The human body is healthiest and happiest when it moves throughout the day. Reader Paul J sent this video clip of a project in Sweden, reminding people how much movement can be fun: Click > arrow to play:
Medicines prescribed for poor mood and the surprising number of diseases caused by sedentary lifestyle, frequently cause disease and despondency. Real life movement throughout the day has been found more effective than pills and surgery to reduce or solve depression, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, reduce risk and effects of cancer, and other diseases.
Remember to enjoy moving. Go dancing. Skating. Play ball and Frisbee. Do community work. Pick up litter. Help a shut in. Fun doesn't only mean being entertained. Make doing good for yourself and community a positive fun feeling.
What projects can you think of to make real life active, healthy, and fun again, not just artificial movements in a gym? My Academy- the Academy of Functional Exercise Medicine (AFEM) teaches people and communities healthier ways to live - both in formal classes and grassroots community projects - click AFEM.
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.
The commentators for US gymnast Justin Spring's great Olympic floor exercise routine last week told how Spring underwent months of rehabilitation for knee, ankle and other injuries. The commentators continued about his rehab, exercises, physical therapy teams, and surgeon. Spring landed the end of his difficult routine with straight-legged jolt. One of the commentators mentioned again about the surgeon who fixed the injury. The other commentator replied, "The surgeon should have told him to bend his knees."
The commentator is right. The best health care is not to collect money to cut and treat someone, but prevent the need for cutting them. Landing with a straight knee transmits impact to your spine, neck, ankles, hip, and knee joints. Landing with properly bent knees absorbs impact more through the muscles. Landing hard with a straight knee can push the upper and lower leg bones hard against the two tough pads in each knee called menisci (singular is meniscus) that help cushion each step.
Over repeated hard landings, holes and tears can bore through the meniscus. With repeated landings at an unhealthy joint angle, cartilage can overstretch or tear. The tough strap that crosses the middle of the knee joint, called the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), can overstretch or tear with repeatedly landing on a twisted knee. More on this to come. It is mostly an avoidable training error, not a gender issue as previously thought. Ankle wear and injuries can result from the same. Injury forces increase when the landing is on knee or ankles allowed to sway inward instead of maintaining motion at the midline. These injuries can heal without surgery. More on this in posts to come.
Sometimes injury results from a single high-force landing, such as a bad parachute landing, jumping from extreme heights, or a car crash where a passenger sitting with straight legs is propelled forward (or the engine backward) hard against their feet forcing compression past strength. An example is an ankle injury called a pylon injury, where the far end of the lower leg bone crushes.
Know the mechanism of injury so that you can get out and have fun, and do extreme sports while you move in ways that reduce unhealthful forces. Preventing repeated bad movement habits can also give your joints a larger margin for occasional unexpected dings.
Check what you do with your knees when you step or jump down. From small landings, bend knees a small amount.
Larger heights and circumstances (carrying a heavy backpack) can benefit from more shock absorption using the thigh and hip muscles with deeper bending. It should not be the knees that take up the shock of the bending. It should be the muscles of the hip and leg.
Keep effort on the muscles through how you position your knees. Letting them slide forward shifts weight to the joint. Keeping knees back by only sticking out the backside in back can shift weight to the lower spine. Keep knees back with neutral spine and you will feel the effort in the muscles.
Justin Spring and other gymnasts know to bend their knees. Athletes giving their all at Olympic levels need no criticism from anyone. We just want them to stay healthy.
Readers Carol, Don, Teresa, AJ, and others asked about strength, and knee pain and placement when descending stairs.
Physical trainer Teresa wrote:
"Hello Dr. Bookspan, "The post on "Better Exercise on the Stairs" from July 2007 contains the following statement: 'When descending stairs or hills, bend your knees when landing for soft shock absorption. Don't step down on a straight, locked, knee.'
"Some clients I work with have the habit of descending stairs on one leg because they can land straight-legged on the "weak" leg. Pain or fear of pain keep them from having the confidence to bend that "weak" leg sufficiently to support themselves for a soft landing on the other leg, but the "strong" leg will let them land softly on the "weak" one. When I get them to practice it, they find the proper motor pattern that is pain-free, but end up falling back on the old motor pattern that creates pain.
"Do you have any ideas on this one since descending usually requires more use of the toes than climbing the stairs does?
"I keep recommending your site to loads of people because you are sooo right. It's about motor patterns of moving our bodies, not just "exercise." Thank you for your time and assistance!" Teresa Merrick, M.A. ACSM HFI, NSCA-CPT/CSCS, NASM CPT Master Trainer
Climbing stairs is a functional (real life) skill. Not having the strength to support your own body weight is serious weakness:
It is not healthy to land straight-legged with a locked knee on either a weak or strong leg. The functional life skill needed to descend the stairs is similar to what is needed for simple daily healthy bending (right drawing). Bending knees to retrieve and reach is something everyone needs to do many times a day. How many times a day do you think you bend for ordinary actions? Click How Good Would You Look From 400 Squats a Day - Just Stop Unhealthy Bending
Use the simple built-in life activity of healthy bending using the half squat (right drawing) to train your legs for the strength and mobility needed to descend stairs in a healthful way.
When you bend in the half squat, keep both heels down and your weight shifted back over the whole foot (right drawing), not just the toes (left-hand drawing). Pull back more to the heels if you slide forward.
No need to increase the inward curve, called hyperlordosis, or overarch (left). Hyperlordosis pinches the spine and can cause impingement and mystery back pain (Prevent Back Surgery). Overarching is sometimes taught to weightlifters because it shifts some of the effort onto the lower spine joints called facets, making the lift easier. It is healthier to keep the weight on the muscles and not overarch. Keep neutral spine (right drawing).
Keep heels down for bending using the half-squat, instead of lifting the heel. Keeping heels down shifts weight to the thigh and hip muscles and off the knee joint. Enjoy the free, built-in Achilles stretch with each bend. Specifics on this in the post Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending.
Descending the stairs should not be a toe-intensive maneuver. Your body weight belongs on the strong muscles of the thigh and hip.
Once you have the idea of the healthy bending you need for daily life bending, transfer that healthy movement to the stairs:
Keep more weight on the leg on the upper stair, instead of flopping and stomping all weight down on the foot that is stepping down.
Keep your weight back more toward the heel on the upper leg.
Keep heel down longer on the upper leg, instead of lifting the heel right away. Get the free, built-in, functional Achilles stretch.
Bend knee slightly upon stepping down instead of landing straight-kneed. Remember this is the same strength and skill that you need and have been developing (or should have) for ordinary daily bending, which totals many dozens every day.
Use good shock absorption from the thigh muscles of the leg stepping down.
Instead of dong artificial leg exercises like leg raises, use legs for real life to get automatic built in exercise in the way you need to move. The movement gives built-in strengthening and stretch and movement patterns. The built-in strengthening and stretch and movement patterns directly improve daily function.
More will come in future posts. Have a real life of activity and fun, and enjoy.
Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. Before asking more in the comments, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, or in the Fitness Fixer Index.
Subscribe, free by using "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.
"Thanks for yet another great post. I am an ER nurse and see the horror of chronic back pain on a daily basis -- the disability, depression, and addiction that eliminates any quality of life for the sufferer and their family. Even after surgeries and pain clinic visits, I've yet to meet a patient who has managed to rehab well. Last year at age 52, after years of moving patients, some over 700 pounds, I injured my back while installing a patio and I couldn't breathe, let alone move without pain. If I hadn't been a devoted follower of yours, my career would have been over. I got your book, Fix Your Own Pain, did the exercises and went back to work four days later. I took a muscle relaxer to help me sleep the first three nights but have never taken any pain medication. The exercises actually relieved pain for me. I can't thank you enough.
Just a quick question, can you suggest proper form for climbing stairs, to prevent back and knee problems? I'm in a 3-story condo and don't want daily routine to do any harm to the old joints. Thanks so much Jolie!"
Barb, you have the intelligence, quick thinking, interest in learning, and empowerment that makes a quality ER nurse. Try Better Exercise on the Stairs.
--- Read more success stories and send your own. See more by clicking labels, archives, and The Fitness Fixer Index. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer - "updates via e-mail"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.
If you would like to strengthen legs and reduce knee pain while going up stairs:
Don't lean forward (photo 1 above)
Stand upright (photo 2 below)
Keep your heel down on the foot that steps up.
Push off the whole foot, feeling the push-off through the heel. Do not push off the ball of the foot.
When you raise one leg to step up, don't let the other leg pull and bend forward. Keep the standing leg straight (not locked straight).
Many patients who come to me, previously unable to step up a curb without pain, can climb flights without knee pain using this repositioning. Stairs become not only accessible, but a source of the exercise their legs need to strengthen and regain function.
Keep your weight back toward your heel to use leg muscles instead of putting your weight on the front of your knee. You will get knee pain relief and a built-in Achilles tendon stretch with each step. Done right, you will feel a more muscular and strong push off, making stairs easier to climb and better leg exercise. Even if you have big feet and your heel is off the step, keep your heel down instead of going up "tip-toe."
Notice if you bend forward. Instead, stand straight. The post Common Exercises Teach Hip Tightness When Kicking, Stretching, and on the Stairs explains how hip tightness increases bent forward posture when raising one leg for kicks and activities like stairs, and shows how to hold straight body position instead, to stop tightness, and get a built-in hip and body stretch.
When descending stairs or hills, bend your knees when landing for soft shock absorption. Don't step down on a straight, locked, knee. Future posts will cover more about stairs. Have fun improving leg strength and knee function by taking the stairs during daily life in a healthy way. Send photos of your successes.
Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. Before asking more in the comments, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, for example "stairs," links in posts, archives at right, or in the Fitness Fixer Index.
Subscribe, free by using "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.
Common Exercises Teach Hip Tightness When Kicking, Stretching, and on the Stairs
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Healthline
Tuesday night my martial arts students showed they had improved. When I came in they were waiting in two neat rows. I still had to cue them to sit up straight.
In the post Is Bad Martial Arts Good Exercise? I mentioned showing the class not to let their neck, back, and hip round forward when kicking. By straightening, strength and stretch are built into regular movement.
Several readers e-mailed me that they noticed for the first time that they let one leg pull forward when lifting the other (notice the standing leg in the left-hand photo, at left). They said they felt a good difference when they straightened (right photo).
If the front muscles of your hip are tight, when you lift one leg high you may find that you round your back and bend the other leg. Watch for this during kicks in martial arts and aerobics, when lying on your back raising one leg overhead to stretch the hamstrings, and ascending stairs. The common practice of allowing the other leg to bend forward perpetuates a tight anterior hip, which in turn, contributes to walking bent forward and back pain.
In martial arts, you don't want your standing leg completely straight. That is an invitation for your opponent to kick your knee, snapping it backward. But for both health and effective martial movement, you don't want to bend the leg more than a small amount. Bending the back, hip, and leg when kicking decreases force of the kick, pressures your discs, and reduces stretch on the hip and hamstrings. The rounded-under hip position keeps the hip tight, a hidden cause of groin pulls. It also looks weak and unskilled. For lying hamstring stretches with one leg overhead, it is often taught to keep the second leg bent to "protect the back." However, keeping the leg (and body) flat on the floor give a far better stretch and is healthier for your back. Even in slow easy motions of stair climbing, leaning forward and allowing the second leg to pull forward reduces the normal hamstring and hip stretch, decreases the exercise on your hip and leg muscles, and reduces the back muscle activation for holding the straight position you need for health and back pain prevention.
It is said the martial arts gives you discipline and strength. It won't if you practice unhealthy habits. When raising one leg, hold your neck and back upright. Prevent the other leg from pulling forward. You will get a built-in hip stretch, one of the places you need to stretch most. You will get back and hip exercise in the way you need to move in real life, and prevent tightness and weakness that leads to poor movement and pain. You will change from kicking like a bent over old lady to a young strong athlete. Exercise as a lifestyle is not something done "for body parts." It is built into your normal movement to make it healthy movement.
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