Categories
Recent Comments
Be "In The Know"
Pilates Products
Banner
Banner
Where To Find Me
Banner
Banner
Search

Posts Tagged ‘karena thek lineback’

« Older Entries

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

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: ,
Posted in Case Studies, For Fitness Fanatics, For Professionals, Heal Your Back Pain | No Comments »

How to do Pilates exercise for Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystrophy

Monday, August 22nd, 2011 by Karena

It’s funny how certain types of problems show up in the studio in waves.  My most recent wave has been severe muscular degeneration in the form of multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy.  With both scenarios it was, first,  important for me to explain to my clients that exercise is not going to return strength to the muscles that have been affected by the disease.  What we can do is strengthen the muscles that are not affected and increase coordination in those muscles as well.

And the coordination will be key.  Coordination in the small musculature so that the body’s muscles can work together synergistically and effectively is a component that is lost whenever there is an injury.  To return coordination to some of those small muscles in the case of severe muscular degeneration will be even more valuable.

Here’s the video with one of my favorite exercises for muscle loss.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Karena

How to do Pilates exercise for Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystrophy

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Case Studies, For Professionals | No Comments »

Energy Medicine

Friday, August 12th, 2011 by Karena

Fact: Anytime your body takes an action, muscularly or neurologically, there is an electric current causing that change.

An idea unaccepted by science at the beginning of the 20th century, but an idea so accepted now that we measure the body’s electricity to diagnosis and heal.  Ever had an electrocardiogram or ECG?  The ECG measures the heart’s electric pulses to determine if there is a problem.  Ever had electric stimulation in physical therapy? That’s an electric charge used to stimulate activity to an area of the body where the electric pulse may have become quiet due to injury. Restore the electric current and you restore health.

Fact: Anyplace there is an electric current, physiologically there is a resultant magnetic field.

A bit of science that has MEG’s (magnetoencephalograms) being used in place of EEG’s to study the brain’s magnetic fields.  Interestingly, the magnetic fields are able to pass through the tissue of the brain to the outside of the body undistorted for easier analysis, not the case when using the brain’s electrical current for diagnosis. In other magnetics, have you heard of an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)?

So what?

Yeah, I heard you. Big words.  Little meaning.  Not so fast, Cowboy. The results of this work have implication in everything you do, especially healing.  If the body’s magnetic fields are :

  • Arriving outside your body undisturbed, and
  • We can see where a physical or neurological problem is through the analysis of those fields, then
  • Healing becomes a matter of manipulating those magnetic fields to create health.

Doctors prescribe magnet therapy for injuries that won’t heal (pulsed electric magnetic field therapy), for example.  But what about in terms of all forms of alternative therapy? If the goal is to manipulate the magnetic field then there becomes more than one way to do that.  James Oschman, PhD, has found the same magnetic field manipulation possible with many forms of healing; it doesn’t matter if it is massage, acupuncture, surgery, physical therapy or Pilates . All are manipulating the magnetic field.

Poses the question of which therapy is most effective? Well, it would be the one, that for you, creates the most change in the magnetic field.


I’ll leave you with this thought: The heart has the strongest electric current/field in the body and therefore the strongest magnetic field reaching outside the body.  While the electric field cannot be measured away from the body, the magnetic field can.  The heart’s magnetic field can be measured up to 15 feet away. Scientists assume that when their instruments become more sensitive that it will be considerably farther than that. Ever wonder why you can feel someone across a room?  Across a city? A country?  Ever wonder why coincidences can be so strong?  Yeah, I think that might be why.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in For Fitness Fanatics, For Professionals | No Comments »

Start Something Old

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011 by Karena

Are you feeling like your life is all coop and no chickens? Then maybe it’s time to stop mourning the lack of eggs and Karena re-discover something that you don’t need chickens for.  (That’s analogy Delaware-Style)  For the non-Delawarean, when life’s a little empty, try returning to something that you are passionate about, something familiar and something that doesn’t require much effort. For me, that meant returning to dance about three weeks ago.

I’m at least 15 years older than anyone else in class and you know what? I really kind of like that.  Not the “wrinkle-y part” but the “it’s fun dancing with young’ns part”.  I’ve been taking class with professionals and they are kick-a** fun.  Those gals push me right back to a level of dance that, unbelievably, my body can still mostly do.

Just ‘mostly do’, because I’ve got that numb leg and honestly, it’s disturbing to dance and not feel the floor. But so far, even without feeling the floor, that leg has caught me after every turn, every leap.  And here’s my hope: I really hope life is like that… That it will catch me after a leap that I can’t feel the ground on.

But as for you, try going back to your own passion. Take your numb leg, your bad shoulder, your broken ankle and try something old, again.

Hope to see you soon,

Karena

Tags: , ,
Posted in For Fitness Fanatics | No Comments »

Finding a Hamstring Imbalance: Osgood Schlatter Disease continued

Monday, November 1st, 2010 by Karena

zac lowYou’ll see the last post was on Osgood Schlatter as well.  Because of the imbalance in the vastus medialis (see last post) I wanted to check the hamstrings a little more closely today when this client came in.  This is how I did it:

  1. I put Zac (our 15 year old client with Osgood Schlatter) prone on the long box facing the foot of the reformer.
  2. I sprung the reformer with one each of the red, blue and yellow springs.
  3. I put the foot loops over the arches of his feet.
  4. I had Zac bend the knees to pull out most of the slack out of the cords. (about 120-115 degrees)
  5. Zac performed hamstring curls in parallel, external rotation and internal rotation. He did 5 of each with both legs (grooving the motion) and then 5 of each with one leg only (dropped the blue and  yellow springs)
  6. This exercise showed a weakness in the hamstring that creates knee flexion with hip extension in internal rotation.  Or in simpler terms: His right leg was much weaker than the left when the knees were together and feet dropped open while trying to perform a hamstring curl.

Homework: I added to Zac’s homework with the exercise in the pic.  He is in internal rotation and he is pulling against the weight of the theraband.  I am having him do all positions on both legs, double-leg and single leg with the theraband and the help of his very amazing mom.  I am also having him do extra work on the position that is most weak (see #6 above).

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Case Studies, For Professionals | 2 Comments »

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.....

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)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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!
  5. 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: , ,
Posted in For Fitness Fanatics, For Professionals, Heal Your Back Pain | No Comments »

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!

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?

  1. Have you experienced muscle spasms?
  2. Have you suffered an injury that has affected your ability to do everyday activities?
  3. Do you find it difficult to maintain excellent posture?
  4. 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:

  1. Muscle spasms happen in the large muscles, turning the small, core muscles off.
  2. Injuries tend to make us rely on our largest muscles because they are the strongest, again, turning the small core muscles off.
  3. 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.
  4. 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: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Cancer, For Fitness Fanatics, For Professionals, Heal Your Back Pain, Osteoporosis | No Comments »

« Older Entries

Copyright © 2009 Osteo Pilates.
All Rights Reserved.

Designed by RKNStudio.