Fixing Posture - No Exercises Needed
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
A widespread myth is that to fix posture you must strengthen sets of muscles.
After spending time and money on strengthening exercises, people often wind up as stronger people with the same poor body position. The fallacy is that strengthening does not create movement. You do that yourself.
A physician wrote me that he has hyperlordosis from surfing, and is "working" to fix it. He had spent much time waiting for the exercises to "work." What he missed is that surfing does not cause it, and how you stand can be fixed there and then by deliberately, volitionally changing how you stand. How? Try
Friday Fast Fitness - Neutral Spine in 5 Seconds.
In the comments to the post
Prevent Main Factor in Back Pain After Running and Walking, a Division I athlete wrote:
"Thank you. I am a D1 athlete and have been struggling with back pain/extreme tightness when lifting and playing in the same day. I have known I had bad posture while running/walking for about 4 years, went to physical therapy for it, and still haven't changed it. I kept waiting for a certain exercise to suddenly "fix" me. Duh, what fixes me is ME CHANGING IT. Shocking."
When certain muscles are tight, it can feel normal to stand badly. Even though it is popular to talk about tight hamstrings changing posture, that is mostly an issue when sitting. When standing, two tight areas are most common, chest and front hip:
- Tight front chest muscles make round-shouldered position feel normal. Round-shouldered positioning keeps the front muscles shortened, in a cycle of shortening and tightening. The upper back muscles over-lengthen. This is why the most common stretch of pulling an arm over the front of the body is usually counterproductive. To fix anterior (front) tightness start with understanding and doing the pectoral stretch, described in Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain and stop promoting an already overstretched posterior shoulder with The Stretch You Need The Least.
- Tight front hip muscles make standing badly feel normal. The front of the hip is pulled downward, tipping the backside outward in back. The lower back increases in inward curve in a painful posture called swayback or hyperlordosis. Many people stand this way without knowing it because they think standing with the hip tilted forward in front is normal or "cute." Much of modern conventional "fitness" encourages this unhealthy, unattractive bad posture.
Hyperlordosis is a major hidden factor in lower back pain. People may undergo months, even years of treatments, adjustments, shots, medicines, therapies for discs, sciatica, facet pain, and other pain without knowing or changing the cause - allowing a too large an inward curve to the lower back.
The photo at right demonstrates an over-arch in the lower spine, the hip tilted forward in front, and a forward head while doing an activity supposed to be for health. It seems impractical to do "fitness" in unhealthy ways. Moreover, tilting the hip forward reduces the Achilles stretch and reinforces bad movement habits. For a more functional Achilles stretch try
Better Achilles Tendon Stretch.
Hyperlordosis is not a medical condition or unchangeable anatomy. It is simple bad posture that you can allow or change right as you stand. Neutral spine is not pushing the hip forward, just moving it enough to make it level. See a short movie in the post
Friday Fast Fitness - Neutral Spine in 5 Seconds. To stretch the front hip, try these:
- Fast Fitness - Quick Relaxing Hip Stretch.
- Change the common ineffective way to stretch the front of the thigh and hip with Instantly Better Hip and Quadriceps Stretch
- and Stretch While You Strengthen Legs.
Watch other people when they exercise, walk, and run. See how often you can spot the unhealthy overarched lower spine. See what to look for in the post
Spotting Back Pain During Running and Walking - What Do Abs Have To Do With It?Remember that stretching the hip and shoulder, and anywhere else, will not automatically make you stand right. You do that yourself using your own muscles and brain. Free exercise. Free fix.
Labels: fix pain, lordosis, lower back, myths, posture, stretch
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Fast Fitness - NoCost Hand Strength and Rehab Equipment
Friday, June 20, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Fast Friday Fitness -hand exercise without rehabilitation equipment.
One of the exercises against repetitive strain syndrome is to exercise the muscles that open the hands. There are expensive commercial devices you can buy for this. One consists of a special glove with weights and pulleys to resist your ability to open your hand. Or you can:
- Hold the fingers of one hand closed with your other hand
- Open the hand against the resistance of the hand holding it closed
- Do as many as comfortable. Repeat with the other hand. Vary intensity and number.
If you want to go high-tech, put a rubber band around the fingers instead of using your other hand. Push each finger in a variety of ways.
Labels: fast fitness, fix pain, hand, repetitive strain, strength
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Fast Fitness - Fixing Yoga Warrior and Lunge Exercise to Neutral Spine
Friday, June 13, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Fast Friday Fitness - quickly change your posture to change your luck on Friday the 13th. Hyperlordosis (swayback posture) seems to be unlucky - it causes lower back pain. You can do this in seconds to make a certain change to healthier spine for yoga or practicing the lunge. If you don't believe in luck, you're lucky. It's just good posture and simple anatomy.
Reader
David from Belgium demonstrates in this 20 second movie that he made for us:
- First ten seconds - he steps into a yoga pose called Warrior pose, but allows overly arched lower spine. He also demonstrates leaning more weight forward of center line, which is a different issue.
- Note how the belt line tips downward in front and the lower spine overly curves inward - more than a normal curve.
- At second 11 he levels the hip to bring the posture to neutral spine. Then he kindly demonstrates overarching when raising the arms further. Instead, hold neutral spine and raise the arms from the shoulder, not the lower back.
To prevent shoulder impingement when raising arms, keep shoulders down and back, don't just chin and neck forward, keep them gently in. A forward head posture compresses the rotator cuff when lifting arms. See
Safer Overhead Military Press.
I never expected repeated requests to see how to do neutral spine in different activities. It is the same. Just apply the same neutral spine and that’s all. I thought one post would do it, but will post each activity readers ask about. I am aware that there are yoga and fitness places which teach to overarch the spine as part of the move. Teaching swayback does not seem to be as helpful as teaching neutral spine. Changing lunge and Warrior pose to neutral also improves the stretch to the front hip muscles of the back leg. Lucky.
Labels: fast fitness, fix pain, holiday, impingement, lordosis, neutral spine, posture, video/movie, yoga
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Simulation Suit To Feel the Pain of Osteoarthritis
Monday, June 09, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
A
BBC news article reported on a suit that gives wearers a "real life" insight into the pain and impaired quality-of-life associated with osteoarthritis (OA). The suit costs £20,000 and was developed by Loughborough University. They wrote:
"The JOINT Osteoarthritis Education Programme will be made available to GPs throughout the UK, providing advanced training on the diagnosis and management of the condition, including both drug-based and lifestyle approaches to help improve mobility and minimise pain."How does this suit work? The specs for this particular suit are proprietary to the company (that means they are not telling). Similarly marketed suits to simulate arthritis use a simple principle to produce the painful feeling - they use straps and other restrictive designs to hold the body in bent positions that cause the rubbing and strain.
The suit would be useful for the kind of health care worker who tells people to live with their pain instead of fixing the cause to stop the pain. Most other people don't need an expensive suit to show them how to hunch over and hurt all over:
- The post Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix shows how to understand the simple mechanics that damage discs. In my work, I have found it is one of the same mechanisms that increases wear and tear on the vertebrae contributing to spinal arthritis.
- The second main wear and tear injury adding to spinal arthritis is standing with the lower spine arched inward too much (lordosis) - Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine. The muscles you would use to simply move your spine to a less arched position and restore neutral spine are your abdominal muscles.
- Discs and vertebrae are living parts of your body. They can heal, when you stop hurting them, usually starting within days by stopping the harmful movements that aren't good for you anyway, and using healthy movement during daily life that gives you free exercise. Discs can heal without surgery, just like a sprained ankle. More on how to stop recurring ankle sprains is in How To Treat Ankle Sprains and Prevent Them and No More Ankle Sprains Part II.
Use all the various posts on fixing injuries in
The Fitness Fixer to see how to move in healthful positioning so that your exercise is healthy rather than injurious. You don't need to get treatments, or adjustments, or surgery, or shots, or medicines. It is a win-win situation where you do not have to give up favorite activities, and can become healthier than before. Just use healthy movement as part of normal daily life and get free exercise, better physical abilities, and stop the processes that cause injury, all at the same time.
For books, try
Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery and
Health & Fitness in Plain English Third Edition. The
Fix Pain book concentrates on how to stop injury process in each area, with patient stories in each chapter. The
Health & Fitness covers back and neck pain, plus living and exercising in healthy ways, nutrition, and health issues including measuring body fat tests, bone health, heart health, and other topics. Descriptions on
my books page.
Labels: arthritis, fix pain, injury
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Exercise and Aging - Don't Limit the Patient to Limit the Pain
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
A
Reuters news item last week reports that "baby boomers" are accumulating wear and tear injuries, and they should consider cutting back on amount and type of exercise they get.
The article points out that contributors to injuries are biomechanics, poor flexibility, and "pounding" or stomping down unnecessarily hard when running, jumping, walking, etc. Even with that knowledge, the news report goes on to say the answer to reduce injuries is to cut back activity. In Sunday's Fitness Fixer post,
Forearm, Upper Body and Hand Exercise, I wrote that it is not a healthful or useful solution to "limit the patient to limit the pain."
The Reuters article quoted a foot and ankle podiatrist saying,
"It is really important that people continue to be physically active, but they need to think logically about how to remain active as they age… Probably when you start getting into your 40s and 50s, the half marathon is a great alternative (to full marathons). Or, if you did two or three marathons a year, cut it back to one a year or opt for 10K or 5K runs." The podiatrist himself is a marathoner. He stated, "Having run 25 marathons, it was hard for me to cut back."
I would suggest looking at biomechanics, poor flexibility, and "pounding" first, before telling someone to stop doing what they love:
I have some exciting developments about getting you information on Exercise and Aging. Will announce soon.
Labels: aging, fix pain, impact, injury, myths, running
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Kettlebells Without Spine Injury
Monday, May 26, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Reader Dan wrote:
"Hello, I'm writing as someone who has incurred a training-related lower back injury and who has great interest in your words on hyperlordosis. I am hoping that you might shed some insight on how to achieve a neutral spine while doing "kettlebell swings." This is the exercise that has caused me back pain, and I would love to return to working out with kettlebells, but am not sure how to do so without creating too much lordosis. Any ideas? I appreciate any assistance you can provide and thank you for your contributions! Take care,
Dan L"
Kettle bells (also called kettle balls and many other names) are usually ball-shaped weights with a handle. A variety of sizes is shown in the photo below, along with a medicine ball for comparison. Kettle bells were long used in various martial arts and cultural festivals and contests before being rediscovered for modern weight lifting. In general, you lift, swing, and move them to do various weight lifting exercises.
When lifting and swinging kettlebells (and any weights) overhead, don't lean your upper body backward (photo below left). Leaning backward is often mistakenly done to "balance the weight" and make the lift easier. Another common body movement to make lifting overhead easier is changing the tilt of the pelvis (hip) so that it juts forward in front and outward in back (same photo below left). Leaning the upper body back and tilting the pelvis are not necessary to balance a load - your own muscles can hold the load, and in fact, that is the point of lifting the weights. Not only are they not necessary, they increase the inward curve of the lower spine. Increasing the small normal small inward curve (lordosis) to a large curve (hyperlordosis) increases compression on the joints (facets) and soft tissue of the lower spine. The same overarching is the hidden cause of back pain in women who lean back and/or tilt the hip trying to offset the load of a pregnancy -
Back Pain in Pregnancy - and Why Men Can Get It.
The photos of spine position swinging the heavy medicine ball are from the book
Healthy Martial Arts. My black belt student Christopher demonstrates. This is a similar overhead motion as swinging kettle bells by the handle. In the left photo, Christopher allows the hip to tilt forward in front (and out in back) and his upper body is tilting backward relative to the lower spine. In the right photo, he holds neutral spine. In the right hand photo you can see the change to reduce the overarching to neutral spine. The belt line changes from tipped downward in front to level.
Leaning backward and overarching are not helpful adaptations as sometime thought, are not unavoidable, and are not limited to pregnant women. Overarching (hyperlordosis) is a common bad posture, and an often missed source of back pain. It can be easily prevented by using your muscles to hold neutral spine. The post
Prevent Back Surgery shows photos of hyperlordosis compared to neutral spine during many activities.
Neutral spine while exercising with kettle bells is the same as neutral spine during anything else - just hold your spine position. Holding neutral spine is the same as not slouching your shoulders or not letting your mouth hang open. You just voluntarily move to and hold desired position.
Neutral spine is not done by tightening or clenching any muscles. It is done by moving your hip and lower spine the same way you move your arm to scratch your nose - without tightening, just moving it to where you want it.
Helpful posts to see and learn neutral spine while swinging kettlebells, babies, and all other fun weightlifting:
The book
Healthy Martial Arts (
www.DrBookspan.com/books) has a section on lifting and swinging kettlebells, medicine balls, and other weights. Keep breathing, smiling, and have fun. You can swing weights to be stronger and healthier, without injury.
Labels: exercise ball, facet joints, fix pain, kettlebells, lordosis, lower back, martial arts, neutral spine, performance enhancing modality, pregnancy, strength
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ER Nurse To Her Own Rescue
Monday, May 19, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Reader Barb wrote:
"Thanks for yet another great post. I am an ER nurse and see the horror of chronic back pain on a daily basis -- the disability, depression, and addiction that eliminates any quality of life for the sufferer and their family. Even after surgeries and pain clinic visits, I've yet to meet a patient who has managed to rehab well. Last year at age 52, after years of moving patients, some over 700 pounds, I injured my back while installing a patio and I couldn't breathe, let alone move without pain. If I hadn't been a devoted follower of yours, my career would have been over. I got your book, Fix Your Own Pain, did the exercises and went back to work four days later. I took a muscle relaxer to help me sleep the first three nights but have never taken any pain medication. The exercises actually relieved pain for me. I can't thank you enough.
Just a quick question, can you suggest proper form for climbing stairs, to prevent back and knee problems? I'm in a 3-story condo and don't want daily routine to do any harm to the old joints. Thanks so much Jolie!"
Barb, you have the intelligence, quick thinking, interest in learning, and empowerment that makes a quality ER nurse. Try
Better Exercise on the Stairs.
Click
this books link for the book Fix Your Own Pain and other resources.
Labels: fix pain, lower back, readers inspiring story, stairs
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Fixing Pain and Golf Easier With Real Life Movement Than Isolated Exercises
Monday, May 12, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Jeff is a Silicon Valley executive, and coach of Next Stage. He found that a lifestyle of unhealthy exercise habits can accumulate, until one day of golf becomes "the Camel's Last Straw."
Jeff writes:
"There is life after back pain – even the kind where you can’t walk, sit, lie down, or sleep.
"The weekend before Thanksgiving (2007), I was out golfing, and I made a pretty bad swing at a ball that was buried in deep rough. My club got stopped by the deep grass, my back and arms kept going. I immediately felt a sharp pain in my lower back – so much in fact that I could no longer make a normal swing or even get down into a putting stance.
"I had to give it up after 6 holes and head home. I could still walk, but I couldn’t crouch and I had a hard time getting up out of a chair.
"Three days later feeling a little better, I headed out to the fitness center to do some treadmill running - NOT a good decision. After about 10 minutes, as I was cranking up the speed to a fast jog, I felt a searing pain in my lower back and down through my left thigh. From then on, I was toast.
"By the next morning I could barely walk. I had so much pain in my lower back and left leg I needed to support myself with a cane. I could barely walk or stand with the cane. There was no comfortable position for me, and I couldn’t sleep more than an hour at a time – even on pain killers and over the counter sleeping pills. Two trips to the chiropractor changed nothing.
"I did a web search, found Dr. Bookspan's web site, bought "Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery" and then even sent her an email telling what had happened. To my amazement, I got a personal answer (then another then another as I wrote with more questions and my progress). Dr. Bookspan referred me to the lower back pain part of her site, and I started doing the retraining exercises daily – and more importantly I started “living” the exercises, i.e., using them to get good body positioning and healthy movement into my day.
"In the beginning I could barely do the exercises, my pain was so extreme I couldn’t lie flat on my stomach or back without pain, not to mention doing upper or lower back extensions. (I wrote to Dr. Bookspan who found that I was overarching the lower back, when I was thinking I was straight. Wow! Consciously tucking the hip more reduced the pain significantly.)
"After a few days, things improved so I could perform the exercises better. I started to walk again – albeit with discomfort. (I wrote again and once again got the encouragement I needed, and realized the specific things I was not yet getting right. I was still overarching the lower back and that was preventing healthful motion.)
"Today, it is 5 weeks since worst of the pain. Thanks so much for your support. I am orders of magnitude better! I am walking without a limp – pretty much normal gait. I played 9 holes of golf this morning, walking a very hilly course, carrying my clubs. Yesterday I was on the treadmill doing some light jogging. All signs of discomfort are gone and I am gradually working myself back into shape. I am not taking any medications of any kind, and I am doing just great.
"I am working hard to incorporate the things I learned from Dr. Bookspan about movement, posture, and exercise into my daily life. It makes total sense to me that the positions you are in for most of the day have far more impact than 10 minutes of exercise. I feel like I have been to hell and back, and I definitely don’t want to make another visit."
Links used:
Labels: fix pain, golf, injury, lordosis, lower back, readers inspiring story, sciatica
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Replies to Medical Questions
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Dr. Auerbach of the Wilderness Medicine blog wrote an important post for the many requests we get for personalized medical replies. It was so well said, I echo it here for readers of Fitness Fixer:
A fair number of comments from readers of this blog come in the form of clinical questions, in which someone asks for a response to a personal medical question. While I would like to be able to answer most of these, it is difficult to do that without more complete information, and in the absence of being able to examine the patient(s).
When a question or comment raises an issue or point of interest that is important for everyone, then I will try to address the topic in a separate post, rather than as an isolated answer to a question. In this way, more people can benefit.
Thanks for being a reader, and for your understanding.
Labels: education, fix pain
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Fix One Pain, Don't Cause Another
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
When you stretch and exercise, especially if you stretch and exercise to improve your health, remember that the purpose is not to recreate unhealthy movement habits.
Two similar letters came in recently.
Reader Tina wrote:
"Thanks so much for your posts on stopping upper back pain. I have stopped my upper back pain. But, when I pull my neck and shoulders back, I get pain in my lower back. Which stretches should I do to stop this pain?"
Alicia wrote:
"I recently stumbled upon your articles on the Internet about how to reduce back pain. Thanks so much for providing this information! I am experiencing less pain for sure already… but I have a question. When I am keeping my neck back and shoulders back and correcting the lower back arch, I get a pinching sensation in the middle of my back. What am I doing wrong?"
Tina was doing a common unhealthy movement habit. She didn't need stretches to fix the pain; she needed to stop old injurious movement habits. Tina was leaning her upper body backward thinking she was pulling her shoulders back. Leaning backward is not correcting rounded forward shoulders, even if it seems to move the shoulders rearward. The shoulders have not moved at all just stayed rounded while the upper body pinched backward at the lower spine.
Leaning the upper body backward increases the inward curve of the lower back, making a sharper angle between the pelvis and the lower spine. That increases the normal lordosis (inward lumbar curve) to hyperlordosis, which put painful pinching compression on the area. The shoulders may even still be rounded forward, as in the photo at left. The two segments are different. The photo is a performer who had just finished a trapeze performance. All the exercise and stretching she did every day didn't change her bad positioning habits.
Slipping into familiar unhealthy ways of moving may be habits that occur without thinking. You need to think a bit.
Alicia was just pulling back so tightly that she pinched the area between the shoulder blades. There are sources that say that you should squeeze shoulder blades as if holding a penny between them to fix posture, but of course, that is painful and too tight.
Alicia wrote back:
"Thanks! That helps actually. The pinching was in my upper back, but it's gone now! Thanks so much for responding to me. I look forward to your class in July.
Alicia"
Pinching back does not fix posture or stop upper back pain. Instead, stop the causes of the rounded shoulders and the pain. These three posts help understand and fix the causes: First read and try
Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain. Then the second stretch is
Nice Neck Stretch. The third stretch to help restore upper body positioning is
Friday Fast Fitness - Better Shoulder and Triceps Stretch.Don't exercise one area and hurt the next:
Remember to think and watch for causes instead of just *doing* exercises and stretches.
Photo taken by Jolie
Labels: fix pain, lordosis, lower back, neutral spine, posture, shoulder, upper back
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Runner Fixes More Pain With Straighter Push-Off
Monday, May 05, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Last year, reader Ted fixed back pain by learning to
use neutral spine during running and daily life. This week he checked in to say the back is still fine, and that he went on to fix other painful sites.
Fixing pain and injuries by doing some exercises may temporarily ease symptoms. Instead, you can stop the source of injury by making movement habits healthy while exercising and moving through daily life, so that you can get exercise at the same time that the area can heal, and the pain not return.
Ted writes:
"Dr Bookspan, last summer, you helped me return to running, and did an article on me and how the neutral spine fixed my back problem with running.
"The back is a NON ISSUE. Thank you so much.
"Currently, I am working on hip/hammy/knee issues (probably due to over-training). Just thought I would share a thought on the ''Duck Foot'' issue you had talked about (I read the Fitness Fixer religiously). While running on the padded infield of the Stadium Football Field, I was still noticing pains in my hip (caught my foot on the ''upswing'' during a run, hip has hurt off and on since October).
"I focused on my feet, specifically, how I pushed off after the foot-strike (very soft, I often scare other runners because they can't hear me coming up on them). A straight push off after the foot-strike made the pain go away (probably because it aligned my foot/knee/hip during the movement). Also, when the knee pain flared, tensing my quads made it go away.
"I have enjoyed reading your ''Running Articles' please keep 'em coming.
AND
Thank you for fixing my Back.
Much Appreciated,
Ted H"
"Ps. I got your new book (Health & Fitness THIRD edition). VERY good info, I'm trying to use it everyday."
To fix the source of pain, it works best to understand healthful movement retraining and not just "do" a series of rules. One important example is keeping feet parallel or facing forward. The idea is to understand that a straight push-off comes from keeping all the joints in the kinetic chain from feet to hip and spine from twisting in unhealthful ways, not just straighten one segment by twisting another. Yanking or forcing the feet straight is not the point of good positioning.
Ted has more helpful stories to come in future posts. Click these posts for more:
Photo supplied by Ted H
Labels: feet, fix pain, impact, knee, readers inspiring story, running
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Plantar Fasciitis Part I
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Raina and several other readers asked about plantar fasciitis.
On a house, a fascia is a flat horizontal surface just under the roof. In your body, a fascia is flat fibrous tissue that wraps your muscles and soft structures. You have fascia in several places. One is across the bottom of your feet. "Plantar” means the bottom of your foot that you "plant" on the ground. Your plantar fascia is the fascia on the bottom of your foot. Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation
(-itis) of the fascia on the bottom of your foot.
Normal Plantar Fascia ActionWhen you walk or run with your feet facing straight ahead, the line of bending of the foot is straight from front to back. Each step gives you a nice, built-in small stretch across the bottom of your foot. As you walk, run, jump, and move, your plantar fascia transmits body weight across your foot. It is part of shock absorption for your entire leg.
How Bad Movement Mechanics Hurts Several things can make the fascia tighten and hurt. Here are three. More to come in future posts:
1. When you walk or run with feet facing outward, the fascia loses the normal stretch. Over years of not getting its normal stretch, it becomes tight. Walking with feet facing outward also puts sideways forces on the fascia with each step. Over years, your foot can get strained. Walking with poor shock absorption, banging down heavily with each step can amplify strain forces on a tight fascia. Every step you take on a tight fascia yanks on the heel where it attaches. Eventually the heel and bottom of the foot get irritated from the yanking and start to hurt.
The tighter your Achilles and foot fascia, the more "normal" it feels to walk toe-out. In a circular problem, walking toe-outward is a common fascial tightener. It may be "natural" with tightness, but can increase tightness over time.
2. Letting ankles pronate (arches flatten) is another fascial strain. Keep your body weight evenly around the sole of your foot, not sagging inward on your arches, pressing them downward. Reader David from Belgium has made us a great short video of easily changing from rolling in on the arches to holding straight in Fast Fitness - Fix Flat Feet, Pronation, and Fallen Arches.
3. Hard sole shoes and some fasciitis braces stop the sole from getting the normal lengthening while walking, therefore stopping the pain from the stretch, giving the false impression that the injury is lessening. It is a negative cycle of shortening and continuing the source of the injury. Injections briefly make the area more prone to injury. Pain pills allow you to continue the injury process without pain telling you that it is wrong. Several kinds of anti-inflammatory and pain medicines interfere with healing. Wearing high heeled shoes raises the heel, shortening the length of the Achilles tendon, putting less stretch on the tendon, the lower leg muscles, and the fascia of the foot.
Fasciitis can be quickly stopped. It does not have to be chronic. "Doing" a few stretches does not undo a lifestyle of shortening, tightening, and straining. Use good body movement for all movement to allow it to heal and be functional.
Helpful links to move in healthy ways to stop plantar fasciitis:
Labels: achilles stretch, feet, fix pain, injury, plantar fasciitis, pronation, running, walking
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Junk Food Through Your Skin?
Monday, April 21, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
We live part of each year in Asia. For a few months, I was posting articles for you from various villages. The town shower of one is pictured at right. Imagine what the Internet café was like.
On the flights over, our only bag was lost. US transportation security required us to check our sole knapsack, since it had a small gift for friends containing liquid. It never reappeared. We don't need "things" and it was just as easy to make our own soap, comb, and toothbrushes as carry them.
In Western stores, I am astonished by the number of "personal care items." Not just shelves full, but aisles. Each promising better hair, skin, nails, and other parts, but with ingredients that are not healthy for your body, produced in ways that pollute the world, and packaged in plastics that are unhealthy to produce, pollute when discarded, and which apparently leak chemicals into the product that can be absorbed through your skin - see
Green Water. A study commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association found that even shampoos, body washes, and lotions labeled "natural" and "organic" can contain unhealthful, even carcinogenic compounds.
I feel high maintenance just carrying a toothbrush. Then we arrived without even that. What freedom.
We made simple hand sanitizer from coarse salt, rubbed between the palms.
For body, face, and hair, we picked aloe leaves, squeezed out the gel inside, and rubbed directly on - see
Fast Fitness - Aloe Inside and Out. It dries non-sticky, and makes your hair shiny, clean, and healthy. We used the rest of the gel in food and drink for healthy digestion.
Bamboo is easily made into cooking pots (photo above left). We also visit our favorite bean sprout PadThai restaurant - an outdoor wok on wheels run by a friend. Paul is always popular when we travel (photo at right).
Baking soda and salt makes clean toothpaste. Even without them, a short branch called a neem stick with one end mashed until fibrous, makes a soft, effective bristled toothbrush. Neem extract is said to be a good antiseptic, and effective against various health ills and germs.
After a long day at work and after hard training, instead of hand lotion, you can rub sesame or other light healthy cooking oil onto your hands and feet. You can scent it with mint leaves, citrus peels, spices, and flowers. More ideas in
Healthy Mother's Day.
I don't use sunblock, even in the tropics. I do use something to stop some of the unwanted effects of too much sun, but I do not want to block the Vitamin D and other helpful effects of sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis (thin, brittle bones) and osteomalacia (rubbery, demineralized bones). Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of a few types of cancer, including lung cancer. Studies find that people with low blood levels of vitamin D were more likely to have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Another study found that a number of patients with aches and weakness were vitamin D deficient and concluded, "A lot of 'fibromyalgia' may be D deficiency."
Instead of blocking or deflecting UV rays using chemical sunblocks that may contain chemicals that I am not sure are healthy, I mix my own, that I hope stops the oxidizing effects and makes my own body better able to stop skin cancer mechanisms. I mash together fresh coconut pulp, green tea, vegetable sprouts, mashed turmeric root, and aloe gel.
A study by Johns Hopkins researchers, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(October 30, 2007, vol. 104, no. 44, 17500-17505) found that rubbing an extract made from broccoli sprouts on your skin may help prevent skin cancer from high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Broccoli, and the sprouts in particular, contain a chemical called sulphoraphane, which is found to activate cancer-fighting enzymes in your own cells throughout your body, not only skin cells.
Instead of chemical anti-mosquito products, we try various things. Marigold flowers rubbed on the skin seem to work for us. I don't seem to be "sweet," and mosquitoes often ignore me while going after Paul. We have heard various theories from locals. One is that he eats sweet rice while I eat more garlic. Various grasses rubbed on the skin also work well for us. There are vines growing in Thailand with beautiful purple flowers. When you rub them on wet hair, it leaves your hair soft and shiny and sweet smelling, but the bugs do not like it. There are other vines that, when mashed with water made effective gentle soap and mosquito control combined.
In Asia, martial arts training is often more rigorous and disciplined than is common in the states. After hard evenings of training, I would sit by a candle made from oil and tightly wrapped bamboo leaves, and rub salt and oil into my, and Paul's, tired feet. Bliss.
- You can exercise for your health. Why undo that by eating junk food - Is Your Health Food Unhealthful
- or by adding junk food to your brain through thinking unhealthful thoughts - Healthier Heart
- or with junk food directly through your skin.
The biggest worry for Paul is just ducking the doorways.
Photos © by Jolie
Labels: cancer, diabetes, digestion, drugs, fix pain, nutrition, osteoporosis
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Fast Fitness - Sprain Prevention and Rehab Training
Friday, April 18, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Fast Friday Fitness - feel how your own muscles work to hold ankle position, so that you can have stable ankles without artificial shoe supports or bracing, which weaken the supporting muscles from disuse:
- Stand with feet parallel and look in a mirror where you can see your feet, or just look down.
- Rise to toe and hold
- Keep body weight over big and second toe with straight ankle position as you remain on tip-toe. Don't let your weight shift over the small toes, allowing ankle to bend outward.
Click the arrow to see this short movie of my student Diana's feet, as she first allows rolling the ankle outward when rising to toe, then at second 3 in the movie, she uses ankle, foot and leg muscles to pull to straight neutral ankle position. She prevents outward rolling as she again rises to toes three more times.
Prevent rolling outward whenever you rise on toe or push off or land from a jump or step.
Developing positioning sense in the receptors of your ankles prevents the sprain-promoting position called inversion, and gains built-in foot and ankle muscle strength and stability. Nice foot stretch too. Practice balancing on tip-toe, and rising up and down without rolling outward every day.
Labels: ankle, balance, fast fitness, feet, fix pain, injury, sprain, toes, video/movie
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Feeling Better Than She Ever Has Part II - Fixing Herniated Disk and Reclaiming Active Life
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Barbara lives in a little town of 300 people in Yukon Canada - map at right.
Part I of Barbara's story last Wednesday described why it didn't take six weeks to fix Barbara's herniated discs and severe sciatic pain and numbness, but it was six weeks until the "light went on" and she did the things to stop the cause of the injury, so it could stop hurting and start to heal.
Here is an insider's peek behind the scenes week-by-week:
"Dear Dr. Bookspan,
"This is a bit of a long one, and probably reaffirms everything you've ever received in hundred and hundreds of emails and stories, but I wanted to share this with you anyway. I can’t thank you enough for working hard and sharing all your knowledge. I am almost completely pain free!
"After 6 weeks of severe sciatic pain and numbness and weakness of my left leg and foot, something just clicked on Thursday night and I became more determined than ever that I could get rid of the pain. Through your website, the Fitness Fixer, and reading lots of personal stories (on your web site and book), I realized that I had to fix (the) causes. I know this might sound dramatic, but you’ve changed my way of life.
"Pre-sciatica lifestyle:
"A cycle of: 1) a few months, everyday, of "power" exercising with all the unhealthful postures and movement habits you talk about, then sitting at the computer in all the unhealthy ways you talk about and drinking coffee and smoking, feeling like I’d accomplished something in my day; 2) followed by a few months of complete laziness (not even power exercising). Power exercising consisted of running (without stretching at all) with bad form, and Hatha Yoga (forcing myself into the stretches and tons of forward bending).
"Sciatica struck.
"First two weeks:
"I did absolutely nothing about it. I read stuff on the internet and was convinced from the stories that I had some debilitating disease that would affect the rest of my life. I thought the cause was that I didn’t keep up with my "power" exercising. But, I continued to sit bent forward in a chair, hunched over, bending wrong, doing yoga forward bends, smoking and drinking coffee. I know, how sad."
Here are posts and information Barbara used:
"Third week:
"Had to go back to work in the morning, teaching 4 and 5 year olds in a kindergarten class; in the afternoon, teaching reading strategies to Grade 1 and 2's - sitting in a chair all afternoon. No longer could I hobble around the house holding my backside and leg - full on activity - and pain, tingling, numbness in my left foot, and total weakness in my left leg. Felt like I was walking around all day with a Charlie horse going down my entire left side. Amidst all my continued Internet searches, stumbled upon your website when a friend said that slight forward bending doing dishes and getting ready in the morning leaning over the sink might be a cause. Your website made so much sense to me - if a slight forward bend is a bad thing, how much more unhealthy would my Hatha yoga program be, with all its constant forward bends. I might add here that the two people at work who talk about slight forward bending being a bad thing continually hunch forward while sitting and exercise using forward bends. Just something I’ve begun to notice."
Major news stories quote physicians saying that back pain is often a mystery and that no one knows why stretching isn't working. My readers regularly report that once they understand the simple principles, they see the unhealthful positioning that causes pain frequently - at the gym, in fitness magazines, and in exercise videos and classes:
Barbara continues:
"I started with lying on the floor propped up, upper and lower back extensions, pec and trapezius stretches, isometric abs, being continually aware of my posture and not doing ANY bad forward bending. Tried to do the lunges and squats for daily good bending, but my muscles were so weak and I practiced them half-heartedly. I tried to apply them in daily life but life seemed so fast-paced at work and I was in so much pain constantly, that I would get _ way into it and then just try to lean to the side to pick things up - result, I was contorting my body in very odd ways! I ordered a support brace and special support backrest (now I know why I never needed them) and seat cushion for my chair from other web sites, but also ordered your book Fix Your Own Pain, along with a few of your other books."
These are some techniques used above:
"Fourth Week:
"Limping and terrible pain, my boss told me to visit the nurses station -living in a town of 300 in the far north, we have one general store and a health centre, doctor visits once every two weeks - and take every afternoon off during this week to rest up. He still needed me at work in the mornings. Taking my new prescription of Naproxen and trying the lunges and squats and some stretches but not really trying to apply them to the rest of how I was moving and bending and sitting. I would be in quite a bit of pain coming home from my mornings at work. In the afternoons I would basically throw in some stretches, but generally read (sitting badly) and nap for an hour. A lot of the pain would dissipate after my stretches and a good nap - only to be set into full force the next morning at work.
"Your book came in on the Friday and I was very excited. I read through it and practiced the retraining stretches that show how to restore straighter positioning throughout the day. I felt much better by Sunday night with the stretching. Still only half-hearted attempts at lunges and squats."
"Fifth Week:
"Decided to start my morning off by doing my full range of stretches instead of sitting in the computer chair smoking and drinking coffee. I felt pretty good when I left for work. People at work were starting to call me "feisty" saying that I seemed to be walking better (that was probably because of my better posture from applying your method instead of just doing stretches!) Sitting in a chair almost killed me - after 25 minutes in a chair the pain was almost unrecoverable - to be endured for the next hour and a half at work."
Barbara was getting the idea about healthy movement, but was sitting in the same way that causes discs to be pressured. She thought it was "taken care of" because she used a commercial lumbar support she purchased the first week. However she was still sitting in unhealthy ways, right over the support:
Barbara continues:
"I could manage the pain better with frequent relaxing on my stomach propped up on arms and stretching, but I never felt complete relief until I got home at night. I still didn't realize it was bad sitting position, so decided to get rid of my chair and stand to teach. This was better, but the pain still kicked in(especially in my left buttock!). Once my left buttock got hit with pain it went downhill - down my whole leg, followed by the numbness and severe tingling. Midway through the week I went to see our visiting doctor - quick visit and the prognosis that I had a herniated disc L5-S1. He said it would heal. I was feeling pretty positive about this, as it seemed to coincide with what you say about herniated discs. Meanwhile, the sciatica was taking it out of me. I felt I was always either in pain, or awaiting a painful episode. I made it through, relieved that the weekend was underway. I decided to trying walking - every couple of hours I'd walk on my treadmill for 20 minutes and then do my stretches. I did this two times in the day, and then went for a walk outside in the evening (-35 degree weather so I bundled up really well). My dog and I headed out for what was to be the most agonizing walk for me. Half hour into the walk I started to get that butt pain but I was only half way home. By the time I got home after an hour walk, I wanted to hit the roof and I although I could alleviate some of the pain through lying on my stomach propped up, and stretches, I could still barely sleep. I was also completely consumed by whether or not I had slacked in my posture somewhere along the line while I was walking, or whether I was too tight or loose (still missing the big picture)."
"Sixth Week:
"Still determined. Began the week at an all-day staff meeting where I lay on a gym mat on my stomach, propped up on my elbows- all day. Stretching at lunch and a couple of other times I walked out of the meeting to stretch. It almost floored me to do a 20 minute standing stint that we had to do during our meeting. Followed by a 2 hour course via video-conferencing where I did the same thing. When I got home the pain was less and I didn’t want to "over-do" it again, so I gently did my stretches throughout the evening- I didn’t try to walk. Next day at work, the pain was pretty bad from the beginning, but it was -60 degrees F outside and not many kids came to school - more time out to stretch when I needed to. Wednesday - more of the same. I tried to walk at night but got discouraged when I couldn’t walk for more than about 10 minutes without pain. Thursday - same thing, but I almost ran out of the school at the end of the morning to go to the nurses station. (We both wrongly assumed that I had overdone walking, not just walked in injurious ways.) She prescribed more Naproxen and told me to make sure that I walked but more frequent intervals. She also told me to keep stretching, but that lunges and squats were simply out - don’t do them. I kept wondering about this advice as I reread Ivy’s story and looked at the pictures of her doing those amazing squats and lunges. I spent most of my evening on the internet reading and rereading stories."
"Friday of the Sixth Week: True Awakening!
"I took Friday off work and first thing in the morning while I was doing my usual morning stretch routine, it just hit me! I became so obsessed with my posture, thinking that stretches should magically make my pain disappear, but I wasn’t viewing my body as how I used it during regular activity; I was also very guilty of giving up on certain things when they got "too hard" (lunges, squats). My balance was bad (despite trying to practice it while putting on my socks and shoes), my walking gait was horrible, I wasn’t really trying to do anything that required some effort, and I was continuing my bad habits of resting for hours before I tried to get back up and stretch again. Having reread some of the personal stories, I worked on my walking: feet straight ahead, feet hip-distance apart, heel to ball of foot, using my whole foot to walk - I was so focused on posture that I was holding myself stiff while walking instead of walking naturally with a bit of rotation at the waist). When I thought I was using my muscles, I was really just tensing them right up instead of truly using them. Reading posts and walking also made me realize how tight my Achilles tendon, hamstrings, and hips are. I decided to work on this through my stretches too. Next hour I was back up and walking, and stretching those areas after (using a counter to hold onto while doing a full squat, doorway hamstring stretch, and stretching my hip sitting on a chair rather than lying on the floor). Every hour I walked and stretched, and every walking session was longer, every stretching session I could actually stretch farther! Halfway through the day - now it was time to really engage myself in those lunges and half-squats - just do them and do them properly - no excuses - I need them for everyday life and unless I go beyond what I think I can do, I’ll never get to that point. They’re definitely not just part of an exercise routine, but unless I could do them with strength and stability in my living room, I knew I couldn’t do them in a fast-paced setting when I nee
The photo at right demonstrates an over-arch in the lower spine, the hip tilted forward in front, and a forward head while doing an activity supposed to be for health. It seems impractical to do "fitness" in unhealthy ways. Moreover, tilting the hip forward reduces the Achilles stretch and reinforces bad movement habits. For a more functional Achilles stretch try Better Achilles Tendon Stretch.
