Better Use of Core and Healthy Stretches That Don’t Hurt
Monday, April 30, 2007
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
In May we are offering two workshops at Bally Fitness 15th and Walnut streets in downtown Philadelphia:
On Saturday May 12 2007 we will run The Ab Revolution™
Saturday May 19 2007 will be Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier
Both workshops run from 2 to 3:30pm. May 12th may sound far away, but it's less than two weeks away
The Ab Revolution™ developed over many years in the lab as I studied how abdominal muscles work during real movement and what they specifically do for the back (and don't do). It's called a revolution because it is a different way of thinking - using your abs the way you really need them when standing and doing all you do. Lying on the floor and curling forward or tightening doesn't automatically make your abs work the way you need then when standing up. The Ab Revolution™ uses no flexion (bending forward) motions that promote disc trouble, neck pain, tight anterior posture, and other troubles. The new innovative exercises give you more ab exercise than with conventional exercise.
In the stretch workshop, you will learn techniques that work better, faster, and don't hurt. You will learn how to fix pain and not get stiff and sore in the first place.
Unlike our university and conference workshops, I will not have the luxury of computer-projected visuals. So theory will be short and practice will be the bulk of the class.
More class info about both workshops is on my web site page for CLASSES. Illustrated books covering everything we do in class will be available at the class, or you can get them ahead of time to be ready for class, or in case you can't make the class.
The director at BallyFitness downtown just changed so we are not sure who to register with. We will cope. As far as I know right now, to register contact Debbie Gregor by phone 610-337-3005 x235 or e-mail. Out-of-towners can have a fun Saturday in class and stay to visit Philadelphia on Sunday. Scenic city, beautiful in the Spring. Tourist info at www.goPhila.com.
A woman walked up to an old man rocking in a chair on his porch. "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look," she said. "What's your secret for a long happy life?" "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," he said. "I drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise." "That's amazing," the woman said. "How old are you?" "Twenty-six," he said.
There is a Buddhist saying that laughter is the language of the Gods. Like every other skill, your sense of humor needs exercise to be healthy and be strong. Exercising your sense of humor also seems to be key to keep you healthy and strong. Increasingly, medical studies show positive medicinal effects of humor and laughter. In reading them for this post, many were numbingly humorless. I looked around some local medical fitness programs and gyms where people are exercising for health, and everyone looked miserable. Then you have people like my Mom, a professional dancer. One of the classes she teaches is tap dance for senior citizens. She named one of her lively groups, "The Clogging Arteries." Another is "Tapaholics Phenomenous - We Do More Than 12 Steps." Josh Billings (pen name of humorist Henry Shaw) summed it up, "There ain't much fun in medicine, but there's a heck of a lot of medicine in fun."
Exercise your sense of humor to reduce unhealthy stress and daily troubles: Don't argue with an idiot; they'll beat you with experience. Don't stress to be punctual; there may be no one there to appreciate it. Be like Santa Claus; only visit people once a year. Reduce stress on the road by peacefully ceding way to others. Joe Louis, boxing heavyweight champion, explained why he did not hit a motorist after the motorist abused him following an accident, "Why should I? When somebody insulted Caruso, did he sing an aria for them?"
Earlier this month, the Health Observances blog from our HealthLine editors posted April is National Humor Month. Before April is over, see how you can make your life, your home, and your exercise healthier with genuine fun. For a post on helping your heart with happiness, see Healthier Heart.
"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine."- Lord Byron
Read success stories of Fitness Fixer methods and send your own. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right.Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and The Fitness Fixer Index. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal feedback. Top students may apply for certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
A small inward curve belongs in your lower back (left-hand figure of the three in the drawing). You can slouch your spine in a few ways to increase the small inward curve resulting in over-arching, also called hyper-lordosis (two ways shown in the middle and right figures). Hyperlordosis can pinch and compress the lower spine joints called facet joints, and surrounding soft tissue.
I have done several studies trying to see why hyperlordosis hurts. One study that I will present at the American College of Sports Medicine meeting this May, identified and measured three kinds of hyperlordosis and their relation to lower back injury. It turns out that, historically, it has been tricky to measure overly-arched spinal angles in relation to the hip (middle drawing). It is even more demanding to figure how the lower spine angle relates to the upper body in hyperlordosis (right drawing). The middle drawing above, and left figure in the photo at right, show one kind of lordosis from tilting the hip downward in front so that the backside sticks out in back, explained in the previous post What is Neutral Spine and Why Does Sticking Out In Back Harm? An earlier post introduced how this kind of overarching can injure - Aren't You Supposed To Stick Your Behind Out to Sit Down or Do Squats?
The right-hand figure in both the drawing and photo show a second kind of hyperlordosis. The hip may be fine and level, but if you slouch and lean your upper body backward, you overarch the lower spine and pinch it under your upper body weight. Watch for this kind of overarching when standing, lifting arms overhead, and carrying loads in front.
The muscles that hold your torso and hip straight are your abdominal muscles. But abs do not do this automatically - you have to voluntarily, consciously use them, the same as moving your arm or leg. If you don't deliberately use abs to position your spine, you may fall into whatever bad positioning habit you are used to - sticking out in back, or leaning upper body back, or both at once.
Strengthening abs and tightening them through conventional exercises also does not automatically make your abs do anything to position your spine - Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine. That is why I spent more years in the lab to develop exercises that do train your abs to hold your spine right while you go about your daily life and while you exercise. We named the new system The Ab Revolution because it is a different way of understanding and using abs, and because we couldn't think of a better name. Ideas welcome.
I will be giving a fast, fun, workshop on The Ab Revolution™ in downtown Philadelphia in May. If you can't make it, follow this blog or try the book The Ab Revolution™. It tells all about fixing the pain of hyperlordosis and how to get effective abdominal exercise.
--- Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books, take a Class, get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy. ---
What is Neutral Spine and Why Does Sticking Out In Back Harm?
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
"Neutral spine" is an often-used phrase in exercise and back pain rehab. What does your spine have to do to be neutral? What does it matter?
In general, (this interesting topic can be involved) think of a line through the crest of your hipbone from back to front. The line from the top bump in back (medical abbreviation is PSIS) to the top bump in front (ASIS) should be approximately horizontal (left-hand figure in the drawing).
If you let your spine slouch so that the front of the hip (ASIS) drops downward and the back of the hip tilts outward in back, the small normal inward curve of the lower back increases (drawn figure on right). The spine is no longer neutral. It is over-arched.
Another way to see the anterior hip tilt when the spine is over-arched is to check the line from the ASIS to where the pelvic bones meet in front, called the symphysis pubis (PS). When you hold your spine in neutral, the line from ASIS to PS will be vertical (left drawing). When the ASIS tilts forward and the behind sticks out in back (right drawing and photo), this is an anterior tilt to the hip. The spine is no longer neutral. It is arched - hyperlordotic. The anterior tilt is easy to see when people stand arched. It is a little harder to measure. Since some experimental subjects are disconcerted to have measuring devices put on their symphysis pubis (PS), the line can, instead, be drawn from the top of the leg bone to the center of the crest of the hipbone. The blue line in the left drawing is vertical, showing the hip is straight and level. When this line tilts forward in front and back at the bottom, that is an anterior tilt to the hip. Note the arrow drawn onto the photo showing the abdomen sticking out in front and the behind pushed out in back. The photo shows standing with pronounced hyperlordosis - too much arch or inward curve to the lower back.
In my laboratory work, I have identified three ways the spine can become hyperlordotic. The anterior hip tilt is one. Hyperlordosis pinches and compresses the lower spine. By any name - overarching, anterior hip tilt, swayback, hollowback, sticking out in back - hyperlordosis is a common contributor to lower back pain. The area may ache after long standing, walking, running, or lifting overhead. Eventually, (over years) overarching can damage the spine joints called facets and nearby structures.
Holding the hip and spine in neutral and not letting the hip tilt forward happens to use a particular set of muscles - your abdominal muscles. Strengthening the abs does not automatically keep the spine neutral. Tightening the abs also does not move the spine to neutral. Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine explains more of why. Simply moving your own spine on purpose and holding healthful position as you go about your activities is how you keep your spine neutral and not sinking into injurious overarching.
Hyperlordosis during daily movement and exercise, and how to prevent the injuries it causes, have been an area of my laboratory investigations for years. I have done several interesting experimental studies (interesting to me, anyway). Upcoming posts will tell a bit about them.
Book:
Fixing the pain of hyperlordosis and how to get more effective abdominal exercise - The Ab Revolution™
--- Read and contribute your own success stories of these methods. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here - click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. For answers to personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Limited Class space for personal evaluation. Top students may apply to certify throughDrBookspan.com/Academy.
Here is a hamstring stretch that is relaxing to do, more effective than bending over to touch toes, and doesn't pressure the lower back or neck discs. The doorway hamstring stretch trains healthful positioning that makes straighter posture feel natural in daily life when standing up and gives a better stretch while lying down. Reader Ivy from New Zealand sent in the photo at right of doing this stretch so well. Thank you Ivy.
Lie face up in a doorway.
Lift one leg up to rest against the wall or doorjamb.
Keep your body, shoulders, head, and other leg relaxed comfortably flat on the floor.
Keep both hips flat on the floor. Don't let your hips round under you. Don't let the leg on the floor get lifted upward along with the leg you are stretching. If it raises, that often indicates a tight hip. Gently keeping the leg down on the floor stretches the hip, giving additional benefit.
Relax and breathe. Smile. Hold for a few seconds, then switch legs using the other side of the door or wall.
For more stretch, move your whole body further into the doorway.
To add stretch for the back of your calf and bottom of your foot, pull your toes back and downward, using your shin muscles, a towel, or your hand if you can reach.
It is not the case that you must bend the other knee to protect your back or prevent muscle strain. It is not harmful to keep the leg on the floor comfortably straight and stretched flat against the floor. Keeping the leg down makes the stretch more functional and transferable to daily life movement. Several Fitness Fixer articles cover why - here is one, Fast Fitness - Don't Shorten Hip When Stretching Hamstring. Relax and enjoy this stretch.
Readers, send me your photos and success stories showing healthy movement during real life. Don't be shy.
Read more success stories of these methods and send your own. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and The Fitness Fixer Index. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal feedback. Top students may apply for certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy;
Healthline staff helpfully sent in photos of sitting at work on an exercise ball. Both photos show obvious slouching and forward rounding.
A ball does not make you sit upright or prevent unhealthful, uncomfortable sitting position. You can sit upright or not. It is not the ball, but you, that determines what you do with your own body.
A ball that is too high will even prevent you from sitting close enough to the desk, so that you have to lean over forward to reach the surface.
Use common sense and your own muscles for simple, comfortable, healthful habits.
Photos courtesy of Healthine.com staff. Please do not try these bad postures at home. Healthline staff are trained professionals.
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Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and The Fitness Fixer Index. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal feedback. Top students may apply for certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Fat Doctor, a clinician who describes herself as a "Famine-resistant family physician" hosted Grand Rounds this week on her blog, which she writes with a light touch.
Today I took a break from a study we're doing, to do the Leg Stretch That Strengthens Arms handstand in yesterday's post. It is a good exercise that you can do quickly.
A pile of assorted scientific utensils fell out of my pockets, along with pens, rulers, scribbled data notes, a telemetry battery, the roster for a new class starting tonight, and - strange for a scientist - an amount of money in the form of a few coins.
I have long taught to shift weight while holding a handstand to progressively strengthen arms until you can walk on your hands, and to stand balancing on one hand. The idea is to work so that you will be able to do it. Today I was reminded how practical it can be.
Here is a new fun exercise while standing upside down on your hands - shift weight to stand on one hand and retrieve objects on the floor with the other hand to stuff them back in your pocket.
Of course, everything will fall back out. Then you laugh upside down and pick them up again. This will last through a good exercise session. My hat also kept popping off, another good exercise to get back on while upside down. If you need to shoo pets away from your face, all the more exercise. Be safe. Have fun.
To get started doing handstands in a safe, controlled manner, see Quick and Fun Arm and Body Strengthener. It is an excellent upper body and core strengthener and balance trainer.
Readers have e-mailed for more upper body strengtheners.
Increasing upper body strength helps many things. The post Quick and Fun Arm and Body Strengthener listed several benefits to your health and daily activities, and gave a quick, fun upper body strengthener that needs no weights or equipment, no trip to the gym, can be done in the home or office, and improves balance at the same time. It is not as hard as it looks.
Consult the post link and exercise your brains and common sense first:
Crouch down in front of a wall (drawing 1).
Put one foot up high on the wall (drawing 2).
Raise the other so that both feet are on the wall (drawing 3) to produce a quick and easy to do handstand.
Hold yourself steady. Relax and breathe.
The above link explained how to use this easy handstand to do various other exercises to progressively strengthen.
To add an effective leg stretch:
While holding the wall handstand, gently, carefully, lower one foot on the wall, then lift the other foot far away from the wall
Open legs overhead into a wide split (drawing at left)
Hold, breathe, relax, enjoy
Switch legs to stretch the other side.
This stretch feels great and is fun to do. As far as I have been able to determine, it is good for the shoulder (as long as you don't fall on it or do something not intended in this stretch).
Hold weight on your hand and forearm muscles instead of only mashing your wrists back to keep this move a good strengthen for the wrist, which is often needed to prevent wrist pain.
This fun exercise improves balance and is effective to improve your ability to hold body positioning steady - two important skills for health. Use your muscles to hold your torso straight, without letting it sag and sway.
Have fun and develop fun healthy movement with this combination stretch, balance exercise, and strengthener. This stretch and others for all ability levels is in the book Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier.
Heavyweight boxing champion Shannon Briggs was in the Black Athlete Sport Network news for getting sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. According to the news, Briggs stated he believed the treatments would help him improve physically and get in better shape for his upcoming fight to undefeated heavyweight Sultan Ibragimov. What is hyperbaric oxygen treatment and what is the basis for use?
"Hyper" means more or above. "Baro-" comes from a Greek word meaning weight or pressure. Some words that use this word root are barometer, an instrument measuring atmospheric pressure, and bariatrician, which is a physician who manages obesity. In general, hyperbaric oxygen treatment consists of breathing 100% oxygen while inside a dry treatment chamber that is pumped to a pressure higher than you are breathing now.
Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is used to treat two kinds of scuba diving accidents - decompression sickness and air embolism, which can result from rapid pressure reduction if you come up too fast. Hyperbaric treatment has also been found effective for treating wounds that do not heal because they do not have enough oxygen, certain infections of problem wounds, diabetic ulcers, and other conditions to be covered in future posts.
Hyperbaric oxygen is a documented modality in treating problem wounds which have a poor blood supply (are hypoxic). Bringing additional oxygen to the deprived area makes the body better able to repair itself. There is no current evidence that hyperbaric oxygen speeds healing of normal injuries, sore muscles, or that it improves physical ability. In sports injuries there is no lack of oxygen. Often the opposite problem occurs. For example, an area that is hot and swollen may have plenty of oxygen and blood supply. Adding more oxygen would not make it heal faster. There are occasional debates about using treatment chambers for athletes. As evidence becomes available, I will add it here. There is heated debate whether hyperbaric treatment is applicable to conditions such as vascular headache, brain injury, neurologic conditions, and others.
For a sick patient with problem wounds, diving injuries, carbon monoxide poisoning, or gangrene, hyperbaric treatment can be life and limb saving. Regarding athletes who believe it will make them a better athlete, and feel they should use hyperbarics regardless of hard evidence, there are minor side effects to hyperbaric treatments. Without the ability to heal regular muscle soreness or improve athletic performance, the side effects would not be helpful, and could be potentially detrimental to the athlete.
See books about hyperbaric chamber treatment, and becoming credentialed on my web site books page, www.DrBookspan.com/books.
Fix Pain, Get Stronger and Healthier (and Stop Leaks) in One Day
Monday, April 09, 2007
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
On April 21 2007, we will run three workshops in one full, fast-moving day at Temple University Ambler/Ft Washington campus in Ambler, Pennsylvania. The first two are "Fix Your Own Back and Neck Pain: Medical Breakthroughs in Non-Surgical Treatment" and "Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier."
Fix Your Back Pain will run 9:30am to 2pm. Stretching Smarter is 2:30 to 4:30pm. In the fun, active fix-pain workshop, learn to get rid of neck, back, and hip pain and keep it from coming back. You will learn to stop the causes of neck pain, back pain, sciatica, herniated and degenerating discs, stenosis, lordosis, facet pain and other problems right in class. You don't need to stop your favorite activities to stop the pain. I show how to get stronger and do more than before. In the stretch workshop, you will learn innovative techniques that work better, faster, and don't hurt. You will learn how to not get stiff and sore in the first place. The workshops are a combination of fun and fast-moving audiovisual lecture and non-strenuous physical practice. Both are suitable for the out-of-shape as well as the athlete.
For family or friends traveling with you who don't want to take these workshops, there is one more. My husband Paul is teaching a fun seminar in do-it-yourself plumbing the same day at the same campus. Learn how to avoid problems and save money. Paul is a licensed contractor and loves plumbing. He makes it interesting, useful, and fun.
More class info about all three workshops are on my web site page for CLASSES. To register, contact Rhonda Geyer, Director, by email or phone (215) 283-1304. Out-of-towners can have a fun Saturday in class and stay to visit Philadelphia on Sunday. Tourist info at www.goPhila.com.
At the end of January, I posted about the celebration of Thaipusam. Readers have been e-mailing, asking for photos and stories about our work there studying the devotional piercing, and the medicines, exercises, and nutrition practices done to prepare for, and heal from the festival.
Thaipusam is a Hindu celebration of deep devotion (bhakti) and thanks to Muruga (also called other names including Subramaniam), the son of Shiva. Thaipusam is celebrated in many places around the world, with the largest observances in India, Singapore, and Malaysia.
For more than a month before the full moon in the Tamil month of "Thai," the faithful begin mental and physical exercise and preparation. They eat vegetarian food, eat sparingly, pray, do acts of kindness and good deeds, exercise, wash, use medicinal incense, say kind and positive things out loud, refrain from bad action, and from smoking and alcohol. They say that these practices improve their physical and mental endurance, and reduce infection or scarring from the devotional piercings.
This year, in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia where we studied the festival, there were over one million devotees at the Batu Caves. Two nights before Thaipusam, the faithful begin an overnight fire-lit procession from the Maha Mariamman Temple in Chinatown to the Cave, 15 kilometers away, an 8-hour journey. Many carry pots of milk symbolizing purity and life-giving, flowers, fire, and other offerings.
The faithful make an enormous celebration of happy song, drumming, dance, the air filled with the smell of incense and flowers, and chanting "Vel Vel! Vel Vel!" A Vel is a symbol of the lance given to Muruga by his mother, to win in the battle of goodness over evil.
Muruga is regarded as a destroyer of evil and preserver of good. He is usually depicted with a vel (lance). For that reason, in the Thaipusam celebration of thanks to Muruga, silver or steel vel in various sizes are pierced through the skin of the back, cheek, and tongue, a symbol of stopping evil, purifying yourself, and becoming more noble.
As devotees entered the festival grounds, many shaved and painted their head with herbs as a sign of pure thanks.
At Batu, there are 272 steps to the top. On the trip upward, a holy man, dancing each step one by one, turned to me and with three fingers daubed my forehead in a traditional triple stripe of Vibhuti sacred ash from his own forehead as a gift to me. He laughed then "doinked" my forehead with one finger and pronounced that I had a good third eye, and the sacred ash would keep it awake from then onward.
A highly devotional rite is carrying the Kavadi. We took the photo below of a kvadi-bearer, dressed in devotional yellow, pierced back and chest with vels. We have since seen this man's photo in the Wikipedia article about Thaipusam. He was a representational figure, that was certain. We got to talk with him and his family. We didn't want to interfere with anyone during their intense personal prayers, and tried to move out of his way through the packed bustling throng. But he stopped and smiled at us. A young man with him whipped a cell phone from his shorts and took *our* photo, click click! He called to me, "Hello Auntie!"
Many devotees there stopped to answer our questions about their lives, and to ask about ours, and to ask to take their photo with us - the funny tall foreigners.
Many of the faithful perform acts of thanks for a specific blessing received. This year in Penang, a man who prayed to heal an injured leg and recovered, walked the entire way to the festival on shoes made of nails.
The idea is not masochism (or reinjury), but showing outwardly and inwardly that the benefit received was far greater than the self-sacrifice given in return. The piercings aren't meant as a violent act, they are "only by expert hands" and a sign of will power, concentration, and piety. There are tourists who attend for just the festival day and try piercings as a stunt, or sometimes, to better understand the meaning of the festival and the thanksgiving it teaches.
The claims for the sacred ash is that its use prevents pain, bleeding, scarring, and infection. Part of what we found is that it naturally contains a styptic, similar to the shaving pencil that constricts blood vessels to stop shaving cuts from bleeding. It also contains natural local numbing and antimibrobials similar to clove oil. That's as far as we could go in studying that particular ash. Our bags of it were confiscated at the airport by United States TSA agents, along with all my wasabi paste and research notes on that and other work while there. I will post more in the future about these kinds of medicines, which are used in modern day patches and creams for muscle soreness.
More than just the chemical nature of the sacred ash, the weeks of preparing through physical exercise, nutritional improvement, daily mental exercises, and the great kindness of the family and friends supporting the kvadi-bearers go toward quick healing.
Do happy things, praise others, exercise a bit every day, eat things that are good for you and the environment. These things will prepare you to be strong in all you do.
The new 5th edition of Wilderness Medicine has been released by Elsevier Press. Wilderness Medicine is considered "the" reference book for outdoor medicine.
Wilderness Medicine is by prominent wilderness medicine pioneer and Medicine for the Outdoors blogger Dr. Paul Auerbach. The new 5th edition is 2336 pages - a colossal range of health and medical management topics for health providers, athletes, rescuers, adventurers, and travelers in wide-ranging environments.
Dr. Auerbach honored me by having me contribute the chapter, "Exercise, Conditioning, and Performance," covering developing physical strength and skills to survive and adapt to exertion in heat, cold, at elevation and underwater, improve training level, avoid and rehabilitate injury, and use of performance-enhancing drugs, food, and devices.
Thank you Dr. Keagirl for hosting Grand Rounds 3.28 at Urostream. Grand Rounds is a lot of work to do and has been called "the weekly best of the medical blogosphere."
Thanks to Dr. Keagirl for including my post Fixing Fitness Myths and saying, "Listen to The Fitness Fixer when it comes to fitness advice."
On April 1st, I covered some fun fitness myths and how to change myth into healthier exercise. Today continues with more fun ways to get more exercise and reduce injury at the same time:
Heart Health
Myth - Anger has no health effects. Instead, turn contempt and anger for others to healthy dialog with: Healthier Heart.
Understanding How "Sticking Out in Back" Isn't Neutral Spine:
Then try Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine to visualize how you simply tuck enough to make the belt line level when standing, not tilted. A small inward curve in the lower back remains when you shift to neutral spine, but not large enough to cause degenerative pinching on the facet joints, the joints of the lower spine.
Myth - Pressing navel inwards to tighten abs is the way to strengthen your abs or fix your posture. Fact - tightening will not move your spine out of unhealthy position and it impedes normal fluid motion: Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine.
Exercise Injuries
Myth - Exercise injuries are usually overuse and aging. Fact - Simple misuse is easily fixed: Why So Many Aerobics Injuries? and What is "Fitness as a Lifestyle?" A recent injury survey by US military revealed that 62% of American injuries in Iraq are occurring in the gym. Welcome to the Fitness Fixer tells more. Some top docs say the military press should be avoided. I think it is a functional exercise and can be done in ways without upper body injury: Safer Overhead Military Press.
Myth - surgery is necessary to avoid later problems. Fact - Studies have now found that is it not true that you necessarily risk future consequences if you do not have surgery. Surgery itself can be a source of later trouble: Fix Disc Pain Without Surgery and Studies Say Back Surgery Not Needed.
Myth - Vertebral discs just go bad without warning, from small provocations like a sneeze or reaching or from aging, so it doesn't matter what you do. The good news is that discs are not soft "jelly donuts" as often described. They are tough like truck tires. It takes years of the same, specific, problem to break them down and move them out of place. See the mechanism: Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix
Myth - knocks to the head are funny and harmless. In reality, long-term damage may be common and serious. This has far reaching implication for law enforcement, domestic violence, full contact sports, and extreme entertainment: Rocky IV and Head Injury.
Sitting and Back Pain:
It made headlines when researchers seemed to say that sitting up straight was wrong. Here is what they really meant: Don't Fall for "Don't Sit Up Straight."
"The public has an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except which is worth knowing." - Oscar Wild
April 1 seems to be a day to notice, more than usual, if things in the news are not facts but April Fool. On other days, urban legends and other stories are still popular, sometimes more popular than what is really going on.
The observation that the Earth is flat seemed obviously true at one time until we had more information. It used to be a taught as a medical fact that the cause of epilepsy was masturbation. When I was in school, one of my medical books stated that you don't need to eat calcium since you can "get all you need from your bones." It is true that you pull calcium from your bones when you don't eat enough, although with unhealthy results.
The post Forensic Science told of two crime-science myths, often still taught in forensic books and popularized in television shows, which were never true. Following are more posts hoping to replace myth with information, so that you can get stronger and do more, without the injuries or restrictions in activity that are part of many fitness or injury rehab practices.
