Rejuvenate your health

Hello Seeley-Swan and beyond community! For those of you I have not met yet I'd like to introduce myself and tell you about this great new feature available through the Pathfinder.

My name is Kim Grover, PT, MPT. I am a physical therapist (PT) and the owner of Rejuvenate LLC. We provide physical therapy and massage services. We have been in business for over 16 years and have been privileged to serve the Seeley-Swan and surrounding communities. Currently our licensed staff includes Beth Layman, LMT, Bill Lemke, PT, MPT and Linda Schemm, PT, DPT, OCS. The three of us PTs have over 100 years of combined experience! We want to share our expertise with you through this weekly REJUVENATE YOUR HEALTH column. We aim to provide you with evidence-based information to improve your strength, mobility, endurance and sports performance which in turn can benefit your overall health.

Now let's look at what a progressive walking program could look like.

Walking 30 minutes a day, three times a week has been shown to improve cardiovascular endurance and reduce blood pressure and weight. A lot of people are using activity trackers and apps to track steps during their daily activities and this too has been shown to have benefits. These include reducing disability and pain associated with conditions like knee osteoarthritis. While many people aim for 10,000 steps per day, research shows that as little as 6,000 steps a day can reduce pain and disability while boosting cardiovascular health.

If you're thinking about starting a regular walking program or just increasing the amount of walking you do throughout the day, it's important that you do it the right way. The general recommendation for building any physical activity is to take whatever amount of the activity you do in a week and increase it by five percent or less per week. A good general starting place would be 3,000 steps per day. An example program following the five percent rule might look like the chart below

If you're not sure if you're ready to walk the recommended 6,000 steps a day, you can schedule a visit with us for a review of your medical history and baseline testing to find out what a safe level for you to start at would be.

One last thing to consider is footwear. Although walking is less stressful than running, it's still important to take care of your feet. Shoes designed for running work well to cushion and support your feet when walking too. If you need help picking the right pair, a PT can help and so can the staff at a good specialty running store.