Why You Should Jog Twice a Week

U.S Navy SEAL William McRaven broke the internet in 2014 with an inspiring speech to then-recent university graduates. The talk began with a strange and unobvious statement that left the crowd confused: “You can change the world by making your bed.” But the message soon became clear. The Veteran was explaining that small tasks make the foundations for larger tasks. A marathon is run one step at a time, making your bed is the first step - which then leads to the next. He began each day of gruelling training, involving swimming in shark infested waters, by simply making his bed. Every small, beneficial task will lift you up a little bit each day, and eventually climax at an extraordinary accomplishment. And, even if you have an awful day – at least you come home to a made bed.

A regular jogging routine, even just twice a week will strengthen muscles, improve cardiovascular fitness, burn plenty of calories, help maintain a healthy weight, and even can help in building stronger bones. Our health routine and the way we look after ourselves is similar to William McRaven’s story. Just as he aimed at becoming a SEAL, we aim to be fitter, lose weight, get an early start to the day – we may even dream to one day complete or compete in a marathon. These aims are the great achievements and usually make up our deepest desires. One way we can begin working towards them is jogging. Jogging is more than a fad. It is a tried and tested way of maintaining a stable weight, helping deal with mental illnesses, and optimising the functioning of vital organs, like the heart.

The same way making his bed got him into the Navy SEALS, we can achieve health goals by going for a jog or joining a sports club, but are put down in thinking – what’s the point? If I go for one run, will it really make that much of a difference? After all, it’s only one run and I need to go on plenty of runs to be healthy. Health, like the accomplishments of Mr William McRaven, is an on-going battle of willpower. Respectively, one run is like making one bed – and Rome wasn’t built in a day.

What Do I Need to Get Started?

If you are over 40, it’s best to get a check-up with your physician and outline a plan of action. You may need to slowly build up from a walking pace – or maybe you’re ready to jump into the deep end and join a sprinting club. Either way, it’s best to get checked.

After this, you need to get some running shoes to look after your feet – don’t wear old sneakers. You should look at getting specialist running shoes. The larger your frame the more “cushion” you need in the sole – and depending on the arch of your foot, you will need more or less support from your shoe depending if you are high-arched or low-arched respectively. Any good running shop will have you jog on a treadmill and analyse you. Apart from that, grab some old clothes (it’s not a fashion parade) and enjoy building a healthier you, even though it can be a struggle, especially in the morning.

However, even if you have had an awful day, you can go back to your made bed and think to yourself “at least I went for a jog today.”

Staying Hydrated this Summer

Up to 60% of a male adult’s body is made of water. This leads us to some obvious conclusions: firstly, we are only 21% different to a banana (crazy, right?) but more importantly, we need to ensure that we top up body when we sweat. In hot weather, we tend to sweat more as the sun is beating down and we all tend to be a little more active. During summers, heat waves, and tropical holidays – it’s important we bring water alongside our sunscreen wherever we go. Let’s check out why it’s important to keep hydration levels topped up.

Water is critical for rehydrating the body after fluid loss, and it is usually recommended that you drink six to eight tall glasses of water a day (which amounts to about 2 litres). Although there are many supplements and alternatives on the market – good old H20 remains the best way of refuelling your body’s supply of water. A lot of the water we consume also comes from food – meats, vegetables, and pastas are high in h20 meaning they all contribute to your hydration levels.

Hot weather increases the bodies demand for water and other fluids tremendously. We need to account for not only our bodies basic need, but also the extra strain on our inner-water supply when sweating. We have already mentioned how much you should drink, but it may also help to be mindful of what you eat. Food contains water and other fluids. This can account for water intake but can also help manage your weight – which in the long term means your body exerts less energy to do more.

A good diet controls how much you sweat – and the less you sweat – the less water your body needs to replenish. Eating fruit and vegetables in lieu of sticky, sugary, or high carb food can help maintain weight levels and keep sweating to a minimum. You could also ditch the morning coffee as it activates the sweat glands, meaning more sweat and more hydration. If it’s a scorcher outside, it is recommended you stick to water. Maybe a cup of tea if you need a hot drink in the morning.

If you want to talk through water in-take or speak with one of our specialists, please contact our switchboard at (212) 241-6321

How Has Technology Improved the Lives of Patients?

Technology has changed the world forever by making the once inconceivable become possible. In the medical field, the development of new technology has rapidly advanced levels of treatments doctors can offer. It has brought us miraculous powers to revolutionize people’s lives, and every day brings us new tools to help tackle difficult issues. Last week, we took a look at an app Mount Sinai is developing and showed how it improved quality of treatment and patient quality of life. This week, we invite you to explore how Mount Sinai and partners are using technology to change the lives of people who were told that they would never be able to walk again.

Grassroots Innovation

Dr Ann Soungen, associate professor of rehabilitative medicine at Mount Sinai, remembers a time when engineers would come in with preliminary ideas and exoskeletons sketched on a notepad discussing the potential for developing a robotic exoskeleton to help people who were paralysed. After telling them to return when they had a prototype, they later came back to develop the ReWalk program with physicians and experts at Mount Sinai, which teaches people how to use the ReWalk Personal System.

What is the ReWalk Personal System?

The ReWalk Personal system is a battery-powered, robotic exoskeleton that is powered by a battery run through a computer placed in the backpack of the patient. It allows the patient to walk with crutches and improves knee alignment. This product, combined with ReWalk training available at selected Mount Sinai clinics, offers patients the ability to walk again.

The training centers for the ReWalk programme can be found at:

Mount Sinai Hospital One Gustave L. Levy Place New York, NY 10029 USA

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai – 3 east 101^st Street New York, NY 10029 USA

The program teaches people who have lost the ability to walk how to use a robotic exoskeleton that gives support and stability using the exoskeleton controlled by a computer. By completing the training offered, patients are able to reclaim their lives in ways previously unimaginable.

Tried and Tested: How ReWalk Changed a Patient’s Life

Father of three, Robert Woo was told in 2007 he would never be able to walk again. He suffered from a severe injury at Goldman Sachs working as an architect when seven tons of steel fell thirty stories onto his construction trailer. He said the weight folded him in half on site. Robert Woo later became the first person to be certified to purchase the new ReWalk Personal 6.0 system to use at home. It has given him to power to walk once again, stand with his wife, and walk around the park with his children – something he thought he would never be able to do again.

 If you are interested in a bespoke ReWalk plan, purchasing ReWalk technology, or would simply like to learn more, please contact us at Mount Sinai Department of Rehabilitative Medicine. Contact our switchboard at: (212) 241-6321

Your Very Own Rocky Balboa Story

Unless under the influence of post-Rocky euphoria, or a “big-fight” is taking place, most people never consider boxing as an alternative to their usual health routine. That’s reasonable. Most of us would rather get fit than bruised, and although boxing is one of the best ways to burn fat and stay healthy – it has a tough guy reputation that it’s struggling to throw. But many boxing-gyms are now accommodating “keep-fitters” and box-fit classes to encourage people to engage without fear of being pressured into the ring. Because of this, activities like blue collar boxing have been a great success and raised money for charity while keeping inactive city workers fit and healthy. Let’s jump into the ring and explain how boxing can help you fight a number of health issues and provide a kick-start to a new health campaign.

Boxing is an exercise performed for 15 minutes or longer between (approximately) 60-80% of your heart rate. This means it is aerobic. The longer your exercise and the higher your heart, the higher the capacity you are building for aerobic exercise. This kind of exercise trains your heart and lungs – and, the better shape your lungs are heart are in, the healthier your general health tends to be. If your heart is stronger, it better pumps blood around your body and the more oxygen you can take in –this is experienced in all facets of life from walking up the stairs to running for the train. More importantly, aerobic exercise puts people at less risk for heart attacks and strokes, reduces the chances of type 2 diabetes, joint pain – and improves overall life expectancy. Sure, boxing is tough, but it’s more than worth it.

During boxing training, boxers can burn up to 30 calories per minute. That means that within 30mins of intense boxing training, you could burn up to 900 calories (that’s already over half a woman’s daily calorie intake). That’s why despite boxer’s best efforts, it’s often really hard to put on weight. Training at this level is of course highly demanding and will take time to achieve - but it will allow you to keep your heart and lungs healthy whilst reducing your body weight.

This form of aerobic training has also been shown to help participants sleep at night by exhausting their body and relaxing their mind. Boxing has begun to be seen by people as a stress reliever (as opposed to a stress inducer – no one wants to get beaten up like the Italian Stallion). On the one hand, boxing is therapeutic as it allows people to punch away pent up aggression, but it also triggers dopamine to be released after training. That means less stress and more happiness.

Boxing has always been on the periphery of the fitness industry. Although it has it’s rough and ready back-street reputation that will never go away you won’t find yourself greasy and sliding around a ring getting your lights punched out. Unless of course that’s what you want to do – there’s still ample scope for that.

If you are interested in beginning a boxing programme but are worried about your current physical condition or are unsure whether such a plan would suit your situation, please contact our switchboard at (212) 241-6321

Smart Technology to Enhance Your Home Rehabilitation

Returning home from inpatient rehabilitation can be a daunting process. Alongside the potential changes in your daily routines, it may be necessary to change the functionality of your house. In order to make this process as seamless as possible, we have developed a mobile app to evaluate your home situation. Use the smart technology funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation to revolutionize your rehabilitative recovery.

A home evaluation consists of documenting the dimensions of rooms, hallways, door widths, obstacles, and other facets of you home after a serious surgery or return from impatient rehabilitation. Usually, the patient will be unable to complete this process alone and a friend or family will complete the home evaluation on paper.

The patient will receive the necessary equipment and alterations to their home to assist with their recovery. This includes new beds, wheelchairs, commodes, tub benches, and other utilities to give the patient as much independence as possible.

If the home evaluation is not done properly, the recipient could end up receiving the wrong materials, products, and equipment – or even equipment that is unsafe or unusable. A common issue with this process is slight miscalculations and poor recordings of dimension by the family member. This has a knock-on-effect of the products later distributed by the therapist not fitting the requirements of your property, which often leads to a frustrating process of rectification.

Our innovative technology curtails this issue by making the assessment form easier to fill in. This provides more accurate and reliable measurements, which allows for better decisions to be made by the clinician. The app will develop, test, and disseminate an accurate quantitative description of your house and create a precise floorplan. With accurate data, therapists can better draft appropriate changes to your home surroundings – making post inpatient rehabilitation a little easier.

For the moment, the app is being used around the country by clinicians and family members of patients at Mount Sinai as we test the Beta model. Going forward we will test it with rehabilitative facilities around the country before using feedback from community partners to develop the final versions. The application will then be available for general use.

If you believe that our home evaluation app could help you after inpatient rehabilitation, please contact us at Mount Sinai Department of Rehabilitative Medicine for a walkthrough on how to access it. Contact our switchboard at: (212) 241-6321

When Should You See A Doctor?

This week we are going to give you our advice on an often dreaded question:

When Should A Niggle Become Visit to The Doctor?

Knowing exactly when to see a doctor when being affected by a minor sports injury is like asking “how long is piece of string?” Obviously, it depends on the string. It is a common question asked in our field as many players have niggling pains and aches but notice that often they go away on their own. When should you go and see someone?

 There is a general key we have created to help you decide when you should visit a doctor or specialist because ultimately it is up to you. But don’t worry, we aren’t copping out – we are going to guide you through a self-diagnosis soon. But firstly, due to the nature of sports injuries we cannot all diagnose over the internet for two reasons:

i)                 Everyone heals differently

ii)               Injuries vary in severity

It is therefore difficult to determine when the ideal time is to visit a doctor without knowing more. Of course, if you have recently suffered from a sport related injury and cannot see a physician, remember the PRICE procedure we discussed earlier this month (click here to learn more).

The first question you need to ask yourself is: is this injury preventing me from functioning? Generally, if your pain isn’t bad enough to shut you down completely but still preventing you from performing at your peak day-to-day then you should see your physician. This makes it difficult to time stamp when is most appropriate as it depends on your circumstances. A bricklayer who sustained a painful blow to shoulder while playing American football will want to be seeing a physician almost immediately as it would affect his capability to function day-to-day. An office clerk may on the other hand want to wait it out as it doesn’t affect their functionality.

Secondly, and this response is mostly applicable to sportspeople, are you doing what want to do as well as you could be doing it? That is, if you have a niggle that is preventing you from functioning at your highest potential level – then you should get it seen by a physician or doctor. A slight pain in the shoulder can be ignored by most people and left to heal by itself; however, a slight pain in the shoulder for a pitcher or quarterback can diminish their performance week-in and week-out. It is also at a higher risk of deteriorating as you are using the joint more frequently and more intensely. If this is you, get it checked out!

If you have suffered from anything mentioned above and believe you could benefit from a rehab plan or require medical attention, please contact us at Mount Sinai Department of Rehabilitative Medicine for a bespoke rehab plan. We’ll get you back on the field ASAP. Contact our switchboard at (212) 241-6321

Frequent Injuries in Baseball

Most Common Injuries in Baseball

For obvious reasons, baseball isn’t considered a high-risk sport like football or ice hockey – mostly because it isn’t a collision sport. Regardless, baseball brings its own risks. You are running, jumping, sliding (sometimes) and swinging a bat at a high velocity which puts you in danger of muscle strain, especially after long practice sessions. Consequently, baseball players frequently suffer from golf and tennis elbow – their ligaments are fatigued and deteriorating over time; and we haven’t even considered the risk of falling, collisions, and the danger associated with a hard ball flying at over 99m/h (albeit a generous estimate for most).

Types of Shoulder Pain

The most commonly overused muscle in baseball is the shoulder – usually during pitching. Shoulder tendonitis is common in young athletes who use overhead throws and the windmill pitch can cause a myriad of problems, especially when combined with poor form. Torn rotator cuffs can develop in the rotator cuff tendons and older players may begin experiencing Frozen Shoulder which reduces motion and causes pain in the shoulder joint. The shoulder can become unstable when combined with long periods of overhead throwing as the motion stretches the ligaments, leading to loose joints and sometimes dislocation. Finally, and possibly all pitchers’ worst nightmare is the Shoulder Separation – which is a traumatic injury that is a result of falling or colliding with a hard object with an outstretched hand.

Pain in the Elbow

Throughout the last couple of weeks, we outlined exactly what Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow was, and top ways of curing. We will go over it quickly now, but if you want a more in-depth guide, follow the links below.

Golfers Elbow and how to treat it – Click Here

Tennis Elbow and how to treat it – Click Here

PRICE Routine to help with minor sprains – Click Here

Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow are like two sides of the same coin. When the tendons in the arm are overloaded we often experience a dull pain on the outside of the forearm. Tennis Elbow denotes a pain felt due to overuse on the outside of the arm above the elbow whereas Golfer’s elbow is in a similar location but slightly under the elbow. Follow the links above to learn more.

Overloading the Spine

The human spine is a wonderous structure – we really couldn’t function without it. It transmits information from nerve endings all over the body through the central nervous system to the brain, and if that wasn’t enough, it is also the structure that keeps us standing up straight on two legs. It’s worth looking after your spine. Baseball poses a slight risk to the spine. Although admittedly it is a small risk – because the spine is so important – it is worth covering.

Catchers are prone to back injury during baseball due to the crouched position and overhead throwing. Some pitchers may also experience back damage especially when using the windmill pitch.

The most common damage sustained to the spine is muscle strains in the upper and lower back. This is usually dealt with rather simply by a physiotherapist or a sports massage (and rest). However, there is also a risk of a herniated disk which is when a disc in the spine ruptures and pinches surrounding nerves. This can be an agonizing experience. If you believe you have suffered from a herniated disc you should seek medical attention immediately. Even if it was only a small rupture, the damage could be exponentially augmenting each time you play – eventually leading to a severe hernia. As always, prevention is the best form of treatment.

If you have suffered from anything mentioned above and believe you could benefit from a rehab plan or require medical attention, please contact us at Mount Sinai Department of Rehabilitative Medicine for a bespoke rehab plan. We’ll get you back on the field ASAP. Contact our switchboard at (212) 241-6321