To take control of your health you have to acknowledge that something is wrong.
Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says it could be difficult, because acknowledgement is probably the biggest first step and then you have to figure out why it is that you want to get healthy.
According to Guzman, the answers cannot be just for vanity (looking good), because those are not going to sustain you. There are some types of alternative medicine such as meditation. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says meditation is getting a lot of attention because of the research done on it.
Meditation helps you to be in the moment. He highlights we are constantly thinking about the future and meditation takes you to be right here right now.
“It takes some practice, but literally 2, 3, 4 minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your life”, he says. Acupuncture has a lot of benefits for your health. It helps with sore muscles from exercise and also it helps you to sleep better or quit smoking.
Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says he does not see the negative aspect behind acupuncture. “There are a lot of anecdotal evidence that shows that is helps stop smoking, it helps you relax more.”
The only disadvantage is there are no lot of research about the benefits of it, but you can see it in cases from other people who have used it. There are several cheap alternatives to start an exercise program on
Internet, but It’s convenient to check where this information is
coming from and the trainers’ credentials.
Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, recommends being aware of any exercise program. Meditation, acupuncture and Tai Chi are types of alternative medicine that worth to be tried. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says alternative medicine is looking at what is causing the pain or the symptoms.
Guzman explains there is a new term called integrative medicine, which is bringing in some alternative medicines more into the mainstream.
He recommends to try alternative medicine, because it could have a lot of helpful beneficial factor for your health. Lifestyle is basically the way of someone to decide how to live his
life. It’s a personal decision, says Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse
and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida.
Lifestyle is a term which includes the things people do, how they eat,
if they do exercises, if they smoke or not, he explains.
About vaping, for example, he advises not being influenced by
celebrities, or others, that are doing it or movies that are
advertising it. You don’t need to spend a lot of money for starting an exercise routine. A pair of tennis shoes is enough.
Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, affirms keeping moving is a good idea for changing a lifestyle.
“You really don’t need that much exercise to get the benefits of a healthier lifestyle,” he says. To obtain a long-term motivation, in order to change to a better lifestyle, it is necessary to search in the deepest part of the soul, explains Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida.
He advises setting goals for having a healthy life and making plans to reach them. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, advises getting the body temperature up very slowly. Walking for 10-15 minutes is one of the simplest things to do that. After that, it is convenient to do a few stretches.
He also talks about tips for avoiding injuries, such as taking 5-10
minutes to warm up, starting slowly and boosting activity level
gradually, wearing proper clothing, listening to the body and shoes
and dressing properly for weather.
He advises getting some advice from a professional before doing some vigorous activity. Healthy is referring to an overall well-being sense (emotional,
spiritual, mentally, physically). Fit refers to someone who performs
the same type of activity on a daily basis to be in good physical
shape, says Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida.
He recommends several ways to incorporate exercises into life, such as cleaning, exercises during commercials, using a pedometer and enjoying the outdoors and stretching throughout the day, among others.
Anything that involves moving will have good effects, he says. Socializing, according to studies, is a big part of a lifestyle quality.
Undertaking group activities is one of the best things in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle, according to Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida.
He explains having lunch with coworkers, spending more time at home with relatives and, also, taking a trip together are things that have a huge impact in mental and body health. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, explains braces are an integral part of the rehab program when you have a hand injury. “This diagnosis is going to require either immobilization or mobilization depending on what phase you are within the injury,” he says.
He highlights initially fractures and sprains are going to be immobilized but then the patient may develop stiffness, so the doctor will want to mobilize and wear a specialized type of brace that will get the body part moving. Fractures, sprains, strains, joint dislocation, tendon inflammation and ligament tear are the most common hand and wrist injuries people suffer from. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says many of the sprain injuries are related to sports, and they are mostly treated with casting and bracing.
He also explains the difference between sprain and strain: “So you sprain a ligament and you strain a muscle. I would rather have a muscle strain than a spring ligament,” he points out. Not smoking, being physically active every day, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and body shape, floss, brush and seeing a dentist regularly and discussing with a doctor when having a doubt are some of the steps for a longer and healthy life.
Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, considers stopping smoking should be number one ever in any healthy lifestyle list, because it is terrible for health.
He advises to the patients to get help support in case they need it to
stop smoking. Using a headset or hands-free device, avoiding bending your elbows beyond 90 degrees, using a stand to hold your tablet and taking breaks from typing are some tips to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.
Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says a hands-free device is very useful when you are talking for a long time on your phone and holding the phone on your ear is not recommendable, for example. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says in occupational therapy, the physician is concerned with the occupational performance of the client and, for example, if the patient has hand injuries, they are not going to be able to perform their occupation.
He explains not all hand wrist injuries require occupational therapy. ” I’ll have the client come in, I’ll do the formal evaluation and then I’ll determine that they’re not an appropriate candidate for skilled therapy and I will then simply educate them to make sure that they have full understanding of the home exercise program,” he points out. According to Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common diagnoses and it happens with the compression of the median nerve that travels through the thumb, the index, the middle and literally half of the ring finger.
Some of its causes are a traumatic blunt injury, repetitive traumas from poor posturing when typing and prolonged gripping with certain professions, among others. It’s very important to start with healthy habits at an early age.
Eating healthy and exercise at a young age will be positively
reflected in old age.
Introducing vegetables, fruits, eating at the table with family are
good things that parents can do for their kids, affirms Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida.
He recommends parents to start whit the changes for themselves and then passing them on to their kids. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says patients don’t talk much about their mental health.
“We talk a lot about exercise, nutrition, but unless we address the person as a whole being including mental health, it’s very difficult to help to have somebody make those changes without going on with knowing what’s going on in their lives,” he says.
He considers It’s important to take all life aspects into account in order to help people to start changing and getting a better lifestyle. “It’s never too old to get started in anyhow lifestyle change and It’s
never too late to get the benefits from them”, says Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, who affirms he has seen people at 70 or 80 who started taking up weightlifting and changing their diet.
He affirms the body reverses the aging process when the change starts at 40, 50, 60 or 70.
Walking is the best exercise he recommends. Henry Guzman, Registered Nurse and Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Health South Florida, says many times hand and wrist pain are treated with very conservative type of medicines, such as not prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen that helps you bring down the swelling and it is very common to use the medication during, before and even after the therapy.
He explains ibuprofen is used more for chronic cases and with a very aggressive onset of pain you are most likely going to end up seeing a doctor to prescribe something more aggressive. Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, says the first two common presenting symptoms of hernia are pain and a mass in the abdominal wall, in the groin or the belly button area. He explains it can be a painless mass or a combination of the pain and the mass together.
He highlights it is important to get to a healthcare professional who deals with these issues to get properly worked up. They will feel the mass to see if there is a true hole in the abdominal wall, a soft tissue mass or a hernia. A hernia can be inguinal, femoral, umbilical, incisional, epigastric, and hiatal. Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, says there are different types of hernias and they are based on their location.
He explains an inguinal hernia is a hernia in the groin. “30% of males will end up at some point in their life getting surgery for a inguinal hernia, typically on the right side.” He also says an umbilical hernia is a hernia in the belly button, and it is a natural weakness and defect from when you were in uterus and your umbilical cord was. Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, says the classic approach of hernia surgery was an open approach, but now it is done by making an incision over the hernia, going down finding the hole, and closing it with stitches.
“They began with laparoscopic procedures in the 1990s and with three or four small incisions, you enter the abdomen with a camera, and you come in from below and repair the hernia from inside,” he points out. Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, explains a hernia is a hole in the abdominal wall. “The abdominal wall is divided into four layers, the fourth and the deepest layer is called fashion, and it is the strength of the abdominal wall, it keeps all your intestines inside. A hernia is simply a hole in the fashion.”
He also says there are certain risk factors that will lend themselves to forming a hernia, such as anything that increases your intra-abdominal pressure, like in construction workers. The ingredients of the Three Sisters Salad are zucchini, olive oil, cannellini beans, fresh corn kernels, red onion, fresh basil, arugula, and balsamic vinaigrette.
Natalie Castro, Registered Dietitian with Baptist Health South Florida, says all of the nutrients are in this recipe; it would make a perfectly balanced meal, because it has the right amount of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, says with a patient that cannot move it is imperative that someone checks out their lower back, hips, elbows, and heels. “The pointy bony areas are prone to ulceration and an ulcer can progress rapidly and the key is early detection and getting treatment early.”
He recommends taking the patient to their medical doctor or to the Wound Care Center. Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, explains he is one of the wound care specialists at the South Miami Wound Care Center, where they have the latest and greatest treatments to take care of wounds that are not healing and get them to close.
He also says they treat any ulster wound or ulcers. “They can happen anywhere in the body, the most common patients who get ulcers are usually traumatic ulcers, or diabetic patients with ulcers in the feet or the toes.” Not smoking, seeing your doctor when you are sick to avoid developing a persistent cough, maintaining a healthy body weight, and lifting objects with your knees and not your back are some of the tips to prevent a hernia.
Dr. Michael Renfrow, General Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, says not smoking is the most important thing. “Some surgeons will even make patients take nicotine tests, because smoking increases the risk of infection tremendously.”
