Pablo Mena and his son came to Push-as-Rx �� with a great purpose, to gain strength and physical condition. After receiving care for a back injury, Pablo Mena was recommended to begin exercising at Push as Rx. That’s when Mena’s son joined in his workouts to continue supporting him and together with the help and patience of the trainers at Push, they were encouraged to finish their workouts.
PUSH-as-Rx �� is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.� The PUSH-as-Rx �� System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics. Through detailed and continued assessments of the athletes in motion and under stress loads offer a clear scientific picture of body dynamics. This system also has helped many athletes come back from injury faster, stronger, and ready to safely return to their sport without losing a beat after recovery. Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time and advantageous postural-torque mechanics.� PUSH-as-Rx �� offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.
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You could explore alternative treatments to treat your pain and other symptoms from degenerative disc disorder. As the name implies, they’re choices to medication, physical therapy, or operation�the typical “Western” approach to medicine.
You may consider going to your complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner; CAM is a group of practices and therapies which aren’t considered part of traditional medicine. It offers acupuncture, homeopathy, and massage. Many patients reported these treatments have helped.
Contents
Degenerative Disc Disease Alternative Treatment Overview
For degenerative disc disorder, you might want to try:
Acupuncture: Acupuncture uses quite fine needles�and no drug�to treat your pain. Professionals consider that you have an energy force called your Chi (additionally, it may be spelled Qi, but both forms are pronounced “chee”). You can grow physical sickness, for example back pain, when this force is blocked. Thus should free the Chi channels, which professionals call your meridians of your body up. Acupuncture works to restore a healthy, dynamic flow of Chi.
Acupuncture needles are almost as thin as strands of hair. Based in your symptoms and diagnosis that is precise, a professional will insert the needles; you’ll most likely have multiple needles fit during one session. Points that are exact will be targeted by the professional in the meridians of your body’s, and the needles will soon be made in for 20 to 40 minutes. It’s been suggested that acupuncture needles cause your own body to discharge specific neurochemicals, such as endorphins or serotonin, plus they help in the therapeutic process.
Herbal Remedies: Do your research, before attempting any herbal remedies and speak to your doctor. There could possibly be side effects that you simply are oblivious of� an herbal treatment could hinder a prescribed medicine you are taking, as an example. Some herbal remedies you might want to consider for degenerative disc disease are:
Devil’s Claw: Devil’s claw comes from southern Africa, where it has been put to use for countless decades to take care of arthritis fever, and gastrointestinal difficulties. It works as an anti inflammatory. Now, it’s used for conditions that cause pain and inflammation, like degenerative disk disease. It can be taken by you in a capsule.
SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine): It’s been suggested that SAMe is useful for the age-related “wear and tear” spinal conditions, including osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease. As a bonus, there have been several studies that demonstrate it’s also great for treating depression. (Individuals afflicted by chronic pain can become depressed because of the means by which the pain changes their lives. Their continual condition can likewise change their body’s nervous system chemistry, resulting in a chemical imbalance and maybe melancholy.)
White Willow Bark: The white willow led in Europe to the development of aspirin. If you don’t need to choose the artificial variant (aspirin can irritate the gut), use white willow bark. It’s for conditions that cause pain or inflammation, like degenerative disc disorder. In addition, it provides relief for acute back pain.
Prolotherapy: This treatment has been tried by some patients and found that it works to reduce their pain from degenerative disc disease. Proponents of prolotherapy clarify that one of the issues associated with DDD is weak ligaments and tendons. Powerful, supporting ligaments and tendons are essential in your back simply because they help keep stability. Your ligaments and tendons need to work extra difficult to support your back, following your discs start to degenerate, basically weakening your backbone. Over time, though, they can degenerate, also; they can wear out or even tear. This leaves your intervertebral discs without the support they require.
Prolotherapy tries to stimulate development of new ligament and tendon tissues. Using an injection of a “proliferant” (a term utilized by prolotherapists�itis a mild irritant solution), prolotherapy is designed to kick-start the entire body’s healing process. The proliferant causes inflammation, which tells the entire body to begin healing itself by generating new tissue.
A prolotherapy injection goes right to the difficulty ligaments and tendons, and it takes several rounds of shots (and time) to have the effects. Speak to your physician in the event you think prolotherapy may be a choice for you personally.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: What is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic care is a safe and effective, alternative treatment option utilized to diagnose, treat and prevent a variety of injuries and conditions associated with the musculoskeletal and nervous system. A chiropractor, or doctor of chiropractic, commonly uses spinal adjustments or manual manipulations to help correct the spine and it’s surrounding structures, improving and maintaining the patient’s strength, mobility and flexibility.
The exercises you do before your workout may matter just as much as the main event. That’s why we tapped David Reavy, founder of React Physical Therapy in Chicago, to show us the best exercises to become a better runner. According to Reavy, getting the body warmed up pre-run is key, since “your muscles aren’t elastic.” By easing into exercise, you reduce your likelihood of injury and prime your body for the activity head. The four exercises in the video above will prep your muscles so you have a better (and safer!) run.
Watch the clip above to see Reavy demo the key exercises every runner should be doing regularly, or read up on the important moves below.
Hip flexor release: Start with your stomach on the mat, using your elbows and forearms to prop the upper body up so your chest is lifted off the floor. Bend your right leg at a 90-degree angle at your side and extend your left leg long on the floor behind you. Bend the left leg at the knee, bringing the foot toward the glutes 30 times. Switch the positioning of the legs and repeat the movement 30 times on the opposite side.
Lateral quad release: Start with your stomach on the mat and use your elbows and forearms to prop the upper body up, so your chest is lifted off the floor. Place a foam roller underneath the left quad with the right leg bent at a 90-degree angle to the right side of your body on the floor. Bend the left leg at the knee, driving the foot from the floor toward the glutes 30 times. Switch the positioning of the legs and foam roller and repeat the movement 30 times on the opposite side.
Four-way lunges: Start in a lunge position with your left leg in front. First, continuously move your hands from chest-height toward the mat, moving your torso back and forth slightly with the movement. Return to a regular lunge. Next, continuously twist your torso from left to right. Return to a regular lunge. After that, raise your hands up, bending the elbows at 90-degree angles on each side. Continuously lower each elbow toward your waistline one at a time to stretch your side body on the left and right. Return to a regular lunge. Do 10 to 15 reps of a standard lunge. Repeat all four exercises in a lunge on the other side, with the right leg in front.
Inner thigh squat: From standing, complete 10 to 15 deep squats with the toes turned slightly out to target the inner thighs.
When celebrity trainer Anna Kaiser calls and invites you to do a 5-day intensive workshop with her that mimics the exact workout she does on her famous clients, you don�t say no. At least�I�don�t say no. Because Kaiser, founder of�AKT In Motion, is one of the most motivating, positive, brilliant minds in the fitness industry. And she kicks major ass. This worked out perfectly since I was in the mood for a major ass-kicking.
So I said a resounding YES and shortly after found myself waiting patiently inside her Nomad studio one Monday morning a few weeks ago for day�numero uno�of the aforementioned workshop. On the agenda: 5 days of intensive classes, all led by Kaiser, that would give me a taste of the full scope of the concept behind her workout. (Her method, by the way, is an exercise routine rooted in functional movement combining circuit training with HIIT, strength, toning, dance cardio, Pilates, and yoga.) Oh, and PS,�Kelly Ripa,�Karlie Kloss,�Shakira, and other beautiful bods in Hollywood all call her on the reg to whip them into shape.
Day 1:�Happy Hour, her signature dance cardio class (below). We start with a warm up before we start rocking out to a beast of a playlist that gets us through an hour + of sweat drenching cardio. Anna (who by the way just had a baby), is working harder than any other person in the room, as revealed by all of our heart rate monitors that are displayed on a screen at the front of the studio. Her energy is palpable, and I leave the class feeling incredibly inspired and excited for the week of classes ahead of me.
Day 2:�I leap out of bed in the morning without hesitation (this is rare. Unheard of, actually) and make my way to the studio for Sweat Dream, a cardio-strength combo class using resistance bands hung from the ceiling. This class is no joke. By the end of the hour I can barely move my arms. But just like yesterday, Anna�s energy gets me through it, no problemo.
Day 3:�I wake up this morning extremely sore, as anticipated. But I feel great. Today�s class is called Tone, which consists of 45 minutes of total body toning followed by 15 minutes of foam rolling and deep stretching. This is actually the perfect day for this class because I am in desperate need of stretching. I am 10 minutes late which puts me in a state of panic the whole subway ride uptown, but I finally make it. Bonus: My heart rate is already through the roof and I�m sweating, and I haven�t even started the workout. The first 45 minutes are a challenge (think Pilates and barre-inspired strength moves) but it�s the cool down that really throws me over the edge. Yes, the cool down. We work our fatigued muscles out on the torture device known as the foam roller and suddenly I�ve never been so desperate to get back to toning. It hurts. BAD. The best kind of pain that is so brutal yet you know is doing your body so much good. By the time 15 minutes has ended I feel like I just had a 90-minute massage. I leave class and head immediately to Paragon Sports to pick up a foam roller for my apartment. I�ve used it every day, ever since. It�s changed my life.
Day 4:�Due to the aforementioned foam rolling, I feel pretty good. I am sore from head to toe but oddly also feel refreshed and renewed. I head to day 4 of class, known as 4Play. (4 exercises x 4 circuits, done through a combination of HIIT intervals and functional strength training, using weights, bands, balls, and anything else you can think of). This. Is. Hard. SO hard. I think about quitting, but then I look over at bright-eyed bushy-tailed Anna, and I instantly erase that thought from memory. As a plow through a series of weighted squats, I ponder how it is that she is pouring sweat and exerting more energy than all of us, yet doesn�t look tired in the least bit. Then I think about how she has a newborn at home and begin to wonder how many hours of sleep she got last night (Two? Three, maybe?) I decide to squat lower and suck it up because I literally have zero excuses not to.
Day 5:�The last day of the workshop! One would think I would be thrilled to be done with this journey of torture, but in actuality, I woke up this morning feeling sad. For the entire week, I committed to something that was doing my body, mind, and soul an incredible amount of good. I started each morning with one of the most positive, upbeat, inspiring woman I know. I tested my body to its limit. And I feel incredible. I go to class (a combination mixer of all of AKT�s offerings) and give it my all. I collapse into a sweaty fetal position on my mat at the end.
What did I do after? Go directly to the spa? Throw my gym shoes in the trash on the way out the door? No. I immediately went to the front desk and signed up for a double class for the next morning. Crazy? Yes. True story? Double yes.
I�ve been addicted ever since. And my body has never felt better. Karlie, I understand your obsession.
We may know Amy Schumer as the funny girl who can crack a joke on command, but there is one thing that the star of the new movie Snatched takes seriously: her workouts.
The proof in this video, which shows�Schumer�sweating it out under the watchful eye of her trainer Harley Pasternak. Pasternak�recently posted this clip of the comedienne�performing a two-minute cardio burst on a Helix. (More on that later.)
RELATED: 24 Fat-Burning Ab Exercises (No Crunches!)
�First of all, Amy’s naturally an athlete,� notes Pasternak who says Schumer has an effortless humor that lights up the room� and makes everyone around her smile. �She played sports at a high-level through high school and college, and was an aerobics instructor. So she’s very coordinated, and easy to push in the gym.�
So how exactly does Pasternak help keep Schumer looking her best? The simple seven, he says�that is, a circuit of seven strength moves that target the entire body. �The exercises sometimes vary, but I usually pick one exercise for each of the seven major body parts,� explains Pasternak who offered up the skater lunge, dumbbell stiff-leg deadlift, dumbbell curl press, single arm dumbbell row, lying dumbbell triceps extension with hip thrust, spider plank and Superman. �Sometimes I have her just pick one of these exercises and do anywhere from three to five sets with 15 to 30 reps. Other times I’ll have her do all seven exercises, doing one to three sets of 15 to 20 reps.�
Pasternak also has Schumer hit the Helix, a gym machine that works the body on a lateral plane. �Most of what we do is forward and back, so to find something that works us more side to side I think is really helpful for those under-worked muscles like the abductors and obliques, while still hitting the glutes and quads,� he says. �I mainly use the Helix as a cardio burst when doing a circuit, but it can easily be used for more prolonged bouts of cardio.� Don�t have access to a Helix? No worries. Pasternak, says you can put two towels underneath your feet and slide side to side on a hardwood floor to mimic the movement of the machine.
For overall wellness, though, Pasternak reminds us that walking is essential. �This is by far the most important thing that I can ever tell someone to do,� he says. �Get a Fitbit, set a daily step goal of at least 10,000, and keep moving.�
Now that you�re armed with Pasternak’s A-list tips, give Schumer�s simple seven a try:
Contents
1. Skater Lunge
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Hinge forward at waist as you raise left foot. Push off right foot and explode toward the left, landing on left foot with knees slightly bent; touch right toes to the ground behind left foot. Push off left foot and explode back toward the right, landing on right foot with left toes touching behind it. Continue, alternating back and forth. (Click here to see a photo.)
2. Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlift
Stand with feet hip-width apart and a dumbbell in each hand, palms face thighs. Brace core, and keeping weight in heels, hinge at hips and lower torso as you slide dumbbells down the front of thighs. Weights should only go down as far as hamstrings will allow without your back rounding. Slowly rise to standing, and then repeat.
3. Dumbbell Curl Press
Stand holding a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing out, with� hands shoulder-width apart and arms hanging in front of you. Curl the weight toward shoulders and then press weights up directly over shoulders until arms are straight. Lower back to start and then repeat.
4. Single Arm Dumbbell Row
Start from a lunge position with left leg forward and�left elbow resting on�knee. (Or, place left knee and left palm on a bench.) Grab a dumbbell with your right hand. Row the dumbbell up along your ribs, squeezing the right shoulder blade. Lower back to start and then repeat. When you switch sides, switch legs so that the right is forward.
5. Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension With Hip Thrust
Lie faceup with knees bent, feet flat and a dumbbell in each hand. Extend arms straight up; palms face each other. Hinge arms at elbows, and lower dumbbells back toward ears. Contract triceps and extend arms back up as you simultaneously engage glutes and push hips up as high as possible. As you lower hips, lower dumbbells back towards ears again; repeat.
6. Superman
Lie facedown with arms and legs fully extended and shoulder-width apart. Simultaneously lift legs and arms at least 6 inches off the floor; hold for 5 seconds, lower and then repeat.
7. Spider Plank
Get into the �up� part of a pushup. Lift right foot, bending right knee and brining it toward the outside of right elbow. Return to start, switch legs and repeat on the left side. (Click here to see a photo.)
Jordan Alexander (Trinity Valley Community College), Leandra Echi (Vermont Academy/Beacon High School) and Neidy Ocuane (Seward County Community College) have each signed national letters of intent to attend UTEP and compete with the Miners starting in 2017-18, head women’s basketball coach Kevin Baker revealed Tuesday.
Alexander and Ocuane will have two years of eligibility while Echi has four.
A bio on each of them, along with a quote from Baker, follows below.
Jordan Alexander Forward 5-11
Trinity Valley Community College | Skyline High School Dallas, Texas
“Jordan will be a strong presence on both ends of the floor for us this season. She can play the stretch 4 position which means she can step out and make the three point shot. She also has the ability to score inside and post with effectiveness. Jordan’s biggest strength is her ability to rebound the ball on offense or the defensive end of the floor. Also, Jordan can defend a smaller guard and out work a larger post player in the paint. Jordan will be able to help our team immediately.”UTEP head coach Kevin Baker
Will have two years of eligibility with the Miners after playing one season each with Trinity Valley Community College (2016-17) and Louisiana (2015-16) … last year helped TVCC qualify for its 10th straight trip to the national tournament and finish with an overall record of 30-6 … put up 6.5 points/game while also grabbing 2.5 rebounds/game … played in 35 contests, including 12 starts … reached double figures in scoring in eight games, including tallying 18 points in a home triumph against Panola College (1/11/17) … was 6-6 from the floor and 4-4 at the free-throw line in the contest … as a freshman with ULL appeared in 27 games, including eight starts, for a team that finished 25-10 … earned 10.1 minutes/game, pitching in 2.4 points/game and 1.7 rebounds/game … nailed 43.0 percent (23-53) of her shots from the floor and 87.0 percent (14-16) from the charity stripe … four-year letter winner at Dallas Skyline High School (2011-15) under head coach Cassandra McCurdy … the team won the district championship all four years of her career … as a senior the squad earned runner-up honors in the state … daughter of Patricia and Bobby Alexander … has three siblings … her sister (Ratysha) and cousin (Khamra Echols) both played basketball at Sam Houston State.
**
Leandra Echi Guard 5-8
Vermont Academy | Beacon High School Beacon, N.Y.
“Leandra is a guard who can do it all. She has the ability to play the point guard position as well as shooting guard. She is extremely athletic and has a unique ability to make plays and scoring opportunities for others. She plays extremely hard at all times and has a motor that never stops running. She will help our team on the defensive end as well because she plays with so much energy.”–UTEP head coach Kevin Baker
Led the Vermont Academy Varsity Girls’ Basketball team to its first New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class D Championship … named the NEPSAC tournament’s MVP … posted a huge double-double (19 points, 21 rebounds) in the championship game victory against Southfield (3/6/17) … aided team to 17-6 regular-season record to earn the top seed in the tournament … joined the academy for a postgrad year while also reclassifying into the class of 2017 …also helped the Vermont Academy soccer team claim a league title, scoring the lone goal in the NEPSAC Championship victory against Hebron Academy (11/21/16) … prior to her time at Vermont Academy had been a standout guard at Beacon High School … accounted for 20+ points/game, 10 rebounds/game and five assists/game as a senior with Beacon HS … poured in 28 points while securing 18 rebounds in a 60-49 road win at Fox Lane (12/18/15) … effort allowed her to reach 1,000 points for her high school career … sustained a torn ACL during her junior season, which made her numbers the ensuing year even more impressive … paced the team in points (16) and rebounds (five) in a 52-49 road win at Our Lady of Lourdes (1/12/14), which was believed to be Beacon’s first win in the series in at least 30 years … member of National Honor Society.
***
Neidy Ocuane Guard 5-5
Seward County Community College | CFP Dom Bosco Maputo, Mozambique
“Neidy is a solid point guard who plays the position the right way. She looks to run the offense smoothly and makes very few mistakes that result in turnovers. She can score the ball a variety of ways. She can really shoot the ball from the perimeter, drive to the paint to draw a foul, and has tremendous vision in the open floor. Neidy is the complete package at her position and will help our team the minute she steps on to the floor.”-UTEP head coach Kevin Baker
Will have two years of eligibility at UTEP after earning a pair of letters at Seward County Community College … squad went a combined 57-10 in those two season and in 2017 won the program’s first conference title in eight years … burst into the starting line-up as a sophomore (2016-17) … started 34 contests, pacing the team in assists/game (4.7) and steals/game (2.4) while ranking fourth in scoring (11.2) … her 82 total steals ranked 37th nationally, an even more impressive feat considering she was called for a total of 35 fouls on the year … nailed 39.0 percent (130-333) from the floor, including 34.3 percent (60-175) from distance … also connected on 76.9 percent (60-78) at the charity stripe … hit double figures in scoring in 22 games, including a career-high 24 points in an 83-78 win at Cloud County Community College (1/25/17) … credited with at least five assists in 18 contests, including a career-best 11 against Cowley College (2/4/17) … named the Jayhawk Conference Player of the Week (1/6/17) after averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 steals in a pair of wins … appeared in all 33 games as a freshman (2015-16), earning 13.9 minutes/contest off the bench … chipped in 3.9 points per game and 1.5 assists per game … tallied a season-best 14 points in only 16 minutes in a romp against Pratt Community College (12/12/15) … drilled 4-6 from distance in the game … dished out seven assists vs. North Central Missouri College (10/31/15) … hails from Maputo, Mozambique … put up 10.1 points/game, 5.4 rebounds/game and 3.3 assists/game for Mozambique at the 2014 Afrobasket U18 Women’s Championships … accounted for 14.7 points/game, 3.5 rebounds/game an 2.0 assists per game with Mozambique in the2013 FIBA Africa U16 Championship for Women … played for Clube de Desportes do Costa do Sol under the direction of coach Calos Dezanove … selected as the team MVP after averaging 16 points and three assists … effort helped team post its fourth consecutive top-five finish … has two siblings.
IRVING, Texas � �For the first time since 2008 and second time in program history, a trio of UTEP softball players were named to the All-Conference USA team.
Utility player Kaitlin Ryder, and infielders Taylor Sargent and Cortney Smith were announced to the second team as voted by the league�s 12 head coaches on Tuesday.
Ryder, Sargent and Smith each established career highs in respective categories during the 2017 campaign. Ryder set her career best with a .354 batting average, which ranked second on the team, while Smith led the Miners with career highs in batting average (.364), home runs (eight), slugging (.636) and on-base percentage (.438). Sargent led the squad with a career-high three triples, ranked fourth on the team with a career-best .326 average and recorded a career-high 19 RBI.
Ryder came up with big moments during the season as the junior racked up a career-high five RBI during UTEP�s 12-2 (5) triumph against Southern Miss. She also connected on a career-high two home runs at Incarnate Word to lead the Miners in an 11-3 (5) victory. The Chatsworth, Calif., native ranked second on the team in long balls (five) and RBI (28). She added 22 runs, seven doubles and a triple. Ryder played 31 contests in the outfield and 16 games behind the plate.
Sargent, who was hitting .250 after March 26, picked up the pace and finished with that career-high .326 average. The Albuquerque, N.M., native lit up the stat sheet the last 17 games of the season by hitting .429 (24-56) with 12 RBI, seven doubles, three triples, two stolen bags and eight runs. The junior set a career high with three RBI at UTSA (April 2) and crossed the dish a career-most three times during a 10-2 (6) win against WKU.
During UTEP�s epic 10-inning victory at UTSA, Sargent finished the 3-for-6 with a double and a RBI, along with 11 putouts at first base.
Smith returned her sophomore season, providing power to the lineup with her team-leading eight dingers. The Moreno Valley, Calif., native also established career marks in runs (26), hits (47), doubles (nine), triples (one) and RBI (22). Smith led the Miners past powerful Utah State, 8-5, when she connected on a career-best two home runs, a pair of solo shots. Smith recorded a career high three hits two times during the season, the first came on a 3-for-4 outing, while also tying her career most with three RBI at UC Riverside, and the second came on a 3-for-3 effort with a career-best three runs during a 12-2 (5) victory against Southern Miss.
Sargent and Smith were the backbone behind UTEP�s 30 double plays turned in 2017. Sargent led the team with 15 double play, while Smith ranked tied second with 12. Ryder contributed to one of the double plays behind the plate. The Miners� 30 double plays led C-USA and ranks tied third nationally. UTEP�s .63 double plays turned per game ranks second in the nation.
For Sargent and Smith, it�s their first accolade as Ryder was named to the All-C-USA Preseason team on Jan. 18. Ryder was also named the team�s MVP at Dinner with the Miners on April 27. The 2008 squad saw two first teamers in Camilla Carrera and Stacie Townsend, and second team pick Amber Bennett.
In 2015, a trio of Miners earned postseason awards as Kawehiokalani Netane was named first team, Ashley Eldridge was recognized to the second team and Courtney Clayton was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team.
As one of the most common reasons for doctors visits, frequency of back pain is sky rocketing. Both active and inactive people will experience back pain at some point within the year and it�s estimated that 5/10 Canadians suffer back pain within a six month period.
I originally wrote this post for The Mommy Confessionals, if you haven�t been over there check it out!
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As moms, it�s not uncommon for us to grumble about our backs. We pick up, lift, twist and bend all day every day. And aside, from serious medical conditions (slipped and herniated discs, osteoarthritis etc) most back pain is caused by two things:
Poor Posture and Improper Movement Mechanics
Cause #1: Poor Posture
This is one of the most overlooked causes of chronic back pain especially in moms and pregnant ladies (I�ve actually touched on this posture here). Beginning during pregnancy, our center of gravity shifts to accommodate a growing baby. This shift makes our posture (which was probably not great to begin with) even worse. It causes our shoulders to round and low back to sway.
Outside of pregnancy, even those of us who are active lead fairly sedentary lifestyles and daily tasks like involving sitting (to eat, to drive, to relax) affects the way our muscles function. Throughout our day we lean forward frequently which causes our chest muscles to become chronically tight and out upper backs unable to do their job. Our posterior chain becomes under developed and all of it adds up and leads to back pain.
Cause #2: Poor Mechanics
As I mentioned, as moms we lift, twist, bend and pick up all day long. Unfortunately, all of those movements require a sound technique and a strong musculature. Picking up kids, moving furniture and playing can easily leave you with some low back tenderness when you fail to use proper movement patters and the necessary muscles (I�ve written before about why we need to learn to pick things up properly!)
If you�re feeling a bit overwhelmed- it�s okay! With the exception of medical conditions, back pain is pretty preventable if you put in the time and effort.
In fact, the number one thing you can do to prevent your back hurting is strengthen your posterior chain (back of the body).
Creating a strong back of body allows your muscles to pull your body back into alignment and spread some of the force more evenly.
Learning to pick things up properly (using a hip hinge or squat) is crucial to preventing any injury to your low back. Meaning, strengthening the muscles of the back of the body is crucial. My two favorite things to focus on when preventing back pain are: contracting the glutes and learning to hip hinge
The Glutes
Learning how to make your glutes strong and contract them has a host of benefits but one of the biggest is their help in posture. Glutes are part of the posterior chain but also the pelvic floor. They help keep your pelvis in proper alignment, keep you upright and move correctly (and yes they can look pretty!). Glutes are beyond important and one of my all time favorite body parts to train.
Check out six of my favorite glute exercises here.
Hip Hinging
Learning to hip hinge is crucial as a mom and as a person. It�s a basic movement that we seemed to have forgotten and evolved out of.
When you hinge from the hips you strengthen the back of the body and shift the weight back there also. Allowing your muscles to lift the object instead of the ligaments in your low back helps prevent lifting injuries.
I�ll be chatting about my favorite drills to teach and train the hip hinge in a couple weeks so peek back- but in the meantime check out the video below!
As moms, we�re moving all day long. But rarely are we moving correctly. Instead of using our muscles and proper mechanics we rely on our joints, tendons and ligaments. This is a recipe for disaster and, as you know all too well, back pain. Instead work on building strength, improving posture and becoming proficient in basic movements and your back pain will be far less.
I�m Shelby � strength coach, nutrition coach, chronic foodie & mama bear. I�ve been a coach for the better part of the past decade and I truly love helping people.
Through fitness, food, mommyhood or making natural changes in your home, I�ve done it all � and I want to help you too!
Even as life expectancy is rising in many places across the U.S., there are some places where lifespans are getting shorter and geographical inequalities are becoming more pronounced, a new study suggests.
Nationwide in 2014, the average life expectancy was about 79.1 years, up 5.3 years from 1980, the study found. For men, life expectancy climbed from 70 years to 76.7 years, while for women it increased from 77.5 years to 81.5 years.
But the study also highlighted stark disparities: a baby born in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, can expect to live just 66.8 years, while a child born in Summit County, Colorado, can expect to live 86.8 years, on average.
“For both of these geographies, the drastically different life expectancies are likely the result of a combination of risk factors, socioeconomics and access and quality of health care in those areas,” said senior study author Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“We found that risk factors – obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes – explained 74 percent of the variation in longevity in the U.S.,” Murray said by email. “Socioeconomic factors – a combination of poverty, income, education, unemployment and race – were independently related to 60 percent of the inequality, and access to and quality of health care explained 27 percent.”
To examine changes in life expectancy over time, researchers looked at death certificates from each county in the country.
Several counties in South and North Dakota, typically with Native American reservations, had the lowest life expectancy, the study found. Counties along the lower half of the Mississippi and in eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia also had very low life expectancy compared with the rest of the country.
In contrast, counties in central Colorado had the highest life expectancy.
Some of the biggest gains in life expectancy during the study were seen in counties in central Colorado, Alaska and in metropolitan areas around San Francisco and New York.
But there was little, if any, improvement in life expectancy in some southern counties in states stretching from Oklahoma to West Virginia. Many counties where life expectancy dropped the most are in Kentucky.
One limitation of the study is that there might be errors in county death records, the authors note. Researchers also lacked data to explore how much the findings might be explained by migration of certain types of people to certain communities.
“The bottom line is that our life expectancy is increasingly being shaped by where we live within the U.S.,” said Jennifer Karas Montez, a sociology researcher at Syracuse University in New York who wasn’t involved in the study.
“Lifestyle behaviors are not causes, they are symptoms,” Montez said by email. “They are symptoms of the environment and the social and economic deprivation that many parts of the country now endure thanks to decades of policy decisions.”
If you suffer from chronic pain, make sure you get plenty of sleep, say researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who found that sleep loss increases pain sensitivity. Can’t get more sleep? Then drink a cup of coffee, which also can help you cope with pain.
Both getting more sleep and drinking coffee (or taking medications that keep you alert) eased chronic pain better than standard pain-relievers, according to a study published in Nature Medicine.
Pain physiologist Alban Latremoliere, Ph.D. and sleep physiologist Chloe Alexandre, Ph.D. measured the effects of acute or chronic sleep loss on sleepiness and sensitivity to both painful and non-painful stimuli in mice. They then tested standard pain medications, like ibuprofen and morphine, as well as wakefulness-promoting agents like caffeine and modafinil.
“We found that five consecutive days of moderate sleep deprivation can significantly exacerbate pain sensitivity over time in otherwise healthy mice,” says Alexandre. “The response was specific to pain, and was not due to a state of general hyperexcitability to any stimuli.”
Surprisingly, common analgesics like ibuprofen did not block sleep-loss-induced pain hypersensitivity. Even morphine lost most of its efficacy in sleep-deprived mice.
The results suggested that patients using these drugs for pain relief might have to increase their dose to compensate for lost efficacy due to sleep loss, thereby increasing their risk for side effects.
In contrast, both caffeine and modafinil, drugs used to promote wakefulness, successfully blocked the pain hypersensitivity caused by both acute and chronic sleep loss. Interestingly, the compounds had no pain-relieving effects in mice who weren’t sleep-deprived.
Meditation has also been found to be more effective than drugs to ease chronic back pain. Scientists at Seattle’s Group Health Research Institute found that eight weekly sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), such as meditation and yoga, relieved pain and improved ease of movement better than conventional care, such as over-the-counter pain killers.
Cognitive behavior therapy, which taught people to change the way they felt about pain, also helped improve both pain and ease of movement better than conventional care.
According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain.
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