 Why working out with a partner is beneficial:
By: Dr. Elizabeth Bynum, PT, DBT
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 Frequently we attempt to make behavioral changes such as exercising more or eating healthier in an effort to improve our quality of life. Most individuals that attempt to do this are able to maintain the desired change for a few months. But, unfortunately, studies have shown that most people attempting to change their lifestyle fall short of maintaining the behavior change. This is primarily due to the fact that they have not set up the appropriate steps it takes to maintain a behavior change. In fact, research suggests that if you can maintain a behavior for 6 months or longer, the risk of relapsing into your old habits decreases substantially! So what does this mean for you? In order to adopt a healthier lifestyle and improve your chances of maintaining the lifestyle, you have to: 1) Surround yourself with people who support you and participate in the same activities that endorse your newly desired lifestyle. 2) Once you have hit your long term goal of a desired change, create a new long term goal to focus on. Then make more short term goals to measure your small successes along the way! 3) Self-efficacy, self-efficacy, Self-efficacy! Improving your self confidence and believing that you are capable of continuing a healthier lifestyle is extremely important and associated with a high predictability that you will continue to succeed in meeting your goals. Remember, you are stronger than you think! 4) Ensure you feel good and continue to feel good from the newly adopted change. Continuing to see impacts and positive changes will only improve your desire to continue the behavior. Make sure the benefits of your change truly outweigh the “good” feeling you got from your previous behavior. When faced with temptation, remind yourself of these heavily weighted benefits from your new habit and stick to it! 5) Continue to work on the behavior change until you no longer feel any temptation to fall back to your old habits. If you find that you no longer desire something that you couldn’t go without before, then you can be confident that your chances of relapse are extremely small. Below is a picture of a model that experts use to help guide you through a desired behavior change and the maintenance of that behavior. Remember that if you are reading this you have achieved, or, are working to achieve a goal. Determine what stage you are in, make a plan, incorporate the five steps mentioned above, and you’ll be on your way to maintaining a behavior and terminating any threats to fall back into your old ways!  Pre-contemplation Phase: People in this phase are unaware of the need to change and currently have no intentions on doing so.
Contemplation Phase: People in this phase are aware of a need to change and are considering the pros and cons of moving forward with a given behavior change. Preparation Phase: In this stage, people are getting ready to make a change within ~30 days. They realize that a behavior change will positively impact their quality of life. Action Phase: People in this stage are currently participating in a desired behavior change and have been working on this change within the past 6 months. Maintenance phase: People in this stage have been adhering to a behavior change for 6 months or greater. They are working on maintaining the behavior and preventing relapse to previous stages. Best of luck and always remember that at Empire Performance PT, we are here to help you! Stop in and ask about our cash based program where we help you maintain an active lifestyle through 1 on 1 time with a doctor of physical therapy! By: Dr. Kyle Ioos, PT, DPT  Isn’t soup the best? Especially this time of the year - who doesn’t love a cup of hot, healthy goodness? They’re also so easy to make and require very little clean-up (most of the time). I find myself gravitating to creamy vegetable soups most of the time and I hardly ever follow a recipe. I throw 3-4 different veggies into a large pot, add desired spices, boil them in broth/water until tender, then add in a can or two of light coconut milk (depending on how much I’ve made) and blend it all together with an immersion blender. I also love serving it over some rice - which makes it much more filling. If I am following a recipe (or using one for a frame of reference), the first two recipes below are my go to. The third soup is one I haven’t made yet but it definitely on my Soups-To-Make list: 1. Vegan Broccoli Cheddar Soup
2. Split Pea Soup
3. Knoephla Soup Soup:
Knoephla:
Instructions: For the soup: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onions, a good pinch of salt and a few turns of pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 2 more minutes. Stir in the stock, herbs, bay leaves and potatoes. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cover and cook for 40 minutes. For the knoephla: Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, a few turns of pepper and the nutmeg in a medium bowl. Stir in 1 cup (236 grams) water and the egg and mix to form a shaggy dough. Turn it out onto a clean work surface and knead it for a few minutes, adding flour as needed, until you have a smooth and stiff dough. Roll it into a 1/2-inch-thick blob, then cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch squares, dusting with flour so they don't stick together.When the soup has 20 minutes left of simmer time, add the knoephla directly to the soup and continue to simmer. Stir in the cream. Taste and adjust the seasonings as desired. Remove the bay leaves before serving. Credit If you try one of these recipes, be sure to let me know the next time you stop into the clinic! By: Chloe, Patient Success Coordinator Snowed in and can’t make it to the gym? Here are 8 exercises for a total body workout that you can do from the comfort of your own home with virtually no equipment.  Side lying hip abduction: While lying on your side, slowly raise up your top leg towards the sky. Keep your knee straight and maintain your toes pointed forward the entire time. Keep your leg in-line with your body. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.  Squats: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and toes pointed forward to slightly turned out. Bend knees and lower buttock towards floor keeping your back straight and bending at your hips. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.  Good mornings: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, and place your hands at the back of your head with your elbows opened wide. Pull your abs to your spine, and keep your back neutral while pressing your butt backward, hinging at the hips, until your back is almost parallel to the floor. Keep a slight bend in your knees as you bend forward. Return to standing, squeezing your glutes when you are upright. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions  Calf raises off of a step: While standing on the edge of a step with your heels off the back end of the step, raise up on your toes as you raise your heels and body upward as shown. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.  Push ups: Select one of the above push ups based on your ability. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.
 Plank: While lying face down, lift your body up on your elbows and toes. Try and maintain a straight spine. Hold this position for 60 seconds and repeat 3 times. If you are unable to maintain a straight spine for the full 60 seconds, you can either start with less time per set or try a plank from the kneeling position seen below.   Shoveling snow is a repetitive activity. Because of this, if not done properly, it can result in low back and shoulder muscle strain. Fear not! Liz is here to help: She urges you to use these five, simple tips to prevent injury and shovel your snow pain, and injury, free this winter!
 Boy, I could go on for hours on end discussing my path towards becoming a physical therapist (PT), but I won’t do that to you. The path to becoming a PT has changed over the course of the last couple decades. Previously, the most common degree a PT would have been a Bachelor’s, but in present day the requirement is a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Which is what every therapist at Empire has!
The length of a program just depends on the specific school, but I’ll use my school: Sacred Heart University, as an example. 4 years of undergraduate work is the norm, but there are ways to shorten the amount of time down to 3 years with extra classes in the winter and summer time. Now that certainly was not for me, because I enjoyed having some money in my bank account during those seasons, but that’s besides the point. My class had a diverse pool of undergrad majors that ranged from biology to exercise science, mainly because those and all the others in between share classes that are prerequisites for a graduate PT program. At Sacred Heart, the PT program spans 3 years. Which is shared by many programs in the northeast. 2 full years in the classroom learning about an infinite number of evolving facts about the human body as well as the profession, which are followed by 1 full year of clinical experience out in the field. I am currently in the later part, so I am eager to take the next step towards helping others improve their quality of life and health. As a student I have gotten a look at the full spectrum of the PT profession, working in a hospital during the height of COVID, and seeing a wide variety of cases that challenged me to become a better therapist. With all that said, you’re in good hands with a physical therapist. And most will continue to learn more as the world changes, as will I. By: Matt Aquilino  Did you make a New Year's Resolution to improve your overall health and wellness? If so, good for you! Taking charge of your health is a great goal. But as we all know, the motivation we get from New Year's Resolutions can start to fade as the year goes on - in fact most resolutions don’t last past the month of January. This year, your resolutions don’t have to fizzle out because our physical therapists got together to offer some practical tips to help you achieve your goals and keep you moving forward!
Tony suggests:
Kyle suggests:
Above all else, we all wish you the best of luck in the new year!  People have been asking us how to eat healthier in this upcoming year so we came up with these easy tips to help you!
Ever wonder what it would be like to open your fridge to find a full week of healthy, delicious food that’s prepped and ready to be eaten? Sure would make sticking with your diet and achieving fat loss a lot easier… Meal prep is a fantastic way to keep on track with your eating throughout the entire week. The idea is to plan out all of your meals on the weekend, most often on Sunday, then do the shopping and the prep at one time for the entire week. This day is labor intensive, but then your food is ready-to-eat for the next 6 full days. Here’s my 5 Step Meal Prep Guide to make your next food prep week really simple: Step One: Planning Get out your notebook and pen or pull up a blank note page on your iPad, it’s time to start planning for the week. Here are the questions that you’ll need to answer: 1. How many meals do I need each day?
Now it’s time to translate those meals + servings into actual recipes. Take a moment to consider the produce that is in season and any special requests or food allergies. 1. Find your recipes
Take your list of recipes and create a grocery list. A few things to keep in mind… 1. Pay attention to recipes that you’ll double or triple
It’s time to head to the grocery store! Take your list and, if you’re lucky, a helper down to your local market and go through each section item by item. Step Five: Food Prep You have options when it comes to the actual prep of each of your meals. Many you’ll be able to fully make right away and pack in the fridge. Other recipes you’ll want to simply do the chopping, measuring and organizing in order to make the meal hot and quick before you plan to eat it. Which recipes should you fully cook in advance? The truth is that this is really up to you and your schedule. Here’s a good game plan if you don’t want to fully cook everything on Sunday:
By: Dr. Tony Tanzi, PT, DPT, CSCS Are your joints starting to feel stiff lately? Do they ache more than usual? Have you noticed any clicks and cracks coming from your knees?
If you’re struggling to put your finger on it and you’re not sure why it’s happening to you -chances are you’re not alone. Many people just like you are becoming a victim of knee and joint pain. This time of year (every year!) joint pain is one of the most common things we see and treat at Empire Performance PT. It starts with a few clicks of the knees every now and then. But nothing painful, and you think nothing of it. Then as time goes on, when your knees click it’s painful, and they start to ache a bit more (usually around the knee cap, and on the inside of your knee). Sometimes after you’ve walked around the stores for a few hours they begin to ache and feel sore. And getting back up again after relaxing with a cup of coffee on the couch, you notice it takes a few steps for your knees ‘to get going’ again... They can even make it difficult for you to get out of your car with ease. And when the cold weather hits the North East, your joints begin to feel even WORSE. So why does it happen? And why does it happen more to men and women aged 50+? Well there’s a WHOLE bunch of reasons that exist as to why joints in your body become more problematic in the Winter time. But the two most common reasons we see at the clinic are these: The cold weather naturally restricts the warmth of the blood that flows around your body, (which helps keep you warm and mobile). – AND – The fact you’re much less likely to keep as active and mobile in the Winter as you did in the warmer months. Keeping mobile is just like spraying WD40 on the stiff parts of a bike or car. Just like a vehicle needs oil to get you from A to B efficiently – your joints need to keep active so they don’t stiffen up. And here’s the thing that many people don’t realize – the winter months and long periods of inactivity, can be the root cause of many years of what I call – ‘all of a sudden’ life long knee pains. You see, as your muscles get a long rest this winter, there’s a chance they’ll become weaker and slowly get to the point where they won’t be able to support your knees. And worse yet, many people don’t even notice it happening until the pain sets in. But when it does, a chain of events is triggered and when your knees don’t have the support of strong muscles, problems like arthritis can set in. Which is why it’s so important to make the most of every opportunity you have this Winter to keep active, so you can fend off the curse of bad knees creeping up on you. I know it’s easy to think that when the weather begins to warm up you’ll exercise again. Problem is, very few people understand that your muscles need to be strong and stable to exercise safely! And if you go into tough exercise too quick, there’s a chance you’ll injure yourself and make those sore joints feel even worse! So my number one tip for you today to keep the winter aches away is to include some kind of activity in your day, everyday. It doesn’t have to be outdoors! You can go into an exercise class with friends, do low- impact movements that are kind to your joints like Pilates and Yoga from the comfort of your living room, and if you have an exercise bike (or something like that), use it while watching your favorite TV show. There really is something for everyone. What are you going to do to keep active this winter? At Empire Performance PT, we help patients daily with lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, and knee pain… and it’s safe to say that imbalances in the body are typically the number one root cause of pain. If you’re feeling pain when you walk, get out of bed, exercise, or during your everyday life, this might be because something is out of balance – and it might not be an obvious problem. Imbalances often aren’t easy to spot, because not many people understand WHAT they are and how to recognize them (including most doctors!)… The most common advice you get for things like lower back, knee and neck pain not only fails to bring you the relief you’re after – but it can also make your pain WORSE. For instance, you might have heard from professionals, family members and friends that you need to “strengthen your back” to get rid of the pain… Whilst strengthening the area may be true in some cases, if the muscle imbalances associated with your pain have been there for a while and have been tight for months (… or even years!) then exercise will more than likely aggravate them even more. In this blog post, you’ll learn how to recognize your own imbalances, how they cause pain in different parts of your body, and what you can do to ease the pain that you just can’t seem to get rid of. How Do I Help My Neck Pain? Your neck pain often stems from the thing it sits on – your shoulders. Let me explain… An easy way to find out if you have problems with your shoulders is to stand in front of a mirror and see if one shoulder is higher than the other. If one of your shoulders is higher than the other, there is more than likely an imbalance, which means that there’s less room for your shoulder to move properly. When the tension builds up in your shoulder muscles, the pain is often sent to your neck. Stretch to help neck pain: Try the single-arm doorway stretch (see the below photo for an example of this stretch) – this stretch is used to open your chest muscles and create more room in your shoulder for movement, making them more flexible in the long run. To make this stretch more challenging, place your hand on the side of a doorway and lean forward to stretch your chest and shoulder further… but keep your feet flat on the ground.  But what if your shoulders are even? Your pain or headaches could be coming from a forward leaning head… If you look in the mirror and you don’t see any imbalance in the height of your shoulders, turn to the side – if your head is leaning further forward than your shoulders, this could be limiting the amount of blood flow to your head and neck, which could be causing headaches. How Do I Help My Lower Back Pain? Much like knee pain, back pain often isn’t caused by your back at all. If one side of your pelvis is higher than the other, this can trigger back, hip, groin, and even knee pain. Unevenness in your hips can pull on your lower back, causing extreme tightness, especially whilst you’re sitting. Stretch to help fix this: Doing the right stretches will help reduce the pain and allow you to move freely once again. See below photograph for a great lower back stretch that you can try at home.  If you want to fix these imbalances, you should consider asking for some help from a physical therapist. So many of our patients initially put off getting treatment as they believe the pain will ‘go away with time’, but then they come to us 6 months down the line with a problem which is much worse.
Many of our patients have found that since COVID started they’ve been suffering from more aches and pains than they did before, this is because we all stayed at home either working or spending our days in front of the TV. What Else Can I Do? You’ve made a great first step by reading this blog post! So many people procrastinate for so long, thinking that their pain will ‘just go away in time’, but then 6 months down the line they’re still waiting for that time to come… and their pain has actually got worse. Expert advice, exercises, and hands-on treatment provided by a physical therapist can help improve your pain, as well as improve posture and strengthen weakened muscles. Would you like to see a Physical Therapist for free? We realize some people want more than just some free health tips… That’s why we offer expert advice about the worry and frustration of life-changing aches and pains – for FREE, in under 30 minutes. Here are just a few of the things you will learn in one of our free discovery sessions: 1. What is the underlying cause of your back pain? (hopefully nothing too serious!) 2. Roughly, how long will it take to fix my problem? 3. What to do to help – which doesn’t include painkillers, resting or surgery etc. 4. What other, natural, drug-free methods are there to speed up recovery alongside treatment? Our discovery sessions are great for anyone that may be “unsure” if Physical Therapy is right for them, and they give you the opportunity to ask questions and see for yourself if we can help you. We’ve got 5 discovery sessions available this week. If you would like one of our limited discovery sessions, please get in touch with Chloe at 845-225-2000 and mention you would like a free discovery session. By: Dr. Tony Tanzi, PT, DPT, CSCS |
AuthorDr. Tony Tanzi: Physical Therapist, Triathlete, Runner, Performance Coach 
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