Wishing For A Bootie Bra

Osteo Pilates Blog

Broken Toilet Seats?

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 15:54 | Author: Karena Lineback |

As pilates and fitness instructors we spend so much time commiserating about our clients who don't feel the No more broken toilet seats work that we are giving them: they don't feel the gluteals on bridging, they don't feel their abdominals after a series of 5 (Pilates).... You know what I am talking about. But this article is about what they DO feel. And how they describe it which is generally very different from the fitness jargon that we use.

For instance, I had a client tell me that her main goal was to 'Stop breaking toilet seats.' I am NOT kidding you. She's 5'9" and weighs about three pounds. Super thin. So of course, I laughed when she said it but she was serious. That was one of her main goals. So what did I find? I found a pretty good scoliosis that rotates the left side of the pelvis posteriorly when she sits. Thus, breaking toilet seats.

Another client told me that she wants to be able to breathe again. I found her to be kyphotic; not severely but enough to make a big difference to this woman whose career involves giving presentations. A kyphosis crushes the lowest lobes of the lungs and stops full aeration.

Let's take a goal/complaint we hear all the time: I don't feel my abs. If your client never feels the abdominals then the chances are good that they really are not using them. Maybe the hip flexors are doing all the work. Maybe the low back is tight and not allowing the abdominals to come out of a stretched state.

I encourage you to listen very carefully to what your clients are saying. Usually they are right on with their assessments of their own bodies. Crazy, huh? :-)

Would love to hear your stories if you have any to add to the conversation.

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Exercises for Better Balance

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 09:36 | Author: Karena Lineback |

As promised on the National Osteoporosis Discussion Board here are two exercises that will improve your balance. When you have low bone density, better balance will greatly reduce fracture. It makes sense, right? The better balanced you are the less likely you are to fall. If you don't fall, then your fracture risk is greatly reduced. Try these two balance exercises:

1. All Four's Balance.

Does it makes sense to practice balance on all four's when we are not exactly likely to fall in Kneeling on all Four's this position? Yes, it does makes sense because it makes your balance muscles fire. It makes those balance muscles more likely to fire and work correctly when you are in a standing position.

Here's how it's done.

Kneeling on all four's, lift your right hand off the floor just 2-3 millimeters. Once balanced, keep the right hand lifted and now lift the left knee 2-3 millimeters. Keep in mind that 2-3 millimeters is VERY small. If someone were standing across the room watching you perform this exercise they might not be able to tell that you have moved at all. Now put the right hand and left knee down and pick up the alternate side. Each time you lift a hand and an arm, hold for three seconds.

2. Standing Balance.

Standing next to a support (the kitchen counter is great), place your right heel directly in from of your left toes. Slowly, try to let go of the counter and see if you can maintain your balance. Keep your hand close to the counter or support, though. You want to be able to grab the counter if you need the support. Try to build up to 30 seconds of balance and then change legs.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. Karena
p.s. Sorry for the sexy pic, but honestly, you should have seen the other options. This one is MILD.

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Last Updated (Wednesday, 10 February 2010 10:19)

Nerve Pain Help

Monday, 25 January 2010 15:37 | Author: Karena Lineback |

Nerve pain can run the gamut and I've seen nerve pain stem from many sources. I am going to write Nerve Pain in Hamstring about just one stemming from a current patient. The nerve pain is the result of a bladder 'lift' surgery that this patient had recently. During the surgery the nerve that feeds into the right side hamstring muscles (back of the thigh) was knicked (this is not sciatic pain). The result is burning pain and cramping in that leg. Sometimes she describes the pain as getting 'zinged' or a little bit of an electric shock. But what makes her have to stop what she's doing and lie down is the cramping and the burning/ache in that leg. She has co me a long way with a 6-week Pilates program and the following notes will give you an idea of how we did it. Oh, she started Pilates as a last resort which is unfortunately, still usually the case with most people in pain. She had traditional physical therapy after surgery and then started Pilates about 6 months after surgery.

Her program:

Hamstring activity. After checking her hamstring activity (firing v. not firing; weak v. strong) the right leg was definitely weaker than the left but not by as much as I would have thought. She was able to perform the same activities on the right that she did on the left but the right leg fatigued more quickly and the hamstring cramped easily (a sign of weakness). My favorite exercise for this? Initially side-lying leg work with a flexed foot at the front of the footbar or jumpboard. Once she was stronger, bridging.

Gluteal activation/strength. With any sort of back pain or lower extremity pain it is wise to check the gluteals. Are they activating? Are they weak? Interestingly enough, when I was first training to be a Pilates instructor, there was a big movement to dis-engage the gluteals. There were signs posted in studios that said: No Gluteals Required. After about 10 years of working with fitness and rehab clients I really don't understand what 'no gluteals required' was trying to accomplish. If the gluteals are not firing it is a sign of dysfunction. When performing hip extension while lying prone the first muscle to engage should be the gluteals followed by the hamstrings and then the muscles of the spine. My favorite exercise for this? Prone single leg hip extension on the long box with the head, c-spine and upper t-spine hanging towards the floor. No movement of the carriage, just like the position because it discourages, to a greater degree, spine engagement.

Spine strength. Endurance of the spine needed to be improved as outside of her nerve pain, low back pain was second on the list. It makes sense that it would be, the hamstrings were weak and the gluteals weren't helping out at all which leaves the low back muscles to pick up the slack. You might think with all the extra work these muscles were doing that the spine would be strong but no it was just tight and tight often is synonymous with weak. My favorite exercise? Back to prone on the long box with the upper body flexed (hanging) towards the floor. Extension to neutral only no farther. I rarely extend past neutral with any client. It's an advanced exercise to be able to stabilize the lumbar spine to avoid 'resting' on the facet joints.

Well, that's probably it for now. There's a lot more to it, but this should get you started. Happy to answer any questions. K

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Last Updated (Monday, 25 January 2010 17:18)

Getting Fit or Healing Back Pain: It's HARD work

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 16:16 | Author: It's |

I don't usually blog about my radio show. But today is different. It touched a nerve. I had marathon runner, Suman, on the air and she was saying things I should have been saying to Sweat Woman my patients and clients for years: It's really hard work to get fit so just do it or don't and stop telling me why you can't. I don't want to hear about how your day somehow whisks by faster than mine or that you are somehow busier than I am or that I am fit because I own a Pilates studio or genetics or whatever. Enough. If you want to feel great you will. If you don't want to feel great you won't.

I've been working with patients with chronic back pain for 10 years. I can count on one hand the number of people who have done their prescriptive exercise program at home every day, just like they were instructed. WHY??!! Pain is addictive? No one wants to work that hard? Not enough time in the day? What? I do not understand. And yes, I know what it is like to have horrible back pain. I've had it most of my life and finally had surgery two years ago. I also kayaked the Channel Islands on my 40th birthday and I am the celebrity dancer in our local version of 'Dancing with the Stars'. All to tell say that it is possible to have back pain and to work hard to be extremely functional and able to do what you love to do.

But yes, it IS really hard work to be fit. And it's even harder to stop being in so much pain. You are going to have to spend an hour a day to change the way you have been living. If you don't have an hour then you will be old before your time and exhausted all the way there. Not being fit will make you tired, but being in pain is completely exhausting. You enjoy that? I mean, c'mon, really? You'd rather be slugging your butt around because you are out of shape? Immobile because you are in pain? Need to scare yourself straight? Go visit a nursing home. Scary stuff that. Fifty percent of the problems at a nursing home are out of our control but the other 50% would have been solved with lifelong good health habits (and probably more than 50%).

I attended a 9am meeting yesterday. I already had the dogs out for a 2 mile walk and I did my 30 minutes of exercise for keeping my own back pain in check. At the meeting, I would say half of the attendees had had similar mornings. The other half 'didn't have time' in the morning and won't have time later, either. Really? How is it that so many people are capable of fitting it all in but then there is the flip side of that: so many people can't. You have no choice but to get your act together if you want to feel better. I really believe that feeling good is a habit you need to hone if feeling good is really what you want.

Is it worth it? That's your call. I, and a thousand other fitness/health experts, can give you the tools but the hard, hard work is all your.

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Last Updated (Thursday, 21 January 2010 12:22)

Wishing for a Bootie-Bra?

Tuesday, 12 January 2010 19:15 | Author: Karena Lineback |

There's quite a few of us out there that would love someone to invent a bra that does the same thing for No More Sagging Booties the backside that a regular bra does for the front side. Why do our booties sag? Is it an inevitable part of aging? Let's talk about the 'why' question first.

Why our Booties Sag...

The obvious answer is that your bootie is sagging because you aren't using it. But it's not just a matter of doing an hour long butt-busting workout to make that muscle (gluteus maximus) more toned. I watch clients everyday perform so-called gluteal exercises without using their gluteals. That's bad news. If the gluteals aren't working then the low back and the hamstrings are working overtime. The result? Tight spine extensors and hamstrings. This pattern is actually very common with anyone who has ever experienced a bout of back pain. No one really knows why, but those gluteals stop working when the back starts hurting. And when the back pain goes away those gluteals still don't want to work. Without intense focus those gluteals won't begin to fire again.

Is a Sagging Bootie an Inevitable Part of Aging?

Yes and no. Yes, because 80% of will experience a serious bout of back pain at some time in our lives. So those 80% will need to really focus on getting those gluteals to fire again if they are to avoid the Bootie-Bra. No, because anyone can learn to reactivate those gluteals again but the more back pain you've had the more you will have to work on getting those gluteals to come to back to the party.

Here's what to look for when you are trying to fire up those gluteals.

Are your pants puckering? If there is no change in the crease of your pants when you are performing a butt exercise then your butt is definitely not working.
Is there an indent in the side of your hips? There should be a dent. The size of half a tennis ball.
Poke your fingers into the sides of your butt muscles. You will feel them tighten if they are working.
And most obvious of all, you should feel them working. When you are doing a butt exercise you should feel the butt muscles. No? Then you are doing it wrong. Try again. You can do it.

Here a link to a great exercise to get you started: http://bit.ly/625QTL

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. Karena

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Last Updated (Sunday, 16 May 2010 16:07)

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