Today is Fitness Monday! Monday is always a day when workout plans for the week are at their peak right? Monday is always clean slate day. I have started doing Jillian Michael's Shred video again. It's definitely a love hate relationship. I hate how in 18 min I can so completely wish for the sweet release of death. I hate how badly my plantar fascitis flares during 30 seconds of simulating jump rope. I hate that it starts with dreaded push ups. I hate how hours after it, I find myself asking "Why am I unable to walk? Oh yeah. Jillian." But I love how hours later I hurt and it reminds me to do it again for the temporary relief of muscle soreness. I love how even by the 4th day you notice your endurance for the 30-45 sec intervals improving. I love the promise of better fitness.
So that is the emotional tug-of-war Jill and I are battling. This is what I am doing at the moment. And I am enjoying it so far. Yup that's right enjoying it. Hope you all are incorporating fitness into your routine. Actually I hope you never stopped. I did. I was a bad girl. I had a rough summer. In fact I didn't do much exercise for the entire months of July and August. So now it's back to business for me.
Jillian isn't actually what I wanted to talk about today. Today we are going to talk about your back! As you know my husband had back surgery this summer. Later this week we are going to talk about some things he could have done to avoid that. But first I want to talk about how to work on your flexibility of your back.
Most patients come into see me and say "Well I have been doing this to stretch my back out. Is this helping me?"
Think about it. While, yes, this does stretch the muscles and soft tissues of the low back you are essentially rounding or flexing your back. You're bending. You do that ALL the time. Like seriously some estimates are that we bend over 500 times a day. What about this?
How often do we bend backwards, how often do we extend our spine. Most people with back pain think extension sounds preposterous at first, they wear their skepticism on their sleeve. Especially the thought of doing the exercise laying down. "There is no way this is going to help. I can't lay on my stomach?" Try this exercise.
If you are someone who practices the art of yoga this may ring a bell...
If you have some pain push yourself to do between 10-30 reps. See if the pain reduces and the mobility improves. You have your answer. You should do more and more to increase your mobility and decrease your pain. If you have no pain initially that is awesome. Try to incorporate this stretch into your normal day, one set of 10, keeps you limber, keeps you aware of any sudden onset of pain or tightness, and helps to counteract all the negative effects of those 500 bends!
Happy stretching everyone!
PS: Remember before engaging in any exercise recommendations read the tab on the side of the page. If you are struggling with specific problems and long term symptoms you should consult your Dr prior to engaging in treatment and exercise.
No comments:
Post a Comment