The View from Sports Center

An Unusual Way to Improve Your Balance

2009-11-27T07:08:00-06:00

I hear this a lot. "My balance is just not very good. Doesn't matter what I do either. I just don't get much better."

Well, try this: a foot rub.

Massage of the feet improved single limb stance in a group of people over the age of 65. And, it was after just one session too.

My guess is that massage and balance are blind to age. I'll bet that no matter your age, your balance will improve after a good session of joint jiggling, tissue tugging, and muscle manipulation.

I can hear the cries for help now. "But, he said a foot massage would improve my balance! You don't want me to fall do you?"

Vaillant J, Rouland A, Martigné P, Braujou R, Nissen MJ, Caillat-Miousse JL, Vuillerme N, Nougier V, Juvin R. Massage and mobilization of the feet and ankles in elderly adults: effect on clinical balance performance. Man Ther. 2009 Dec;14(6):661-4. Epub 2009 May 8.

Grateful This Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T13:00:00-06:00

I would like you to pull up a chair at my table this Thanksgiving.

And be grateful for your self.

For one day, find the place in you that holds self-criticism and defeat; frustration and misery and dump it out on the ground in a heap. If you really want it back, it will always be there. You can pick it up later.

And in its place, fill your self with respect and honor for you.

It's not easy to live in pain or day after day face a physical barrier that feels as high as Mount Everest and every bit as difficult to climb.

It's not easy to show up in your life, make the right choices for your self hour by hour, day by day, when every fiber of your being really wants something else and the friction of frustration leaves you charred.

And it's not easy to hear people say, "You mean you're still not well? After all this time?"

The truth is, a life with an injury is a harder life.

So, at my table, I'm thankful for how amazing you are; what you do everyday without celebration or a fan club to cheer you on.

I'm thankful you ignore the voice that says, "I'll never get well" and in its place quietly say to your self, "I'm getting better everyday," and then you search and find some small bit of truth.

This Thanksgiving, be thankful for how truly amazing you are and maybe for the first time, really know it and own it. Wear your gratitude like a finely tailored suit.

And after Thanksgiving, why not keep wearing that suit?

From all of us at Sports Center, have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

The Key to Burning Fat Over the Holidays

2009-11-21T19:00:00-06:00

During a breakfast meeting recently, I ordered an English muffin and some fruit. As I was enjoying this, one of the other people at the meeting said, "I just can't eat things like that without doing a bunch of cardio. Is that what you do?"

I said, "So, you mean you feel like you gain weight from eating carbohydrates?"

"Yes, that's right, I do, unless I stick with my cardio."

"Hmmm. So, what do you do?" I asked.

"Oh, about thirty minutes on an elliptical machine a few days a week."

"Does it work for you?" I asked?

"Well, I guess so. I know I can't eat many carbs otherwise," she replied.

The holidays are carbohydrate dense days. Lots of food and lots of calories and many people use "cardio" to keep from gaining weight.

"Cardio" isn't bad for you or a waste of your time. In fact it's a key component of a joint conditioning program, but in terms of burning calories, you have to do a lot of it. Things like cycling, jogging, or elliptical for thirty minutes might burn 200 calories depending on how much you weigh and how hard you're exercising. But, the bigger issue is that you burn very few calories after you stop exercising.

Usually when I suggest that "cardio" is not the best fat burning method, someone will bring up Lance Armstrong or Michael Phelps and wonder why, if "cardio" doesn't burn many calories, these guys are so trim and apparently fit. The answer is that they train for hours per day; not 30 or 45 minutes. They have what is called a high "energy flux".

Most of us don't have four or five hours per day to train.

But, we can train intensely in the time we do have.

To lose fat, you have to create a calorie deficit: burn more calories than you consume. The most efficient way to do that with exercise is to increase not only the number of calories you burn during the activity but also the "after-burn": excess post-exercise oxygen consumption’ or EPOC.

Scientific studies have consistently shown that the highest levels of EPOC occur with higher intensities of training over longer periods of time. So, for example, if you hop on an elliptical machine for thirty minutes and exercise at 50% of your maximum, your EPOC will last about three hours. But, if you increase your intensity to 75%, the EPOC will last a little over 10 hours and you'll burn twice the number of calories during that time.

To boost the EPOC even more, you could use High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): a short period of high speed movement followed by a longer period, usually 2 to 3 times the duration of the shorter period, of slower movement. Thirty minutes of running at 70% of your maximum has half the EPOC compared to twenty minutes of one minute, high speed intervals.

So, how do you know how hard you're exercising?

The simplest way is to use the BORG Rating of Perceived Exertion. After a few minutes, your rating should be 12 to 13 to match up with about 70% of your maximum and you want to keep it in this range for the entire session. If you're using the HIIT, your BORG rating will be very high during the burst of activity. So, the BORG is best used for the sustained type of exercise. (Keep in mind that intensity is a relative term. What's intense for one person may be moderate or mild for another. If you've not been exercising regularly, you'll probably want to start with long, slow distance type training first and gradually build up the intensity.)

Intensity is the king of fat burning. If you're going to use "cardio", ramp up your intensity to get the most out of the time and your holidays.

Six Things to Do for a Crick in the Neck

2009-11-20T10:41:32-06:00

What exactly is a "crick"? The word is derived from Middle English cricke, crykke - a bend or twist in the neck. Usually, you wake up with your neck either slightly bent to one side or you avoid moving your neck a certain way because of a sharp pain in your neck or shoulder blade - hence why we use the word "crick". The medical term is "torticollis" which means basically the same thing - a bend or twist in the neck.

There are a number of reasons why you can have a crick in the neck or a very stiff and painful neck and some of them are not musculoskeletal such as spinal meningitis. If you have any other symptoms besides a painful and stiff neck, like a fever or a general feeling of sickness, see your doctor.

As for the musculoskeletal causes, you may have simply over stretched the neck muscles, sprained the joint capsule ligament, torn the annular ligament, herniated an intervertebral disc, overloaded the facet joint surfaces or stretched the spinal nerve that exits the vertebral canal. Any of these conditions can create pain and stiffness which is why some clinicians feel that it is impossible to pin down the exact cause of the problem.

So, without a sense of what is causing the problem, an effective solution is sometimes tough to devise. But, there are some things you can do to reduce the symptoms and improve motion.

Avoid stretching your neck. Even though the muscles feel tight, stretching usually does not help and if it does, it's often very transient. Tight muscles get tight mostly in response to another stimulus - inflammation being at the top of the list.
If you must sit, support your head and neck. Some office chairs have a high enough back on them to allow you to rest your head on the chair or even use something like a deflated beach ball behind your head. Doing this allows the tight muscles to relax and lowers the force applied to your disc and joints (and thanks to Lauren Williams - our Director of Operations - for kindly agreeing to be a model for the image).
Try "cervical rock and roll". I explained this here. Gentle oscillations of the joint stimulate anti-pain receptors and other receptors that regulate muscle tension. Cervical rock n' roll relaxes your neck muscles and feels great.
Deep pressure over a tender point in the upper trapezius is sometimes helpful. The upper trapezius muscle, also known as the "coat hanger" muscle usually is very tight and will have a "trigger point" or a spot of extreme tenderness. You'll need a trusted friend to help you with this or see a therapist (massage, physical, kinesio) or chiropractor). To perform the technique, lie down on your back. This helps release the tension in the muscle. Have your friend, using his or her index finger, find the tender spot. You don't have to use much pressure either. Once you find the spot, have your friend gently move your head away from the painful direction while delivering some pressure to the spot. Hold the position until you feel less pain and the spot "gives" or feels as if it melts under your finger. This usually takes 30 to 60 seconds. Now, very slowly, return to a neutral position. Repeat this five times. When you get up from lying down, have your friend hold your head to help you. If you don't do this, the weight of your head will kick off a muscle contraction and the pain will come back (and this technique is rarely curative - it will reduce the pain and improve motion but is often short lived).
Alternate heat or ice on your neck. The choice is yours. Whatever makes your neck feel better - use it. Apply it in a relaxed, comfortable position. Be careful. You'll want to protect your skin by using appropriate amount of toweling. Leave the heat or ice on for 10 minutes and do this at least three times a day.
Use cervical traction. This is a simple and effective technique that can be done at home. You use a special device, an over the door pulley system with attached weights, that is either applied in a sitting position or while lying down. Usually ten minutes a few times a day with 8-10 lbs. of force is enough.

These six things will help you feel better and restore motion however, If you seem to get a crick in your neck often, you may have other biomechanical factors that need attention (a stiff and inflexible thoracic spine is one of them). A therapist with an understanding of spinal biomechanics and tissue healing can help.

Golfing in the Rain and a Gift for You

2009-11-17T07:29:35-06:00

"You know, Josh, I think I might have to quit. I'm just not having any fun here at all. I can't hit the ball to save my life," I said to my brother.

Josh and I had rendezvoused in Hilton Head, SC for three days of golf last week. Well, really a golf marathon. Thirty-six holes on Monday, thirty-six holes Tuesday and eighteen holes Wednesday. Of course, I knew better than to tackle that much golf given my spine history and that I had only played one round of golf in the last year.

But, I was going to give it try.

The first thirty-six holes were fun. I had a few good shots, good puts, good saves from the sand followed by mostly wild and errant shots careening off trees or skidding along the fairway an inch or two off the ground. I didn't care too much as long as I had just a few decent shots. My score was high but it was what I expected.

Tuesday though was another story.

My swing looked like Edward Scissorhands on his best day. A stiff and sore spine had not eased off by the third or fourth hole and my motions were hurried, jerky. Blend a little Sammie Sosa with the Tin Man and I think you have my swing.

I think my best shot was an 80 yard, 2 inches above the ground screamer that left my hands trembling from the vibration up the shaft.

Stellar.

I tried. I pulled all the tricks I knew, all the positive self-talk, re-framing, freeze-framing, deep breathing and every other technique I had learned or taught. I felt like a fraud. I had taught clients this; urged them to look for the tiniest improvement and focus on that and what I wanted to do was just drop all my clubs in the lake and go home.

Truthfully, the round of golf was just not any fun. At all. Period.

And then I remembered.

It's not just adopting a positive attitude that gets you out of a funk. It's also doing something different than what you're doing.

So, the next day I suggested that Josh tee-off and I would play from wherever his ball landed. He added, "Why don't we just play best ball? I'll tee off, we both play from there and then play the best shot."

And so we did and we had a blast.

In rainy, windy weather. In conditions that few people were willing to endure, we had the best round of golf of the trip. We had fun. A lot of fun.

My shots improved. My swing was less Scissorhands. I had some good shots. A couple of even great shots.

We had fun by making the round easier; making it match what I could really do.

Positivity is a key element in overcoming a lot of things in life but if you simply marry that to the same behavior, you're probably going to be frustrated. Instead, try changing what you're doing and making it a little easier. You'll get better and have more fun too.

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I'm a physical therapist and performance coach and have helped tens of thousands of people. I've conducted over 20,000 consultations and over 100,000 training sessions. I've worked the extremely weak and de-conditioned to the extremely fit and competitive athlete and I’ve used the very things I teach to help heal and strengthen my own body.  

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