Now that spring is here, many of you have begun to get outdoors again. This may be a good time to evaluate the shoes you are using for exercising. If you're wearing the same shoes you wore last Spring, they may be more worn out than you think, even if they look OK.
In my last blog post I mentioned that I belong to an organization of fitness professionals called IDEA. This organization provides periodic handouts for instructors to pass on to participants. There is a link below to a handout you can download with some good pointers for choosing the right shoes. Hope you find it helpful.
Another tip that is not mentioned in the article is arch supports. If you spend alot of time on your feet, you might find these helpful. Your feet are the base and support for your whole skeleton. With each step you take your arch flexes and stretches to accommodate the rolling motion of heel to toe. Adding an arch support to a shoe will roll the foot up into the correct position. As a result, unnecessary pressure will be lifted off your ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. It is surprising what a difference an arch support can make. I have used them for many years. I especially like a particular type of arch supports made by a company called Spenco (no, I do not receive anything from them for this endorsement!) These are made of neoprene so they are soft and flexible. They are a bit pricey, but they are extremely durable and worth the cost.
Here is the link to the IDEA handout. If you have your own tips on shoes that have worked for you, please feel free to share them by posting a comment. When your feet feel good, your attitude towards exercising is likely to improve along with your performance and enjoyment.
Choosing Shoes
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Pilates: Aid for Low-Back Pain
In previous blog posts I have mentioned my membership in a fitness professional organization called IDEA. This organization provides a number of articles designed to be handed out to exercise participants for educational purposes. Below are some excerpts from a couple of recent articles advocating Pilates as a helpful tool for relieving low-back pain.
Eighty percent of Americans experience back pain at one time or another (Luo et al. 2004). The discomfort can range from mild to severe or debilitating. Men and women are equally affected (Luo et al. 2004), and the pain can be caused by sedentary living, aging or overuse (e.g., repetitive motion during a sport).
If you have experienced back pain at one time or another, you may have been told to strengthen your abdominal muscles to help address the problem. While traditional crunches strengthen the outer layers of the abdominal musculature, they bypass the deep support structures of your back. This can place too much stress on the lumbar spine and may even worsen your back pain, depending on what your original physical problem was. By training the deep stabilizers of the lumbar spine, pain can be alleviated and you’ll be able to return to everyday activities sooner. It is helpful to remember that the goal of practicing Pilates, or any exercise regimen, is to help you perform regular life activities with as much ease and comfort as possible. The stronger you become, the easier these activities become.
Pain occurs when muscles become imbalanced or dysfunctional, thereby losing their effectiveness as stabilizers. When this occurs, the core muscles cannot support the vertebrae in the spine during everyday movements. Other, more superficial muscles must take over and try to do their work. Since these large muscles cannot stabilize the small, independent joints of the spine, this often results in compressive forces on the spinal disks.
Pilates can help. The major focus of Pilates is to strengthen the deep stabilizers of the spine and can be beneficial if you are recovering from low-back injuries or experiencing low-back pain.
Pilates, created by Joseph Pilates, suits most people in the process of recovering from injury and rebuilding their bodies. The foundational approach focuses on core strength, precision and control of movement.
• Pilates Develops Body Awareness. You need this awareness in order to recruit and strengthen the deep stabilizing muscles. Body awareness also helps you to to recognize tension in areas where you might not have realized it existed. Learning to release tension can go a long way towards eliminating pain.
• Pilates Promotes Effective Breathing Patterns. Effective breathing patterns alleviate stress, which can be a major source of back pain. Conscious breathing provides inner focus, allowing you to become more aware of your body and enable recruitment of deep stabilizing muscles. Breathing also can help to release tension.
• Pilates Builds Core Strength. You learn to engage the deep pelvic floor providing support for the lower back.
• Pilates Addresses Joint Functionality. In many cases, back pain results from either too much or too little mobility of the various joints that affect the back and pelvis. For example, if the hip joints do not move in a biomechanically efficient way, the more mobile lumbar spine will compensate for the loss of motion. Pilates addresses such issues by looking at the functionality of individual joints and how they can work together with adjacent joints to provide natural, pain-free movement patterns within normal ranges of motion.
• Whole Body Approach. One of the most compelling benefits of Pilates is that it focuses on the entire body and not just the injured area. Often, damage results from faulty muscular firing patterns caused by poor posture, habitual movements or compensations for an earlier injury. Low-back pain, for instance, may stem from misalignment elsewhere in the kinetic chain. As a result, failure to address the whole spine, rather than just the area of concern, may yield little or no relief. No matter how much emphasis is placed on rehabilitating the lumbar region, it will continue to compensate if another area of the body is weak or out of alignment.
Sample Pilates Exercises for Low-Back Pain
Following these basic Pilates stability exercises will help recruit the deep core muscles, stabilize the entire spine and help decrease or prevent back pain. For assistance in learning Pilates, seek the guidance of a qualified Pilates instructor or personal trainer.
Note: These exercises should be performed only with prior permission from a healthcare professional.
1) Breast Stroke Prep: Targets Upper Back
Starting Position: Lie on stomach on mat, legs together, front of hips flat on mat. Hands are by shoulders, with elbows and nose on mat.
Exercise:
1. Inhale: stabilize shoulder blades on back and contract abdominals by pulling your belly button in towards your spine. Shoulders should be down away from your ears.
2. Exhale: raise upper body off mat, keeping lower ribs and elbows in contact with mat; keep head in line with back. This does not have to be a large movement. Start by lifting the chin a couple of inches off the mat making sure to retain proper form.
3. Inhale: hold position.
4. Exhale: return to starting.
Complete 5–8 repetitions.
2) Ab Prep: Targets Abs
Starting Position: Lie on back on mat, feet on mat, hip distance apart. Spine is in neutral position, neither arched nor flattened.
Exercise:
1. Inhale: nod head slightly to tuck chin.
2. Exhale: curl upper body off mat without pressing low back into mat; raise arms slightly off mat during curl. Think of lifting your shoulders rather than your head. Keep your head as an extension of your spine.
3. Inhale: hold position.
4. Exhale: return to starting position.
Complete 5–8 repetitions.
3) Cat Stretch: Lengthens Spinal Muscles
Starting Position: Kneel with equal weight on hands and knees, knees slightly apart. Hands are directly under shoulders, and knees are directly under hips. Spine is in neutral position, neither arched nor flattened.
Exercise: To prepare, inhale.
1. Exhale: starting from tailbone, round the spine, allowing head to bend toward mat.
2. Inhale: hold position and tighten abdominal muscles.
3. Exhale: starting from tailbone, return spine to starting position; bring head up last, but keep eyes looking down.
Complete 3–5 repetitions.
4) Hip Rolls (also known as Bridge): Targets Abs, Glutes & Backs of Thighs
Starting Position: Lie on back on mat, feet hip distance apart. Pelvis is in neutral position, neither arched nor flattened.
Exercise: To prepare, inhale.
Exhale: Starting from tailbone, slowly peel spine off mat until hips are lifted and weight is resting between shoulder blades and also evenly on both feet.
Inhale: hold position and tighten abdominal muscles.
Exhale: Starting from top of spine, slowly return to mat, lowering to starting position.
Complete 5–8 repetitions.
By addressing the entire musculoskeletal system, Pilates makes the whole body more efficient, helping to decrease the incidence of re-injury. And, of course, for more information about Pilates - try taking a class!
This handout is a service of IDEA, the leading international membership association in the health and fitness industry, www.ideafit.com.
The primary author of this article is Moira Merrithew, IDEA expert and executive director of education for STOTT PILATES®.
References
Luo, X., et al. 2004. Estimates and patterns of direct health care expenditures among individuals with back pain in the United States. Spine, 29, 79–86.
Richardson, C., Hodges, P., & Hides, J. 2004. Therapeutic Exercise for Lumbopelvic Stabilization (2nd ed.) Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone.
IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 7, Number 1, January 2010
IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 6, Number 9, September 2009
Eighty percent of Americans experience back pain at one time or another (Luo et al. 2004). The discomfort can range from mild to severe or debilitating. Men and women are equally affected (Luo et al. 2004), and the pain can be caused by sedentary living, aging or overuse (e.g., repetitive motion during a sport).
If you have experienced back pain at one time or another, you may have been told to strengthen your abdominal muscles to help address the problem. While traditional crunches strengthen the outer layers of the abdominal musculature, they bypass the deep support structures of your back. This can place too much stress on the lumbar spine and may even worsen your back pain, depending on what your original physical problem was. By training the deep stabilizers of the lumbar spine, pain can be alleviated and you’ll be able to return to everyday activities sooner. It is helpful to remember that the goal of practicing Pilates, or any exercise regimen, is to help you perform regular life activities with as much ease and comfort as possible. The stronger you become, the easier these activities become.
Pain occurs when muscles become imbalanced or dysfunctional, thereby losing their effectiveness as stabilizers. When this occurs, the core muscles cannot support the vertebrae in the spine during everyday movements. Other, more superficial muscles must take over and try to do their work. Since these large muscles cannot stabilize the small, independent joints of the spine, this often results in compressive forces on the spinal disks.
Pilates can help. The major focus of Pilates is to strengthen the deep stabilizers of the spine and can be beneficial if you are recovering from low-back injuries or experiencing low-back pain.
Pilates, created by Joseph Pilates, suits most people in the process of recovering from injury and rebuilding their bodies. The foundational approach focuses on core strength, precision and control of movement.
• Pilates Develops Body Awareness. You need this awareness in order to recruit and strengthen the deep stabilizing muscles. Body awareness also helps you to to recognize tension in areas where you might not have realized it existed. Learning to release tension can go a long way towards eliminating pain.
• Pilates Promotes Effective Breathing Patterns. Effective breathing patterns alleviate stress, which can be a major source of back pain. Conscious breathing provides inner focus, allowing you to become more aware of your body and enable recruitment of deep stabilizing muscles. Breathing also can help to release tension.
• Pilates Builds Core Strength. You learn to engage the deep pelvic floor providing support for the lower back.
• Pilates Addresses Joint Functionality. In many cases, back pain results from either too much or too little mobility of the various joints that affect the back and pelvis. For example, if the hip joints do not move in a biomechanically efficient way, the more mobile lumbar spine will compensate for the loss of motion. Pilates addresses such issues by looking at the functionality of individual joints and how they can work together with adjacent joints to provide natural, pain-free movement patterns within normal ranges of motion.
• Whole Body Approach. One of the most compelling benefits of Pilates is that it focuses on the entire body and not just the injured area. Often, damage results from faulty muscular firing patterns caused by poor posture, habitual movements or compensations for an earlier injury. Low-back pain, for instance, may stem from misalignment elsewhere in the kinetic chain. As a result, failure to address the whole spine, rather than just the area of concern, may yield little or no relief. No matter how much emphasis is placed on rehabilitating the lumbar region, it will continue to compensate if another area of the body is weak or out of alignment.
Sample Pilates Exercises for Low-Back Pain
Following these basic Pilates stability exercises will help recruit the deep core muscles, stabilize the entire spine and help decrease or prevent back pain. For assistance in learning Pilates, seek the guidance of a qualified Pilates instructor or personal trainer.
Note: These exercises should be performed only with prior permission from a healthcare professional.
1) Breast Stroke Prep: Targets Upper Back
Starting Position: Lie on stomach on mat, legs together, front of hips flat on mat. Hands are by shoulders, with elbows and nose on mat.
Exercise:
1. Inhale: stabilize shoulder blades on back and contract abdominals by pulling your belly button in towards your spine. Shoulders should be down away from your ears.
2. Exhale: raise upper body off mat, keeping lower ribs and elbows in contact with mat; keep head in line with back. This does not have to be a large movement. Start by lifting the chin a couple of inches off the mat making sure to retain proper form.
3. Inhale: hold position.
4. Exhale: return to starting.
Complete 5–8 repetitions.
2) Ab Prep: Targets Abs
Starting Position: Lie on back on mat, feet on mat, hip distance apart. Spine is in neutral position, neither arched nor flattened.
Exercise:
1. Inhale: nod head slightly to tuck chin.
2. Exhale: curl upper body off mat without pressing low back into mat; raise arms slightly off mat during curl. Think of lifting your shoulders rather than your head. Keep your head as an extension of your spine.
3. Inhale: hold position.
4. Exhale: return to starting position.
Complete 5–8 repetitions.
3) Cat Stretch: Lengthens Spinal Muscles
Starting Position: Kneel with equal weight on hands and knees, knees slightly apart. Hands are directly under shoulders, and knees are directly under hips. Spine is in neutral position, neither arched nor flattened.
Exercise: To prepare, inhale.
1. Exhale: starting from tailbone, round the spine, allowing head to bend toward mat.
2. Inhale: hold position and tighten abdominal muscles.
3. Exhale: starting from tailbone, return spine to starting position; bring head up last, but keep eyes looking down.
Complete 3–5 repetitions.
4) Hip Rolls (also known as Bridge): Targets Abs, Glutes & Backs of Thighs
Starting Position: Lie on back on mat, feet hip distance apart. Pelvis is in neutral position, neither arched nor flattened.
Exercise: To prepare, inhale.
Exhale: Starting from tailbone, slowly peel spine off mat until hips are lifted and weight is resting between shoulder blades and also evenly on both feet.
Inhale: hold position and tighten abdominal muscles.
Exhale: Starting from top of spine, slowly return to mat, lowering to starting position.
Complete 5–8 repetitions.
By addressing the entire musculoskeletal system, Pilates makes the whole body more efficient, helping to decrease the incidence of re-injury. And, of course, for more information about Pilates - try taking a class!
This handout is a service of IDEA, the leading international membership association in the health and fitness industry, www.ideafit.com.
The primary author of this article is Moira Merrithew, IDEA expert and executive director of education for STOTT PILATES®.
References
Luo, X., et al. 2004. Estimates and patterns of direct health care expenditures among individuals with back pain in the United States. Spine, 29, 79–86.
Richardson, C., Hodges, P., & Hides, J. 2004. Therapeutic Exercise for Lumbopelvic Stabilization (2nd ed.) Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone.
IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 7, Number 1, January 2010
IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 6, Number 9, September 2009
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