Our Ability to Keep Moving with Andy Baksa

A burst of pickleball can rupture an Achilles tendon—especially when someone jumps into the sport without building up gradually. Physical therapist Andy Baxter joins Jim Brogan to explain how to return to activity safely, tell ordinary soreness from pain that needs attention, and keep strength and balance as we age. Baxter also shares a humbling moment from new fatherhood: getting up from the floor while holding his crawling daughter made him realize he needed to work on his own strength. Hear why rest isn’t always the answer for tendon pain, why calf work can help protect balance and the Achilles, and how a short walk or a few chair stands can be a sensible start.

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Speaker 1 00:00:02 You're tuned into more Living with Jim Brogan, broadcast live from the Brogan Financial studios at Newstalk 9087, where old fashioned values, expert knowledge and genuine understanding come together to give you the retirement straight talk you deserve. Jim's a former National Advisor of the year recipient and a financial educator, and he's here today to talk about how you can live out the best years of your life. Jim and the Brogan financial team have been helping retirees and retirees across the southeast for over 20 years in their pursuit of financial independence. You can reach them during the week at 865862 6800. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn because more living with Jim Brogan starts now.

Jim Brogan 00:00:46 Good morning, East Tennessee. Welcome to More Living with Jim Brogan, where it's all about living the best years of your life, your way as you listen to Newstalk 987 w Sky. And today we're talking about something that can have a huge impact on quality of life as we get older. Our ability to keep moving. So important. I know I've seen in my own family as people age when they lose their mobility.

Jim Brogan 00:01:16 This particularly happened with my father, when he got into his mid to late 70s and into his early 80s. When you lose that mobility, it really can just, just has a cascading effect. You know, you can have retirement plans, travel plans, golf trips. You can have time with the grandkids all mapped up. But being physically able to enjoy those things is a pretty dang important part of the conversation. So joining me today is Andy Baxter. He's a physical therapist, owner of studio PT here in Knoxville, an old friend of mine, and he earned his doctorate in physical therapy from UTC and has spent years helping people recover from injuries, improve their movement and stay active. He's also quite the the athlete, his background himself. He competed in cross country and track at the University of Tennessee. Good morning Andy. Welcome to More living.

Andy Baxter 00:02:12 Good morning Jim. Good to see you.

Jim Brogan 00:02:14 It's great to have you. And you were at UT, but prior to that, you're at Belmont, right?

Andy Baxter 00:02:19 Yeah.

Andy Baxter 00:02:19 Just where your youngest is at. Where my youngest is at.

Jim Brogan 00:02:22 Yeah. And you transferred. how long were you at Belmont?

Andy Baxter 00:02:25 I was at Belmont for a year and a half. So I was fortunate to be on a couple, Atlantic Sun championship teams. We won a couple cross-country conference championships, and then I decided I want to be closer to home and run at a bigger university. So transfer to UT in the middle of my sophomore year.

Jim Brogan 00:02:41 And you're on the championship team?

Andy Baxter 00:02:44 Yeah, the 2007 SEC Track and Field Championship team. We were fourth at nationals as well, but, that's awesome. Yeah. So we'll get to be a part of Champions Weekend next year. they do. UT hosts a Champions weekend for teams that were a SEC or NCAA champ every ten, 20, 25, 30 years. So it'll be our 20th, reunion next year for that.

Jim Brogan 00:03:07 Well, and I've been at the Knoxville Marathon, not as a runner. it seemed like I was there for the half. Or maybe it wasn't the Knoxville one.

Jim Brogan 00:03:17 Maybe it was another one. But I remember seeing you running that and I thought, Holy cow, I would have never, ever, ever been able to run like that.

Andy Baxter 00:03:25 Yeah, that was the five K if I remember when you guys came out, was.

Jim Brogan 00:03:29 It five.

Andy Baxter 00:03:29 K.

Jim Brogan 00:03:30 And Tony.

Andy Baxter 00:03:30 Tony Tony Cosey yeah that was our big we had a big bet on who was going to win between Cosey and I. Cosey was an Olympian much much faster than I was back in the day. But I ended up eking him out and winning the bet. So, yeah.

Jim Brogan 00:03:42 You had the, He's a little older than you are, right?

Andy Baxter 00:03:44 Yeah, he's got a he's got a decade on.

Jim Brogan 00:03:46 He's got a decade.

Andy Baxter 00:03:47 Oh yeah.

Jim Brogan 00:03:48 So it's a five K. Well, I'm exaggerating then. so before we get into physical therapy at sale, tell us a little bit about your background. When did you decide to start focusing on physical therapy, movement, body health, those kinds of things?

Andy Baxter 00:04:03 Yeah.

Andy Baxter 00:04:04 So growing up here in Knoxville, I went to Farragut High School where I had some success in running. and then obviously in college had some success in running in a sport like running, which is so repetitive, and the intensity and the volume in which we did in high school and college, that just naturally comes with some injuries along the way. So I got to know a few physical therapists along the way and learned a ton from them, and just really thought it was an interesting, idea of how to stay healthy and even even improve performance along the way so that that kind of piqued my interest. I studied kinesiology at UT, which is kind of a nice segue into, the physical therapy school like pathway. and then ended up taking a few years off after undergrad and then went to graduate school and three years of that. And then I've been practicing. Now I think I'm on my 14th year, so, That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, it's been a it's been wild.

Jim Brogan 00:04:58 You know, as we age, it's, I mean, I, I, we were talking off air.

Jim Brogan 00:05:03 I just turned 57, so, you know, which I'm kind of the age of most of our listeners at this point, I guess. but, you know, as you know, I'm not a runner as you, as a, you know, you know, 12, 13 years ago, I started swimming a good bit and, swam in some five KS. And, what I couldn't believe is because you were talking about running, you know, can be hard on the knees, the ankles, the joints. Swimming, you know, is such a healthy exercise. But, man, it works your shoulders. And I when I was a kid growing up swimming competitively, I never really thought this is working my shoulders like this. But man, when you get up in your 40s and 50s, it's amazing where you feel stuff that you didn't feel earlier.

Andy Baxter 00:05:51 Oh yeah, yeah, things change as we get as we get older, it's, Let's get through this, like. I mean, we know that muscles get a little bit weaker or they're harder to manage as we get older.

Andy Baxter 00:06:01 Cartilage is a little harder to manage. And then collagen synthesis, which kind of helps make up our tendons. takes a bit of a hit as we get older. And that that doesn't mean that we should stop doing things. I think it just means that we need to be more intentional with our, our decision making process in doing the things like when we were down in Tampa Bay, when you swam that five K, you wouldn't have done that often. Nothing. You took a lot of, you know, training and practice. Yeah, yeah. So that's as much preparing your cardiovascular system as it is your, you know, musculoskeletal system to be able to handle the rigors of that, that long swim that you did or or race that you're going to run.

Jim Brogan 00:06:37 So I mentioned I'm 57. You know, a lot of our listeners are 50, 60, even 70. What are some of the biggest physical changes you typically see as people move through those decades?

Andy Baxter 00:06:48 Yeah. Again, so that, you know, muscles we tend to see without use atrophy of muscles, which I think is as important as anything.

Andy Baxter 00:06:57 And I think you see it more and more now in in the mainstream. I guess media is that, you know, strength training and resistance training and trying to gain muscle as we get older, as we get into our 40s, 50s and 60s is as important as anything we can do to kind of reverse some of the effects of that muscle weakening.

Jim Brogan 00:07:19 As important as the cardiovascular.

Andy Baxter 00:07:21 100%. Yeah, yeah. I mean, general guidelines, if you look at like the American College of Sports Medicine would be somewhere along, if you're doing two days a week of resistance training, you're probably checking that box enough. But, again, you can't just jump right into it. You need to have, you know, a little bit of a introduction to it, start really, really gently and then gradually work your way up into it. And that's where going to see a physical therapist or a really good personal trainer can be really nice to help you get into that process.

Jim Brogan 00:07:48 Well, yeah, let's talk about that.

Jim Brogan 00:07:50 That, you know, that it's hard to get started if you haven't been doing it. you know, I mentioned swimming. I mean, I kind of got out of the water regularly back when the Covid happened because all the gyms, all the pools closed. And, man, I hadn't been able to regularly. I mean, I've swum some over the, over the last five years, but it's just been hard to get back. So it's hard to get that, you know, get over that hump. So for those listening at home, maybe not been real active. How'd he get started?

Andy Baxter 00:08:19 Yeah. So I when I'm telling people, you know, I relate most things back to running when I'm telling people to return to an activity that they want to do. I'll, I'll typically start by saying, hey, pick what you think is a very little amount to do and probably do half of that to start. And you're just trying to create. I look at things in terms of we're trying to create safe baselines like, hey, we can go out and walk for five minutes and it doesn't feel like you did a lot, but we know that that that allows you to find the right the, the safest amount of minimal exercise that you can start with, that you can then build up from as opposed to going out and going on a two hour walk right out the gate or going on a long swim.

Andy Baxter 00:09:00 And then we're having to manage the soreness or the injury or anything that comes with that. So, I mean, I think starting slow from a physiological standpoint makes makes a ton of sense. It also helps a ton psychologically. if you go out and do something for an hour and a half intensely the first time you do it, it's going to be really hard to repeat that process.

Jim Brogan 00:09:18 So now we hear people say things, you know, my knees hurt. I'm getting older. I just can't move like I used to. I'm certainly feeling that. Heck, you're 4042. Yeah 42. And you're probably starting to feel a little bit of that more so than when you were 28 or 32. So how much of that really is an inevitable part of aging? We know some of it is, but how how much can we actually do something about?

Andy Baxter 00:09:42 I think we can we can we can manage it really well if we're smart again, about the amount we're doing, the progression that we're doing it with and then making sure we are taking breaks when needed.

Andy Baxter 00:09:55 me, for example, I can't run nearly as much as I used to, but I still try to run 4 or 5 days a week at a slower pace, at a at a less distance. But it allows me to stay in that, you know, realm of healthiness that I want to be and still stay somewhat able to do the sport. That's always been been a part of me. So,

Jim Brogan 00:10:17 We think about a lot of different areas where, you know, we'd like to focus on aging health healthily. I mean, there's strength. You mentioned that, the resistance training becomes just as important as cardio flexibility. You know, balance, balance is so important as you get older with falls and things like that. Cardiovascular fitness, what matters most or is it just got we got to be on top of all those things.

Andy Baxter 00:10:46 Yeah. I mean.

Jim Brogan 00:10:47 It's flexibility. The overlooked part of that.

Andy Baxter 00:10:50 I think. Yeah, to an extent, I think more mobility in the ways that we need to function.

Andy Baxter 00:10:56 So if you can't bring your hip up high enough to sit on a low chair, or if you can't turn to back out of your driveway, then that's obviously something we need to work on. but in terms of the way I look at things, in terms of hierarchy, of, of importance, I think strength and cardiovascular training probably outweigh the flexibility, mobility stuff a little bit. That being said, doing mobility work is 100% a an important part of the process. And I do think all those things together would make up the most, holistic and healthy way about going going about health.

Jim Brogan 00:11:33 When I stretch regularly, unfortunately, I'm not real disciplined with it or getting a routine where I'm doing some yoga. Man, I feel so much better. I just feel my body just feels so much looser. That's Andy Bax, a physical therapist. He's the owner of studio PT here in Knoxville. As you ease back into your routines. How do you start determining between normal soreness, injury, things like that? Pain we should not ignore.

Jim Brogan 00:12:00 So stay with us. We'll have more with Andy. You're listening to More Living with Jim Brogan. You're here on Newstalk 987 Woking.

Speaker 1 00:12:10 Welcome back to Newstalk 98. Seven's Brogan Financial Studios or Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan.

Jim Brogan 00:12:25 Welcome back to More Living Here on Newstalk 987 Wookey. I'm Jim Brogan, we're visiting with Andy Baksa. Movement. Staying active is so critically important as we age. he's a physical therapist now. See here I see the letters PT, and then I hear see dpt. Tell me what those stand for. Is that physical therapist doctor or physical therapist?

Andy Baxter 00:12:48 Yeah. That's it? Yeah. Yep.

Jim Brogan 00:12:50 Okay.

Andy Baxter 00:12:50 There you.

Jim Brogan 00:12:50 Go. And owner of studio PT here in Knoxville. When did you open up studio PT?

Andy Baxter 00:12:55 April 24th. So I worked for a big company for 11 years, I think. And, it was a really good company, but it went through some changes.

Andy Baxter 00:13:04 And, you know, in the corporate culture of physical therapy has, and being being beholden to insurance really forces your hand in terms of the volume of people you got to see in the individual time you get to spend with these people. So going out and doing my own thing really allows me to spend more time one on one with the people that come in and, really help with the education part of it. The, you know, the hands on part of it, but also just the planning ahead, kind of like kind of like you do with finance. We're we're planning, planning people's activities around getting them healthy and keeping them healthy.

Jim Brogan 00:13:38 Well, those are great words. anytime you can be spending more time with people I know, whenever I'm with a doctor and I've got somebody that spends more than 7 or 8 minutes with me, I'm always extremely appreciative when they really take time to talk to me. and work with me. Let's start with a really common question. As we get older, how do we distinguish between normal soreness and pain that we should not ignore?

Andy Baxter 00:14:03 Yeah, that's a good question.

Andy Baxter 00:14:05 And I use I think my biggest describer of that is lag time. So soreness you know normal muscle soreness. You should you know if you're doing a new activity you probably should feel it on both sides. Similarly. so if you go for a long walk and your calves are sore, you would hope that you're having similar soreness side to side versus one side that feels a little bit more, a little bit more aggravated. But then we get into lag time. And how long is that lasting? I think injuries or or a pain that sticks around for, you know, two, 3 or 4 days that needs to take a little bit more focus from you than, hey, it hurts a little bit while I'm doing this, but it settles down really, really quickly afterwards. So, when I'm when I'm educating people on this, it's mostly, hey, if you've done a new activity, did it hurt during. Did it hurt after and how long did it hurt after? And then we can help make educated decisions about when we do that activity again, based on how quickly that that pain or soreness settles down.

Jim Brogan 00:15:07 And I guess tightness and soreness in some ways it's the same thing. But it also could be different, right.

Andy Baxter 00:15:14 Yeah I think so. Yeah I mean tightness can you can describe tightness in a bunch of different ways from a neurological standpoint or just from a muscle tissue standpoint. But yeah, I think we experienced tightness a lot of times in relationship to weakness. And our muscles are just holding tension around a weak area to kind of protect us from that. So we can misinterpret a feeling of tightness as just like, hey, we need to actually use this muscle a little bit more, or as opposed to just, you know, stretching it or resting it in that type of thing.

Jim Brogan 00:15:43 You know, it's unbelievable how you can have a little bit of an issue. Let's say you're having some plantar fasciitis in one of your feet, and it causes you to limp just the slightest bit, and then all of a sudden you develop a problem somewhere else because you didn't take care of that problem. And all of a sudden you've been putting too much on the other leg.

Jim Brogan 00:16:03 Can you just talk a little bit about that? When we have a problem in one area and then we don't take care of it and then it impacts another area?

Andy Baxter 00:16:10 Yeah. I mean, I think I think compensatory pain and soreness is certainly a thing. That's a really good question. It's a tricky question because I think with things like plantar fascia pain or tendon pain or those kind of things, it doesn't they don't respond to just rest. So we've got to find a way to to move and challenge that area without aggravating something else, because we're walking a little bit differently or moving a little bit differently.

Jim Brogan 00:16:35 So do you believe in sports? I think, you know, in like getting custom orthotics and that kind of stuff. You know, I started those 20 years ago and now I can't go off of them.

Andy Baxter 00:16:44 Right, right. I think there's a place for them, I think. I think in some cases they're probably over prescribed or over over encouraged because I do feel like our, our body is really, really good at taking stress, creating resiliency towards that stress and then becoming stronger as a result.

Andy Baxter 00:17:04 So if if we've exhausted the, you know, the components of strengthening graded exposure to to activity and we're still having some issues, and there's an obvious biomechanical issue where your foot's just moving a little funny then. Sure. I think orthotics can be a really nice part of it, but I, I tend to defer to those near the end of the process. if we're still having issues.

Jim Brogan 00:17:27 Now, what are the most common problems you see in adults over 50? Like what part? What areas of the body?

Andy Baxter 00:17:34 I mean, I think spine pain is probably the most common just in terms of what we're, we're seeing just because our spine is implicated in almost everything we do. We use it. We move when we're moving, we're moving our spine.

Jim Brogan 00:17:46 And if our back getting good, man, it just it's hard to be comfortable.

Andy Baxter 00:17:51 It is. And it can be very debilitating. It can be very scary. again, you know, the indications of if you've got back pain or neck pain, probably one of the best things you can do is go for a walk and just get your body moving a little bit.

Andy Baxter 00:18:04 Yeah, that's what people call me. And they're like, hey, I hurt my neck just now. And I'm like, there's only, you know, so much I can do for you in the first 24 hours. But I bet if you went out for a walk, got some sunshine, got your heart rate up a little bit, you're probably going to feel a little bit better. and then as things become more mechanical than, you know, than physical therapy can really set in and give you some specific movements or hands on treatments or those type of things.

Jim Brogan 00:18:26 But how can we work, Andy, on posture. I know as we get older we tend to slouch more. A lot of us are in sedentary jobs. So you know, we're in. My posture is horrible. How can we work on that as we get older. Because that's going to help the the the back, the neck. I mean, when we lean forward, when we hunch over, that puts a lot of pressure on our neck, right?

Andy Baxter 00:18:46 Yeah.

Andy Baxter 00:18:47 Yo, posture is a hot button topic. As as crazy as it sounds in this world. my bias with posture is you sit in a way that makes you comfortable. I think if we try to force the issue and sit super upright or what we deem is a perfect posture, we can get ourselves into some trouble as well. And I but I do think like variety of movement is what's important in those cases. So making sure this comes back to resistance training, you're strengthening your back muscles. You're doing things that work on pulling yourself into position, you know, into those, you know, scapular squeezes or thoracic extension or just positions that are kind of opposite of how we normally sit. And if we if we provide ourselves variety, I think we can manage some of those postural, changes a little bit better overall.

Jim Brogan 00:19:37 So I know that, you may not like this. You may like this. I don't know, but, you know, I have problems with my posture. And so my the curvature in my lower back is not really what it should be.

Jim Brogan 00:19:48 And I got one of those little wedge things that I sit on. And it makes you kind of have a little bit forward pelvic tilt. And that really helps me at the office.

Andy Baxter 00:19:57 Yeah. I mean.

Jim Brogan 00:19:58 If that's just something I do to try to help me sit up straighter.

Andy Baxter 00:20:01 Again. And I mean, it's so individualized. And if that makes you feel better, I would 100% support it. now that could be different for other people. But I think finding something like that is a great way to handle, like the day to day stress of of what you're dealing with at work now.

Jim Brogan 00:20:15 One instinct when something hurts is to stop using it in rest. And you mentioned like with plantar fasciitis. I mean, I brought up plantar fasciitis. But you mentioned, you know, rest is not necessarily going to make it better, but are there situations where too much rest can actually make a problem worse?

Andy Baxter 00:20:31 Yeah, definitely. I the literature is clear now we know tendon pain Especially tendons. Now, if you have a really, really aggravated and a very, very painful say it's your Achilles tendon.

Andy Baxter 00:20:46 then sure, we need to let it rest relatively, just to let it settle down. That should be a process of a few days. But then the quicker we can get back to moving, the quicker we can start building in good, safe, healthy tendon, tendon repair and, and help get you back to that activity. Tendons do not do well with total rest. They tend to get weaker, which is already something that we're dealing with with aging. So if we just completely abstain from movement, abstain from challenging that area, it will not improve to the point where it's just going to magically go away. You need you need stress to it. You need activity towards it.

Jim Brogan 00:21:24 And you mentioned the the spine and the neck. If it's bothering you, get out and walk. Movement usually is a good idea.

Andy Baxter 00:21:32 yeah, of course. Of course there's.

Jim Brogan 00:21:34 Exceptions like if my Achilles. But but I mean, it's a rule of thumb. You just want to keep moving.

Andy Baxter 00:21:39 Yeah. I mean, to an extent, again, you don't want to go out.

Andy Baxter 00:21:42 And that's not to say if you hurt your neck, you need to go walk an hour and a half. It means you should go out and move a little bit and then assess how you're feeling. So I'll tell people, go walk for ten minutes and see how you feel. If you feel a little bit better than maybe you can walk ten more minutes. but yeah, if if walking also if you have neck pain and walking is making it worse, then you probably should stop and understand that your, you know, pain is our brain telling us to watch out for something. So we want to make sure we're respectful of it, but we don't want to let it just dominate the conversation as well.

Jim Brogan 00:22:11 So I think a lot of us probably know the answer to this, but I still want to ask you as the expert when something hurts. Ice versus heat. When do we use one versus the other?

Andy Baxter 00:22:21 Yeah. so initially it was always the newer the issue. So Ice would help manage an inflammatory process.

Andy Baxter 00:22:31 So if you sprain your ankle and you have swelling, you wouldn't want to put heat on it. He would actually open up your blood vessels and could create more swelling. we used to think ice would help manage some of those, some of those issues. But now we know that inflammation, to an extent, is a is a really, really nice thing that happens in our body that kind of prepares us for the healing process. So, I typically I mean, I don't tell one way or the other. I say if heat feels good, do that. If ice feels good. Do that in these scenarios.

Jim Brogan 00:23:00 So now balance strength and longevity. Flexibility. When we come back with Andy Bieksa, he's the owner of studio PT here in Knoxville, we're going to talk about those kinds of things. And I want to ask Andy about sleep as well, which I think is so important. And we know it's important, but how important is it? So stay with us. This is more living. We'll also have our dollars and cents segment where young people are potentially making huge mistakes in their financial planning.

Jim Brogan 00:23:31 So stay with us. This is your living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 987 Wookey.

Speaker 1 00:23:37 Welcome back to Newstalk 98 Seven's Brogan Financial Studios, where Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan.

Jim Brogan 00:23:52 Thanks for tuning in. This is Moore living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 987 Wookey. Today we're visiting with Andy Baksa. He is a physical therapist and we're talking about movement staying active. How do you get started? How do you monitor potential soreness versus injuries? before we get back to Andy, it is time for dollars and cents.

Speaker 4 00:24:16 Want to be sure you are getting the most out of your retirement for all the years of your retirement? That's the primary goal of Moore living with Jim Brogan and our dollars and cents segment, where we provide you with an important financial tip that will help positively impact the quality of your life and retirement. And now here's Jim with this week's dollars and cents tip.

Jim Brogan 00:24:41 Our younger generations short circuiting their financial planning and wealth management. 401 investing is becoming less popular with younger generations, younger generations, people in their 20s and 30s. Typically value investment and liquidity freedoms, sometimes more than tax deferral, and that employer match the share of workers. On a new study by Vanguard. The share of workers earning $150,000 or more of income. They hit their 401 max. The number of people that contributed and hit that max last year was 51%, which was down. It was 60%. Just six or 7 or 8 years ago. So in other words, younger folks that are making nice money are not putting as much in their $401. Now that creates some real danger areas. you know, the thing with a 401 K, whether it's Roth or traditional is, you know, you really it's something for that you're going to touch once you're 60 years old, right? You can't get to it before you're 59.5 without some exceptions, with some exceptions. So, you know, there's a limit to liquidity and access.

Jim Brogan 00:26:05 however, the first thing is you don't want to give up that employer match, right? When you add money to a 401. Usually for most people, the employer will match a certain amount of that. I don't care if it's 100% or 25%, even if you're getting $0.25 on the dollar. That is free money. You know, we can sit here and talk about tax free versus tax deferred, Traditional versus Roth. The bottom line is, free money is the best kind of money. And if you don't put in what the employer will match, you're literally just burning money. You're throwing money away. That could be yours. And that is a fundamental part of building financial independence. secondly is, over longer periods of time as we try to build wealth. A big drag on that wealth creation is income taxes. You know, if we invest outside of a retirement account, we have potential interest tax dividends on on stocks. You know, we have long term capital gains, short term capital gains. If you invest in mutual funds, there's a lot of turnover in stock mutual funds.

Jim Brogan 00:27:17 Every year. They have to distribute the net gains from all their buying and selling. and you usually have it reinvested, but it produces a drag on your investment return because you have to have money to pay that tax. And the power of compounding where you don't have to pay the tax. Either tax free or tax deferred with a Roth or traditional is absolutely the best way to grow wealth. You just have some limits of access. So in a good financial plan for you younger folks, make sure you're at least getting the employer match. Put more in if you can. Now you do need to build up some money. That is money that could be accessible to you. That's not in a retirement account. That could be money you could access in six, eight, ten years. And for that, you probably need to have some of that money invested with some risk. Probably not as much risk as your long term money, but you probably want more growth than just having that money at the bank. So it's important to have all think of them as buckets of money.

Jim Brogan 00:28:21 You have a short term bucket. That's your emergency fund. You have a mid term bucket. That is money. You might want to have that flexibility and access. But then your long term bucket and the tax advantages of a 401, either Roth or traditional are so overwhelming when you look at the numbers. Be careful you're not short circuiting your long term success for short term flexibility.

Speaker 4 00:28:46 That's our dollars and cents segment for this week. You can find this week's dollars and cents segment and others by visiting Brogan financial.com.

Jim Brogan 00:28:59 Check us out online Brogan financial.com. We've got a wealth of resources. You can also download all our radio shows if you click on radio. We've got several years worth of radio shows on there. We'll have today's episode up probably Tuesday afternoons. Usually when we have it up, not only where you can stream it on our website, but you can also listen to it on Spotify or Apple Podcast. so do check it out. also, you can subscribe to be updated on a weekly basis with any new information that we put out.

Jim Brogan 00:29:31 Because my goal here at this station, at this show and in my practice is to help you, help educate you so you can make informed and prudent decisions that can positively impact the quality of your life today. Along those lines. Movement. Staying healthy, being able to move and keep our bodies active are so important as we get older. And I'm visiting with Andy Bax, an old friend of mine and my wife's DD. We've known each other for quite some time. Great to see you again, Andy. I know I hadn't seen you in a little while here. You've been helping my wife and both my daughters, and I haven't seen you in a while.

Andy Baxter 00:30:09 I know it's good to see you.

Jim Brogan 00:30:10 Yeah, it's good to see you, too. we hear more and more about the importance of maintaining muscle. Now, you mentioned strength training becomes even more important in our 50s and 60s. How can we incorporate resistance training safely. And can you just underscore how important you think that is?

Andy Baxter 00:30:31 Yeah, I guess it comes back to the we talked about if with starting slow.

Andy Baxter 00:30:36 So just like walking doing less than you think, you probably need to start with just to make sure that we're preparing our tissue for it. We're psychologically ready to handle like progressions I think with strength training. I mean, when in doubt, start slower and do a little bit less at the beginning. And then we're using our our feedback from those sessions as a, kind of a lesson. How how sore did I get? was it way too easy? Was it, was it way too difficult? And we can adjust from there. So typically that would be starting off with some bodyweight stuff. You know, sit the stands is a great one. You know.

Jim Brogan 00:31:13 I mean just getting up and down and not using our arms, our hands. Right. Getting out of a chair.

Andy Baxter 00:31:18 You'll find that getting harder and harder as we go. I remember when we first had our, our daughter a few years ago, I was in her room and she was crawling around on the on the ground, and I picked her up and I was in the middle of the room.

Andy Baxter 00:31:32 I had nowhere to go to put my hands, and I was trying to stand up, and I was like, well, this is difficult. And I thought, well, this is probably something I need to work on. So that gets me, got me kind of focused on doing some different things like lunges and things that challenge that, that kind of functional activity.

Jim Brogan 00:31:48 Yeah. Lunges. I mean, I'm a big believer in functional exercise things that I mean, it's great to do bicep curls. I mean, you like the way it looks when you do that regularly. But the bottom line is, I mean, not say we shouldn't do that, but a row, for example, a row is probably more functional.

Andy Baxter 00:32:10 Yeah. I think yeah. Again. Yeah. Movements that move multiple joints are probably where you want to start putting most of your energy and then getting into things like bicep curls or things like that can be down the down the road in terms of importance. But yeah, again, I mean, I would start with you think about starting, you know, if you're doing sit two stands, start with five and get an understanding of how that makes you feel.

Andy Baxter 00:32:33 And then maybe you do another couple sets of that. And then if that feels way too easy the next day or two, you can add some to it.

Jim Brogan 00:32:41 You can do bodyweight squats. You mentioned lunges. Bodyweight squats.

Andy Baxter 00:32:44 Are good. Yeah. There's a there's a ton out there. And that's where I mean, there's a ton of resources online which can be can be super, super confusing because you're getting you're getting opinions from everywhere. But but checking in with somebody who is, you know, is a professional in this world, a really good personal trainer or physical therapist. I think we're seeing those two worlds colliding a little bit more in terms of us as physical therapists, really focusing on the strength and conditioning aspect of, of, of all things in life.

Jim Brogan 00:33:11 So yeah, I know I've, of course, we both have a very dear friend that's in the training business and, you know, with Rufus and of course, I've been working with him for a long time. I needed the accountability and the supervision and oversight, so I wouldn't hurt myself.

Andy Baxter 00:33:25 Exactly. Yeah, I think that's we're doing our job. You know, sometimes, you know, it comes down to personality. Some people need to be gently nudged towards more movement, and some people need to be held back a little bit and, you know, understand that, hey, if we do too much, we're going to set ourselves back even more. So I think as as fitness professionals, we should be managing being able to manage both of those personalities and situations.

Jim Brogan 00:33:48 Now, Andy, do we manage balance? I mean, at what age do we start really thinking about that? Is that a strength thing? Is it a flexibility thing? What do we need to do to prevent falls as we age?

Andy Baxter 00:34:01 Yeah, I think strength is probably our as important as anything balance. Yeah, balance is one of those things where I think working on I mean, you're not going to get better at it unless you work at it or put yourself in situations where you're having to utilize that. So there's there's a whole host of different ways we can do it.

Andy Baxter 00:34:18 I think strength training is a great way to start. I think doing this is my bias and my friends make fun of me all the time, but calf strengthening is probably as important as anything when it comes to balance. Just being able to access.

Jim Brogan 00:34:31 You toe ups or what do you.

Andy Baxter 00:34:32 Call that heel raises? Things like that can be such a good way when we're if you think when we're falling, if we're falling forward, our calves are having to contract to kind of pull us back into center, you know, into center. Now, calves are also super active when we're walking. When we're running, they help protect our Achilles if we're doing things like pickleball or something like that. but then, you know, back to balance. I think just getting really good starting off standing on one leg or standing on, you know, some people can't even do that. So we're talking about just standing still with your feet very close together or one foot in front of the other, and just practicing those scenarios where we get a little off balance, but we're in safe situations that we can make sure we're not going to fall, but we're also planning and protecting ourselves for the future.

Jim Brogan 00:35:19 Andy, are there a few simple movements or exercises that you think? Exercises that you think almost every healthy adult should be able to do, or should be working toward being able to do?

Andy Baxter 00:35:30 Yeah, I mean, there's always exceptions. I think the lowest hanging fruit would be walking. I think that needs to be a huge part of everybody. If you're able if you're physically able of your life. Now there's there's tiers to walking obviously working up towards, you know, like jogging or running if you, if you wanted to. I do think from like a functional standpoint, we mentioned Cyd to Stan's like being able to get up and up and down, off, off a chair.

Jim Brogan 00:35:57 Ultimately, he's like a bodyweight squat.

Andy Baxter 00:35:59 Really. Yeah, yeah. And you can and you can manipulate those variables so easily just by sitting on a higher chair and starting and then moving to a lower chair, and then moving to bodyweight squats and then holding lightweights while you go. I think from a what we're trying to do on a day to day perspective, being able to handle those things.

Andy Baxter 00:36:19 Also, you could add in step ups, you know, managing stairs without having to use hand support. again, I think calf training is so, so, so important in terms of like being able to walk, to be able to exercise. Like I said, there's a protective component around our Achilles tendon. I was doing a little bit of research before this, just about, I use pickleball for an example because that's such a popular sport now. But, we're seeing like a it's almost like a second peak in Achilles ruptures. most of them happen when you're in your 30s and 40s. It's mostly men. It's mostly men who didn't exercise for a long time, and then they jump right back into an exercise that they haven't been doing that again, exceptions to that. but we're seeing that happen a little bit later as more and more people are doing pickleball. And it almost always happens in the first month that you've started. So all that means is our body is really good at adjusting to new stress, as long as we give it time to doing that.

Andy Baxter 00:37:19 So doing your calf work, making sure you're warming up before these activities, and then slowly incorporating these activities in you don't need to go out the first time you play a sport like pickleball and go play for two hours.

Jim Brogan 00:37:31 Yeah. My brother, my middle brother is a tennis pro teaching tennis pro. And, it seemed like several years ago we went out and were hitting balls. I'm not a really very good tennis player, but I can play. But he's of course very good. And we just went out to hit, and he's pretty good at hitting the ball right to you. But then he'll start moving you around a little bit. And it was always it's always in my instinct to go full bore. Right. And after about five minutes he said he had me come into the net and he said Jim you're going to hurt yourself man. Don't, don't, don't, don't go so hard after thing. You're just now starting to hit again. So that kind of goes back to what you're saying.

Jim Brogan 00:38:16 Weaken Warriors have to be really, really careful, right?

Andy Baxter 00:38:18 100%. Yeah. And it's just again, we our our body's equipped to handle all these things. But we've got to give it time and we've got to give it planning and we've got to give it that. You know, my favorite term, the greatest exposure to that stress and not doing too much too soon. And think, thankfully for you, you had a a smart brother who's in that world.

Jim Brogan 00:38:36 He's like.

Andy Baxter 00:38:37 You're not.

Jim Brogan 00:38:38 28 anymore.

Andy Baxter 00:38:39 Exactly.

Jim Brogan 00:38:39 So why are you running around the court like you are? Are you going to hurt yourself?

Andy Baxter 00:38:42 Yep, yep. So, having, you know, having somebody like that in your corner is helpful as well.

Jim Brogan 00:38:46 Yeah. I know, orthopedics that I've talked to have said they've just seen a flood of new injuries of people playing pickleball. Now, that you just got to be careful. You pace yourself.

Andy Baxter 00:38:58 Yeah.

Jim Brogan 00:38:59 When you start doing those activities.

Andy Baxter 00:39:00 It's it's I think it's a it's an awesome thing for people to do.

Andy Baxter 00:39:03 I think from a community standpoint, being around friends, doing something you enjoy being active. I could not encourage it enough. I just think if you're just getting started, there's some some make sense planning you can do to make sure that you're just safe during it.

Jim Brogan 00:39:19 that's Andy Baksa. He is the president or excuse me, the owner of studio PT and not here in Knoxville. When we come back, we'll wrap up with him. I want to ask him some kind of bonus questions, kind of, Q\&A time. So stay with us. This is more living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 987. Waukee.

Speaker 1 00:39:39 Welcome back to Newstalk 98. Seven's Brogan Financial Studios or Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan.

Jim Brogan 00:39:54 Thanks for tuning in today to More Living. This is Newstalk 987 w kr. Check us out online at Brogan financial.com. We've got a wealth of information there, so you can make informed and prudent decisions that can impact the quality of your life.

Jim Brogan 00:40:08 We've been visiting with Andy Baksa. He's an old friend of ours. He's a physical therapist, owner of studio PT here in Knoxville. We've been talking about movement, flexibility, balance. Andy, just a couple of real quick questions here because we're almost out of time. Importance of sleep. Tell us about the importance of sleep. Yeah. Sleeping.

Andy Baxter 00:40:26 Well yeah I think I mean it's more and more ubiquitous in like the, the literature. Sleep is sleep is our best recovery tool we have. So get into as much sleep as you can and and you know, there's, you can look up sleep hygiene and working on it. But yet as important as anything else, I would say.

Jim Brogan 00:40:43 If someone has arthritis, should they be afraid of exercise?

Andy Baxter 00:40:47 I think the the indications are clear that movement with arthritis is the best thing that you can do.

Jim Brogan 00:40:54 Do you see people who wait too long before getting help, and what usually keeps people from coming in sooner?

Andy Baxter 00:41:00 I think people, you know, they've either experienced it just getting better on their own or, there's just a fear of that.

Andy Baxter 00:41:08 You know, there's a healthy fear of the medical profession. so I yeah, we definitely see people that let things linger and that can impact the recovery time.

Jim Brogan 00:41:17 What is one misconception about physical therapy that you wish people would stop believing?

Andy Baxter 00:41:23 I think the biggest thing and I think our industry, there's a there's a bunch, but I would say that hands on treatment will fix all. I think, there's a place for manual therapy. There's a place for dry needling, there's a place for all that. But, education and exercise are the most beneficial thing we can do for our our patient population.

Jim Brogan 00:41:41 That's a great word. If someone wants to be able to travel, play golf, hike, or play with their grandkids well into their 70s and 80s, what should they start doing today?

Andy Baxter 00:41:52 well, maybe not today, but go for a walk would be a great start. It's great to have you. Yeah, rainy and heavy, but, yeah, probably starting with, you know, the things we've talked about.

Andy Baxter 00:42:01 Go for a walk. stand on one leg for a little bit of time, do a few, sit the stands and then see how you feel tomorrow.

Jim Brogan 00:42:07 Just get.

Andy Baxter 00:42:07 Started. Yeah, just get started. But start slow and gentle.

Jim Brogan 00:42:11 Andy, what is one thing? A guy that was a collegiate athlete won the SEC championship with Tennessee track and field in 2007, I believe, he said. What's one thing you personally do to keep your own body healthy that you think most people could benefit from?

Andy Baxter 00:42:26 that's a good question. If you see me after a run, you'll see me limping a little bit. But that's, history of Achilles stuff. I mean, I spent a lot of time maintenance wise on. I lift probably four days a week, and I run 4 or 5 days a week. but I spent a lot of time working on my feet, so a lot of mobility work for my, my ankle joint and my some of the smaller joints in my foot and a lot of calf work and that kind of stuff to keep my Achilles in check.

Jim Brogan 00:42:51 So, yeah, that's a big takeaway for me, is the work that we can do with our calves for the Achilles and then also for balance and not falling. Andy, you're the you you founded studio PT in 2024, I believe you said. How can people get hold of you and find out more about you?

Andy Baxter 00:43:07 Yeah. So the the website, WW studio, Net. You can give me a call or shoot me a text directly to my phone at (865) 630-0794. And then we've also got all the social media things Instagram and and Facebook as well.

Jim Brogan 00:43:24 Studio net. That's correct. Okay. That's great. one final advice you would give our older listeners to help get them started?

Andy Baxter 00:43:35 again, at the end, when we get motivated, I think the indication or the inclination is to go do a bunch of stuff, I think. Think about what you want to do and then think about that and spread that timeline out a little bit longer so you have time to work up to the the amount of, of desired activity that you have.

Andy Baxter 00:43:55 So start slow, be consistent. That's probably the most important thing you can do is just stay consistent. But you've got to create a level of activity that allows you to stay consistent.

Jim Brogan 00:44:07 Yeah, we need some guardrails, especially early on definitely. Well, Andy, it's great to see you.

Andy Baxter 00:44:11 Yeah. You as well, Jim.

Jim Brogan 00:44:12 Yeah. It's great to see you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to be here.

Andy Baxter 00:44:16 Thanks for having me.

Jim Brogan 00:44:17 That's Andy back's a studio net. Check him out. somebody that's helped me and my family, over the years with different physical therapy issues. Today, we've discussed your health. Because greater movement and greater health provides for more living. So you can live the best years of your life your way. Many thanks to Wayne engineering the show and to Mary Caroline for helping produce the show. Have a great, great weekend. Stay safe, stay dry. This is more living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 987 W.

Speaker 5 00:44:45 The views expressed by Jim Brogan and his guests are not that of Cumulus Media.

Speaker 5 00:44:49 Any discussion of financial, legal and tax planning strategies is not intended to be individualized advice and is general in nature. Always consult with your advisor for advice specific to your needs. This program's content does not represent a recommendation of any particular security strategy or investment by Jim Brogan or Brogan Financial, Incorporated.