A new take on scoliosis

If you've ever been diagnosed with scoliosis, this is a must watch 👀

About 4% of the population has scoliosis in some form or another.

Fear of damaging the spine can lead to over-protective behaviours and reduced physical capacity.

Don't ever let yourself be defined by your spine or x-ray changes. You may have to put in a bit more effort and be more consistent with a daily exercise program. But there is always room for hope and achieving great things.

Many world class athletes have been diagnosed with scoliosis and achieved world-class success, such as Mick Fanning and Usain Bolt.

Usain Bolt says, “If I keep my core and back strong, the scoliosis doesn’t really bother me,” he says. “So I don’t have to worry about it as long as I work hard.”

And if you would like some guidance on how to help with your spine, don't be afraid to get in touch 😊

Free Your Upper Back And Shoulders

Stiffness in the upper back and shoulders can develop over time, especially if you have an office based job. This can lead to compensations and eventually pain in the muscles around the neck and lower back.

Below you'll find a short (less than 3 minutes) set of exercises - that you can do once or twice per day to keep your upper back and shoulders healthy and mobile 👇

This would be really helpful for anyone who spends time sitting in front of computer or driving around a lot.

Movement is Medicine!

We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, so getting a personal assessment / set of exercises from your Physio would be best, but this would be a pretty good start.

Let me know how you go in the comments and please tag anyone you know who might benefit 🙌

The exercises include:

• push-ups

• cat-cow with hands on foam roller

• childs pose lats stretch using foam roller

• thread the needle using a foam roller

• pecs stretch on the foam roller

• foam roller upper back

Psoas - Get To Know Your Muscles

Psoas - Get To Know Your Muscles

QUICK ANATOMY REVIEW:

The psoas (pronounced ‘so-az’) is one of the deepest core muscles in the body.

As you can see in the picture below, the psoas is a long muscle, attaching above to the upper part of the lower back as well as the intervertebral discs.

It then travels down through the abdomen and attaches to the inner part of the hip, making it one of only two muscles that attaches the spine to the lower limb.

FUNCTION:

The psoas has a number of diverse functions, making it a key factor in health.

There is still some controversy concerning it’s exact role in the body.

The psoas is partly a hip flexor - that helps bend your hip when you walk and run.

It also has an important role in stabilising the lower back and posteriorly tilts the pelvis.

HOW PSOAS BECOMES OVERLOADED:

The psoas can become tight from spending extended periods of time in the following positions:

• sitting

• sleeping in the fetal position

• standing with a swayed back and wearing high heels too often

• sitting in a kayak/canoe

The psoas becomes overloaded with repeated use in the following situations:

• driving

• kicking

• cycling

• excessive sit-ups

Visceral pain

As it passes through, and has some attachments to the internal organs, the psoas can also be activated when there is irritation internally, (in particular the colon).

Stress

The psoas tends to tighten in response to general life stress (activated during the fight / flight response). Think of the fetal position protective response - that is the psoas causing your spine to contract.

SYMPTOMS:

The psoas is known as the ‘Hidden Prankster’ due to it being responsible for a lot of lower back pain (especially related to disc pain), without many people being aware of it.

Pain from a tight psoas muscle may be projected in a vertical direction in a ‘gutter’ along either side of the lowerback as well as to the sacroiliac region and buttock (see red areas marked below).

Pain may be felt during sitting and walking.

Overload of the psoas can also lead to pain and tightness in the front of the hip. 

TREATMENT APPROACH:

Physiotherapy assessment will involve a comprehensive movement assessment to determine the cause of your psoas issue.

Some common manual therapy treatment approaches include:

• joint mobilisation to the lower back

• dry needling to the psoas insertion point in the hip and upper attachment point in the back

• deep tissue and manual myofascial release on the mid-section of the muscle (pictured below). It is very difficult muscle to dry needle direclty due to its deep location and proximity to major organs.

SELF-CARE TIPS

• avoid extended periods of sitting. Think about ‘time in the posture’ vs trying to find a perfect posture

• consider a standing desk

• avoid walking and jogging uphills and on sloped surfaces in the short-term

• apply heat to the front of abdomen 10 minutes each day

• sleep on side with pillow between knees, avoiding the fetal position with the hip flexed right up

• use cruise control on long car trips to stretch the legs

• learn to breathe through your diaphragm and manage your stress

  Some of the following exercises you may find useful:

Psoas stretch - gently ease into it tucking the pelvis under as you lean forward (Picture credit: Fiona Melder Photography)

Bridge stretch - tuck your pelvis, squeeze your glutes but don’t overarch your back. Breathe! (Picture credit: Fiona Melder Photography)

Diaphragm breathing

As the psoas attaches to the diaphragm, when you breathe deeply you will naturally help decompress the psoas.

You can do this by putting your hands on the outside of your lower rib cage.

As you breathe in, expand the ribs from the sides, front and back - 360 degrees.

Aim for five seconds breathe in and five seconds breathe out for 1 minute.

Building capacity in the Psoas

Weakness in the psoas causes decreased ability to flex the hip joint.

It’s really important for runners to have adequate capacity in the psoas.

Try this marching exercise below with a theraloop to help build some capacity in your hip flexors.

Need some help with your lower back or hip pain?

We have a special interest in helping people overcome their pain and get back to what they love.

If you think we are the right fit for you and you wish to get relief right away, use our simple online booking system to make an appointment.  If you would prefer to speak to us directly,  call us 1300 657 813

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6 Minutes To A Supple Spine

There are many options out there for addressing back pain.

But the one approach that has the best scientific support is exercise ✅

We are taught early on how to care for our teeth to prevent tooth decay.

But no one ever told us how to take care of our spines 🤔

Unfortunately this can lead to ongoing spot fires 🔥 and niggles, as the underlying issues aren't being addressed.

Below you'll find a short 6 minute set of exercises - that you can do once or twice per day to keep your spine healthy, supple and strong 👇

We have our own strengths and weaknesses so getting a personal assessment / set of exercises from your Physio would be best, but this would be a pretty good start.

Let me know how you go in the comments and please tag anyone you know who might benefit 🙌

Prevention is better than cure!

Here’s an outline of the moves:

• Heel taps

• Bridge

• Single leg bridge

• Hip abduction, clams

• Side plank

• Plank

• Cat-cow

• Superman

• Child’s pose

• Pigeon pose

• Thoracic foam roller

• Hip flexor stretch

The solution to keeping your spine healthy lies in finding the balance of mobility and stability.

Each part of our body has a specific function (as the picture below shows).

This is know as the joint by joint approach.

Focusing on the giving what the body what it needs will lead to more efficient movement and a suppleness that you will leave you feeling energized and strong.

Research has showed that people who just focus only on stretching only had a higher incidence of lower back pain.

And people who focused only on strengthening (e.g machine based weights at the gym) had a higher incidence of back pain.

So this set of exercises has been specifically formulated to switch on the deep core stabilisers and creating mobility in the hips and back.

Doing this regularly will certainly help keep your spine supple and strong.

Let me know how you go in the comments.

Need some help with your lower back pain?

If you think we are the right fit for you and you wish to get relief right away, use our simple online booking system to make an appointment.  If you would prefer to speak to us directly,  call us 1300 657 813

5 quick tips for sudden onset lower back pain

1. Stay calm and confident

Twinges in the lower back are extremely common and can be thought of as like the 'common cold' of the spine.

A bad cold can certainly knock you around and make you feel pretty crappy.  With a cold, you know you're going to get better so you just accept it is part of life and don't stress too much over it.

On the other hand, a lower back flare up can sometimes leave you feeling rather vulnerable and fearful of damaging your spine.

Some typical thought patterns may be along the lines of:

• 'Am I ever going to get better?'

• 'Did I bulge a disc?'

• 'Do they even heal?'

• 'I may do more damage if I keep moving'

Negative thought patterns can trigger off a cascade events that can put your body into a 'fight or flight' state where some muscles get tight (superficial power muscles) and others (deep stabilisers) tend to become inhibited.

We know from pain research that the intensity of pain you experience correlates with the THREAT of tissue damage, not ACTUAL tissue damage.

Any way you can reduce the perception of threat can go a long way towards getting you on the right track with greatly reduced pain.

Spending a few minutes on these re-activation exercises will help no doubt help engage the core muscles.

But really it's more about pushing through the mental barriers and regaining confidence in your body's ability to heal.

"Your Body is an Incredible Self-Healing Machine" (Kelly Starrett).

It is amazingly robust and resilient.

We just need to set up the right environment for quality healing to take place.

2. Keep moving and stay at work if possible

If your back pain is more severe, you may need 1-2 days of rest and time off work, but then you gotta get moving. 

Staying active (and even trying to get your heart rate up a little) will increase blood flow through the body and promote the healing response. 

Being at work can be a good distraction from the pain and means you're not sitting around at home feeling sorry for yourself.

Take frequent short walks when you're at work. 

3. Change your position frequently

Don't be  sitting or standing in any one position too long.

If you have to sit at work, once again vary the position as much as possible.

Slumping is fine occasionally.

Don't get into the trap of holding yourself bolt upright in the 'perfect' posture.

Learn to chill a bit.

"Variability of posture trumps a perfect posture".

4. Book in to see your Physio

Try and find a Physio who spends time observing your movement patterning and who can perform some targeted manual therapy and dry needling to get things moving again.

Getting some personalised advice and treatment early on often pays big dividends in preventing ongoing issues and can save you a lot of hassles down the track.

5. If you're flare-ups are becoming more frequent or intense, this is a pretty good warning sign that something needs to change

"Pain is a request for change" - Perry Nickelston

If you're able to, find some space and time in your life to re-build your movement immunity and resilience through things like:

• gym

• pilates

• running

• yoga

• home stretching / strengthening program

Sensibly and gradually re-building the capacity of your body will be the most reliable long term strategy of overcoming chronic back pain. 

A Physiotherapist can help get you on the fast track and we'd love to assist you your journey.

Bookings:

If you think we are the right fit for you and you wish to get relief right away, use our simple online booking system to make an appointment.  If you would prefer to speak to us directly,  call us 1300 657 813

Please tag a friend that may benefit from this and please leave any comments or questions below...