#FAQF “You seem to do a lot of laughing and playful things that aren’t typical with your patients. Is that even scientific?! Shouldn’t things be more serious??”

Well, my favorite word in the english language is giggle. I mean come on, who doesn’t love to #giggle and laugh?! The truth of the matter is that laughter really is a great form of medicine. Physiologically, when we laugh, it impacts our muscular, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, respiratory, and central nervous systems. How? Well for starters, it increases our heart rate and respiratory rate thereby improving the oxygenation of our tissues thus improving healing. Also, medical studies have shown a correlation between the release of certain #endorphins during laughter and an improved pain tolerance. Win-win! It decreases stress, anxiety, tension, and helps to get your focus off of the issue at hand. So, just believe me when I say, the way your body will respond to my touch, a movement, or an exercise will be better after laughing. 
In regards to play, having spent some time doing #PediatricPhysicalTherapy I realized that children just want to be able to play. As we age our lives become more serious and we forget to play. Sure, we go out and have a drink with friends or go to a fitness class but to actually do silly, goofy, imaginative play doesn’t happen as often. Play is of course really fun but it is also incredibly important for our bodies and our brains. The sensory input received from being on a swing, or going down a slide, or rolling around in the sand cannot be substituted. Our brains accommodate to the challenges we present it with so changing up the vestibular, visual, tactile and kinesthetic input only makes our system that much better. Increased play is linked to improved brain function, improved productivity, improved sleep, and improved quality of life. Sounds pretty good to me!
I seem goofy and silly, but everything I do is purposeful and backed by science.#health, #fitness, and #rehab do not need to be dull. In fact, they will be much more efficient if they aren’t! I could go on forever with all the medical jargon but I would rather you get off your phone and go Play!!