Healthy Aging

October 27, 2010 Healthy Aging

An easy way to improve balance and coordination

Can You Pat Your Head While Rubbing Your Belly AND Bouncing on One Foot?

So, maybe that’s a little much, but wouldn’t you like to have improved balance and coordination so you can waltz gracefully through life instead of stumbling into walls and door jambs? Guess what…it’s easier than you think, and it does NOT involve balancing on a giant ball while pressing five pound dumbbells overhead. In fact, I can’t think of a situation in the real world that would require such a feat, not to mention the ankle stability hazard…

Actually, there is something quite simple you can do while standing on dry land to improve your coordination and balance. You see, we all have things in our cells called proprioceptors. These little guys tell us where our body is in space. Whatever feedback we give them, they respond to, and the more you challenge them, the more fine tuned they get.

Try this: Stand with your feet comfortably underneath your body (just slightly narrower than shoulder width apart will put your feet directly under your hip joint and give you optimal support). Gently shift your weight from foot to foot without lifting either foot off the ground. See how you can move your center of gravity from side to side?

Now, shift it over your right foot and lift your left foot off the ground. This is pretty simple for most people (if this is challenging, stay here and work at this level until you’ve mastered centering your gravity over the narrow base of support of one foot).

While standing on one foot, close your eyes. You’ve taken away visual input to the proprioceptors, and most people’s bodies don’t know how to use only kinesthetic input (the sense of touch or feeling). Now, with your eyes closed, turn your head from side to side. You’re adding movement to the equation and really stretching the capabilities of proprioception!

After a few repetitions on this side, switch so you’re standing on your left foot and repeat. Use this exercise daily to improve balance, coordination, and grace. It will help keep your coordination sharp well into your later years (so you won’t have to worry about balance issues later in life!).

September 1, 2010 Healthy Aging

Why stretching won’t increase flexibility

I know you’d like to improve your flexibility. I hear this from my clients all the time! So far, I’ve showed you how to increase your shoulder flexibility, how to use fruit to keep your muscles limber, and given you 7 strategies to increase your hip flexibility. But we haven’t yet talked about the physiology behind flexibility, and understanding how your muscles work is crucial to maintaining a healthy, limber body for the rest of your life.

Most of my clients are making the same mistake when it comes to increasing flexibility. They diligently attend yoga classes, do pre- and post-work out stretching routines, and even get plenty of massages. They just don’t understand why they’re not seeing results! It seems like they might make a few initial gains, but after a couple of weeks the body just plateaus and they don’t experience any additional flexibility.

Well, here’s the reality: It’s not the length of your muscles that determines how far you can stretch. In reality, you’re just as flexible as the yogi who can tuck his foot behind his head.

Impossible! you say. I know it might seem that way, but consider this: A 70 year-old man whose muscles are so tight and restricted he can barely bend his legs to walk up the stairs goes into the hospital for surgery. This is a man who can’t even touch his toes! The nurses put him under anesthesia in preparation for the surgery. Now they have to be extremely careful moving this man because his muscles and joints are so loose they can easily dislocate something!

Fast forward to post surgery when the anesthesia wears off and the man wakes up…he’s back to his original range of motion. What the heck happened?!

Clearly it’s not the physical restriction of the muscle that’s preventing this man from tucking his leg behind his head – the nurses could have easily manipulated him into this position under the extreme relaxation of anesthesia.

So, why is he so immobilized?

The truth is, it’s his neurological make-up that is keeping his muscles tight and tense. You see, every muscle has a “set point,” a point at which little tiny sensors in the cells send a message to the brain insisting that if the muscle is extended any further, it will tear. This is called the “stretch reflex,” and it initiates a contraction in the muscles.

That’s where you experience the limit of your flexibility. Simply pulling on your muscles is inefficient for increasing flexibility unless you plan to stay there long enough to override the power of your stretch reflex – way too long for most people’s patience.

Instead, you have to reprogram your nervous system into allowing your muscle to stretch a little further. Strength plays a part in this. If your muscle is weak, your nervous system will protect it by not allowing it a very large range of motion. Strengthening your muscles in their FULL range of motion is crucial to healthy flexibility.

If you’re unsure of how to start reprogramming your neurological wiring, start by simply taking the muscles and joints through a full range of motion several times. For example, if your ankles have limited range of motion, balance yourself against a wall or chair and hold your foot in front of you. Point your toes toward the ground and then lift them toward the sky, repeating 7-10 times in each direction.

This takes all the muscles along the front and back of your lower leg through a full range of motion and sends a signal to your brain that you need to be able to use your foot this way. With repetition, you’ll notice more freedom in your ankle joint (if done daily, you should notice a difference within seven to ten days). It also retrains muscles that may have become “frozen” in a shortened position.

Ida P. Rolf – founder of the Rolf Method of Structural Integration – always said, “When flexors flex, extensors extend.” This means that when you contract muscles on one side of a joint, the muscles on the other side need to lengthen. Repeated mobility exercises train your body to move in this healthy manner.

The same strategy can be applied to any area of your body that you would like to see increased mobility and flexibility. Move only one joint at a time to start.

October 3, 2009 Healthy Aging

7 Tips to Increase Hip Flexibility

Tight Hips – A Modern Day Epidemic

One of the biggest complaints my clients present during their sessions is tight hips. With the high number of professional computer jockeys in today’s modern world, the common complaints are limited range of motion in the hips and shoulders, pain in the neck, back, and feet.

Sitting all day, especially at an ergonomically challenging computer set up, creates a shortening in your hip flexors (the muscles along the front of your hip and thigh that pull you down into a chair). These muscles in turn pull your lumbar spine forward, causing tension and stiffness in the low back, bracing in your hips and what are known as dysfunctional movement patterns.

Additionally, 99.9% of everyone I see in my office sits incorrectly. I attribute this to a lifetime spent on soft, cushy couches and overstuffed easy chairs. Unfortunately, while plush seating may feel nice for a while, it has the effect of rolling your sacrum under so that your weight isn’t centered over your ischial tuberosities (sitting bones) but rather on the last vertebra of your spine (i.e. your sacrum).

Once your sacrum is jammed, your entire spine compensates. This is why a headache or sore neck is actually located in your pelvis, and why work around the hips and low back will generally result in greater shoulder mobility.

7 Easy Tips to Increase Hip Flexibility:

1. When sitting for prolonged periods, make sure your hips are higher than your knees.

If your knees are higher than your hips, all of your weight falls into your pelvis while the job of holding you upright falls to your hip flexors and the postural stabilizers of your low back.

Instead of bracing your torso to stay upright, place your feet flat on the floor, one foot a few inches in front of the other. By pressing into the ground, you should feel support travel up through your legs and into your low back. Taking the strain off your back is the first step in allowing greater mobility.

2. Do squats – full on, all the way to your heels squats!

Squats force you to mobilize your ankles, knees, hips, and the facet joints in your spine. Most people who haven’t ever trained for this kind of movement find even a basic squat with no weight to be challenging.

When performing the maneuver, make sure your torso doesn’t pitch forward. Holding a small weight, a weighted bar, or a wooden dowel in front of your chest, as in a traditional front squat position, can help you stay upright.

If you are not flexible enough to keep your feet relatively parallel, start with your legs wider apart, feet turned out at 45 degrees. The more you practice squatting, the more willing your body will be to go all the way to the ground.

3. Practice sitting down on the ground and getting up without using your hands.

This is especially helpful for lubricating the hip joints, and it erases the fear that people develop as they age that they will fall and not be able to get back up. It has the added bonus of loosening the lateral rotators of the hip – the muscles that are implicated in sciatica.

Start by finding a way to bring yourself to a seated position on the floor, hands free. Then, get up, also without using your hands. Repeat the exercise several times, finding as many different ways to sit down and stand up as you can.

When the exercise becomes too easy, add a weight. Hold 10-25lbs (or more, if you’re comfortable) at chest height while sitting and standing. This not only mobilizes but also strengthens the joints.

4. When choosing a chair for your computer desk set up, select a firm, flat surface over any padded and contoured seats.

Most chairs are designed for an “average” or “standard” body, and anyone who has ever shopped for the perfect pair of jeans knows that one size does not fit all!

Flat surfaces make it easier for you to sit forward on your sitting bones – your ischial tuberosities. You should feel equal weight on both your right and left tuberosities. If not, try to center yourself as best you can without contorting your body. Just relax down onto the chair.

Sitting on your ischial tuberosities is much more stable than sitting on your sacrum. Your postural stabilizing muscles can easily relax and reduce the bracing along your spine, creating instant mobility for your back (this is absolutely key in resolving back and neck pain!).

5. Take extra deep breaths.

With all the stimulus coming at us from all directions – television, internet, books, MP3 players, digital advertising, children, pets…. – it’s easy to forget to breathe.

When you cease breathing deeply, your diaphragm becomes tight. Anatomically, the fascia of your diaphragm connects directly to your hip flexors, so if your diaphragm is constricted, your hip flexors will be, too.

Take time each and every day to lie quietly on your back. Breathe deeply, relaxing your rib cage, spine, and abdominal muscles. Allow your internal organs to rest heavily into your back. As you become more relaxed, direct your breathing down deeper and deeper into your pelvis, relaxing all of the tension in your low back, sacrum, gluteus muscles, and thighs. As you become more skilled at conscious breathing, you can begin to direct your breath all the way out the bottoms of your feet.

6. Practice dynamic joint mobility – taking each hip joint through a series of repetitive movements designed to increase the range of motion.

This kind of movement increases the flow of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints. It also provides excellent neurological feedback. Range of motion is a use it or lose it proposition; the more your remind your body that you need to be able to make large, open movements, the more willing your nervous system will be to allow you to do just that.

7. Stretch your hip flexors, especially after long car or airplane trips.

As mentioned previously, sitting shortens the anterior muscles of your hip and thigh. To keep them long and limber, stretch daily, or at least several times a week.

Any maneuver that causes a lengthening along the front of your hip and thigh will lengthen the hip flexors. Some of my favorites include lunges (keep your torso upright – do not allow yourself to fall forward over your front knee) and bridges (a full back bend with hands and feet on the floor – modify this to a shoulder bridge if you aren’t quite ready for this pose).

Get Specific

Want me to personally lead you through exercises to improve your hip mobility, get your shoulders back where they belong, free up your neck and generally feel like you’re ten years younger?

Every video in my Posture Rehab video course is led by me with complete, step-by-step instruction. You won’t find these practices anywhere else (i.e. this isn’t your typical physical therapy experience…not by a long shot). Each one is designed to reset your nervous system, increase flexibility and mobilize your joints.

August 16, 2009 Healthy Aging

8 Surefire Stress Busters

Do you suffer with chronic stress and worry? You’re not alone.

Stress is a leading cause of disease and has serious detrimental effects on your body. Unfortunately, modern life is fraught with stress-inducing stimuli. From fast-paced work environments to the constant invasion of technology, economic uncertainty, ever-increasing traffic and trying political times, stress just seems like an everyday side dish.

And when you’re short on time, it’s easy to scrimp on the self care. However, the long term degenerative effects of stress on your well being are too drastic to ignore.

Recent scientific studies have shown that stress is insidious and lethal, slipping beneath our conscious awareness to shrink our brains, add fat to our bellies, and even unravel our chromosomes!

The good news:

You can do a lot of free, quick and easy things to instantly reduce stress.

Here are 8 ways to incorporate positive self care habits everyday that cost next to nothing (some are even free, save for a little time investment!) and will keep you sound of mind and body for years to come:

1. Breathe!

The more stressed and hurried we become, the less we remember to take full breathes. Your cells need oxygen for energy and also to help flush out cellular waste. Your brain needs oxygen to function optimally. When you take shallow breaths, your body has to work extra hard just to function normally. Take a few moments several times a day to breathe deeply. Make sure you focus on exhaling all the air in your lungs. Your inhale can only be as full as your exhale.

2. Move!

Movement releases tension, stimulates your nervous system, and encourages you to breathe more deeply, bringing in additional oxygen to the body. Studies have also shown that exercise actually keeps your brain sharp, so to maintain clear cognition, make sure you get out and move your body daily, even if it’s just walking the dog around the block. Body mind practices, such as yoga or qi gong, are excellent additions as they focus your attention on places you’re holding stress and tension in your body, allowing you to consciously release them.

3. Reorganize your home.

Chaos breeds chaos, and a messy home can create mental clutter as well. If your home isn’t a sanctuary, consider spending a Saturday doing a deep cleaning (I recommend using natural and organic cleaning products to avoid chemical off gassing that can cause headaches and nausea). Clear out clutter that you no longer need by taking it to the local Salvation Army or Goodwill. You’ll be surprised how clear headed you feel once your home is in order!

4. Use relaxing fragrances to calm your mind.

Fragrance has a deep effect on our psyche, and we quickly learn to associate certain smells with feelings and memories. Place an essential oil diffuser in your home. Lavender essential oil is soothing, Peppermint is uplifting, Bergamot is an anti-depressant, and Rosemary is energizing.

5. Cut back on caffeine.

Okay, I know this one is tough! I’m a Seattle girl, after all, and we’re known for our excessive coffee habit. With that in mind, if you feel yourself constantly jumpy, notice your hands are shaky, or you struggle with anxiety, consider limiting the coffee you drink. Switching to a different caffeine source can also do the trick. Yerba Mate and green tea are good options for some people.

6. Meditate.

Ugh! You mean sit still and clear my mind of all thoughts? Yep, that’s what I mean. When you’re stressed out, the committee in your head gets louder and louder until you can’t hear yourself think anymore. You may even forget what you think! If sitting quietly sounds about as much fun to you as getting a root canal, try joining a meditation group. The accountability and community support can make the experience fun and relaxing instead of another arduous task to complete. Time crunched? Try a meditation CD to help you drop into peace and tranquility.

7. Unplug.

We’re bombarded by thousands upon thousands of messages all day long: billboards, television, email, cell phones, text messages, magazine ads, headlines….the list goes on. Take some time to get out in nature, and leave the cell phone at home! For those of you city-bound folks, nature does not include the local landscaped park. Instead, head outside urban boundaries if you can and walk amongst old growth forest, desert landscapes, or whatever beauty your particular corner of the earth has to offer. If you have a dog, this can be a great excusion to make together. Pets have a way of reminding us how to let go and be totally present in the moment. When you return to civilization, your mind and body will feel clear and focused.

8. Release stored tension.

When you feel your shoulders tightening from sitting in traffic or staring at a computer, you can ease your own stress in five minutes or less. With your right hand, tuck your thumb under your fingers and curl your fingers down toward your palm, making a soft fist. Rest your right elbow in your left hand and use your right fist to gently tap on your left shoulder and upper arm. Tap gently, focusing more on the upward movement of your hand than the downward strike, and avoid any prominent bones. Repeat on your other side. Once finished, take a few deep, cleansing breaths and feel your shoulders relaxed and tingling.

Bonus!

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