Total Motion Therapy

I can't wait for this weekend's seminar on a somewhat newly developed technique by Tom Dalonzo-Baker. He, after years of trial and error, has developed a system of simple exercises to try to help patients recreate their pain, and relieve the pain almost instantly. Sounds kind of like Z-Health, except the premise behind Z health is increased performance through the CNS system, whereas with Total Motion, Tom wants the ADL's to be pain free. Me, I just hope I can use this technique so when a client comes in with a pain, we can relatively ease that pain, so we can get something better out of their workout!

Could be a problem with other PT's who all they want to do is make it so that THEY fix the pain, and the patient is reliant to them...keeps 'em coming back I guess...

TotalMotionRelease.com

wanna stretch? what for??

"Gentle stretching of a muscle that is already sore is perfectly acceptable, is not likely to negatively affect the muscle recovery, and can be used to briefly minimize the soreness. What about post-exercise stretching? It is often claimed that static stretching after a hard workout can reduce muscle soreness. Well, now that we understand the initial cause of muscle damage (micro tears in the fiber after during a workout) you should also be able to appreciate that this claim simply does not make sense. Is static stretching going to somehow magically undo what has already happened anyway? Stretching after a workout where the muscles are warm can indeed, when done on a regular basis, increase muscle extensibility. " Tony Webster, PhD Exercise Physiology.


Mr. Webster states the research on stretching that is still being asked about to this day. We've known this for a long time, but Mr Webster puts it succinctly here. How can stretching undo microtears you have created during your workout? It can't. Now, after a run, bike ride, or less intense workout, where microtearing is minimal, a good easy static stretch will help.

The other thing of note is this, if you BELIEVE it is helping, it probably is. Our mind conrols everything, and science or not, if my client who has no other issues, wants to prop their leg up to 'stretch' their hamstring so they can have a better workout, then so be it.

One question...how did our ancestors stretch? After a big hunt, did they plop down and do the hurdle stretch, the 90/90 stretch, cobra, etc? Just wondering.

5 Fingers

Try 'em on.

friends with who?

"Make friends with pain, and you will never be alone." Once said Ken Chlouber, creator of the Leadville Trail 100.

Seems that exercise and the brain (body and mind) are more closely linked than Westerners havce ever thought, or at least we've forgotten about. Remember the mice in the wheel? When they were MADE to run, their vitals didn't improve, but when they ran because they LIKED it, they were healthier and happier than ever. Go figure...
The above photo is taken from the Cooper Canyons by a fellow that ran the trails with the Tarahumara, and was featured in the book Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall.

Livestrong.

Depression, of which I've spoken of before

Below is an interview of Frank Forencich of Exuberant Animal. The interview was done by Chris at Conditioning Research.

Modern society seems to be sad! I keep hearing of friends or family members who are depressed or suffering anxiety attacks. How much of this stress and dissatisfaction do you think comes from our “modern” lifestyles?

"Depression is epidemic. The World Health Organization forecasts that, by 2020, “depression will be second only to heart disease in terms of disability or disease burden.”

To me, this is even more shocking than our epidemics of heart disease, obesity and diabetes. This is a disease state that’s psychospiritual as well as physical. There are many explanations, but I like the work of Kelly Lambert. She’s a neuroscientist who’s traced reward centers in the brain. She’s discovered a strong association between areas that coordinate movement and those that deliver a sense of satisfaction. I call this “the ancestral reward system.”

We move vigorously in search of a goal, usually food, and then we feel a sense of satisfaction for having done so. In contrast, modern society offers us only abstract striving (with computers) and even many of our rewards are non-physical and intangible. Consequently, we experience a sort of neurological black hole of non-reward. A huge percentage of our circuitry goes unused and dormant. I believe that an enormous amount of depression stems from inactivity. The human body thrives on action."

What can we do about it?

"This puts our physical training in a new light.

As trainers and educators, we are doing a lot more than building muscle, cardio or skill. We’re actually pumping up the reward circuitry in our brains and delivering a sense of satisfaction and resilience.

Movement is thus highly protective against depression. Sooner or later, people are going to figure this out. The way to counter the epidemic of depression is to get people moving again. Any movement is good, but locomotion is probably the best place to begin. Long walks, or running if people can manage it, are ideal.

Mimic the experience of travelling the grassland and you’ll get a good outcome."

Welcome to Exuberant Animal Check out Frank Forencich and his animalistic ways of moving about.

you must not quit

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."

~ Unknown Author

I apologize for the delay in posts. Recently, my wife was diagnosed with Hodkin's Lymphoma. Yes it is treatable, but as one person told me, "no mistake about it, it is cancer."

So over the last few weeks, we've been finding out what it was that was making her feel so crappy and lose weight unwillingly, coming to grips with the diagnosis, and finally how to beat the hell out of it.

One thing's for sure, the next time my client says that an exercise is 'too hard' or 'I don't want to try it' or simply 'I don't want to', they'll get a healthy dose of motivation due to my wife's bout with cancer...she WISHES she had the energy to do a certain lift, or move, or bike ride, etc.

I'm back with a vengeance.

"the arm bone's connected to the ankle bone..."

What?

Kick Your Shoes Off, Free your Feet, tell your nervous system you care

"There's been a LOT of work in the past 4-5 years about new research in foot ware and care. Guess what? feet work. All by themselves.

Guess what else? shoes stop feet from working. That's a pretty global condemnation but it's true: with a handful of exceptions, modern shoes are based on 200 year old technology (the lasts of shoe design), and for the most part are way way way too restrictive to let our feet do their thing.

It's not just four inch heels or wing tips that are the problem: it's also flip flops and horror of horrors those gorgeous high tech trainers with designs to "correct" supination or too much pronation or heel strike or whatever. And just when you realize that that's as bad as putting the foot into a cast, we find that flip flops and Birkenstocks sandles are equally horrific for other reasons: toes have to claw onto the sandle to keep them on. Despite claims that such "foot muscle work" is good for you, it really isn't. The body doesn't keep our feet in flexion (toes curled) with every step we take when we walk barefoot. Why? Our feet are one of the most jointed parts of our body (after the skull and the hands) and yet daily, what do we do? Lace up shoes to restrict those bones from doing what they were designed to do to support us: MOVE.

THere's a fantastic piece in the New York Magazine from earlier this year that describes most of the latest research and why shoes suck. Recommended reading.

Lots of joints in the foot, huh?

One benefit of freeing the feet this article doesn't touch on is the relation of squished feet to the nervous system. We don't talk about the nervous system much, it's just sorta there, right? But here's the thing: the nervous system, as described by Eric Cobb, is hard wired to check only very few things. One of these, demonstrated in the startle reflex, is not fight or flight, but the very binary Threat or No Threat. "We're geared to optimize for survival, not performance," according to Cobb. Most of the nerves in our bodies designed to detect how we're moving in space are at the joints. Guess what happens in terms of that Threat/No Threat thing if our joints are squished and so not sending happy "we're free and moving" signals back to the rest of the system? Is that going to be interpretted as a Threat or a No Threat?

As Cobb demonstrates in his seminars, because we're totally connected systems, optimized for survival, if we get a message somewhere in our body that says there's a signal interruption, other parts of the body respond - and they respond immediately. In one demo, Cobb did a muscle test on a barefooted athlete to check for hamstring (back of the leg) strength. Rock solid. He then simply grabbed the athlete's foot, holding it snugly as in a laced shoe, and did the muscle test again. It was like those leg muscles got unplugged. Why?

This shut down response is part of the signaling process that says if there's something wrong somewhere, we your nervous system, don't want you exerting effort that could put you at further risk. Attend!

So above and beyond all the amazing stories about how shoes are bad for us biomechanically - because they get in the way of our own vastly superior biomechanics - they're also bad for us neurologically. Squished or non-mobile joints tell our body there's a problem. Every step we take with these immobilized joints sends that message "there's a problem; there's a problem: threat threat threat."

As most of us have experienced, if we don't attend to the quiet signals, our body has a way of sending messages out to get attention. And not necessarily at the site of the problem. Restricted feet lead to knee issues, or a hip issue or back issue, or shoulder ache or a jaw pain or maybe a wrist pain, to name a few hot spots."

This post was taken from 'IamgeekFit' blogger. It struck some cords with me as to what I've been trying to tell folks for a while now. Here's another example--for ladies who wear pointy toed, high heels, what is the first thing you do when you take your shoes off? Take a deep breath right? That's because the feet have been CONFINED.

You go geek fit dude...