Heal Your Back Pain

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Back Pain? Throw on a Back Pack

Monday, August 22nd, 2011 by Karena

This post could have been titled: How to heal back pain with a back pack. And no, I’m

My back was crying today but I had a 6-mile hike planned. Hence, the 12-pound back pack

not talking about filling it with muscle relaxants to get you through the day. I’m talking about the work of Stuart McGill, PhD. He is a kinesiologist out of the Univeristy of Waterloo and has done extensive research on the best ways to heal back pain.

One of this methods includes wearing a back pack with 15-25 pounds in it. Sounds crazy, huh? The theory behind it is that if the weight is placed low in the back pack, it aids the spine extension muscles, so it helps to keep you upright. If you are bent over your spine muscles aren’t really working they are in a holding pattern; it is more like they are holding on for dear life to keep you from going nose-first into the dirt instead of acting to give strength and mobility to the spine.

Dr. McGill’s recommendation is that you wear the pack and walk on uneven terrain. Hiking a dirt path would be great. The small subtle changes in the terrain force your spine to accommodate forward and back, side to side twisting and side to side bending.

I had a chance to test his advice three years ago after back surgery. I stayed at about 10 pounds in a fanny back and it worked really well. I was able to go about 30% farther with the pack then without it. I had another “opportunity” to test it today. My back decided to get super-angry after mountain biking this morning and my friend and I still had a 6 mile hike planned for the afternoon. I was hurting. Big-time.

So I let my friend wrangle both dogs, I threw a lot of water bottles in the bottom of a pack and gingerly started making my way along the trail. Ow. Ouch. Holy be-geezus… But it got better. It loosened up. And I did the 6 miles. Tonight, I can feel my back. I iced and I’m getting ready to take some Aleve but it’s good. We are planning another hike tomorrow and my back pack is ready.

Tags: back pain, karena thek lineback
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Exercise Reduces Scoliosis Pain and Curvature

Friday, December 10th, 2010 by Karena

Exercise reduces scoliosis pain and curvature. That’s the good news. The really good news is that we have studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals to back up those claims. I chose three for you to look at. If you go to PubMed and search ’scoliosis exercise’ you’ll find a few hundred more. These are the studies that are the basis of the exercises in my book, Scolio-Pilates.

1. In 2003, a study of adolescents with scoliosis showed a significant reduction in the degree of curvature over the course of one year using exercise alone. The Cobb angle, used to measure the degree of a scoliosis curve, was reduced on average from 26.1 degrees to 17.85 degrees with exercise alone. The type of exercise used in the study is referred to as the Schroth Method, designed by Katharina Schroth in the early 20th century. Her exercise program for correcting scoliosis is the building block that all modern day therapeutic exercise programs stand on and is described in the book, Three Dimensional Scoliosis. Her exercise program relies on lengthening and de-rotating the spine, used since the time of Ancient Greece to correct scoliosis, along with a strengthening program.

Read the entire study at PubMed: The efficacy of Schroth 3-dimensional exercise therapy in the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in Turkey. Saudi Med J. 2005 Sep;26(9):1429-35.

2. A 2010 study shows that asymmetrical exercises were effective in engaging the muscles on the concave side of the scoliosis. The concave muscles, or muscles on the non-hump side of the scoliosis, are generally in a state of severe atrophy. The weaker these muscles become the more the scoliosis is allowed to progress. The study concluded “that these exercises may advance care of patients with scoliosis.”

Source: Schmid AB, Dyer L, Böni T, Held U, Brunner F., Paraspinal muscle activity during symmetrical and asymmetrical weight training in idiopathic scoliosis.Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 2010 Aug;19(3):315-27. Read the complete study here.

3. With scoliosis, there is a concern surrounding pulmonary (lung) function because of the mis-shapen and rigid ribcage housing the lungs. A rigid ribcage will make it harder for the patient to breathe normally and lung disease becomes a concern. This study shows that exercise increased mobility in a rigid ribcage and greatly increased vital capacity, measured by the amount of air exhaled, in scoliosis patients.

Source: Weiss, Hans-Rudolf, M.D., “The effect of an exercise program on vital capacity and rib mobility in patients with idiopathic scoliosis.” Spine, Vol. 16 (1/1991). Read the complete study here.

As a result of these studies and also my own scoliosis getting much worse after a discectomy surgery three years ago, I started employing the three-dimensional techniques from the Schroth Method and applying it to my Pilates work. And even though I was certain I was headed back to surgery, the pain in my spine subsided. I used the method so successfully with other scoliosis clients that I decided to put the exercises into a book: Scolio-Pilates. If you are interested, there is more information here about the book. Good luck!!

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Exercises for Relieving Sciatic Pain

Monday, November 1st, 2010 by Karena

When it feels like a gnarly-toothed troll has taken up residence in my tush, then it is obvious that my sciatic pain is back. Grrr.

I have had my fair share of sciatic pain but it’s been a few years since it has been bad and this week? VOILA!

Roll out your sciatic pain on a 6" foam roller. Ahhhh..... relief.....

Our teaching schedule became a little busier this month and my sciatic is now a cranky little putz. Here’s what I do for my clients and now, again, for myself when the troll returns.

5 ways to Give the Boot to the Pain in Your Bootie (Sciatic Pain)

Walk 20-30′ briskly on a zero incline. If the pain increases stop. The idea here is to loosen up the spine and therefore loosen up the bootie.
If walking without a limp is impossible, then I would recommend medium-light weight on the Pilates reformer. Continue for 20-30′. (See why the weight has to be light-ish?) The purpose of this is the same as #1; hence the long time period.
Side-lying leg work. Lie on your side. Bend the bottom leg and straighten the top. Lift the top leg off the floor just to hip height (10x’s). Follow this exercise be small leg circles. Again no higher than hip height. And again 10 in each direction.
Use a 6″ diameter foam roll to steamroll your tush. See the pic. This exercise is similar to a deep tissue massage of the area. I also like to ’steamroll’ the IT Band. The IT band is on the side of the leg between the knee and the hip. Don’t roll over your hip or knee bones. They will NOT appreciate it!
A popular stretch for sciatica as mentioned by @MelMajoros on Twitter is the ‘Figure Four’ Stretch. Lie on your back with knees bent, soles of the feet on the floor. Place one ankle on the opposite knee. Put your hands under that opposite knee and pull it to your chest. Ahhhhh… relief!

Tags: exercise to relieve sciatic pain, karena thek lineback, sciatic pain
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Is Core Strength a Medical Necessity?

Sunday, October 10th, 2010 by Karena

Core strength has been a buzzword in the fitness world for quite a while but now we

We accept your insurance through our partnership with SCV Therapy Services!

are hearing that same buzz from the medical field. Clients are being referred to a Pilates program by their medical doctors who know that increased core strength can only mean decreased physical pain. So how do you know if core strengthening is for you?

Will Core Strengthening Help YOU?

Have you experienced muscle spasms?
Have you suffered an injury that has affected your ability to do everyday activities?
Do you find it difficult to maintain excellent posture?
Is it difficult to sit for long periods of time or does doing the same prolonged activity exacerbate your symptoms?

These are just some questions that are strong indicators that core strengthening could help you. Here’s why:

Muscle spasms happen in the large muscles, turning the small, core muscles off.
Injuries tend to make us rely on our largest muscles because they are the strongest, again, turning the small core muscles off.
If you can maintain excellent posture throughout the day then your core strength is intact. Excellent posture uses your core muscles all day, every day.
If sitting still hurts, that pain indicates that your spine is collapsing while you sit; pushing bony structure onto nerves or other bony structures instead of being lifted and supported. Pain while pursuing activities indicates that you lack core endurance.

Core strengthening, while beneficial to all, is especially beneficial to anyone who has every suffered an injury. As an interesting side note, core strength is not just about the spine and the stomach muscles. Every joint has core muscles; all the smallest muscles in charge of the balance and control of the joint are the core muscles. So any injury throughout the body benefits from core strength. Cool, huh?

At Pilates Teck we are able to accept your health insurance through our partnership with Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services, a physical therapy clinic that offers the most up-to-date and thorough care in traditional therapy as well as occupational and aquatic therapy. Need to know more? Please call us! 661.260.1609.

Tags: ab exercise, back pain, back pain relief, core muscles, core strength, core strength for back pain, Core strengthening for back pain, Exercise for Back Pain, exercise for pain relief, exercises for pain relief, karena thek lineback, Pilates Exercise, Pilates for Back Pain, Pilates for Pain
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Back Hurts When You Sit?

Thursday, September 16th, 2010 by Karena

As far as I can tell that is the best kind of back pain to have. Lucky you!

In very broad terms, I see two

All our happy hours at our computers can be the worst thing for back pain

Many happy hours sitting at the computer can make for a very sad spine.

types of back pain clients: The first has increased pain when they are still, especially sitting, and the second group has increased pain when they are moving. In both scenarios great improvement can be made to pain levels but, generally, the first responds most quickly to therapeutic exercise or pilates exercise.

If you feel pain when you are sitting but feel relief when you get up and walk around the fix is pretty obvious: Move more. As a rule, even painful joints have pain-free ranges of motion. Maybe your back hurts when you do ‘X’ but you can still do ‘Y’ and ‘Z’. That’s very common, so be sure to continue to do ‘Y’ and ‘Z’. The importance of moving, moving, moving is in this short little note. Take a peek if you haven’t seen it already.

I had a frustrated client today. He said: ‘Exercise isn’t going to change the fact that I have a bone spur or how the bone spur pushes on the nerve and hurts like heck.’ I agree on Part I: Your bone spur will not be affected by exercise except that it may not get larger if your alignment is corrected. I don’t agree with Part II: That exercise won’t change the pain you feel from the bone spur pressing on a nerve. When did your pain get bad? Six months or 2 years ago? And when did you develop that bone spur? Probably long before that. If we age inactively then the muscles supporting the area around the injury (the bone spur, in this example) become weak and offer less support in a position of great compression (sitting).

Get exercising. Get stronger. Lose the pain. If you can walk without limping, take short walks that don’t flare up your back muscles and then find a few toning exercises to take care of your weak spine muscles and butt muscles.

Use the navigating tabs to the left to go to find free exercises for back pain: Look up Back Pain Series 1-8. Also, our DVD for exactly the issue of weak spines can be found under the store tab on this site. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Tags: back pain, back pain relief, butt muscles, Core strengthening for back pain, Exercise for Back Pain, exercise for pain relief, karena thek lineback, Pain Relief, pilates, Pilates Exercise
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Stand Up Straight! It’s Better than the Gym

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 by Karena

I had two new clients today. I spent almost the entire hour with each of them working on standing up

Typical Sway Back Posture

straight. Both of them are post-rehabilitative clients that are coming to me for pain relief so there is no way of moving them forward without getting their alignment pretty close to perfect.

It is impossible to retrain any muscle if it is already too long or too short because of poor posture. For example, using the picture of a typical sway back posture to the right, the pectorals (chest muscles), the gluteals (tushie muscles) and the upper trapezius (back of the neck) are all going to be tight. And even though they are tight, they won’t be strong.

Also, using the picture can you determine which muscles are going to be over-stretched? The hip flexors (fronts of the hips), the abdominals, the lower trapezius and rhomboids (mid-back muscles) and the scalenes or the muscles at the front of the neck will all be over-stretched and saggy and weak.

So what is working to keep this woman vertical? This posture, along with other poor postures, pretty much allows one body structure to rest on top of the next without much muscular support. What happens to the muscles if you pull the alignment back where it should be? The short, tight muscles are lengthened and stretched. The over-stretched, weak muscles strengthen. In fact, the two women I worked with today had this sway back posture that we are talking about and after working on the improved alignment for just 5 minutes they both complained of muscles fatigue in their spinal muscles. Very normal. Those muscles will strengthen quickly and they won’t feel that muscle fatigue for long.

A quick word about the abs before I have to exit to wrangle a couple of dogs… In all poor postures, the abdominals are generally saggy and weak. While we have a nice bony structure towards the back of our torsos, the abdominal muscles are entirely responsible for keeping the fronts of our torsos intact (read: holding your guts in). Your tummy will be flatter with better posture because you actually made room for your organs by standing up straight. If you aren’t standing up straight, there is nothing holding your guts in.

The moral of the story? Stand up straight. When facing side to the mirror your ear should be in line with your shoulder, which is in line with the hip, which is in line with the ankle. No crazy curves with hips and spine and chin breaking that nice straight alignment. And then…. Suck in your guts. Literally.

Tags: ab exercise, back pain, back pain relief, butt muscles, core strength, Core strengthening for back pain, karena thek lineback, pilates, Pilates Exercise, posture, sway back, swayback
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“So What If I Die Out of Shape?”

Friday, August 27th, 2010 by Karena

This quote-of-the-day comes from a long-time patient and retired doctor who calls

Our 'Five-Toe' is even Cuter than this Sloth!

himself ‘The Five-Toed Sloth”. He retired from doctoring due to back/hip pain and we’ve been working together for about 5 years. He is definitely a believer in the ability of movement to heal pain and is hugely grateful for that pain relief.

So ‘Five-Toe’ (what we call him for short) came in discouraged and out blurted a variation on the ‘death statement’. You’ve probably heard something along the lines of: “It doesn’t matter what I do; we are all going to die anyway”. Yes, but wouldn’t it be great if we could all live while we are still breathing?

Do you know anyone who has spent years of their lives hindered because of disease or pain? How much of this is preventable? Almost all heart disease, all Type II diabetes and approximately 50% of all cancers are preventable with healthier diet decisions. Colon cancer risk is reduced 30% with daily exercise, depression is reduced, energy is increased, pain is reduced… In fact, I’ve never seen a single study that said: “Just eat Twinkies and for heaven’s sake STOP exercising!”

But let’s get back to good ol’ “Five-Toe”. I don’t put him through a series of therapeutic exercises twice weekly in order to keep people from sadly shaking their heads at his funeral: “Too bad he died so out-of-shape.” No, we work together so he can live while he is still breathing. So that when he does pass away no one will say: “What a relief; he suffered for so long.” No, they’ll remember him for doing just what he wanted and just what he loved every day that he lived.

Tags: back pain relief, Exercise for Back Pain, exercises for pain relief, heal back pain, heal pain, karena thek lineback, live without pain, lower back pain, osteoporosis, Pain Relief, Pilates Exercise, range of motion exercise
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