Featured Therapist: Corey Irby, PT DPT
Life is a sequence of opportunities filled with trials, challenges, and potential. We are best poised to live a fulfilling life when our bodies are healthy and strong. The way we become and remain healthy and strong is by being physically active, eating nutritious foods, sleeping well, and managing stress. But is that enough? By taking preventative measures for your health, such as annual physical therapy exams, you can get ahead of potential concerns and learn the best ways to address them.
Action instead of Reaction
Physical therapists are experts in human movement with thorough training in nutrition, sleep habits, and stress management and are therefore knowledgeable and experienced in identifying issues that limit you from living well. The current healthcare system does not always set us up for success when it comes to prioritizing our health or taking preventative measures. You are probably familiar with taking steps to react to an already established disease or disability with subsequent treatments which can be more time intensive and costly. At TherapySouth, we focus on prevention and health promotion -providing services to reduce disease incidence and promote individual and community health.
Inactivity is a cause
Most individuals who are inactive may not consider themselves “unhealthy” but recent studies have shown that factors associated with inactive lifestyles can lead to future health conditions. These conditions are termed Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), meaning noninfectious chronic conditions people develop from a combination of genetic, physiological, lifestyle, and environmental factors. NCDs accounted for nearly 2.5 million deaths worldwide in 2016, according to the World Health Organization. Heart disease and stroke are the number one cause of death globally. Type 2 Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the US and contributes to complications and comorbidities such as kidney failure.
Obviously, something must change. Physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, tobacco use, and alcohol abuse are the four main modifiable behavioral risk factors that can and must be addressed to make meaningful positive change.
Another major issue that needs addressing is falls within the older adult population. Falls are the leading cause of injury among adults aged 65 or older. Most adults who reported no physical activity in the past month or difficulty with normal daily activities suffered from falls and fall-related injuries. These risk factors are largely modifiable, potentially making falls preventable. So, what part does physical therapy play?
Personalized, hands-on care
In agreeance with the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), physical therapists have the education, experience, and expertise necessary to provide a broad health screening to allow tracking our patient’s health status over time. If an issue or problem is determined to be present, the screening may lead to a referral for a physical therapist evaluation and treatment plan or to another health care professional for to provide further screening.
At TherapySouth, we strongly advocate establishing an annual physical therapy visit with one of our highly qualified physical therapists. You do not have to wait to be injured or in pain to seek the services of a physical therapist. We are available to assist you in living well by promoting a personalized approach to active living, injury and fall prevention, conservative management of limitations caused by chronic disease and disability, improving dietary choices, improving sleep habits, and managing stress.
We know that no two people are the same. Multiple social determinants of health and contextual factors affect our health outcomes. Our physical therapists consider all these factors during your annual physical therapy visit to create a complete holistic approach to your plan for living well.
Make the decision to prioritize your health today and contact your local clinic to schedule an Annual Physical Therapy Screening. We look forward to working with you to get better together and live well!
Corey Irby, PT, DPT
GAC Chairman of APTA of AL
Corey received his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2008 and his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of South Alabama in 2013. He has lived and practiced PT in Birmingham for 7 years working with TherapySouth. In addition to serving as clinic director for the Green Valley clinic, he is a member of the APTA’s Health Promotion and Wellness Council. Much of his continuing education centers around population health, wellness, fitness, and nutrition. He believes that maintaining a holistic mindset when developing the treatment plan for each patient is essential to create a well-rounded approach to ensure optimal long-term outcomes. He personally strives to live a balanced, healthy lifestyle prioritizing his Christian faith, family, work duties, exercise, recreation, and good eating habits to help him live well so that he may help others do the same.
