TrueMotion Physical Therapy

Do you have a job that keeps you seated at a desk all day? Sitting for prolonged periods of time can be a major cause of back pain, and can cause increased stress on the back, neck, arms and legs. Besides being uncomfortable, poor sitting posture and workplace ergonomics over time can wear on your body, and contribute to recurrent episodes of neck or back pain.

There’s a way to help!

Working for an entire day in a seated position, but taking constant movement breaks, can be helpful in reversing the potentially harmful physiological effects of this sedentary behavior.

In a 2014 study from Dempsey et al, they found that prolonged sitting results in the elevation of blood pressure in individuals with Type 2 diabetes. However, when they interrupted this prolonged sitting every 30 minutes with 3 minutes of light resistance exercise, they found that it resulted in a decrease in elevated blood pressure!

So taking frequent breaks from sitting can help to effectively break up sedentary behaviors!

Check in tomorrow for some exercises to try and break up that desk posture slump!

🥘Recipe of the month🥘

One-Pot Pesto Rice & Bean Soup

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 4 person ⏰ 70 minutes 💪🏽 Easy

Ingredients
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 c. short-grain brown rice, rinsed
• 4 c. low-sodium chicken broth or water, divided
• 1/2 c. pesto
• 2 (15.5-oz.) cans beans of your choice (such as butter beans and pink beans), rinsed and drained
• Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
• Toasted pine nuts, for serving (optional)
• Fresh herbs, for serving

Method:
1️⃣ In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, 6 to 8 minutes. Add rice and stir until toasted, about 2 minutes.
2️⃣ Add 2 cups of broth and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and let cook until rice is al-dente, 30 to 35 minutes.
3️⃣ Return heat to medium and add ¼ cup of the pesto, beans, and remaining broth. Stir to combine and continue cooking until slightly thickened and rice is completely tender, 12 to 15 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ¼ cup pesto.
4️⃣ Garnish with Parmesan, pine nuts, and herbs before serving.

As seen in Delish.com, recipe courtesy of June Xie

Spread some good today! 💫

📚 BOOK OF THE MONTH 📚

Our book recommendation this month is:
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Such a Fun Age is a striking and surprising debut novel, exploring a big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone "family," and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.

Synopsis
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

Let’s get reading together and exercise our brains! 🧠