4 Steps To Better Movement

Moving better is like learning any other SKILL. The brain controls movement and loves moving in HABITS.

1. "Unconscious incompetence"

Habits of repetitive movement patterns get engrained in the central nervous system. Often happens through sustained postures and repetitive tasks. Predictable patterns develop in response to pain and stress; some muscles tighten & others become inhibited.

2. "Conscious incompetence"

Becoming aware there's a problem. Pain is the major trigger to making you aware something isn't right. Other early signs might be - feeling of tightness, stiffness, inefficiency of movement, fatigue, poor sleep or digestion.
Your Physio / health care professional can help you identify certain patterns that are getting overloaded. Also meditation and performing a body scan can help.

3. "Conscious competence"

This is where the training comes in.
In the early stages, mindfulness, concentration and patience are needed. Quiet introspective practice. Lots of mistakes, each time learning and inching towards mastery. Internal and external feedback. Play and having fun with your movement journey sparks learning.

Building new motor patterns and neural pathways in the brain takes time. Aerobic exercise (like running) helps stimulate new neuronal growth. Good food and sleep assist the brain in laying down the new pathways.

4. "Unconscious competence"

Muscle memory becomes entrained and becomes a new pattern, online & available for use. The brain has more options and variability in movement. The goal isn't to move the 'right' way all the time, rather to have many options, depending on the circumstance.

What are your thoughts on this 4 step process? 

I'd love your comments and feedback...

3 Biggest Mistakes Starting A New Fitness Routine And What To Do Instead

Hope you had a great Christmas and new year break!

Do you have any special health and fitness goals for 2017? The start of the year is always a great time to make some positive changes and start feeling good.

Today I wanted to share with you a few tips to help make your 2017 a healthy (and injury free) year.

Mistake 1.  Not getting started. Most of us know what to do. It's the DOING part that can be tough! 

TIP:

Start with small steps - it might be a 10 minute walk after dinner or parking your car as far as you can from the entrance of the shops. Also commit to meet a friend (or join us here) and you'll have less chance of backing out. Find something you can do that's fun and doesn't necessarily feel like exercise. Once you get a taste of how good it feels to move your body, the motivation comes easy. 

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao Tzu”

Mistake 2.  Doing too much too soon.

Some of us go the other way and have massive amounts of motivation. This can overwhelm our bodies capacity and lead to injuries and a frustrating cycle of pain and inactivity.  We can forget that our bodies aren't getting any younger and it does take longer for recovery. 

TIP:
Channel your motivation and pace yourself by gradually increasing your intensity and time by no more than 10% per week. Also focus on recovery and building your foundation through foam roller stretches and core strengthening Pilates exercises. The better your foundation, the less likely you'll end up needing treatment.

Mistake 3.  Not listening to your body and getting checked out early when something doesn't feel right. 

TIP:
Get on top of your niggles early. Being proactive and getting educated early on in the process can save you a lot of frustration down the track.  A small tweak is often all that's required to get you back on track and feeling your best.

If you have any questions or concerns simply leave a comment below. You can also Book an appointment online here.

16 Things I Learnt in 2016

1.  "The Body Is An Amazing Self-Healing Machine" - Kelly Starrett

Once you set up the right environment - appropriate sleep, food, movement and accurate beliefs you create the perfect conditions for deep healing. 

Many patients tell me they've frequently started an exercise/movement practice with good intentions - only to end up injured.  They feel frustrated that their bodies aren't co-operating.  

My advice is to check your foundation.  

You've got to get to base camp before you start to climb the peak!

**If you're interested in learning more about building the quality of your movement, I'm teaching a free class on January 25th 2017 - limited numbers, you can book online here. 

2.  If you're a runner stop stretching your hamstrings!

As your foot is about to make contact with the ground, the role of the hamstrings is to control the landing.  

This means the hamstring needs to contract AND lengthen simultaneously (otherwise known as am eccentric contraction).

Stretching the hamstrings is likely to send mixed messages to the brain about how you want the hamstring to work.  

If you are attempting to 'increase flexibility' by stretching you are more likely to irritate your lower back and nerves than actually do anything worthwhile.  

If you're keen to safely improve flexibility I would recommend a combination of dry needling, massage and using a spiky ball and foam roller at home. 

Also, I'd recommend a series of hamstring strengthening exercises that will help address the imbalance between the quads and the hamstrings.  Stay tuned I will write a blog in more detail about this in 2017. 

3.  Go within and find your own answers. 

It's good to do research (thanks Google!), but don't let yourself be overcome by analysis paralysis. 

Especially when it comes to food and exercise.  Listen to your body and find out what works best for you.  I learnt that eating low fiber foods was better for my body than high fiber foods.  So I find white bread and animal protein easy to digest, while high fibre/high fructose fruits such as apples, grapes and mangoes are best taken in very small amounts. 

Your body is always changing, so don't get stuck in one way of moving or eating forever.  

Keeping a health journal for a month can be an excellent way to boost your awareness and see your patterns with more clarity.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change - Charles Darwin
”

4.  Become a master of moderation

The middle path.  Buddha had it right.  Exercise, food, thoughts, behaviours.  The 80/20 principle - allow for indulgences, they will keep you sane!

5.  Work you oblique muscles

Attending Perry Nickelston's Primal Chains course was a game changer for me.  He is passionate about the obliques as an important driver of power through the body.  Weak obliques are common and can lead to compensation and overload elsewhere in your body.  

7 exercises to work your obliques:

• side- plank

• thread the needle

• push-up to side plank

• spider man push-ups

• single leg bridge

• bird dog

• dying bug on foam roller

6.  Give up coffee for a week

If you simply can't live without your morning cup of joe - that could be a sign of bigger issues - adrenal fatigue. 

Ingesting caffeine is liking spending money on a credit card.  You're borrowing energy that you don't have. 

Try a week off coffee and (after the withdrawal period) see how you feel. 

7.  As you get older, the proportion of time needed to be spent on building a foundation grows bigger every year

Often we trying to achieve our athletic goals, a lot of time is spent in the 'red zone' of higher level intensity.  This is an important part of training, but if too much time is spent here, we can end up with getting burnt out. 

The thing is our physical foundation is very eroded on a daily basis if we don't consciously address it. 

After the age of 30, we lose 10% of our core strength every year just being alive. 

Stress and poor posture erode our foundation quicker than anything you can think of. 

Building a foundation means going back to basics.  The way you breathe.  Basic low-level core stability.  Foam roller flexibility drills.

Some great exercises to help build your foundation are:

• crawling

• rolling

• rocking on hands and knees

• conscious breathing

• bridge

• turkish get up

8.  Don't eat dark chocolate after dinner

Dark chocolate is healthy - but is is very high in caffeine.  If you suffer any sort of sleep disturbance, it might be an idea to save the dark chocolate for earlier in the day. 

 8.  Dry needling is the gold standard to improve flexibility

This year, I got to assist in teaching a dry needling course with one of my mentors Robert De Nardis, owner of Global Education of Manual Therapists.  It was great to spend three days immersed in the world of dry needling and get up to date on the research on how it works.

Dry needling helps by increasing the range of movement a muscle has. Typically, muscles get tight due to overuse, poor posture and stress. 

Dry needling is powerful because we can release the deeper fibers of the muscle, rather than pushing on the surface of the skin.  

Flexibility can be thought of on a spectrum (see chart).  

Mild tightness can be managed with yoga, massage, heat and foam rolling.  

Moderate tightness develops deep into the muscle, and dry needling is the gold standard to get you back to stage one, where you can manage it on your own. 

Severe tightness is where the pressure builds up on the joints and the treatment is medication, cortisone injections and eventually if things are bad enough, surgery.  

Admittedly, dry needling can be intense.  But it does give motivation to maintain our muscles with the foam roller!

9.  Meditate

Take 5-20 minutes each day to slow things down.  Take breaks.  Create some space. 

““Time is always short, from birth to death. Why? Because we do not know how to stop. “ - Julia Green”

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour. - Zen proverb”

10.  Use a pressure cooker

Faster to cook and your food will taste twice as good! 

The beauty of the pressure cookers is that all of the flavours stay in during the cooking process.  

I used to be afraid that I might end up on the news as the man who burnt his face off while attempting to use a pressure cooker for the first time.  Admittedly it did take a few attempts (and hiding behind the couch) to feel comfortable using the pressure cooker.  

This Kambrook model allows you to saute, pressure cook and slow cook, so your meal can be prepared in no time, with minimal effort and washing up.  

11.  Incorporate sprinting into your weekly exercise routine

Sprinting is at the extreme end of building a physical foundation.

Many physical and psychological benefits can be gained and this podcast episode from Franz Snideman really helped my understanding. 

12.  Eat homemade soup every night

Soup is:

• easy and quick to put together

• cheap

• nutritious

• hydrates you

• fills you up so you're unlikely to over indulge in your main meal or dessert

13.  Try stand up paddleboarding

Paddle boarding is a fun way to get out on the water.  Staying upright and powering through the water is one of the best things for your core muscles, especially your obliques.  And standing up is much better than sitting in a canoe or kayak that place a lot of stress on your back.

14.  Beliefs form the foundation of your life

I'm always amazed at how powerful our (often sub conscious) beliefs can have over us.  It's definitely worthwhile to occasionally challenge your own beliefs about your body that could be holding you back.

For example:

• does running really cause knee arthritis or is that just an excuse to not try?

• is your lower back pain better after you've been resting or moving?

• is that MRI really as bad as it sounds compared with someone your own age?

Take a moment to reflect on your beliefs about your body and then ask a trusted health care provider to see if what you believe matches up with reality. 

15.  Turn dead time into learning time i.e. the power of podcasts!

Your commute can be more than flicking radio stations.  On my long runs and hikes I like to switch on a podcast, be inspired and learn something new.  It's amazing what's out there and you can educate yourself on almost any topic. 

Some of my favourites:

• Tim Ferriss

• Stop Chasing Pain

• Ben Greenfield Fitness

• The Primal Blueprint

• The Physical Performance Show

16.  The greatest rewards from life come from helping people

“If you follow your bliss,
you will always have your bliss,
money or not.

If you follow money,
you may lose it,
and you will have nothing
- Joseph Campbell”

What are some things you learnt in 2016?  Please let me know in the comments.

Have a fantastic 2017 - healthy, happy and memorable!

5 Tips To Keep You Healthy This Silly Season

The silly season is well and truly upon us, so I've compiled a quick list to keep you on track, in the hope that you come out the other side in one piece.  Have a merry Christmas and Healthy AND Happy New Year!

1. Keep Moving

Having time off around Christmas is an ideal time to try something new.

Ask your family and friends what they like to do for exercise and you might find something you can enjoy together in the new year.

Some ideas:

• beach cricket with the family
• go for a hike off the beaten track
• try stand up paddle boarding or surfing
• take up running
• work in the garden
• take a Power Yoga class
• join Adelaide Outdoors Meetup
• take swimming lessons
• sign up for a free trial at the local gym
• play tennis
• go snorkeling or diving

Traveling or maybe you're living in the Northern Hemisphere and it's too cold outside?

Download the free 7 minute workout app and get a full body workout.  A great way to maintain your fitness!

Commit to at least 30 minutes of exercise EVERY day and your body will thank you for it!

2. Find Time To Relax

The weeks and months leading up to the silly season can be very stressful with pressure to meet deadlines at work and all the extra socialising.

It's important to take some time to decompress, have some time to yourself and unwind.

Some tips:

• get a massage
• attend a restorative yoga class
• have a warm bath
• take a day trip to a beach or national park
• have a movie day with friends
• do a breath centered meditation
• start a journal
• learn how to play a new instrument
• cook a meal that you've been wanting to try and relax while doing it

3.  Stay Hydrated

It can be difficult to stay properly hydrated with the warm weather and increased alcohol consumption.  Keep an eye on your urine colour; if it's dark you probably need to up your fluid intake.  Some ideas:

• freshly made fruit juices (apple, celery and ginger is refreshing in the summer)
• coconut water
• hydralyte or nuun
• warm lemon and honey water
• good old fashioned water

4.  Drink Peppermint Tea

All the rich food over the silly season can play havoc with your digestion system. 

Peppermint tea can:

• aid digestion
• relieve nausea
• reduce stress
• strengthen the immune system

5.  Enjoy Quality > Quantity Food

Of course this is THE time of year to indulge, so my only advice is to spend a bit extra on the best quality food that you will really enjoy and leave you feeling great, rather than pigging out feeling sick for days after.

Have you got any other tips to stay healthy in the silly season? 

Please let me know in the comments section...and have a great Christmas and New Year!

---

5 Ways To Protect Your Lower Back During Yoga

Yoga provides many benefits to the body, mind and spirit.  Without a doubt, yoga helps form the basis of a good movement foundation.  The postures, breathing and intuitive style can bring deep relaxation and alignment to the body. 

“But if you go into Yoga with the idea that is completely safe, you may need to re-adjust your expectations. ”

At first glance, Yoga may seem less risky than other sports such as running and football.  However, like any other form of movement, Yoga can place stresses on the body that if not well understood can lead to injuries, frustration and ongoing pain. 

This blog post was written in the hope that you will get the maximum benefits out of your yoga practice and keep yourself safe in the process. The following information is based on my experience as a Physio treating people who have experienced issues in their yoga practice.

1.  Check your ego at the door;  don't push your body too far past it's limits.

Awareness and mindfulness are the foundation of keeping your body safe. 

Listen to your body.  This can be difficult, especially in a class situation.   In the clinic, we commonly hear of someone who, when feeling good in Yoga, just pushes themselves a little bit too far and feels something 'pop' or maybe they wake up the following day with a new pain. 

I understand that progressing your practice involves pushing your body a little bit further and testing the boundaries.  Finding the right balance is always a challenge.  Naturally there will be some soreness and (hopefully) only minor injuries.  But there is a difference between slowly and safely progressing your practice under the supervision of an experienced teacher and taking things too quickly and overloading the body.

It takes great patience and respect of your body to be able to gently improve over time. 

Try and aim for the mid-zone (see picture below) that will give you the benefits from your practice, without the risk of injury.  A good teacher can be invaluable to guide you and most importantly, pace you at a level that is appropriate for you.

From the book, The Story of the Human Body, Daniel Lieberman

Pay close attention to how your feel during your class in certain positions, straight after class and then the following morning.  Keeping a diary may help you identify certain triggers.

Signs that you may have pushed your body too far:

- acute pain or pain that niggles for more than a few weeks

- sharp, shooting pain that gets worse with movement

- numbness and loss of sensation or pins and needles

- pain at night that keeps you awake

2.  Get yourself assessed before you embark on your Yoga journey.

Don't come to yoga expecting it to magically fix all of your bodily ailments.  If you're in pain or haven't worked out in a very long time, it may be wise to get assessed by a Physiotherapist, who is medically trained to assess your suitability to start a yoga practice. 

Evelyn Krull, Principal Teacher and co-Founder at Yogita Yoga states,

“Prior to starting a yoga practice, any back pain should be assessed by a qualified practitioner and ideally the yoga teacher and GP/physio/chiro work in conjunction with each other. Yoga is not able to diagnose or treat but can correct movement patterns and introduce a physical practice that provides for a strong and healthy body during all ages”

You may need some specific corrective exercises and treatment and then when you are ready, you can safely maintain your body with Yoga.

Also, if you are new to yoga or having some specific difficulties, it would be wise to have some one on one sessions with your teacher for specific guidance and instructions.

3.  Breathe - proper diaphragm breathing during yoga will help stabilise and protect your spine. 

““If breathing is not normalized, no other movement pattern can be” - Karel Lewit”

According to Pavel Kolar, Prague based Physiotherapist and researcher,  abnormal stabilizing function of the diaphragm may be an important cause of spinal disorders.  Please see this article for more details. 

The research has suggested that activation of the diaphragm signals the other deep spinal stabilisers to activate in a coordinated fashion. 

“All active yoga postures rely on the development of strong transverse abdominis (TA) muscles which is partly achieved through the deep and full breathing as the diaphragm shares an attachment with the TA and as such, by breathing fully, the TA is toned and strengthened constantly - Evelyn Krull Yoga Teacher”

To breathe into the diaphragm, place your hands on your lower ribs and breathe deep, trying to expand your hands away.  You're aiming to expand 360 degrees - from the front, side and back.

Sometimes using a theraband around the lower rib cage can help facilitate the diaphragm activation. 

 

4.  Focus on flexibility where you need it most.

The Joint-by-Joint approach was coined by Mike Boyle and Gray Cook and provides a general guide to each joints main role in the body.  All joints require a degree of flexibility and stability, but each joint has a major role.  For example:

We can see that the main function of the lower spine is stability. 

It is designed to be a stable core base for the rest of our body to function in the world. 

Stretching the lower back may indeed provide some short term relief from pain, but will do nothing to help in the long run. 

Many yogis become hyper-mobile through their spines and lower back.  This allows excessive movement through the vertebrae. 

This will likely end up leading to overload of the joints, discs, ligaments and muscles. 

The real problem is weakness in your spinal stability muscles and you need to so some specific strengthening to help. 

Often times due to excess sitting, driving and poor posture, the upper back and hips become overly tight, therefore the lower back muscles are forced to do more of the work of movement. 

Rather than always trying to stretch the back out, focus on stretching the upper back and hips and the lower back will generally take care of itself (see below).

5.  Take care with forward bends.

Repeated lumbar flexion (bending forwards) can cause excess pressure on the lower back, in particular the inter-vertebral disc.  Discs are the cartilage-like structures that cushion between the vertebrae. 

The way we move and the positions we regularly adopt are reflected by changes in pressure in the discs (see picture below for more info). 

The lowest pressure occurs when we're lying flat and the highest when we're standing and sitting with a forward flexed spine. 

Disc injuries are common but don't always cause symptoms (70% of people have disc degeneration on MRI but only a few have symptoms).  Discs are generally very resilient and withstand most day-to-day positions.

However, over the years, micro-traumas and chronic muscle imbalances can lead to excess pressure on the discs.

Evelyn Krull states, "In my experience, the vast majority of people who come to yoga have experienced or are experiencing forms of lower back pain.  In most cases, the pain is not directly associated with trauma but due to:

• lifestyle imbalances, primarily sitting for long periods of time while flexing the spine and

• having the knees elevated above the hips (shortened psoas) as it is common in car seats

Going to yoga class and repeating forward bends is likely to further compress the discs and lead to pain.

These poses in particular can cause potentially high pressure in the lower back:

• Uttanasana (Standing forward bend)

• Urvha Mukha Uttanasana (Halfway lift)

• Janusurasana (Head to Knee Pose)

According to Duncan Peak, author of Modern Yoga, to protect the lower back it's important to:

• bend the knees as much as necessary so you are hinging from the hips

• during sitting forward bends, keep your knees bent to avoid over stretching the hamstrings and lower back

• sit on a block to raise the hips

• don't aggressively stretch the hamstrings that can further sensitise the disc

Image courtesy of sequencewiz.org

Unfortunately, once you have a disc injury it is a chronic condition. 

The focus becomes maintaining and preventing flare-ups. 

You will need to pay extra attention to your body and it's response from certain positions. 

Sometimes it's not until the day after that you will feel symptoms so it's a great idea to keep a movement journal so you can track and monitor your progress.

If you have a disc problem, try and maintain a neutral spine during your yoga practice.

Image courtesy of up4yoga.com

Some other tips for avoiding lower back pain:

• take care when sitting for prolonged periods on the ground.  Often this can place pressure on the hips and lower back

• it's not a good idea to bend forwards aggressively first thing in the morning when the discs are swollen and vulnerable to compression.  Leave them until later in the day

• avoid sitting cross legged for long periods especially if you have tight hips.  Sit on a chair or lie on your back instead

If you have a flexion related disc problem, sphinx pose (see picture) can be a very useful pose to decompress the spine.  It can be nice to rest here for 5-10 minutes with a heat pack across your lower back to stimulate the blood flow. 

Upward dog often seems to jam up the facet joints and is best avoided in the short term if you have lower back pain.  

Now it's your turn. 

What has been your experience in dealing with lower back pain during Yoga?

Please share your tips and constructive advice...