- Physical TherapyGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWhen it comes to keeping your body healthy, the first things you may think about are your diet and exercise habits. While those are two vital parts that contribute to your wellbeing, many other factors are often overlooked, including your posture. Good posture is tough to define, but it often includes the correct alignment of bones and joints while sitting, standing and lying down. This ensures your muscles are being used properly. Bad posture can affect your overall health and lead to chronic pain. Poor movement patterns generate both physical and mental stress, like indigestion, neck and back discomfort, headaches, an increased risk of heart disease, and fatigue. It’s important to pay attention to how you move and position your body. The benefits of practicing good posture are undeniable. It engages your core, increases energy, relieves pain and improves your appearance. Because of this, there are many items out on the market claiming they can help you improve your posture. We decided to put one new gadget to the test. The Upright Go is a Bluetooth device you attach to your back. It’s designed to improve and track posture by vibrating to alert you when you slouch. Shannon Robinson, physical therapist with Luminis Health Physical Therapy, tried it out for a day to see what she thought. To first get started with Upright Go, you download the free app and sync the device to your phone. You then attach a small, white device to your upper back via an adhesive sticker. When in ‘Training Mode,’ the device will vibrate on your back to alert you when you slouch. Their website recommends training daily in order to form a better posture habit. After each daily training session, you can switch to ‘Tracking Mode’ to continue monitoring your posture throughout the day. “I could feel myself having to use all back muscles to sit up tall with my shoulder blades pinched and eventually my muscles would feel fatigued, telling me that they were really working,” Shannon says. “Using the app, you can see all your posture statistics, goals, and how you have improved over time.” Shannon felt the device worked well with activities that require an erect trunk posture such as sitting, standing and walking. However, “it was very sensitive and required me to actively pinch my shoulder blades and retract my neck to an uncomfortably extreme position,” she describes. “I found the device to be inappropriate to wear with activities that require a lot of movement such as bending forward to treat patients.” The device may work for those who have desk jobs, Shannon says, and it does tend to be useful to track your progress. The vibration is also adjustable. “But, overall, I wouldn’t recommend it.” The best way to improve posture, instead, is good, old-fashioned physical therapy focused on postural strengthening. Exercise and stretching can improve your posture because it helps increase your circulation and range of motion. “They are the most effective and realistic ways to improve back support. Lumbar cushions are a good tactile cue, but exercise is best.” Whether you’re someone who works a physically demanding job or sits at a desk, the Luminis Health Physical Therapy team can help you train your spine and offer tips to prevent and alleviate poor posture. We offer convenient, outpatient locations throughout Anne Arundel County, and into Prince George’s County. Our specialists can treat you near your home or work. Visit LuminisHealth.org/Physical-Therapy or call 443-481-1140 to learn more.
- Wellness, Men's Health, Senior Care, Women's HealthGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIt’s holiday time again, and the days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s can be filled with temptation. From office parties to family celebrations, the holidays are times of sharing food and entertaining. You can keep your holiday party traditions on track without sacrificing taste. Here are some tips to help enjoy the season and stay healthy. Plan ahead. Try not to arrive at the party hungry. You are less tempted to over-indulge if you eat a light snack before getting there. Eat structured meals. Skipping meals leads to overeating later or snacking on bits and pieces of high calorie foods that have more calories than the meal yet leave you hungry. Budget wisely. Don’t eat everything at the feast. Prioritize favorites and spend calories on the foods you love. Be careful with beverages. Limit alcohol since it is high in calories and can stimulate your appetite. Always consume alcohol with food, and avoid sweet wines and liqueurs. Try club soda, sparkling water or water with a slice of fruit. Make room for fruits and vegetables. Adding fruits and vegetables into your eating routine provides you essential nutrients to keep you healthy and fiber to help you feel full. Plus, these foods are low in calories. Distance yourself from the food table. You’re more likely to overeat if you are next to the food. Remember you are at the event to socialize first. Once you see all the goodies, it is difficult to resist. Make recipe adjustments. Reduce the fat in your favorite holiday recipes and offer to bring one to the holiday party. Your food will have less calories and fat, yet have the same great taste and texture. Use the lower-fat versions of sour cream or cream cheese, or substitute with yogurt or evaporated milk. Substitute whole milk with almond or coconut milk, which still have similar consistencies to whole milk. Following these tips can help you navigate the parties, but what if you end up overeating? Remember, tomorrow is a new day and get back on track without calling yourself “bad.” Food should never define us as people. Also, no one gains 20 pounds overnight. Weight gain occurs from a steady accumulation of overeating. If you eat too much today, eat a little less tomorrow. Exercise also helps relieve holiday stress and prevent weight gain. A moderate and daily increase in exercise can help partially offset increased holiday eating. Although food is an integral part of the holidays, put the focus on family and friends, laughter and cheer. If balance and moderation are your usual guides, it’s okay to indulge once in a while. Remember a holiday feast is one day, the season lasts all month. Happy holidays!
- Cancer Care, Men's Health, Women's HealthGeneral Page Tier 3BlogUntil recently, experts typically found early stage lung cancer by accident. Since you rarely have symptoms with early lung cancer, finding it early was often a matter of luck. Take, for instance, the person who fell off a ladder and needed a chest x-ray to look for injuries. In turn, the x-ray found an abnormality and additional tests then found lung cancer. But times have dramatically changed. The results of the National Lung Screening Trial led to the new recommendation of a yearly low-dose chest CT scan for those at high risk of lung cancer. While there are a few exceptions, private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid should fully cover your screening. Take our pledge to love your lungs, and be entered to win a $50 Visa gift card! Am I High Risk? Smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer. It’s also the primary risk to determine if you’re eligible for screening. Other risks include exposure to asbestos, radon gas, or prolonged contact with other environmental toxins. You should talk to your doctor about your personal risk factors and if you’re a candidate. Guidelines recommend the low-dose chest CT scan for lung cancer if you’re between the ages of 55 and 80, and have smoked at least 30 pack-years (number of packs per day x number of years). This includes people who still smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. Ready to Quit? Quitting may not be easy. If you smoke or use smokeless tobacco and it’s difficult to quit on your own, you likely suffer from nicotine dependence or tobacco addiction. Like any other disease, tobacco dependence requires ongoing treatment and support. And just like diabetes and heart disease, tobacco dependence often requires a combination approach of expert help and lifestyle changes. We often think of tobacco use as a public health issue – and it is. But it’s also a disease that needs individualized and specialized treatment. Research shows the most effective treatment includes a combination of counseling and medication(s). Counseling can include one-on-one sessions between you and a trained tobacco treatment specialist, or a group approach with classes designed to give you tools for letting go of your tobacco dependence. There are seven FDA approved medications for treating tobacco dependence. You can use these medications to ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms while you work on changing your habits and routines linked to tobacco use throughout the day. Work with your health care provider on a treatment that’s right for you. One of the biggest hurdles you may face is the shame of continued use of tobacco despite serious health effects and pleas from your loved ones to stop. The key is for you to understand that dependence on nicotine is very powerful. Asking for help is okay. Once you move past this hurdle, find the right treatment plan and a qualified, supportive health care team, you can take control of your life and let go of tobacco for good. If you’re ready to quit, Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) can help. Visit askAAMC.org/QuitSmoking or call 443-481-5366 to learn more. Authors By Stephen Cattaneo, MD, medical director of Thoracic Oncology, and Joanne Ebner, Cancer Prevention program supervisor, at Anne Arundel Medical Center. Originally published April 17, 2017. Last updated Nov. 15, 2018.
- PediatricsGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWith school back in session, your child’s stress and anxiety may be increasing due to homework, exams and after school activities. Add to that the constant stimulation of electronics, which creates social pressure and in some cases, cyberbullying. All of this can make your child feel like they’re being pulled in many different directions and manifest as stress and anxiety. The good news is that you have the power to help. How do I know if my child is feeling stressed or anxious? Elementary-aged children might experience regression. This means they might lose the ability to perform a skill they previously mastered. This can include children having episodes of bed-wetting, nightmares or night terrors. Children in middle or high school might have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, or they start waking up very early. You might also notice a difference in their eating habits, whether they’re eating a lot of junk food, not eating as much as usual or not eating at all. Moodiness, irritability, isolation and drastic changes with school grades are other signs that could indicate your child is experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety. WATCH: How to help your child develop coping skills How do I know if my child is just having a bad day or if it’s something else? The best rule of thumb to follow is if you start noticing things and behaviors that raise a red flag for you as a parent, something’s probably off. Trust your intuition. You can and should reach out to your child’s school because, during the school year, teachers and school staff spend more time with your child than you do. If they’re also noticing something is different, you may need to take action. How can I help my child? Think of coping skills as a toolbox. You might pull out the hammer often, but that’s not going to work for every job. You’ll need other tools. Coping skills are similar. Maybe your child loves a particular sport but at night or during school hours, that coping skill is not accessible to them. Encourage them to think of other ways that they can cope. Below are a few tips: Encourage communication. Help your child to identify his or her feelings and name them by asking, “I’m noticing that you’re more tired than usual, can you help me understand?” Kids usually like to use simplistic words, like ‘mad’ or ‘sad.’ You can ask, “Help me understand a little more,” or, “What do you think you need right now?” and encourage them to be the problem solvers. Help your child unplug. Whether it’s dancing, listening to music or going out for a walk, movement is always great for stress or anxiety and boosting mood. Look for grounding techniques to get out of the head and into the body. For example, when you go out for a walk, help them notice what they see, hear, feel, etc. This approach is adaptable for all ages. Talk to your child after a traumatic event. When hearing about violence in the news, reassure children that they are safe. This can help validate your child’s feelings and comfort them during a period of confusion and fear. Reach out to someone your child looks up to. Sometimes, your child won’t be ready to talk to you about something right away. You can reach out to a teacher, school counselor, coach or a mentor in their lives that they connect well with and talk to them. Adopt an attitude of curiosity. Get curious about what your child is feeling and listen without judgement. Ask them open-ended questions like, “What can you tell me about your day?” Don’t forget to take some time to unplug and practice good self-care or ask for help if you need to – it’s OK. Your child needs you, but taking care of others can also take a toll on you. Remind your child that you’re there to support them, but they’re driving the ship and you’re next to them in the passenger’s seat. Patients must be referred into the AAMC Psychiatric Day Hospital by a physician. If you think you or a loved one may be a candidate for these services, please speak with your doctor. If you need a doctor who specializes in mental health, please contact AAMG Mental Health Specialists at 410-573-9000. Author Jennifer Evans is a mental health clinician with Anne Arundel Medical Center’s (AAMC) Psychiatric Day Hospital.
- General Page Tier 3BlogAvocados are good for more than just making delicious guacamole or avocado toast. They’re packed full of healthy fats that offer many nutritional benefits. Plus, they can even help give your skin a healthy glow! These good fats give you long-lasting energy and help keep you full during the day. For an easy way to incorporate this nutrient-dense fruit into your diet, try this avocado feta salad. Tip: It can also be used a dip and is great served with baked tortilla chips! INGREDIENTS 2 large red tomatoes, chopped 1 ripe avocado 3 ounces crumbled feta cheese 1 clove minced garlic 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar Juice from ½ lemon INSTRUCTIONS In bowl, gently toss tomatoes, avocado, garlic, parsley and feta. Gently stir in olive oil, lemon juice and vinegar. Cover and chill. Make sure to keep air out so the avocados don’t lose their signature green coloring. To learn more about nutrition services at Anne Arundel Medical Center, visit AskAAMC.org/Nutrition. Originally published Aug. 2, 2016. Last updated July 30, 2020.
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