Perfect Posture is No Mistake (Part 2)

It is easy to slouch because many common daily activities require you to repetitively use the same muscles. This may lead to muscle imbalances and reduced flexibility which in turn allows you to become more susceptible to injury.

Welcome to part two of our series designed to help you improve your posture. If you are suffering from acute back or neck pain it is hard to imagine that poor posture could be the cause. But when you stop to think about the years of hunching over it may start to make sense and you may even wonder why you haven\’t experienced back pain sooner!

The spine is composed of three natural curves; the lumbar curve (lower back), the thoracic curve (middle back) and the cervical curve (upper back and neck). The aim of good posture is to maintain these curves without having any exaggerated or decreased angles.

So many people suffer from low back pain. Daily activities such as sitting hunched over your computer or standing bent over your vacuum or broom, causes your natural lumbar curve to decrease which can cause pain. To prevent this, try to become aware of maintaining your lumbar curve or take a break every 10 minutes to place your palms on your lumbar spine and arch your back for a moment or two.

Prolonged standing may also result in low back pain because of the tendency to exaggerate the lumbar curve. This is often referred to as a \”sway back.\” A good way to prevent this is to find a small footstool (or even a phone book!) and place it under one of your feet while you are standing. Also, avoid wearing high heels, which might also leave your back with an exaggerated curve.

Poor posture can also result in neck pain. When you look down, your cervical curve can often be compromised. Try to look up often during your activities to improve your posture, mobility and scenery! As well, you will notice that your neck pain will be greatly reduced.

A well balanced exercise routine is essential in maintaining the flexibility and strength required for good posture. Try adding these exercises to your routine.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

Perfect Posture (Part 1)

If you are agonizing with acute back pain, it is hard to imagine that poor posture could be the cause. But when you stop to think about the years of hunching over and slouching at your desk, it may start to make sense and you may even wonder why you haven\’t had back pain sooner!

The spine is composed of three natural curves including the lumbar curve (lower back), the thoracic curve (middle back) and the cervical curve (upper back and neck). The aim of good posture is to maintain these curves without having any exaggerated or decreased angles. For instance, when you are sitting hunched over your computer or standing bent over your vacuum or broom, you may find that the natural lumbar curve has been decreased. To prevent this, try to become aware of maintaining your lumbar curve or take a break every 10 minutes to place your palms on your lumbar spine and arch your back for a moment or two.

You may be surprised to learn that sitting is harder on your spine than standing because the lumbar curve is often neglected. To help maintain this natural curve and alleviate low back pain, try placing a small pillow in the small of your back. This can also be a good idea in your car, especially if you are about to take a long trip!

Standing often results in low back pain because of the tendency to exaggerate the lumbar curve. A good way to prevent this is to find a small footstool (or even a phone book!) and place it under one of your feet. Also, avoid wearing high heels, which might also leave your back with an exaggerated curve.

The cervical curve can often be compromised when looking down a lot. Try to look up often during your activities to improve your posture, mobility and scenery! Also, practice neck stretches such as moving your head to each side then pressing gently with your palm to increase the stretch while tucking your chin to your chest holding each stretch for 10-20 seconds. Neck exercises including tucking your chin back 15 times, 3 times a day are also great tools for improved posture.

Posture retraining is an important way to help maintain your curves in order to alleviate back pain and prevent injury. Make sure that in your training program you also include exercises for back extensors, hip flexors, neck muscles, trunk rotators and abdominal (tummy) muscles.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

Good Posture Requires Muscle Balance (Part 1)

Good posture improves your appearance and it is an important component of neck, back and shoulder health. Achieving good posture requires overall flexibility and strength. It is easy to slouch because many common daily activities require you to repetitively use the same muscles. This may lead to muscle imbalances and reduced flexibility which in turn allows you to become more susceptible to injury.

Think about all of the times that you are required to lift your arms towards the front of your body. You get up in the morning, wash your hair, eat breakfast, clean the dishes and brush your teeth just to name a few. When you do these movements constantly throughout the day you work the same muscles while others are neglected. Similarly, if you spend a lot of your day driving, on the telephone, or sitting at a desk it is easy for your muscles to tighten up because you are constantly in the same position. This lack of range of motion can lead to tightening of your postural muscles resulting in poor posture resembling a \”humpback.\” This is known as Kyphosis.

Pec Stretch

Face through a doorway with your arm flush against the doorframe. Remember to keep good body posture and to keep your stomach tight so you do not over extend your back. Push against your arm. The stretch should be felt across the chest muscles. Hold the stretch for 20 to 60 seconds on each side and perform on a daily basis.

External Rotation with Rubber Band

Standing with good posture, hold your rubber band a little narrower than shoulder width with your elbows beside your waist at approximately a 90 degree angle. Keep your elbows stationary and slowly rotate your hands outward as far as you can. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat for three sets of 10-20 repetitions depending on your comfort level. The effort should be felt deep in your shoulders. Perform this exercise three to five times each week.

Improvements in your posture can be seen in a short period of time. The pec stretch and external rotation exercise are some of the most important exercises for improving your posture. A balanced stretching and strengthening routine including stretches for the rhomboids, upper and mid back and neck muscles with concentration on strengthening the shoulders and back muscles can help improve your posture.

You may also want to analyze your work environment. For instance, if your computer monitor is too low and you are constantly looking downward, then your neck muscles may become tight and compromise your posture and body mechanics. It is also a good idea to get up and move around during the day so that you do not stay in one position for long periods of time.

Be sure to join us next week for part two of our posture series.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

Get Involved in Your Recovery

If you’ve been involved in a motor vehicle accident or have a chronic soft-tissue injury, such as shoulder, neck or back pain, you would likely benefit from an active rehabilitation program. One of the benefits of this form of treatment is that it allows you to become actively involved in your recovery. The program emphasizes education to enable you to continue exercising properly and independently, while improving your overall health. Increasingly, doctors are recommending this type of therapy to patients with soft-tissue injuries, as the treatment is effectively personalized to suit the individual’s needs. Active rehabilitation is also a highly cost-effective form of treatment, as a patient is able to continue their therapy independently long after the program has come to an end.

Active rehabilitation programs are lead and supervised by a qualified physiotherapist or kinesiologist, who begins by assessing the client to determine their specifics needs, limitations and physical capabilities. Programs can be performed in a gym, pool or at home, and consist of an individualized exercise prescription combining stretching, core stability and strengthening techniques. Active rehabilitation programs work to restore range of motion and address postural mechanics, muscular imbalances and limited flexibility.

Though each active rehabilitation program is tailored to the individual’s needs, the common goal is to return the client to normal function. Active rehabilitation programs are highly successful in enabling clients to return to work, get back on a sports team after an injury or simply resume activities of daily living, as they are progressive and easily modified, if necessary. These programs often include work-simulation exercises and functional activities, which effectively prepare the client for a return to their pre-injury lifestyle.

A common misconception with active therapy is that exercise should be avoided to prevent further aggravation of an in injury, when in fact the opposite is true. Monitored, controlled exercise is healthy way of strengthening muscles to speed up recovery and prevent reinjury. Dr. Stephen Hoschuler, co-founder and orthopedic surgeon with the Texas Back Institute write, “Controlled gradual and progressive exercise, rather than inactivity and bed rest most often provides the best long-term solution for reducing back pain.” You may initially experience some discomfort upon beginning an active rehabilitation program; however, this is a normal part of recovery, and you will begin to see positive results and ultimately improve your physical well being with continued and consistent effort.

The guidance of a kinesiologist throughout your program will ensure that you are not only performing your routines properly, but will also provide you with the motivation and structure necessary for a successful return to normal function and continued involvement in a healthier lifestyle.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

Functional Training Has Changed the Workout Scene

Functional training is fast becoming a popular alternative – and a fun addition – to traditional methods of weight training and exercise. Although it is open to wide interpretation, it general involves performing exercises that mimic a movement in a sport or daily activity or a multi-joint movement designed to improve performance in a sport or daily activity. It is quite the opposite of bodybuilding, which generally involves isolated muscle fatigue. Whether you are a professional athlete, just beginning a workout regimen or simply looking for an interesting alternative to your regular routine, functional training offers many physical benefits, including improved neuromuscular coordination, speed, agility, endurance and balance.

Functional training has its roots in rehabilitation. When a person is injured and off work registered therapists often use functional exercises to help prepare the injured patient so they can return to work without re-injury. For instance, if a carpenter were off work they would perform exercises to simulate lifting, hammering and ladder climbing activities to prepare their bodies for a safe return to work.

A wood-chop using a medicine ball is a great functional exercise that simulates the movement involved in swinging an axe. It incorporates upper body, lower body and core muscles and it also increases your heart rate and improves your flexibility and range of motion. Because this exercise uses so many different muscles it can make everyday activities such as grocery shopping, cleaning and lifting much easier. It can also be used with athletes, such as a boxer or hockey player who want to improve their agility, balance and coordination. There are many great functional exercises that use a stability ball, wobble board, exercise tube or traditional dumbbells and pulley systems that can improve athletic performance.

Another benefit of this type of training is improved coordination between the muscular and nervous systems. When full-body coordinated movements are performed repeatedly, we are actually training our nervous system to send a signal to our brain before we even realize there is a need for a particular muscle contraction. For example, a snowboarder would benefit from engaging muscle groups in their entire body while balancing on an unstable environment, as their reflexes would naturally improve with increases in balance and stability; the body’s response to different physical environments becomes almost automatic as we subconsciously improve the communication between our nerves and muscles.

Functional training is also extremely beneficial to elderly people who experience difficulty with performing everyday activities, as it serves to strengthen core muscles while conditioning arms and legs, and translates improvements in functional strength to activities of daily living. As such, functional training improves quality of life and can be very liberating for individuals who have struggled with performing simple daily tasks.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

Exercise and Hypertension

Overview of the Disease

Blood pressure is defined as the amount of pressure exerted by blood on blood vessel walls as it passes through the vessel. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) is the highest pressure on the walls right after one single heartbeat. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is the lowest pressure on the walls right before a heartbeat. Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is defined as having a SBP ¡Ý 140 mm Hg and/or DBP ¡Ý 90 mm Hg. Hypertension is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease such as stroke, heart failure, angina, renal failure, and myocardial infarction or heart attack. It is also a stronger independent risk factor for mortality from coronary heart disease among elderly women than among elderly men.

Causes and Implications of Hypertension

Population factors associated with hypertension are obesity, high sodium intake, low potassium intake, physical inactivity, heavy alcohol consumption, and psychosocial stress. Accumulation of intra-abdominal visceral fat, which is fat located inside the body around organs instead of those right beneath the skin, and hyperinsulinemia also play a role in the development of the disease.

Hypertension causes the heart to do extra work in order to pump blood throughout a person\’s body. It promotes the presence of coronary calcium, which is a potential predictor of sudden death. It is associated with some changes in the brain, for example impaired cognitive function. It may lead to retinopathy, a degenerative disease in the eye, and nephropathy, a disease of the kidney. Finally, it induces thickening and stiffening of the medium and small blood vessels.

How May Exercise Reduce Hypertension?

The typical blood pressure response to acute bouts of aerobic exercise is a gradual increase in SBP and gradual decrease or no change in DBP. Age, gender, and body weight often cause variation.

First of all, exercise training can lower both cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance at rest and at any given level of work. Lowered cardiac output is primarily due to reduced heart rate. All these help to reduce the amount of work needed from the heart in pumping blood. Next, exercise can decrease visceral fat and central fat deposition, rather than simply body weight, which will help reduce blood pressure in most people, especially in obese people. Specifically, aerobic exercise will decrease both resting SBP and DBP. Even exercises of moderate intensity can induce these beneficial changes. Finally, exercise training may reduce or eliminate the need for antihypertensive medications in patients with mild or severe hypertension.

Exercise Guidelines

The recommendations for exercise for those with mild hypertension are generally the same as those for healthy adults. Endurance, or aerobic, exercises are preferred, with a frequency of 3-5 days/week, duration of 20-60 minutes, and intensity of 60-85% of maximum heart rate. However for those with severe hypertension of markedly elevated blood pressure, the intensity should be lowered to about 50-70% of maximum heart rate.

In regards to weight training, this form of exercise usually results in increased SBP and an associated increase in DBP during the exercise bout. However, there is a smaller increase in heart rate compared to aerobic exercise. The blood pressure response between individuals contains great amounts of variability. Therefore a person should just exercise cautiously when performing any types of weight lifting. Interestingly, circuit training has been shown to result in a modest drop in DBP and no change in SBP.

Finally, for any person with hypertension, lifestyle modification including diet, weight loss, and exercise is much needed to help manage the disease.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

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