By Colleen Sleik

PT, DPT, OCS

January is Family Fit Lifestyle month. It is also the time of year when many of us chose to take up or return to prior habits of healthy eating and exercise.

There are a few things to remember as you embark on this journey. Stretching is important, be sure to warm up your muscles and begin with stretching the muscles specific to the exercises you will be performing to prevent injury.

For example, if you will be doing lower body strengthening or endurance activities through weight training, walking or running it is a good idea to begin with a calf stretch, hamstring and quad stretching. When beginning any exercise program, muscle soreness can be expected, most often in the form of delayed onset muscle soreness that typically occurs two days after exercise. It is important to listen to your body and respect your aches and pains.

As a rule, muscle soreness is ok and can be relieved by stretching and time. However, pain is not OK, and further activity that worsens the pain should be avoided. Exercise should begin slowly and increase incrementally.

A group exercise class taken with a friend is an excellent way to stay accountable and enjoy the exercise experience! If the exercises are too advanced, you may speak with the instructor to learn how to modify an exercise or choose another class that is more appropriate for your activity level and ability.

Getting your child involved in sports is an excellent way to encourage exercise and prevent childhood obesity. This is a proud feeling for every parent, and the expectation is that the child will have fun, gain confidence and interact with other children in the process. To determine what your child will enjoy, help him/her decide by accompanying the child to different games and a variety of sports.

The more sports and environments the child is made aware of, the higher the probability that the child will be able to pick a sport and enjoy it.

It is important to make sure that the child’s sporting activity is age-appropriate. In general, toddlers, aged 2-5, are too young to comprehend most organized activities and the importance of “rules.” They need unstructured play to develop movement skills, attention span and social maturity.

From the age of eight and up, children can participate in team sports and group exercise. If your child does not like athletic activities, take the opportunity to spend more time with your child and encourage physical activity with regular walks, swimming, and tossing a ball around, or simply kicking a ball back and forth. During winter months, sledding, skiing and snowshoeing are excellent options to exercise and enjoy our beautiful surroundings. Be creative and mix it up so your child does not get bored!

If you would like to begin an exercise program but just don’t know where to begin, or if you have an old injury that is preventing you from exercising whether due to fear of re-injury or painful movement, a physical therapist can help.

A physical therapist can assess your muscles, joints, and movements to recommend proper stretches, exercises and activities to avoid injury and improve your level of fitness.