Life can be all fun and frolic as long as we are hale and healthy, but it can come to a standstill due to an injury or illness. The road to recovery can be cumbersome, but with dance-based physiotherapy, it need not be so!

Physiotherapists often encourage their patients and aid their recovery while enabling them to become independent as soon as possible after an injury or surgery. They seek the patient’s participation along with their own support, by creating awareness and empower them by educating them about their problems. They work with all age groups to help them in overcoming pain and disease.

Physiotherapy - What is it for?
With their expertise and knowledge, they can help in improving the various body systems including and not restricted to,

Neuromusculoskeletal (back-related pain, Arthritis, sports-linked injuries)

Respiratory (pulmonary diseases, Asthma, cystic fibrosis)

Neurological (Parkinson’s strokes, multiple sclerosis)

Cardiovascular (heart-associated disorders)

Dancing - A Form of Physio Exercise

Dancing is also known to be advantageous for the patients because it boosts the flow of blood to the body and helps in their timely recovery. It also strengthens your bones and makes them healthy. Additionally, you can improve your fitness levels.


The health benefits of dancing also extend to combating anxiety and depression. It stimulates the release of the ‘feel-good’ hormones, also known as ‘endorphins’ and helps to uplift the mood. Further, you can also rely on dancing for gaining body balance. The benefits of social interaction can also be enjoyed through the practice. Moreover, you can dance to improve your body posture. And dancing is highly enjoyable and can be performed anywhere, at home or outdoors.
Words of Caution

When relying on dancing as a form of your physiotherapy treatment, you must take care to follow the instructions of your medical practitioner. They will consider your present physical condition and guide you on the correct dance techniques that are suited for your recovery. Moreover, if you experience pain as a result of dancing when recovering from disorders, do not delay in contacting the doctor at the earliest.
Physiotherapy can prove to be beneficial at any stage of our lives, and you can rely on it for not just for dealing with chronic pain, but as a preventive mechanism for dance or sport-related injuries as well. And it can be much more exciting and enjoyable when it is dance-based, especially, if you are a dance-loving soul.

Exercise doesn’t just keep you healthy and fit. Turns out, it can also help people fight addiction. A study conducted by the University of Buffalo has identified a key mechanism on how aerobic exercise can help impact the brain in ways that may support treatment and prevention strategies for addiction.

Aerobic exercises are a form of cardio exercise that increase the heart rate, breathing and circulation of oxygen through the blood. It can also help people who are suffering from diabetes, heart disease and arthritis. It also offers mental health benefits, such as reducing stress, anxiety and depression.

“Several studies have shown that, in addition to these benefits, aerobic exercise has been effective in preventing the start, increase and relapse of substance use, including alcohol, nicotine, stimulants and opioids,” said Panayotis (Peter) Thanos, the senior author of the study.

Using animal models, Thanos and his team found that daily aerobic exercise altered the mesolimbic dopamine pathway in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with substance use disorders, and plays an important role in reward, motivation and learning.

The study is published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Other interesting ways to kick addictions

* Nose spray that helps you kick gambling habit

In January, Finnish researchers said they were to launch a study to see if gambling addiction can be treated with a fast-working nasal spray. The spray contains naloxone, an emergency treatment for opiate overdoses (heroin, opium, morphine) that blocks the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to pleasure with a central role in addictions.

* Facebook to quit smoking

A clinical trial done by the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) shows that smokers were 2.5 times more likely to quit post a cessation intervention programme delivered entirely on social networking giant Facebook than by other online quit-smoking programmes.

* Cut down on sugar to overcome alcohol addiction

It is believed that alcohol has a direct connection with sugar. So, if you want to avoid craving for liquor, cut down on your sweet intake.

The pool’s the place to be in summer, but if you aren’t a swimmer, that vast body of water (and all those people gliding across the length) can be intimidating. Experts tell us you don’t actually need to swim to get the benefits of water. Stay in the shallows and do a spot of exercise. One study published in the Medical Science Monitor said that water exercises benefited patients with hip osteoarthritis both before and after total hip replacement. “We noted a significant reduction of pain (p<0.001), increased ranges of motion and muscle strength, and reduced use of medicines (NSAIDs) (p<0.001),” it stated.

Chitra Kataria, who heads the rehabilitation division at Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, in Delhi, says that water therapy is used in hospitals for everything from building cardiovascular capacity and endurance in sportspeople, to developing joint mobilisation in those who have orthopaedic conditions, and strengthening muscles during post-fracture care. “Exercises that people find painful on land are less painful in water, because of its buoyancy that reduces the effect of gravity,” she says. Water exercises may even help those who have a niggling pain in the neck or back because of poor posture.

Besides rehab though, people who want quick results from high intensity interval training (HIIT) can get in the pool and do similar workouts. “You’ll gain stamina and muscle mass, while burning fat fast, without injuring yourself,” says Fitness Coach and Aqua aerobics instructor, Pooja Bhatia Arora, Bengaluru. Most people who do HIIT on land may not have sufficient muscle strength, because of which they load the joints, leading to injury. In the pool, you can avoid this, and also feel less fatigued, because of the cooling effect of water.

A team thing

Get in the pool with your whole family or a bunch of friends. “Experience the water so you feel a connection with it. So just hang out in the pool, or play some fun games. They’ll give you a workout without you even realising it,” says Manisha Khungar, a swimming coach based in Gurgaon. Play tag as you walk in the water trying to catch each other; do a relay using a pool noodle; simply play handball in the water.
4 exercises you can do in the pool
Russian twists

Start with feet wide. Extend both arms forward and bring palms together. Twist from side to side ensuring palms and wrist are firm, to create enough drag force in water. Keep the core tight and movement on the lower body minimal throughout the exercise. This works on spine mobility and helps tone the obliques.

Squats

Squats in the pool can be done at the shallow end where the water level is below waist. Start with feet shoulder-width apart, feet pointed slightly outward. Push the butt back and down, keeping the back straight (neutral position) and knees behind the toes. ‘Sit’ back, completely extending the hip and knee. Squats strengthen the glutes. Pool squats also help improve mobility of the knee joint.

Push-ups

A pool push up can be done at the vertical pool wall. Start with hands wider than shoulder-width and palms resting on the pool deck. Propel yourself up and straighten your elbows, all this while keeping the back neutral (straight). For a beginner, use the pool floor and jump into the pushup. If you would like to challenge yourself, propel yourself upon without a jump and make your descent slower. A pushup works on pectoral muscles and triceps.

Frog Jump

Start with legs shoulder-width apart. Jumps and try touching your toes with your hand, while getting both legs into a butterfly position. The frog jump in the pool works on the abdomen and inner-outer thighs. It also is a cardiovascular exercise.

Too busy or lazy to exercise? Men and women take note. Living without physical activity for six years during their middle age could be at an increased risk of suffering heart failure, researchers have warned.

The findings, described in the journal Circulation, suggest that consistently participating in the recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each week, such as brisk walking or biking, in middle age can reduce the heart failure risk by 31 per cent.

While it is known that people who are more physically active have lower risks of heart failure than those who are less active, but little is known about the impact of changes in exercise levels over time on heart failure risk.

“Going from no exercise to recommended activity levels over six years in middle age may reduce heart failure risk by 23 per cent,” said Chiadi Ndumele, Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, US.

For the study, the team included 11,351 participants, with an average age 60, monitored annually for an average of 19 years.

According to the American Heart Association, the “recommended” amount is at least 75 minutes per week of vigorous intensity or at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise.

Heart failure risk decreased by about 12 per cent in the participants who increased their physical activity category from poor to intermediate or recommended, or from intermediate to recommended, compared with those with consistently poor or intermediate activity ratings.

Conversely, heart failure risk increased by 18 per cent in the participants who reported decreased physical activity from visit one to visit three, compared with those with consistently recommended or intermediate activity levels.

Unlike heart attack, in which heart muscle dies, heart failure is marked by a long-term, chronic inability of the heart to pump enough blood, or pump it hard enough, to bring needed oxygen to the body.

The leading cause of hospitalisations in those over 65, the disorder’s risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and a family history.

Attending school, tuition classes, and then doing their homework - this is what the average day in an urban kid’s life today looks like. Sports and physical activities have taken a back seat.

A new study well serves as a reminder for parents to encourage their children to take brief breaks dedicated to physical activities. The study examined the effectiveness of the popular Daily Mile initiative - which involves children taking a 15-minute break from class to do physical activity.

The Daily Mile was founded in February 2012 by Elaine Wyllie, the then head teacher of St Ninians Primary School in Stirling, to improve the fitness of her pupils. Children are encouraged to run, jog or walk around their school grounds during a 15-minute break from class, which is in addition to normal intervals and physical education lessons.

The findings indicate that The Daily Mile can help combat global problems such as low physical activity, high sedentary behaviour, declining fitness levels and high levels of obesity. “Our research observed positive changes in children who participated in The Daily Mile intervention, compared to our control school where the scheme was not introduced,” said one of the study authors Colin Moran from the University of Stirling in Britain.

The University of Stirling study involved 391 pupils, aged between four and 12. Each child underwent an initial assessment and then a follow-up later in the academic year. Between times, one school implemented The Daily Mile, while pupils at the other -- known as the control school -- followed their usual curriculum. Children wore accelerometers to record their average daily minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and average daily sedentary behaviour.

The team witnessed significant improvements in the intervention school, relative to the control school, the researcher said. “We observed a relative increase of 9.1 minutes per day in terms of MPVA and a relative decrease of 18.2 minutes per day in sedentary time,” said study co-author Naomi Brooks from the University of Stirling. The findings were published in the journal BMC Medicine.

All over the world, there’s been an obesity endemic -- children aren’t spared either. And Indian kids aren’t far behind. By 2025, India will have over 17 million obese children and stand second among 184 countries where the number of obese children are concerned, said a study published in 2016 in Paediatric Obesity, an international journal.

Today, more and more younger adults and children are being diagnosed with a variety of lifestyle disorders. There’s a spike in cases of Indian children developing type 1 as well as type 2 diabetes. And a major reason is a sedentary lifestyle. Past research has established that childhood obesity can also lead to non alcoholic fatty liver disease.

This is enough cause for concern -- teachers and parents must motivate schoolchildren to take a 15-minute break from class to do physical activity and boost their health and fitness levels.