 Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash Today, while teaching a Pilates, I stumbled upon an interesting concept. What does it mean to take up space and time?
When we are in pain we tend to shrivel up. We curl into a ball, protecting our heart, lungs and vital organs. Over time it becomes a habit and then we forget what it felt like to occupy space. Our skin, muscles, connective tissues and joints tighten up. Deep belly breaths that we are born with are changed to shallow upper chest breathing. How in the world are you supposed to take a deep breath when you are curled into a ball trying to be as small as possible? How are you supposed to be creative when you can’t even breathe? If that wasn’t bad enough, we also forget what it is like to take our time. It is a by-product of our technology driven lifestyle. You can do more. Keep going, faster, faster, faster. As you are being pulled in ten different directions, you continue to curl into a ball. With our shoulders up by our ears, knees and hips bent, trying to look up, but the weight of the head keeps pulling us down. Your body is simply telling you. “I don’t like it”. Like a kid who lies down on a floor in a protest while you are trying to put them to bed. Hey, I observe it in myself as well. Trying to be a mother, a wife, a business owner, a healer, a daughter…. And we are talking about adopting a puppy? What? We are meeting her in a couple of days. Now that the puppy is becoming more real I feel the tightness in my chest. Puppy? Seriously? How in the world am I going to take care of it? I don’t know anything about puppies. Fortunately today I was teaching a Pilates class. You know, every time I teach I learn something new. And today it was the concept of space and time. We worked a lot with deep breathing and allowing our bodies to take up space. The result was stunning. Not only did the posture of my students change, they felt lighter and more energized. We worked with taking our time during exercises focusing on intentional movement from the supported base provided by deep breath. As most brilliant things in life it was that simple. Before you face life’s challenges, find your breath. Breathe deep into the space between your shoulderblades. Breathe deep so you can feel the length in your lower back. Breathe! Take up space. Spread your arms and legs, spread your fingers and toes. Why do we clench all the time? Open your jaw, stick your tongue out, stretch your arms and BREATHE! Wow, it feels amazing. Now stand up, close your eyes and feel the transformational energy in your body. Feel the lightness and ease. Do you know that people who are in pain don’t know how to take a deep breath? It’s a fundamental skill, it’s a reflex we are born with. Why do we forget how to do it? Why do we settle for the least amount of space, the least amount of time and least amount of freedom? Yet, the most amount of stuff, clutter and technology? Every day I teach my patients that pain is just a signal from the body that something is wrong. Think of the last time you hit your funny bone? Jolt of pine, ouch! You hold your breath. Now think of childbirth. What is everyone telling the woman as she is bringing a new life into this world? BREATHE! It’s that simple, breathe through your pain, it makes it feel less intense. It gives you control, it moves the blood and lymph, it relaxes the muscles and tells your brain that all is good in the world. Take up space, take up time. Why don’t we do it? We only have this one chance in this lifetime. There is no need to shrivel up, no need to lower yourself so that you can fit into some mold that is obviously wrong for you. Stand up, stretch out and breathe! Your body will thank you! Your loved ones will thank you because you will be more like yourself. Everyone around you will see your radiant smile and thank you for being YOU! Do you want to explore this concept further? Join us for Pilates classes (noon on Fridays starting in April) or sign up for FREE SAMPLE SESSION where we can talk more about your WHY and learn your HOW. Remember to slow down, breathe and you WILL have a great day! Elena
0 Comments
 Photo by Israel Gil on Unsplash “You know, for the longest time I thought that these problems with my back are just a normal. The older I get, the more I feel it. I had no idea I could do something about it.” I hear this statement daily from my patients. All too often traditional health care fails in treatment of neck and back pain. Time and time again many physicians are writing off stiffness and ache to aging and telling patients to rest and take medicine.
Unfortunately, most people don’t know that what may first appear as stiffness and discomfort can quickly progress to something more serious. Back stiffness if left untreated will progress to mild discomfort, then to pain, then to numbness and tingling, further to burning and possibly result in muscle weakness. At first, rest and medication will mask the symptoms. Later, you may need something stronger like an injection and then if left untreated you may require surgery. What most conventional doctors fail to tell you is that there is a different route you can take. Start taking control over your symptoms by educating yourself. Internet is full of good and bad advice, so how do you know what is wrong and what is right? Make sure you are getting your information from a credible source. Here at Healing In Motion Physical Therapy we specialize in ending back pain and helping you return to the lifestyle you desire. We loaded up our website with downloads and blogs to help you make a good decision on what to do next. Don’t settle for the idea that “it’s just aging.” What may seem like an easy excuse you can give yourself to stop going to the gym, giving up golf, not picking up your grandkids, etc. will lead you to a darker place of pain, weakness and loss of mobility and independence. You see, as we age, we adopt certain posture and movement patterns. You can picture your parents and grandparents. Forward shoulders, forward head, knees bent, leaning on a cane or a walker. They always complained about their neck and back hurting. The great news is that you don’t need to end up like your beloved family members. You can change your future and thrive into your 70s, 80s and possibly 90s. I work with people of all ages and what I noticed, is that the people in their 80s and 90s who are vibrant, healthy and happy are the ones who are active and refuse to sit still. They are busy in the community, babysit grand kids and take care of their sick friends. You may have noticed how stress, sit down job, sitting in traffic causes you to stiffen up in the hips and shoulders. When the hips are tight and you try to stand up, your tight hip flexors are creating a pull on your back. Also, when the shoulders are tight and your midback is stiff, you will increase the pulling forces on the lower back and neck. Now you feel stiffness and compression. If immobility has caused your symptoms, it makes perfect sense to counteract it with movement. But why does your doctor tell you to rest and take pills? Unfortunately some doctors don’t believe in physical therapy. And they have a good reason. Back pain is very complicated and can be coming from a variety of different factors. It is difficult to treat and most PTs are limited by 30 minute appointments and are burnt out by seeing 20 - 30 patients a day. They mean well, I’ve been there myself, but it is simply impossible to give quality care on something complex when you are mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. At Healing in Motion Physical Therapy we believe in quality of our care. We offer 1 hour appointments and don’t see more than 6 patients a day because we want to feel rested and creative so that we can deliver a good outcome for you. Back pain is the symptom of your lifestyle. Your habits and behaviors need to be changed in order to treat the root cause. Otherwise, anything you do just covers it up. For you to be completely free of back pain, you have to stand differently, sit differently, be more active, drink water and adopt an active lifestyle. It is that simple, yet it is very difficult. This change takes skill, time and patience. Manual therapy and core exercises are not enough. The great news is that this can be done and we change people’s lives everyday here at Healing in Motion Physical Therapy. We refuse to settle for the excuse that “this is just your age”. We continue to invite you to take advantage of our Free Sample Session. Do you know how easy it is to be pain free? Better yet, do you know that you don’t need a referral from your doctor or a pre-authorization from your insurance? A lot of times people wait and procrastinate because they don’t know what to do. Start here, start with a Sample Session and find out what you can do to age gracefully, be more active and healthy. There is no financial commitment required from you. The session is absolutely FREE to you. If nothing else, use it to find out what’s wrong and what your options are. Don’t wait any longer. One thing I can promise you is that nothing is going to change unless you take that first step. Here is to your vibrant health, Elena  Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash Today I want to tell you a story of one of my patients, Jennifer, an account executive. I chose her story because I think a lot of you are going to find it interesting since some of you may have similar symptoms.
Jennifer is in her late fifties. She has been at her job for close to 20 years. She sits most of the day at work but tries to make an effort of doing something active couple times a week. You see, she has been suffering from back pain for years, but recently she noticed that her leg started giving out on her. For months now she has been feeling like her leg was falling asleep every time she sat down. In fact, she had to constantly shift back and forth in her seat to get comfortable. She kept ignoring it and attributed her aches and pains to getting older. That’s what everyone tells you anyway, right? She mentioned her symptoms to her doctor and he told her to take Advil and get some rest. Well, the nagging back pain was not going away and progressively got worse. She started feeling burning sensation down her right leg. She became really concerned when she almost tumbled down the steps because her right leg gave out. Luckily her friend was a patient of mine and asked me if there was anything that I could do for her. Absolutely I can, was my answer. Jennifer came in for a Free Sample Session and told me her story. She was relieved to find out that I hear a similar story several times a day. I know exactly what it was and have a proven track record of patients who got their lives and independence back. Let me explain what happened to her and may be some of you too. Spine is like a pearl necklace, every vertebrae is supposed to move independently of each other. In between the vertebrae are discs. Spinal nerves branch out from the spinal cord which is protected by the vertebrae. Think of discs as jelly donuts and absorbs shock when you are walking. If the spinal column is not in perfect alignment, that jelly can squeeze out and push on the nerve. This is what is called DISK HERNIATION and sometime can come with the nasty burning, numbness and tingling down your leg. When the pressure on the nerve has been placed for a long time it may cause weakness in your leg. That’s why Jennifer felt like her leg was about to give out. Disc problems can be very nasty, but not the end of the world. I want you to know that this doesn’t mean that you need surgery. In fact most disc herniations CAN be treated with PHYSICAL THERAPY. Jennifer became a patient of mine and you will be relieved to find out that she is completely symptom free and has returned to all her favorite activities and even started skiing again. It took us several sessions to get her out of pain. However, Jennifer wanted to feel 100% and treat to root cause which was her posture and core weakness. She has completed a course of Pilates and manual therapy and is feeling better than ever. And you know the best part? She has found the long term solution and will not have to suffer from back pain or leg weakness ever again. And I have seen it time and time again. This is what I want for all of you. That’s why we offer a FREE SAMPLE SESSION so you can learn what is wrong and what you are up against. More importantly, find out about your options. |
We help people who refuse to slow down
|
RSS Feed