The TLDR:

• A study found that daily menu planning increased fruit and vegetable intake in adults over one week, with continued increase observed two weeks later.
• However, the study also revealed that individuals with high stress levels did not significantly increase their fruit and vegetable consumption despite the menu planning intervention.
• This suggests that stress can hinder dietary changes, and physical therapists should consider stress reduction strategies and/or referral to dieticians for patients struggling with dietary modifications, especially those experiencing high stress.

 If you like what you see here, check out our board-approved continuing education courses for physical therapy. We cover topics like:

- Nutrition interventions for chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases)

- Advanced nutritional strategies to support physical therapy for patients with metabolic disorders

- Case studies demonstrating successful integration of nutrition i...

Top 3 Nutrition Tips for Neuro PTs

By Dr. Sean M. Wells, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC/L, CSCS, CNPT, NSCA-CPT, Cert-DN

Physical therapists (PTs) are unique, doctorally-prepared health care providers who work often one-on-one with their clients several times per week. As direct access and primary care providers, PTs can help patients get better functionally and holistically through exercise and dietary interventions. Whether you are a PT working in a hospital or fitness gym, you will encounter patients that have neurological deficits. While most PTs have the go-to physical interventions many struggle to conjure up ways to help these patients with nutritional tips. Below our team at Nutritional Physical Therapy will outline how PTs can offer nutritional tips to patients with neurological deficits.

#1 Reduce Alcohol

Having an ice-cold beer or a glass of wine may be a great way to end a hectic day; however, research has shown that those that have neurological issues may be best to steer clear of ...

Top 3 Nutrition Tips PTs can Give their Clients

By Dr. Sean M. Wells, DPT, PT, OCS, ATC/L, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, CNPT, Cert-DN

Physical therapists (PTs) are unique healthcare providers that are positioned to have a major impact on the healthcare systems. PTs are now doctorally prepared, trained in differential diagnoses and imaging, and work with clients directly from the street (e.g. direct access). More importantly PTs often see clients sometimes daily or at least several times per week, depending on the client issue and clinical setting. As such, PTs can be utilized as a major agent of change for health and wellness, and one of the ways they can do this is through nutrition!

One major barrier, as we have highlighted in other articles, for PTs to offer nutrition advice is their education. Another limitations for many PTs is time. A PT may ask: how can I juggle all of these clinical pieces, notes, and still talk about nutrition with my clients? Well, our team at Nutritional Physical Ther...