Even couch potatoes can get fit

All those game interruptions for commercials and official timeouts are now considered great opportunities for notorious couch potatoes to do something good for their own health and still never miss a play.

With another football season under way, Tucson physical therapist Mark Roberts is encouraging fans glued to the set this fall to take advantage of lulls in the action to get in a little exercise rather than head for another beer or open another bag of chips.

He's promoting the American Physical Therapy Association's "Couch Potato Tips," new exercises you can do while never taking your eyes off the game.

What will they think of next?

Interests already

Roberts has fielded lots of calls at his MDR clinic behind St. Mary's Hospital (Green Valley's Polaris PT is connected with them) since the "couch potato tips" program aired on PBS' Arizona Illustrated show Aug. 23, just in time to appeal to football fans who likely feel a little guilty after spending hours each weekend watching their favorite teams, but still refuse to give up that seat on the couch.

Now they can do both, never missing the action while participating in the professionally designed series of exercises outlined in the APTA pamphlet that include diagrams and detailed instructions for the "Couch Potato Kick-off Lateral Leg Lift," the "Bad Call Neck Rotation," or the "Hail Mary Back and Arm Extensor," to name just a few.

"I think it's a start," Roberts said, "but if you've been a couch potato for a long time and just get up and start an exercise program, you'll get sore, so this is lubing up your joints for the day--like using a little WD 40."

Roberts, who's one of a new breed of physical therapists who wants the public to view them as more than those practitioners who are called upon only when someone needs to come back from an injury, hopes this program will finally generate interest among the most sedentary to begin their own exercise programs.

He's especially interested in many of the elderly population who have been living a "couch potato" lifestyle for much of their lives.

Watch TV all day

"There are lots of inactive retirees who watch TV much of their day, and this program targets all major muscle groups," said Roberts, a physical therapist for eight years now who believes they are an underused modality.

"We can arrange exercise programs for people that certified trainers, with their limited training, cannot.

"We understand how the joints and muscles work. We're skilled in manual therapy (Roberts' specialty).

"We find out what your restrictions are and fix them so that you can regain motion."

Roberts pointed out that, although physical therapists already are required to complete a rigorous six-year program, eventually they will all become DPT's with a doctorate in the field.

Certainly much of Roberts' work is still with accidents and injury rehabilitation, but for $60-$80 for an hour visit, depending on what needs to be offered, as an expert in movement and function, he can design a take home program that, if followed, can make a big difference in one's flexibility and fitness.

Become independent

"The goal of physical therapy is to get the patient to become independent," he added, "and medicine only masks the problem, even anti-inflammatory. It's work, though, so the patient has to comply."

He cites two to four weeks for a typical turnaround with a low back, knee, or shoulder problem, and he knows something about shoulder injuries, since the former University of Buffalo lacrosse player had to give the sport up due to a bad shoulder, prompting him to go into this field.

Roberts sees a lot of Green Valley residents who come in with those three maladies, as well as other sports-related issues, poor posture and concerns as a result of aging.

Listen to your body

"Arthritis can be helped. It likes movement and strength around the joints. It always gets you in the morning.

"Your body tells you when you wake up that you gave arthritis a chance to attack the joints. That's why movement is so important."

He says physicians are starting to inject synthetic lubricants, such as synvesc, into the joints, especially the knees.

If you've spent much of your life (or still do) working at a desk all day and then come home and flip on the game, you may want to explore the "touch back wall squats," or maybe the "soda stretch side bends" exercises designed especially for you.

Couch potatoes can obtain the brochure by calling Mark Roberts at MDR Physical Therapy at 884-9819 and can learn more about the advantages of preventative physical therapy by visiting www.arizonapt.net

mtouzeau@gvnews.com | 625-5511 x39