility is key to childhood nutrition and that good eating habits and healthy living must be established in the home.

I guess this sounds all well and good and maybe more people should just eat at home. But then why do these company's spend millions of dollars a year on advertising some even taunting you with "Open Late" messages if they don't want you there?  How many children's meals do you see with half a chicken breast, small side salad, apple and a bottle of water? The only chicken is fried and breaded, most include a soda, and almost all include chips or fries.

Yeah the parent could go somewhere else, but the truth is there really is no need to use trans fats, saturated fats, and so much sodium you could preserve a ham for months. As a business owner, I believe in selling what the customer wants. At the same time I don't believe in killing my customer just because they don't know any better. I recently found out, one of my favorite dishes at a chain restaurant has 3700 mg of sodium in it. That is over 200 mg more than the recommeded daily allowance for sodium intake. I always wondered why I left there so thirsty. I don't think I'll be going back there anytime soon until they do something about that. I have made the same dish at home and know for a fact that it has no where near the amount of sodium and still tastes great.

Bottom line is parents need to take responsibility for teaching their children what to eat, but restaurants also need to take responsibility for providing meals that resemble something fit for consumption that also tastes good.

On-line Personal Training- Gastonia, NC

Want to be in the best shape you can be, but don't want to give up your first born to do so?

Have you ever thought or said, "If someone could just show me how to do the exercises I am sure I would be fine on my own?"

Gaston Rehab Associates, Inc. is now offering on-line personal training to new and current clients. This new program allows individuals who only need some guidance, the opportunity to not only get the guidance they are looking for, but to then also have the ability to contact our office for extra guidance if and when needed.  That means you can work out on your own time, in your own home or the gym you already belong to, and still have the expert advice and training of our highly skilled staff.

How it works is you start by coming in for an initial session in which we cover all necessary paperwork, go through activity and functional screenings, and then set up your program. Pictures are taken of you actually doing the exercises so that you never have to guess how you did it in our office.  Your workout is then either E-mailed to you or printed off in our office so you have a copy to take with you wherever you work out at. After you complete your workout you just log back in to our secure web site and enter your information for that day. We will follow along as you achieve your goals and progress you as need be. It is that simple!

Why spend $50 or more per session (which adds up to hundreds of dollars a month) to have someone tell you that you are doing great, when all you need is to be instructed in what exercises to do.  Our program offers you the convenience of being able to workout whenever and wherever you wish while still giving you the expert advice you need for only $99/month. For a limited time only find the coupon on our web site to take $25 dollars off this service.

To get started on the "new you" call our office today at 704-864-4424 or E-mail at info@gastonrehabassociates.com.

Payments can now be made on-line on our secure web site!

Gaston County makes a failing grade

North Carolina's Eat Smart, Move More program recently handed out grades for each county in the state. To say that Gaston County failed would be an understatement. With the highest grade being a "D" for meeting physical activity requirements, it shows that we have a long way to go before our county will be top on the list.

This is really a shame especially since it is not for a lack of programming and opportunity. With programs such as Activate Gaston, other groups such as the Gaston Community Health Care Commission, and with the number of parks, trails, and recreation activities available, you would have a hard time believing that overall the citizens of Gaston County would receive such low grades.

It appears that we need to change the mind set of the individuals that make up this county. I wonder how hard it would be for restaurants to offer better choices, especially since most surveyed felt like it was too difficult to eat at home because of lack of time.

From the results of this survey what we do now is that something needs to change. Unfortunately, we just haven't found the way to make this change happen.

Fitness Test For Adults

The President's Challenge has designed an Adult Fitness Test designed for adults 18 years and older who are in good health.

The test is designed to give the person taking the test an estimate of their level of aerobic fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and their body composition. The results on each test provide a measure from which a person can track their progress in each area as they become more physically active.

The downside of something like this test is unfortunately for the person that scores low in any category there are only generic recommendations that tell them what to do in order to improve their score. Nothing is more frustrating for a person than having information that tells them they need help that is not specific for their needs.

I applaud the test itself, however recommend it be used by health care providers to gain a better understanding of a baseline of health for their current clients. Those individuals that are currently physically fit may be able to use the test to compare how they perform in relation to others, but I would not recommend an individual that is not currently training to take the test as it may only lead to frustration.

Nutrition Website

I stumbled upon a great resource on the web for Nutrition Data. The website has a ton of great advice and research based information. I particularly like The Better Choices Diet (TM) which revolves around the following concept:

For every food that you eat, there are likely to be other equally nutritious foods that will satisfy your hunger with fewer Calories.

Now this assumes that you are not currently a health fanatic and currently eating the healthiest foods available. The great part about this concept is that there are no banned foods, it requires no special foods or other investments, can be used to make other diets more effective, and can even be used to control your weight while attempting to gain weight for those individuals looking to gain healthy weight. Sounds good to me!

This falls along the lines of what Weight Watchers has done for their eating plans and is very effective, but without the need to belong to a group.