I guess it's all the same really wherever you go in the world. We all continue to struggle to make time for our health. Whether it is our physical health or emotional health, it is all the same. You can try to tuck it away and then it comes up to the top without warning. Remember one always affects the other. So what are we suppose to do about it?

I recently had the opportunity to have dinner with a friend of mine that I knew before we had children in a small village in Northern Germany on holiday a few weeks ago. She is a talented, amazing woman who has her own business, a lovely son and a wonderful husband, not to mention two dogs, that she breeds on the side and oak trees that are more than 200 years old she is trying to save in her small rural town. Needless to say she is a busy woman. We laughed at the changes that had happened in our life and then we joked about the changes that our once fit bodies had taken. (She had been a gymnast who had competed and I had played basketball and fast-pitch softball earlier in our lives.) As we talked about all the responsibilities we now have everyday I was reminded of the challenges and the choices that we are constantly confronted with whether we are in Northern Germany or Coeur d'Alene. What will I do to take care of me? My health, my body, my life? As we talked, I realized we must learn to support one another in this endeavor. It is not a road that is easy to go alone and we have to be willing to push in a new direction where there is no shame in the asking for a coach when we get stuck at a crossroads.

You see everyone needs a coach. A coach is someone who knows what to do when you are spinning your wheels and don't know what to do next. Your coach can see your strengths when all you can see is your weaknesses and they will propel you forward at full speed so you can reach your potential.

That's where your physical therapists can help. They are your coach for the body. They specialize in knowing how the body moves and they know how to get it to move the best it can, even with its limitations. They always have a plan and they always come up with a way to get you where you need to go. It might not be exactly the way you thought it would be, but they know the body that well. So if you have swimming, kayaking, hiking, biking and some playing you need to do this summer, go see your body coach. They see people everyday just like you that might be stuck and they know what to do to get them moving because that's what they do and they are good at it.

Sheree DiBiase, PT, owns Lake City Physical Therapy and she and her staff can be reached at (208) 667-1988 if you think you might benefit from a little body coaching.