Author: St. Elizabeth Healthcare

Strengthening your leg muscles is crucial to any pre-race training. Running up and downhill is extremely taxing and strength training beforehand is the best way to reduce your injury risk. While not all courses have a lot of hills, this kind of cross-training will also help you fly across the flat portions of any  course. Physical therapist Stacey McConnell from St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine  will guide you through simple ways to strength train before your big race. If you’re training for the Honor Run Half,  send us  your questions. And if you haven’t already registered for the half,…

Kids have a mind of their own when it comes to eating. It feels like you try and keep trying to get them to eat fruits and vegetables, but they tend to just want crackers and sweets – the usual suspects. You’ll find  lots of articles online with  tips to get kids to eat healthy. Our best recommendation is to make it fun by letting them take part in meal and snack preparation. It doesn’t have to be time consuming, just take something your kids  like and make it fun. If your little one  prefers  peanut butter, make her snack…

It may be frigid outside, but this weekend is the perfect time to start your spring cleaning. Throwing out unneeded items now  can almost help you forget about the never-ending winter and get a jump start on some warmer days. Besides, getting rid of  the things you don’t need or use anymore is good for the soul. Little did we know, it’s good for your health, too. Time Magazine  lists 20 things you should  throw away to improve your health. Often we hold onto these “treasures” because we worry replacing them will be inefficient or expensive. But if you’re holding…

Tis’ the season for the flu, colds and runny noses. Some days it may seem like you run through an entire box of tissues. If you’re like a lot of people, you blow your nose and look in your tissue to see what color of the rainbow lies inside. Even if you find this repulsive,  it is actually a good indicator of your current health. We found a cool infographic from University of Utah Health Care that explains  each color of mucus so the next time you see green, yellow or red, you’ll know what it means and when to…

With temperatures dropping below zero and snow piling up around us, Greater Cincinnatians are having a rough week. Now to add insult to injury, the temperatures are going back up which means wet and slippery roads and sidewalks. If you have to go out this weekend and you plan on getting out of your car, here are some tips we found  for to walk safely. We’ve all fallen on the ice and hurt ourselves (even if it’s just our bruised ego). Share your stories with us and let us know how you’re staying safe in this weather. …

If you’re like me, stretching is the worst part of running. Whether I’m warming up before I go out or stretching when I get back, I always come up with reasons to skip this important piece  of training. Physical therapist Stacey McConnell from St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine has a great reminder about how to stretch before, during or  after your run. From your glutes to your quads and your hamstring to your calves, McConnell will help you stay  flexible through all of those miles. Are you getting ready for the Honor Run Half Marathon? Send us your training…

Whether you’re getting ready for the Flying Pig, the Heart Mini or another of Greater Cincinnati’s fun races coming up this spring, you know the way you start has a big impact on how you finish. If you start too fast, you can burn out quickly and run out of steam halfway through the race. But, start too slow and you’ll miss your goal time. If your race starts with a big hill you’re unprepared to face, it may take a couple of miles to get back on your race plan. To keep you from feeling  surprised by the Flying…

We’ve all heard people say they’re bad at math because they’re “so right-brained.” Or don’t have a creative bone in their body because the “left brain” rules. But, do you know what that really means? Two brains in one? Every person’s brain has two halves, known as hemispheres or the left brain and right brain. Each hemisphere is responsible for different information gathering and processing functions. Usually the left brain is credited with analytical functions and the right brain has intuitive and creative functions. Everyone naturally gravitates to one or the other method of functioning, however, we have access to…

As we’re knee deep in cold and flu season, it’s good to know that not all of what we think we know about staving off winter illnesses is right. Some are almost right, some make an awful lot of sense. Others are just plain wrong, like the old “starve a cold, feed a fever” trope. You should be eating in either case, experts say, but fevers do bring an increase in your metabolism and you burn more calories. So, it’s still a good idea to feed that fever to deal with the increase demand. See if you know which of…

If you’re like me, you got one piece of Mom’s advice repeated constantly while you were growing up – “Stand up straight!” Good advice from Mom for life, and surprisingly, for your next run. In the video below, physical therapist Stacey McConnell from St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine  will focus on  the correct running posture, and how to make sure you keep it up even during a fatiguing long run. An avid runner himself, McConnell will share tips to  help you get ready for  whatever run is in your future. If you’re looking for a good run this fall, we highly…