I got a really great question from someone on my last post, and I decided to put my answer a separate blog post. Here's the shorthand version: "You mention yoga and pilates in opposition to alignment, please comment further. Also, I am strong and flexible, but classical yoga poses hurt me. What's up with that?"
First of all, it's not that I see anything in opposition to alignment, but rather lacking in alignment. In fact, some of the stretches and movements we learn from the insitute are very similar to some yoga poses. The difference is form. You can do the same pose in alignment and out of alignment and get totally different results. Take downward dog. It's a great pose to stretch the backs of the legs and open up the shoulders, but if you're doing it with your quadriceps contracted (legs straight with knees flexed) and your elbow pits facing each other instead of pointing straight ahead, you either a.) dont' stretch what you think you're stretching (shoulders) or b.) do damage to a joint while you're stretching (knees). So it's not that there's anything inherently wrong with the stuff you do in yoga, but how you align your body while you do it can be wrong and potentially damaging.
Another thing to remember is that the poses in yoga were developed a very long time ago when people used their bodies in different ways. People walked to get where they were going, squat to go to the bathroom, and used their bodies all day in many different positions. The poses in yoga were appropriate movements for the population they were developed for. In a population that spends too much time in a chair, in the car, on a bike, on the couch, and that doesn't use their body in various different positions throughout the day, their muscles may be too short to properly execute a pose so it gets done in a way that puts strain on other parts of the body.
Lets use a forward bend as an example. For a population not constantly in hip and knee flexion, the hamstrings would be long enough to allow a person to hinge at the hips and maintain an aligned spine (with lumbar curve). When you do the pose, you want your hands to touch the floor, or you want to get your head as close to your knees as you can. So you tilt your pelvis, bend your knees ever so slightly, and sacrifice your lumbar curve to get the "right" position. If you weren't already doing this all.the.time (while sitting, or while walking) then it might not be quite as stressful on your joints. But when you already have unhealthy habits or muscles that are at the wrong length or joints that are already being over used (knees) then this pose can be really painful, even harmful to you. Doing an exercise like this is just doing more of the same damaging joint loading that you already do, only you're probably pushing yourself a lot harder in the "exercise" context, so it begins to hurt.
The problem with being strong or fit is that it can be arbitrary. Sure you can ride a bike for an hour, or do a really impressive bicep curl, but are you able to hang on a bar and pull your weight up? Are you able to do a pushup without bringing your shoulder blades together? Do you know how to use the back of your leg to hold your body weight instead of the front? It's cool to be strong, but of you aren't strong in the right places then it doesn't really matter. What's more important is that your muscles are the right length, and you have a one to one strength to weight ratio in your body parts. When your muscles are the right length they are better able to stabilize and keep space in your joints, so they don't start to hurt and wear out half way through your life.
See why I didn't want to just put that in the comments section? And this is the nutshell version. I'm probably leaving out a lot, and I didnt' even put in any pictures, but there you have it: Why stretching hurts.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Die Gestalt.
The key difference between alignment theory and other exercise/stretching practises (yoga, pilates, etc.) is that alignment not only focuses on where your body is in space, but also evaluates the position of your parts relative to your other parts. Like when we evaluate someone's spine, we also look at the ribs and pelvis and legs. Or when we look at someone's feet, we also have to look at their knees and pelvis and torso...and also shoulders...and the head. The body is really one unit that depends on all its parts to work together properly. You'll never get to the root cause of problems if you don't look at all parts of the body. Cervical disk degeneration can originate in the foot and calf, and if you aren't looking at the body as a whole, you're going to miss the root cause of the problem.
Take this shoulder stretch. In the first picture, sure, my arm is on the door frame and my body is going past the door frame. But in actuality, I'm NOT stretching my shoulder. I'm just collapsing through the back to make it look like I'm stretching my shoulder. There isn't much regard for the position of the upper arm relative to the actual shoulder joint, and the fact that half my back is displaced is a big clue that this stretch isn't doing what it's supposed to.
In this second picture, you can see that my shoulder blade is stabilized, and I'm not allowing my body to hinge in the center to allow my arm to come back further than it actually can. Here I am actually opening the shoulder joint and getting a good stretch. It might not seem like a big difference, but if someone is supposed to be doing physio for their shoulder (to heal an injury or something) and they're doing the stretch by collapsing their back instead of just moving the arm, they're not going to get the results they could get if they did the stretch properly. It's the difference between a full recovery and a life long "bad shoulder". This applies to every stretch you do. The position of other parts, besides the part you're stretching, can make a difference to what you're actually doing, vs. what you look like you're doing.
Ok, ok, so what. It looks like I'm stretching, but really I'm not. Call an ambulance, right? Well, this concept can actually be applied to a much more dangerous situation. An example of this is when people are told they are swaybacked when really they are thrusting their ribs into the air to make it look like they are swaybacked. That's because the diagnosis is often made looking only at the the spine, ignoring the position of the ribs relative to the spine, and the pelvis relative to the spine, and the position of the femurs relative to the pelvis. Even the way you carry your weight (either on the front of your foot vs. the heel) can add to the illusion and make things appear like something they're not.
So you go to a doctor or a physiotherapist who gives you the wrong diagnosis because they miss this critical concept of evaluating your parts (spine) to your other parts (pelvis, ribs). With this wrong diagnosis comes the wrong advice to fix the problem. Usually a "sway backed" person will be told to tuck their pelvis under to decrease the amount of curve. When you tuck your pelvis you can expect a drastic decline in the health of your knees, hips, and feet. You can start stocking up on adult diapers now, because you're going to end up with pelvic floor disorder. You can expect your back pain that sent you to the doctor in the first place to stick around (oh cool!) because you HAVEN'T FIXED THE PROBLEM, which is a rib thrust. The scariest part is that thrusting your ribs out/up is asking cardiovascular disease to be your bff 4 evr. So you think you've taken care of this problem, but really you still have the problem and you've created even more problems to keep your other problem company. Now THAT'S a problem. :(
It's really important to understand the difference between the way things look or seem and the way things are. It's like katy says about fixing a flower pot on a crooked table. The flowers on the crooked stand LOOK crooked, but really it's the table that's the problem. Until you fix the crooked table, nothing you do with the flowers is going to help. So if you have a bad back, it's time you started looking at other parts of your body to fix the problem. You're not Astar the robot with all these separate functioning parts. You are one unit, and what you do with one part affects all the others.
Take this shoulder stretch. In the first picture, sure, my arm is on the door frame and my body is going past the door frame. But in actuality, I'm NOT stretching my shoulder. I'm just collapsing through the back to make it look like I'm stretching my shoulder. There isn't much regard for the position of the upper arm relative to the actual shoulder joint, and the fact that half my back is displaced is a big clue that this stretch isn't doing what it's supposed to.
In this second picture, you can see that my shoulder blade is stabilized, and I'm not allowing my body to hinge in the center to allow my arm to come back further than it actually can. Here I am actually opening the shoulder joint and getting a good stretch. It might not seem like a big difference, but if someone is supposed to be doing physio for their shoulder (to heal an injury or something) and they're doing the stretch by collapsing their back instead of just moving the arm, they're not going to get the results they could get if they did the stretch properly. It's the difference between a full recovery and a life long "bad shoulder". This applies to every stretch you do. The position of other parts, besides the part you're stretching, can make a difference to what you're actually doing, vs. what you look like you're doing.
Ok, ok, so what. It looks like I'm stretching, but really I'm not. Call an ambulance, right? Well, this concept can actually be applied to a much more dangerous situation. An example of this is when people are told they are swaybacked when really they are thrusting their ribs into the air to make it look like they are swaybacked. That's because the diagnosis is often made looking only at the the spine, ignoring the position of the ribs relative to the spine, and the pelvis relative to the spine, and the position of the femurs relative to the pelvis. Even the way you carry your weight (either on the front of your foot vs. the heel) can add to the illusion and make things appear like something they're not.
So you go to a doctor or a physiotherapist who gives you the wrong diagnosis because they miss this critical concept of evaluating your parts (spine) to your other parts (pelvis, ribs). With this wrong diagnosis comes the wrong advice to fix the problem. Usually a "sway backed" person will be told to tuck their pelvis under to decrease the amount of curve. When you tuck your pelvis you can expect a drastic decline in the health of your knees, hips, and feet. You can start stocking up on adult diapers now, because you're going to end up with pelvic floor disorder. You can expect your back pain that sent you to the doctor in the first place to stick around (oh cool!) because you HAVEN'T FIXED THE PROBLEM, which is a rib thrust. The scariest part is that thrusting your ribs out/up is asking cardiovascular disease to be your bff 4 evr. So you think you've taken care of this problem, but really you still have the problem and you've created even more problems to keep your other problem company. Now THAT'S a problem. :(
It's really important to understand the difference between the way things look or seem and the way things are. It's like katy says about fixing a flower pot on a crooked table. The flowers on the crooked stand LOOK crooked, but really it's the table that's the problem. Until you fix the crooked table, nothing you do with the flowers is going to help. So if you have a bad back, it's time you started looking at other parts of your body to fix the problem. You're not Astar the robot with all these separate functioning parts. You are one unit, and what you do with one part affects all the others.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Why is walking falling?
I've been wanting to post about this for a while now, because it really seems to be something a lot of people are confused about. I hear lots of people say they don't do it, but truthfully there are few who don't. So, to clear things up, I'm going to give you my illustrated version of why you're not walking, you're falling.
First of all, just because you don't end up flat on your face after every step doesn't mean you're walking without falling. The falling motion, when it comes to gait, is actually quite small, not the head over heels face plant you're thinking of. The problem comes from the way we move forward. If you're lifting your leg out in front of you to walk like this:
then I'm sorry to say this, but you my friend are falling forward with each step. With your leg bent at the hip and knee, there is no other way for your lifted foot to hit the ground unless you fall. See?
Either you fall, or you bend your other leg to get your front foot on the ground, but then you'd look like you were supposed to be in a Monty Python sketch. This is a really high impact way of walking on lots of different body parts. First of all, your center of mass is constantly thrown over the front of your body. This overloads your knee and the front of your foot, since they weren't designed to carry the weight of your body from the knees up.
The second problem is that this motion is causing you to pivot on your foot. Instead of your body just gliding forward, it is pivoting from a single point (your foot on the ground).That means your big fat head has to travel a further distance than any other part of your body! Not only does it have to travel further, it also has to do it in the same amount of time...which means it has to go FASTER. That's right. Your fat stupid head has to travel further and faster through space than the rest of your body.
Luckily for you, your other leg is bent at the hip and knee to catch you every. single. time. Ouch. So, the leg breaks your fall, but something still has to stop the acceleration of your fast, monumental head. Otherwise:
Guess what you're gonna do? You're probably going to end up using your lower back to stop yourself from kneeing yourself in the face.
So, let's see. We've got excessive loading on the knees and lots of repeated impact (a life time of steps worth of impact). We've got excessive loading on the front of the foot. Your spine is being used like a jimmy-wiggler to stop your massive, ugly, stupid head from flying through space and to stabilize your torso. I'm not even gonna mention what it does to the hips. (Not because I dont' know, but I think this is enough for now.) On top of it all, your feet probably aren't even pointed in the right direction (hint: the outside edge of your foot should be lined up straight, not the inside edge). Foot pain? Knee pain? Back pain? Acceleration headaches? (I made that one up. but you might have acceleration neck pain...) Big surprise. You're bouncing around on your gear like a paddle ball.
So you're thinking "Thanks, GAIT keeper" (haha, get it?) "how the eff am I supposed to locomote then?" Well, simply put, you're supposed to put your weight on one straight, vertical leg and push yourself forward. Then you land on your other leg, which stays vertical beneath you, and that becomes your straight, vertical weight bearing leg which you then use to push yourself forward again. This way, your weight is always stacked where it should be, and your whole body moves through space at the same speed!
Walking this way does require lots of lateral hip and butt strength, and nice long hamstrings. But once you get it you can pretty much say good bye to shitty stuff like pelvic floor disorder (peeing when you laugh) back pain, and osteoporosis, to name a few.
A final note about walking: you cannot walk on a treadmill. Walking requires that you push your weight forward off a fixed ground. On a treadmill, the ground is already moving, so you have no other choice than to....*drum roll please* lift your leg out in front of you and fall down onto it. And that, my friends, is not walking.
First of all, just because you don't end up flat on your face after every step doesn't mean you're walking without falling. The falling motion, when it comes to gait, is actually quite small, not the head over heels face plant you're thinking of. The problem comes from the way we move forward. If you're lifting your leg out in front of you to walk like this:
Either you fall, or you bend your other leg to get your front foot on the ground, but then you'd look like you were supposed to be in a Monty Python sketch. This is a really high impact way of walking on lots of different body parts. First of all, your center of mass is constantly thrown over the front of your body. This overloads your knee and the front of your foot, since they weren't designed to carry the weight of your body from the knees up.
The second problem is that this motion is causing you to pivot on your foot. Instead of your body just gliding forward, it is pivoting from a single point (your foot on the ground).That means your big fat head has to travel a further distance than any other part of your body! Not only does it have to travel further, it also has to do it in the same amount of time...which means it has to go FASTER. That's right. Your fat stupid head has to travel further and faster through space than the rest of your body.
Something has to eventually stop you from pivoting, though, or you'd end up face planting.
Luckily for you, your other leg is bent at the hip and knee to catch you every. single. time. Ouch. So, the leg breaks your fall, but something still has to stop the acceleration of your fast, monumental head. Otherwise:
So you're thinking "Thanks, GAIT keeper" (haha, get it?) "how the eff am I supposed to locomote then?" Well, simply put, you're supposed to put your weight on one straight, vertical leg and push yourself forward. Then you land on your other leg, which stays vertical beneath you, and that becomes your straight, vertical weight bearing leg which you then use to push yourself forward again. This way, your weight is always stacked where it should be, and your whole body moves through space at the same speed!
A final note about walking: you cannot walk on a treadmill. Walking requires that you push your weight forward off a fixed ground. On a treadmill, the ground is already moving, so you have no other choice than to....*drum roll please* lift your leg out in front of you and fall down onto it. And that, my friends, is not walking.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Seminar planning.
One of the reasons why I am so into the alignment course is that the material fascinates me and I'm never bored with it. Another reason is that it gives me an awesome opportunity to help people in a really accessible way (no drugs, no surgery). The final reason (keep in mind, these are all equal reasons) is that it gives me a lot of ways to make some moola so I don't end up living in a box covered in a tarpaulin when I'm older (mine would be the one with the bright blue tarp, btw, cause that's how I roll.) I'm discovering that EVERYONE can benefit from some adjustments and some muscle strengthening. I'm also discovering that not everyone is as passionate about the human machine as I am.
I'm starting to think about a seminar I want to offer to women in offices. I think it's a good place to start, and a great way to open people up to the concepts we talk about at the Restorative Exercise Institute. My greatest challenge is figuring out what to talk about. Sitting too much, pelvic floor health (hamstrings), shoe choice and foot direction are the obvious ones that need to be covered. But that could take me all day if I'm not careful. There's always so much to say on each topic! Then I think "oh, well people who sit too much tend to have hyper kyphosis. That should be covered. But I can't talk about that without talking about disk degeneration, which would bring me into bone formation and osteoporosis...which brings me back to sitting to much b/c of the effect on the hips...but I can't forget to tell everyone about the effects of osteoporosis drugs and how bad it is to drink soda. And I should definitely "mention"(ramble for an hour about) the exercise paradigm and how really it should be replaced by all day movement...OH YEA! weight loss and metabolism, middle aged women want to know about that too..." Yea. Right. Everyone wants a 3 hour lecture about stuff they don't understand or particularly care about understanding.
The idea behind my seminar idea is to talk for 45 minutes or less on a few key issues (like the first ones mentioned) and then have a 30 - 45 minute exercise session teaching a few exercises that can be done at the office all the time. Stuff like the double calf stretch, single calf stretch on a towel, the pelvic list, and perhaps a demo on stacking your weight over the heels. I want to leave everyone with a handout on key points, the exercises that I show them, and some tips and tricks to get more movement into their day (like parking at the back of the parking lot when you go out, using a small glass for your water so you constantly have to get up to refill it, and making all your phone calls while standing).
It's my first time designing something like this but I'm really excited to see how it's received. I want to see if I can give people the "magic" amount of information. Enough to get them intrigued and to communicate the importance of the issues (like hamstring length), but not so much that they feel overwhelmed by what I'm saying, like they'll never accomplish it all so there's no point in trying. I love alignment and want to make my life about it, and even I feel overwhelmed at times. I can only imagine what the average sedentary person would feel like if they had all this info dumped on them. I'd love to have some input from those of you who have led seminars and classes before. Anyone have any tips and tricks for me?
I'm starting to think about a seminar I want to offer to women in offices. I think it's a good place to start, and a great way to open people up to the concepts we talk about at the Restorative Exercise Institute. My greatest challenge is figuring out what to talk about. Sitting too much, pelvic floor health (hamstrings), shoe choice and foot direction are the obvious ones that need to be covered. But that could take me all day if I'm not careful. There's always so much to say on each topic! Then I think "oh, well people who sit too much tend to have hyper kyphosis. That should be covered. But I can't talk about that without talking about disk degeneration, which would bring me into bone formation and osteoporosis...which brings me back to sitting to much b/c of the effect on the hips...but I can't forget to tell everyone about the effects of osteoporosis drugs and how bad it is to drink soda. And I should definitely "mention"(ramble for an hour about) the exercise paradigm and how really it should be replaced by all day movement...OH YEA! weight loss and metabolism, middle aged women want to know about that too..." Yea. Right. Everyone wants a 3 hour lecture about stuff they don't understand or particularly care about understanding.
The idea behind my seminar idea is to talk for 45 minutes or less on a few key issues (like the first ones mentioned) and then have a 30 - 45 minute exercise session teaching a few exercises that can be done at the office all the time. Stuff like the double calf stretch, single calf stretch on a towel, the pelvic list, and perhaps a demo on stacking your weight over the heels. I want to leave everyone with a handout on key points, the exercises that I show them, and some tips and tricks to get more movement into their day (like parking at the back of the parking lot when you go out, using a small glass for your water so you constantly have to get up to refill it, and making all your phone calls while standing).
It's my first time designing something like this but I'm really excited to see how it's received. I want to see if I can give people the "magic" amount of information. Enough to get them intrigued and to communicate the importance of the issues (like hamstring length), but not so much that they feel overwhelmed by what I'm saying, like they'll never accomplish it all so there's no point in trying. I love alignment and want to make my life about it, and even I feel overwhelmed at times. I can only imagine what the average sedentary person would feel like if they had all this info dumped on them. I'd love to have some input from those of you who have led seminars and classes before. Anyone have any tips and tricks for me?
Friday, December 16, 2011
Why are we all such shitty failures?
"I'll start exercising on monday", "I'll quit next month", "I'll eat healthier after Christmas", "I'll just do it this once", "I'll break up with him soon", "This pizza has spinach on it so it's healthy and that means I can eat the whole thing even though I'm a celiac and I'm lactose intolerant..." Sound familiar at all? I find it hard to believe that anyone on this planet has not been engaging in some kind of activity or behavior that is harmful to them, promises to stop, but never does. Self destructive behavior can be a really subtle thing and it's hard to control. Especially when it comes to your absolute favorite thing in the world, or the coping mechanism you've used since you were 5, or a habit that you don't *really* feel like changing even though you know you should.
Lately I've been feeling like I'm treating my body with respect, by not ignoring any red flags (pain, stiffness, etc.) that it sends me. I've been working hard on my alignment and have been seeing real results. I've been patting myself on the back, going to bed thinking "yup, good work. It's been a productive day for your health". Then I start to dig a little deeper and realise that I'm actually a self-destructive crap sack just like everyone else. My favorite vice: PIZZA. A lot of research is being done on people who are sensitive to gluten, and the results are really scary. For people with a sensitivity to gluten (moi), there is a 70% increased risk of premature death due to freaky diseases. That's 70% less respect I give my body every time I eat gluteny garbage. Not only is it a long term risk, it actually makes me feel really awful right away, like I've got a meal of thumbtacks moving through my GI tract. So, why don't I just stop? That's the question I've been trying to answer.
I knew someone when I was younger who ended up getting cancer and having to go through some really rough chemotherapy. The person was in university at the time. Oddly enough, during treatment, they excelled in their classes, made most assignments on time, and did some really exceptional work. Then the cancer went into remission, the treatments stopped, and so did the progress at school. They worked harder and did better when they had a reason to fail. The cancer was a safety net, a real reason for failure, so no one would fault them personally for anything. Without the pressure to succeed, success was achieved. When the responsibility for failure returned, the sucess was lost. Fear of failure is a bitch, and it manifests in all sorts of ways.
I've known about this gluten thing for YEARS now, but guess what I did last week? I bought a thin crust spinach pizza and ate the whole thing. Not over 2 or 3 meals, I mean I ate it all at once. And it was so good, omg, I can't even tell you. However, a few days before that I ate pizza over at family's house, because it was "just this once". But it's never just this once. That's why those excuses don't work. EVER. I think that because I've never had to control my diet, I really don't know if I can do it or not. I KNOW I can do well with alignment, because being active and physically fit has always been an important and rewarding part of my life. Now I'm faced with a new challenge that I don't know if I can overcome, so I've never really tried my best to do it. I also don't enjoy saying no to pizza as much as I enjoy saying yes to a 2 hour walk. I've finally decided to give it a real shot though, and I'm trying to respect my body 100% all the time (trying, no one's perfect).
Sunday, December 11, 2011
What does walking feel like?
I went for a walk the other night and tried really hard to implement all the things that I've learned thus far in my alignment program. The results were amazing. I started landing on a straight leg, using my glutes to level my pelvis so I could clear the ground (instead of bending my knee a whole bunch) and I started using my hamstrings to push myself forward instead of my quads. Never having walked with a relaxed knee before, it was really shocking, and cool to find out that I could even do it.
I tried to share my new walking knowledge with my spouse later in the week, and I realised that it is not an easy feat to accomplish. For someone who hasn't been spending a lot of time rotating their thighs, holding their weight up with their lateral hip muscles instead of their quads, it's almost impossible for them to understand how it is done, what muscles to employ, what parts to relax, etc. The first thing he said to me was that it felt lazy. When I looked at him, he looked somewhat stiff, but also smooth. So I've decided to break it down in a way that I think it makes sense. This is what walking feels like for me.
First, I'll address the "lazy" feel of the walk. When you stabilize your joints and stop flailing your body around, swaying back and forth like a metronome, it really feels like you're using less muscle. And to a certain extent, it's true. When you are stabilized, you no longer have to spend so much energy changing the direction of your upper body with every step. When your body sways to the left, at some point you have to actively stop the motion, and direct your torso to the right. Just try it. Sway back and forth and see how much energy it takes. Even if you're only swaying a little when you walk, the energy expended adds up in the end.
Next, there's the issue of feeling stiff. I think that's because of the pelvic listing, where you use your lateral glute muscle to stabilize your pelvis, lifting it slightly so you can let your foot clear when it moves underneath you. What feels stiff to a person used to flopping around when they walk is actually the sensation of having your joints stable and not moving in all kinds of crazy ways they're not really supposed to move (at least, not while you're walking).
The smooth feeling comes from using your leg like a gondola pole, pushing your body forward while it remains up right instead of falling onto a bent knee over and over. You glide along without bobbing up an down, without your ankle rocking back and forth, without your knee constantly absorbing the pressure of every step (if you land on a bent knee), without your pelvis tipping from side to side. It feels controlled and smooth as butter on the joints.
After walking like that for a good 20 minutes or so, I switched back to my old style of walking. That's when I REALLY noticed a difference. All of a sudden I could feel pressure in my knees, my quad flexing, I could feel my hips wiggling, you know that sexy lady walk? (Not so sexy when it lands you in a walker or a wheelchair because of hip fracture :P ). I could feel my body hitting the ground over and over, a shock wave that travelled right up to the base of my skull. I never noticed it before because that's just how I've always walked.
The best part is: You can't unlearn. Once you discover what walking is supposed to feel like you can't go back! That's a comforting thought, considering moving in any way but the optimal way is damaging to your body. It's really easy for me now to notice when I'm not holding my body in a good position, or when I'm walking in a way that is damaging to my joints. Speaking of damaging positions, I've been seated for FAR too long and my back is starting to get angry. Time to get up off my butt and get something to eat. Happy walking everybody!!
I tried to share my new walking knowledge with my spouse later in the week, and I realised that it is not an easy feat to accomplish. For someone who hasn't been spending a lot of time rotating their thighs, holding their weight up with their lateral hip muscles instead of their quads, it's almost impossible for them to understand how it is done, what muscles to employ, what parts to relax, etc. The first thing he said to me was that it felt lazy. When I looked at him, he looked somewhat stiff, but also smooth. So I've decided to break it down in a way that I think it makes sense. This is what walking feels like for me.
First, I'll address the "lazy" feel of the walk. When you stabilize your joints and stop flailing your body around, swaying back and forth like a metronome, it really feels like you're using less muscle. And to a certain extent, it's true. When you are stabilized, you no longer have to spend so much energy changing the direction of your upper body with every step. When your body sways to the left, at some point you have to actively stop the motion, and direct your torso to the right. Just try it. Sway back and forth and see how much energy it takes. Even if you're only swaying a little when you walk, the energy expended adds up in the end.
Next, there's the issue of feeling stiff. I think that's because of the pelvic listing, where you use your lateral glute muscle to stabilize your pelvis, lifting it slightly so you can let your foot clear when it moves underneath you. What feels stiff to a person used to flopping around when they walk is actually the sensation of having your joints stable and not moving in all kinds of crazy ways they're not really supposed to move (at least, not while you're walking).
The smooth feeling comes from using your leg like a gondola pole, pushing your body forward while it remains up right instead of falling onto a bent knee over and over. You glide along without bobbing up an down, without your ankle rocking back and forth, without your knee constantly absorbing the pressure of every step (if you land on a bent knee), without your pelvis tipping from side to side. It feels controlled and smooth as butter on the joints.
After walking like that for a good 20 minutes or so, I switched back to my old style of walking. That's when I REALLY noticed a difference. All of a sudden I could feel pressure in my knees, my quad flexing, I could feel my hips wiggling, you know that sexy lady walk? (Not so sexy when it lands you in a walker or a wheelchair because of hip fracture :P ). I could feel my body hitting the ground over and over, a shock wave that travelled right up to the base of my skull. I never noticed it before because that's just how I've always walked.
The best part is: You can't unlearn. Once you discover what walking is supposed to feel like you can't go back! That's a comforting thought, considering moving in any way but the optimal way is damaging to your body. It's really easy for me now to notice when I'm not holding my body in a good position, or when I'm walking in a way that is damaging to my joints. Speaking of damaging positions, I've been seated for FAR too long and my back is starting to get angry. Time to get up off my butt and get something to eat. Happy walking everybody!!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who's got the freakiest spinal curvature of them all?
A horrifying thing happened to me the other day, just horrifying. Before I tell you, I'm going to give you a little back ground info on myself so you can put this into perspective. When I was in grade 8 I was teased and tortured all the time, and I was freakishly thin. My hateful concerned schoolmates would sometimes come up to me and say "What's wrong with you? Are you anorexic or something?" or "You look sick. You're emaciated.". Thanks guys! So, as a result of my pals helpful urgings, I started working out and trying to bulk up, Cartman style. I started biking every day, walking or running before school in the morning, lifting weights and doing other exercises in my room at night. Before long, I had a sweet set of guns, the most muscular back I've ever seen on a 16 year old girl, and my rack felt like it was made of steel. Good times! (For the record, it didn't stop the teasing. They just hassled me about other things)
I've always really enjoyed being active and healthy, and then I got pregnant. I kept walking the whole time and had a pretty decent pregnancy actually. Then came the delivery...eugh. Long and painful, and my mal-aligned body made it really difficult for me to get the baby out without some interference from my friend Scissors. :( That's when it all fell apart. I couldn't stand for almost 2 weeks, let alone walk. I was in pain for over a month, which severely limited my ability to move. Then childcare got in the way of self care. Fast forward to a year later, and I'm carrying a 20lb toddler on my right hip like she's fused to my body (ie, all the time.)
So, back to the original story. The other day, I decide to take a look at myself in the mirror. I mean a really good look. I've been having an extreme amount of pain in my lower thoracic spine on the left side for some time now, so I wanted to see if I could see a problem.. The first thing I notice is that my waist has more curve on one side than the other. The right side, of course, b/c that's where Myriam lives. So I get the hand mirror and turn around, and my life is CRUSHED. All I see is bone. My spine, my ribs, my scapulae are all pronouncing themselves for the world to see. Then I look closer at my ribs. The left side is bulging out. I mean BULGING. And the muscle on the left (hurting) side is twice the size of the right. I'm all "WTF IS THAT?! RIB SLIDE?!". When I took in the whole picture, I could see that my whole rib cage was no longer centered over my pelvis, but was slid over to the left of my body. I'm not sure if you guys have ever had a moment like that, where you realize something is really wrong with you, but it is not fun.
After coming to terms with the fact that I am NOT 16 anymore, I got down to business and started coming up with a plan for myself. First I took a day to really think about my habits, because one's body does not rearrange itself into a deformity over night. I noticed that when I sit, I always sit on my left cheek, tuck my legs to the right, and let my ribs slide on over. Too much sitting. When I'm standing, I put my weight on the right leg and let my ribs slide on over to the left. That's craptastic. When I nurse Myriam, I lay on my left side and let my ribs fall to the level of the bed, and my right hip is lifting into the air. All of these things feel super comfortable to me, but it's because I've been training my body for years into a very unnatural position. Now that I'm not compensating as much with other parts of my body (alignment exercises and being mindful about my body), and carrying Myriam more instead of using a stroller, it's starting to really stick out like a sore thumb.
I can't believe that I've got a problem with my back. After taking so much care to work on it over the years, I've been sabotaging my own health the whole time. Wild. Tonight is my first appointment with a massage therapist to help me with the pain while I transition back into alignment. I'm really surprised about the amount of pain I have while I retrain my muscles, but as another alignment junkie said to me "You didn't think they would give up without a fight, did you?" Yup. I did actually. I thought it would be easier, I thought I was in better shape. It just goes to show that anyone can be thrown out of alignment, it's sneaky and subtle, but in the end it WILL cause you a serious problem. We need to remember to always be mindful about what position we're in, and not to stay in one position all the time. Our habits, no matter how insignificant they seem at the time, can greatly impact our health over the years.
I've always really enjoyed being active and healthy, and then I got pregnant. I kept walking the whole time and had a pretty decent pregnancy actually. Then came the delivery...eugh. Long and painful, and my mal-aligned body made it really difficult for me to get the baby out without some interference from my friend Scissors. :( That's when it all fell apart. I couldn't stand for almost 2 weeks, let alone walk. I was in pain for over a month, which severely limited my ability to move. Then childcare got in the way of self care. Fast forward to a year later, and I'm carrying a 20lb toddler on my right hip like she's fused to my body (ie, all the time.)
So, back to the original story. The other day, I decide to take a look at myself in the mirror. I mean a really good look. I've been having an extreme amount of pain in my lower thoracic spine on the left side for some time now, so I wanted to see if I could see a problem.. The first thing I notice is that my waist has more curve on one side than the other. The right side, of course, b/c that's where Myriam lives. So I get the hand mirror and turn around, and my life is CRUSHED. All I see is bone. My spine, my ribs, my scapulae are all pronouncing themselves for the world to see. Then I look closer at my ribs. The left side is bulging out. I mean BULGING. And the muscle on the left (hurting) side is twice the size of the right. I'm all "WTF IS THAT?! RIB SLIDE?!". When I took in the whole picture, I could see that my whole rib cage was no longer centered over my pelvis, but was slid over to the left of my body. I'm not sure if you guys have ever had a moment like that, where you realize something is really wrong with you, but it is not fun.
After coming to terms with the fact that I am NOT 16 anymore, I got down to business and started coming up with a plan for myself. First I took a day to really think about my habits, because one's body does not rearrange itself into a deformity over night. I noticed that when I sit, I always sit on my left cheek, tuck my legs to the right, and let my ribs slide on over. Too much sitting. When I'm standing, I put my weight on the right leg and let my ribs slide on over to the left. That's craptastic. When I nurse Myriam, I lay on my left side and let my ribs fall to the level of the bed, and my right hip is lifting into the air. All of these things feel super comfortable to me, but it's because I've been training my body for years into a very unnatural position. Now that I'm not compensating as much with other parts of my body (alignment exercises and being mindful about my body), and carrying Myriam more instead of using a stroller, it's starting to really stick out like a sore thumb.
I can't believe that I've got a problem with my back. After taking so much care to work on it over the years, I've been sabotaging my own health the whole time. Wild. Tonight is my first appointment with a massage therapist to help me with the pain while I transition back into alignment. I'm really surprised about the amount of pain I have while I retrain my muscles, but as another alignment junkie said to me "You didn't think they would give up without a fight, did you?" Yup. I did actually. I thought it would be easier, I thought I was in better shape. It just goes to show that anyone can be thrown out of alignment, it's sneaky and subtle, but in the end it WILL cause you a serious problem. We need to remember to always be mindful about what position we're in, and not to stay in one position all the time. Our habits, no matter how insignificant they seem at the time, can greatly impact our health over the years.
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