Bending Right is Fitness as a Lifestyle
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Healthline
Readers asked for more pictures of healthy bending around the house and workplace during daily life. They've been getting excited about the idea that daily life is the way to physical ability and health, instead of stopping life to do a bunch of exercises. People spend time and money for endless treatments and gadgets for back and knee pain and tight Achilles tendon. Healthy bending prevents the commonest sources of all of these.
- A major predisposing factor of knee and hip arthritis is weak thighs.
- A major risk factor of hip osteoporosis is lack of weight bearing exercise.
- A major risk factor of falls is weak legs and poor balance.
- The Achilles tendon gets a natural stretch with each time you bend right with heels down, and loses this constant normal source of stretch without good bending.
- The most important contributor to making a lumbar disc degenerate, or slip out of place (herniate), and press on nerves causing sciatica, is bad bending forward.
- The biggest contributor to upper back and neck pain is keeping the upper body rounded and bent over forward.
Why go to the gym or to physical therapy to do knee bends to strengthen your legs, then spend your "real life" weakening your legs and degenerating your lower back discs with bad bending, and say, "I don't have time to exercise."
You will get free built-in exercise just moving in life. My friends and family in Asia are astonished when I tell them I teach Americans how to bend to look in the refrigerator, and that Americans tell me it is too much work to bend right to load dishes in a machine that washes for them. Then they pay money to go to a gym or buy equipment to exercise their legs.
Here is a fun way to change mindset to exercise as a lifestyle:
Count how many times a day you bend and how many times you can choose to harm yourself or help yourself.If you would like to try "fitness as a lifestyle," this is the best place to start. Think of it:
- when bending to make the bed,
- to pick up laundry,
- look in the refrigerator,
- load and unload the dishwasher,
- to pick up your shoes,
- open a lower cabinet,
- lift a child or pet,
- feed a child or pet,
- pick up things from the floor,
- pick up hand weights to do exercise,
- put down weights after exercising,
- many daily activities.
More on bending and reaching, getting built-in lifestyle exercise, and fixing knee and back pain, in the books Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery and Health & Fitness in Plain English THIRD edition.
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Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. Before asking more, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, or in the Fitness Fixer Index.
Subscribe to Fitness Fixer Free - click "updates via e-mail" (under trumpet) upper right.
See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.
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Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. Before asking more, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, or in the Fitness Fixer Index.
Subscribe to Fitness Fixer Free - click "updates via e-mail" (under trumpet) upper right.
See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.
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Drawings copyright © by Jolie
Labels: achilles stretch, arthritis, disc, fix pain, knee, leg press, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, osteoporosis, sciatica, squat, strength, stretch, upper back
5 Comments:
At Sunday, February 18, 2007 2:28:00 AM,
Ivy - New Zealand said…
I must admit that I did smile when I read how doing squats helps one get shapely legs. It was only this morning while dressing that I saw myself in the full length mirror and I thought to myself how the shape of my legs have improved, particularly my thighs. I have been doing squats as I go about my daily life for a year now, obviously it has paid off and by the way, I am 70 years of age
At Monday, May 18, 2009 11:55:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Dear Dr. Bookspan: in alost any other exercise, practicing the tuck-in-your-pelvis advice made a notice difference, and i do see the better postrure and feel better during most exercises. Thank you :-) However, i am failing times and even to make progress with the basic half-squat:
a. It is really challenging to keep my feet and kness in a complete straight position. They almost always turn slightly outward. Any advise?
b. While I am able to keep my upper body upright AND keep my kness over my ancles, I still feel some pain in my knees. Shifting the weight completely to my tights and heels elimiates the pain, BUT i then fall backwards ):-
Any advise you can share?
At Monday, May 18, 2009 2:42:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Ivy, wonderful!
Hello Anonymous, good work. The idea is simple healthful movement for your actual life.
a. One reason for a turn out is tight Achilles tendon. Each good bending with feet parallel will give a natural built in stretch. If you never let them stretch, it is easy for them to remain tight. Bend right and let them stretch so they then allow you to length as needed. Hundreds of good bends a day, and soon it will work itself out. Don't force. Obviously. Next see if your knees are outward. You don't want knees in one direction and feet in another. Keep both the same, even if both are outward, that is better for knees. Next body shape may prevent feet forward, when the belly and thighs have to make room for each other :-) Check and see.
b. Great that you found that shifting the weight in a healthful way does stop knee pain. Practice. As the Achilles and other structures loosen from built in normal activity, you will be able without shifting so far that you lose balance. Have fun with it.
At Tuesday, May 19, 2009 3:08:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I appreciate the quick response! a. Any specific stretch exercise recommended for the tight Achilles tendon (or simply let the daily squats make the difference over time)?
b. My knees are definitely pointing outward. Aside from being aware of it, and trying to conciously fix it, any specific exercise you recommend ?
At Thursday, May 21, 2009 6:53:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
For good Achilles stretch, good daily habits are key. For a specific stretch, try Better Achilles Tendon Stretch.
Also look under each post. Most have a list of labels. Click the label to get all posts on that topic. For example, Achilles - chlick that label and all posts come up.
If you do an Achilles stretch, any one, but spend the rest of your day walking and bending with legs pointed outward then you reduce or stop the natural built-in functional stretch your would get.
If your knees point outward, look why, summarized in my answer already given, instead of yanking them straight. Fixing the cause is healthier than trying to stop the result.
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