Have a Seat

“It hurts to be beautiful.” I remember this saying when I was growing up. It referred to the idea that many fashion trends, particularly for women, are not made for comfort. Just think about high heels and panthose. Ah…the suffering we go through for the sake of fashion! Perhaps you’ve “evolved” beyond those harmful trends. But many of us still bow to fashion in our homes even if that means using furniture that contributes to bad posture or an achy spine.

Most people don’t know this, but my first degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design. Although I still think of myself as an artist, I only put my interior design background to work when someone asks my opinion of how something looks in their house. However, the worlds of physical therapy, yoga, and interior design often share paths when it comes to our living environment. Certainly the artist in all of us veers toward the beauty or emotional feeling of a piece of furniture. But maybe we should reconsider that big, squishy couch. As we sink into furniture to binge watch our favorite shows, the tissues of the body are slowly remodeling into an unnatural shape. That’s why when we get up after TV time our body may not want to recoil into its correct posture. This  can lead to achiness or, eventually, back problems.

I’m a big advocate of proper posture. In past posts, I’ve given tips on proper seated alignment. Good posture is important for desk workers. But what about during our “couch potato” time? Certainly good posture can be achieved in any environment, but when considering furniture why not think about how it can help us maintain good postural habits while still feeling comfy cozy? Perhaps these seem like opposite sides of the spectrum, but when working in concert, then comfort and good posture can help you relax and restore.

When looking at a piece of living room furniture, one must assess the height, firmness and depth of the item. A piece of furniture that is too low can stress the knees, hips and back as one sits or stands. If it is too soft it can be difficult to get up out of. Soft cushions also do not offer support for the spine and can cause us to round the spine while sitting or reclining. A chair that is too deep can also cause us to slump. Potentially as we lean back to the back of a chair, the body may be creating an uncomfortable shape. A lack of support and slumping in our seats also puts more stress and weight on our low back…ouch!

Don’t worry….I’m not advocating ugly living room furniture that only allows our body to sit in one perfect postural position for hours on end. However, I am suggesting to keep the following tips in mind the next time you’re looking to update your furnishings.

First, know your body, your sitting style, and that of those that will be using the furniture the most. Think about leg length, hip strength and whether back pain is an issue. Know how long your legs are from hip to knee crease. This will give you an idea of what depth of furniture would work well for you. You may find a couch you love, but your back doesn’t touch the backrest because you have short legs. This may be fine if you usually sit with legs elevated or you like to scooch back and sit cross-legged while you relax. If you prefer to have your feet on the floor, opt for a different couch or use a firm throw pillow behind your back to take away some of the seat depth.

If you, your family, or someone who visits frequently, has arthritis, knee problems, or back problems consider getting seating that has a set height of 16 inches or more. This height will help put less stress on the joints on the descent to sitting. It will also be easier to rise up out of. Using the arms of an arm chair is also helpful for those who have trouble rising. If sitting and rising from a seat is, or becomes, uncomfortable or feels unstable, try strengthening the hip and low back muscles. A healthy back definitely benefits from comfortable, supportive furniture. Strengthening leg, hip and back muscles will further support the body.

Maybe you already have the perfect sitting area. Now it’s time to work on those muscles! Try these exercises and yoga postures to keep your body in great shape to be able to really relax into that furniture!

  • Sit to Stands:
    • Sit into a chair really slowly, then rise up from a chair  slowly and repeat (you’d be surprised how 10 or so of these will strengthen those thigh muscles!)
  • Clamshells
    • Lay on left side with hips and knees bent (fetal position)
    • With ankles together slowly open legs, raising right knee up
    • Make sure the pelvis is stable (not rocking backwards). Only lift knee to a height that allows you to keep pelvis stable.
    • Slowly lower the knee back to the starting position.
    • For more resistance you can place your right hand on your right thigh and apply resistance as you lift the knee.
    • Repeat 10-20 times per side
  • Supine Leg Lifts
    • Lay on back with knees bent and feet flat
    • Engage your deep abdominals first
    • With right knee straight, lift right leg 12-18 inches off ground
    • Slowly lower heel towards floor, then back up again
    • Repeat 10 times per side
  • Heel Raises
    • Lift heels up and down slowly 10-20 times
  • Utkatasana (Chair Pose)
  • Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)
  • One-legged Bridge Pose
  • Standing Figure Four that slowly transitions to Virabhadrasa (Warrior) 1

For a personalized sequence for to strengthen hips or relieve back pain, contact me at lorie@wellnesswithlorie.com Find more tips on pain relief and injury prevention through yoga and physical therapy on my website at http://www.wellnesswithlorie.com or follow me on social media on FaceBook @yogalorie, Instagram Wellness_with_Lorie, or LinkedIn yogalorie

Yoga Hits the Road

Ah summer! It’s a time for picnics, barbeques, hikes, swimming pools and beaches. It’s also a time to hit the road and take that long awaited vacation. It’s fun to see new places, try new things, and visit with family or friends. However,  sometimes the body gets a little cranky after sitting on long plane rides or in the car for a road trip.

Recently my daughter and I took back to back trips to look at colleges. Other than sitting on flights (or hanging out in airports), we mostly walked on college campuses and in cities. Back at the hotel we read or watched TV. This was pretty relaxing and fun, but upon arriving home my body told me…..loudly…how it missed my daily yoga practice. My hips in particular were tight and achy. Yep….a real pain the butt! But, as they say, hindsight (get it?) is twenty twenty. So next time I travel, whether by air or car, I plan to sneak a little yoga into my journey.

The key to keeping your body happy during travel is to reverse whatever “shape” your body has taken. Think about which joints are bent and which muscles are being used the most. Then it’s just a matter of stretching those bent and overused  areas and using those underused muscles.

Let’s look at the average road trip. While driving our knees and hips are bent. The spine might round forward as gravity allows the body to slump down. If you’re the driver, your arms are forward for hours, and if the weather is bad, or visibility is difficult, your head might be forward as well. As the passenger, the shoulders might be rounded as you read or navigate on your phone or on a map (yes, some people still use those). Additionally, the passenger might doze off to sleep and end up in some asymmetrical posture with the head nestled against the window. None of this is natural to our bodies, so no wonder the body protests afterwards!

Of course it’s not feasible to do a full yoga sequence while driving, or even at rest stops, but here are some ideas on how you can work a bit of yoga into your road trip.

Try These Postures At Rest Stops:

  • Urvha Hastasana (Upward Salute) with Side Bend
  • Lunges
  • Seated Figure 4 Stretch
  • Seated Cat/Cow
  • Eagle Arms
  • Neck Stretches
  • Shoulder Rotations

Once You Get to Your Destination

  • Viparita Karani (Legs Up The Wall)
  • Supine Figure 4 Stretch
  • Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)
  • Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

I’ll be featuring some videos with brief road trip sequences in my newsletters. Be sure to sign up  if you’d find these helpful. You can also contact me to send you a pdf with sequences that you can bring with you for your next trip. Happy travels!

If you’d like a personalized sequence or an individual session focused on your health goals, please drop me a line at lorie@wellnesswithlorie.com. You can also join me for one of my classes. See my offerings on my schedule page.

For more tips on pain relief and injury prevention through yoga and physical therapy, sign up for my newsletter here, or follow me on social media on FaceBook @yogalorie, Instagram Wellness_with_Lorie, or LinkedIn yogalorie

A Tour of the Core

As a society we are core obsessed. If a workout has the word “core” in it, it’s supposed to be good for us.  Apparently we should seek out such workouts because if “core” is involved we will become stronger, healthier and more attractive. I must admit that when I first hear the word core uttered, it was  shrouded in mystery and sounded difficult, perhaps even threatening. So what’s the big deal about core workouts? What’s all this hype about, and does it have to be difficult to be a good workout? Let’s unveil some of the mystery behind the core musculature.

For our purposes we’ll talk about two types of muscles; postural muscles and phasic muscles. Postural muscles help you maintain posture and keep you upright against the force of gravity. They support your frame and help with endurance, balance, and strength. Postural muscles are also called core muscles. They are deep within the body (at the core).

Phasic muscles allow you to move quickly and efficiently. They are the “doers.” To pick up a cup, kick a ball or stand up from a chair, phasic muscles are the first to volunteer for the task. The phasic muscles help you perform a task, but the postural muscles help you to maintain it. Sometimes the phasic muscles will try to do the job of the postural muscles. Unfortunately, since they are not built for endurance they often wear themselves out and get hurt. This is why it’s so important to strengthen the core muscles. Injuries often arise because phasic muscles are not strong enough to repeatedly perform a task that requires the support of core/postural muscles. The core muscles really “have the back” of the phasic muscles. If the phasic muscles are not quite strong enough (and this happens even with body builders) the core muscles step in to help out. So the core muscles must pitch in to help, or havoc ensues.

The core workouts that we hear about often focus on the deep abdominal muscles, which are important muscles to support our backs. However, postural muscles also include muscles in the neck, chest, hips and legs. Therefore, it’s important to try to strengthen the full range of core muscles in the body.  Several common yoga postures can help strengthen the core muscles, particularly if you hold them for 30 seconds or so. Here are a few examples.

  • Vasisthasana (Side Plank) engages the obliques, quadratus lumborum (the “hip hiker” muscle in the low back/hip area), and spinal extensors as they work against gravity to maintain the pose.
  • Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) is a good supportive pose that works many of the hip and leg muscles as they hold the spine up.
  • Utkatasana (Chair Pose) is a vigorous and powerful pose known for increasing strength in the quads and gluteus muscles. It also works the spinal extensor muscles as you reach your arms overhead.
  • Vrksasana (Tree Pose) like many balance poses, standing on one leg can work the hip, leg and deep abdominal muscles. Try to keep the hip of the standing leg from drooping as it’s important to keep the quadratus lumborum muscle strong to reduce injury to the back.

If you’d like a personalized sequence or an individual session focused on your health goals, please drop me a line at lorie@wellnesswithlorie.com. You can also join me for one of my classes. See my offerings on my schedule page.

For more tips on pain relief and injury prevention through yoga and physical therapy, sign up for my newsletter here, or follow me on social media on FaceBook @yogalorie, Instagram Wellness_with_Lorie, or LinkedIn yogalorie

 

Jumping in Feet First

In yoga (and in balance in general) our foundation is our feet. If there’s alignment issues in a standing yoga posture, we look at the feet and work our way up. Even slight changes in foot position can improve your yoga practice. When our feet are faced with an injury, even a slight one, it can affect our balance and movement patterns. The foot is an amazing structure that’s designed to help propel us forward while keeping the body above balanced and strong. Like the foundation of a house, feet are designed to withstand weight, activity and movement. They are flexible enough to do so while navigating uneven ground, surfaces that change, and challenging footwear. Sadly, Imbalances in the feet can lead to issues such as ankle injuries, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, neuropathies, etc.

To understand a little more about this important body part, let’s delve deeper into the feet. But before jumping in feet first, we must keep in mind that the calves and knees are important to foot health as well. Try to keep the muscles above and below the knees (thighs, calves, and shins) strong and flexible with regular exercise and stretches.

The feet themselves are made up of LOTS of bones, muscles, and other structures. The bones of the foot include the two lower leg bones (tibia and fibula), which connect to a bone called the talus to form the ankle joint. The talus sits on top of the calcaneus, or heel bone. It also connects with the bones that form the shape of the foot. The mid-foot is made up of the tarsal/metatarsal bones. Then the phalanges form our toes.

Bones provide structure to the foot, then arches (two that go from front to back and one side to side) act like shock absorbers as we walk, run, skip, dance, etc. There are lots of muscles. Some of them start in the leg and go into the foot allowing for motion at the ankle. Within the foot lay the intrinsic muscles. These are 4 layers of muscles that help with all the small movements necessary to navigate the earth. On top of all the muscles is fascia (a sheet of connective tissue covering and surrounding the muscles). There are so many structures in these feet of ours, it’s easy to see how problems can occur. So make sure to take care of your feet so that they can take care of you.

To enhance foot health, try:

  • Wearing Supportive Shoes
  • Rolling a golf or lacrosse ball under foot to help with tightness (i.e. plantar fasciitis)
  • Stretch the Calf and Hamstring Muscles
  • Strengthen the Hip Muscles (This will help with balance and therefore also support the feet)

You can also try these yoga postures to help stretch and strengthen the foot:

  • Adho Mukha Svavasana (Downward Facing Dog)
  • Virabhadrasana 1 (Warrior 1)
  • Utkatasana (Chair Pose)
  • Prasarita Podottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Fold)
  • Plank
  • Janu Sirsasana (One-Legged Forward Fold)
  • Prvta Janu Sirsasana (Revolved One-Legged Forward Fold)

If you’d like a personalized sequence or an individual session focused on your health goals, please drop me a line at lorie@wellnesswithlorie.com. You can also join me for one of my classes. See my offerings on my schedule page.

For more tips on pain relief and injury prevention through yoga and physical therapy, sign up for my newsletter here, or follow me on social media on FaceBook @yogalorie, Instagram Wellness_with_Lorie, or LinkedIn yogalorie