Stay Active During Holiday Activities

Have you made plans for the holidays? Most people do travel planning and meal planning, but what about fitness planning? Holiday exercise sessions are not on most people’s holiday agendas. After all, holidays are for rest, relaxation, and fun! Right?

Well, exercise can be fun, and has been proven to help you feel better and rest better. Why skip it over the holidays? Schedule some holiday exercise sessions for fun and relaxation. What about ice skating or Christmas caroling around your neighborhood? If you can’t handle the outdoor temperatures or activities, don’t forget that walking done indoors at a shopping mall counts as exercise, but stopping to browse in the stores doesn’t! Don’t look for parking places near the store entrance. Park out in the lot and walk. You may get in the store faster than searching for a close parking space anyway. Plan fun-filled holiday activities, especially ones that keep you moving.

Improving Posture

With so many of us working desk jobs, many of us experience shoulder and neck from slumped or rounded shoulders. In the video below, I share an exercise I have used to help minimize and even reduce rounded shoulders.

In the video, we placed a stack of magazines under the model's head. Before we start, we want to be sure that her head was parallel with the ceiling, not tilted back and not tucked either.

Next, she pushes her head into the magazines, which elevates the chest. She should hold that for three seconds and then relax for six seconds. Ideally, she would do this several times a day as she builds postural strength that would allow her to maintain good posture.

As she improves, we can begin to take away a magazine every 3-4 days until eventually she doesn't have any magazines underneath her head.

As with any exercise, we want to make sure we do not experience pain. The key is to feel comfortable with just enough effort to feel like you're performing the exercise.

Stop immediately if you begin to experience pain during this exercise. 

Massage Your Own Neck & Shoulders

After a long day at work, my shoulders and neck can be sore. So, I invented a way I can massage my own shoulder and neck.

In the video below, I talk about how I got a dowel or rod and set one end up on a surface that is approximately level to my shoulder height. I can then place the rod on my shoulder and rotate it up and down my shoulder, as seen in the video. It helps loosen that muscle tissue and really give some relief. Note that I keep the dowel against my skin and not against clothing.

As I rub my shoulders with the dowel, I hunt for sore spots in my shoulder. When I find a particularly tender area, I can just pause and hold pressure there until I feel a nice release.

I can also use the dowel as a anchor to stretch my neck. If I hold the dowel down on my neck, I can then gently let my head fall toward the other shoulder. It can really help decrease the tension or pain in shoulders.

As shown a little later in the video, you can also use this same technique on up your neck. I call it a "reverse roll." As I push the dowel up the side of my neck, I rotate the dowel downward.

While I used a dowel in this video, I have also bought PVC pipes from a local hardware store. I like to use a thicker walled PVC pipe, called Schedule 40. It's a three-quarter inch thick walled PVC pip.

Exercising Tips: Dead Lift and Squat

I try to remind my patients that when they exercise, they need to be careful on posture or form to be sure that they do not injure themselves further. In the video below, I show how I do two different lifts - dead lift and squat - so that I protect my back.

I demonstrate the dead lift using a dumb bell. The key things to remember are

• Contract the abdominal muscles throughout the lift
• Keep the back straight
• Tuck the chin
• Keep the chest lifted up

Similarly, for the squat, I demonstrate the key component is to draw the abdominal muscles in and keep them contracted throughout the whole lift. I squat down to create a 90 degree angle with my knees.

Practice these lifts with a dumb bell or object to train yourself to use your abdominal muscles when you're lifting. Make using your abdominal muscles a habit to prevent injury.

Everyday Core Strengthening

Finding time to exercise is difficult. The good news is that you can make small habits throughout your day to help improve your strength and posture. Today, I want to share one "exercise" that I personally use to help with back pain.

We all need abdominal wall support to support our low backs. Research has shown that people who have back pain do not nautrally activate a muscle called transverse abdominis which go around your sides. For people who have not injured their backs, they naturally contract this muscle when they stand up or lift objects.

So, to re-train my transverse abdominis to contract when I stand or lift objects, I work throughout the day to draw my abdominal muscles in toward my back. You can think about it as pulling your belly button toward your spine. Before I stand or lift something, I consciously think about pulling my abs in. I keep them about 25-30% contracted. Before too long, I don't have to think about it anymore.

Lifting Properly

Whether you're lifting weights or just picking up around the house, it's important to have good posture when lifting heavy objects. To demonstrate, I've made a short video where I'm squatting to lift up a dumbbell.

Notice how in the video I squat down so that my legs make a 90 degree angle. If I was lifting weights, like I was in the video, I'd be sure to keep my elbows slightly bent to keep them from locking. I have an upcoming video and blog coming soon to demonstrate a modified dead lift.

If I was moving a box at home, I would squat, pick up the box and carry it close to my body, and then walk to where I want to place the box. I would be careful not to twist my back, as that can be strain on my low back.

For more pain prevention tips, check out our YouTube playlist.

Don't fall behind on water!

Whether you're out for sports this fall, or you're running the kids out to their sporting events, you need to be sure that you (and your family) stay hydrated. According to Larry Kenney, PhD and professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State in the article Quest for Hydration, "as little as a 2% decrease in body water can lead to dehydration and performance detriments in sports." Dehydration by 3 or 4% have much more seriously effects.

Symptoms of dehydration are:

• Dry mouth
• Increased Thirst
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Moodiness
• Concentration
• Faintness
• Rapid Breathing
• Weak, Rapid Pulse
• Loss of Consciousness
• Anxiety
• Confusion

So, drink your water. Your brain and body will thank you.