We know you're concerned about patient care, but it's also important to keep your health in check. ADVANCE Your Health is a place to find tips, tricks and motivational tidbits to help you tone up, trim down or just lead a healthier lifestyle.

Entries include clips from ADVANCE for Healthy Aging's Patient Resource Center as well as reader submissions. If you have a tip to share, e-mail cmcevoy@advanceweb.com.

Injury: What To Do If It Happens: "Whether you are a physically active person or just a beginner, injury is always a risk. For baby boomers, certain injuries are more common because of age and physical condition. These include degenerative arthritis, muscle sprains and strains, lower back pain and tendonitis. Injuries can occur through various circumstances: accidents, inexperience, carelessness and, most commonly, poor form and excess repetitions and sets.

"If an injury such as a strain or sprain occurs, people have access to a four-part approach known as RICE: rest, ice, compression and elevation. Through this process, you improve your chances of a faster and more complete recovery.

• Rest. Resting the body, and more importantly, the area of injury, is critical for the body to repair itself. The amount of resting varies from one person to the next; each person's injury and recuperation time are unique.
• Ice. Providing pain relief, ice can significantly reduce swelling on the injured body part. You should leave ice on the injury for no more than 20 or 25 minutes. In your haste to speed the process, don't leave the ice on the injury longer--doing so can damage the skin and tissue.
• Compression. Minimizing swelling, compression aids in healing the injured body part. Wrap an ACE bandage over the injury, using a figure-8 wrapping technique. If the wrap feels too tight, remove and rewrap for a more comfortable feel.
• Elevation. The last part of the healing process, elevation reduces swelling. You should raise the injured area above the level of the heart and prop the injured body part on pillows to maximize comfort.

"Along with RICE, you can gently stretch and massage the injured area for fast recovery. Although RICE is a commonly used procedure with a high success rate, the process is not foolproof. If the pain and swelling remain severe or persist for more than 48 hours, see a physician."

--Frank Hyland, MSPT
"Staying Active and Injury-Free" 

Reader Tip: "I sit on a yoga ball at my desk. It keeps me moving, and I do sit ups while I'm on conference calls!"

--Kim Buchanan, CMT, AHDI-F
via Facebook