As a Rolfer, I have spent over 20 years helping my clients to stand straighter and move more easily. Over that time I have seen most of the ways that injury, accident, and emotional upset can throw our bodies out of shape.
One thing that still amazes me though is how intelligently our bodies cope, how incredibly well we can adjust and adapt to the strange and unexpected things that life often throws at us.
However, the majority of people who come through my clinic door with fascial strain and in pain are there because of unhelpful movement habits and compensation patterns that they could quite easily change. So here are three self-help ideas that will help put me out of business 🙂
1. Sit less, move more – Motion is Lotion
Humans are designed to move. Regular and varied movement helps keep the body fluid, loose, and disease-free*. When we don’t move enough, fascial layers bind together, restricting vital fluid flow, resulting in toxic metabolic build-up. Sticky fascia stiffens joints and can cause painful nerve entrapment.
*New research indicates that cancer cells travel down fascial pathways that have lost fluid motion. (Dr Robert Schleip facia research video)
Furthermore, sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time causes a 40% increase in spinal disc pressure. Slouching (losing your lumbar curve) when sitting adds another 45% of disc damaging pressure – Chronic Back pain anyone?
Here are some things you can do to limit spinal damage from sitting:
- Take regular breaks to stretch your torso. Just a few seconds every 30 minutes will make a big difference.
- Checking your posture to make sure that you are keeping that all-important lumbar curve when sitting will not only prevent disc damage but also improve core tone.
- Repacing your office chair with a 65mm or 75mm fit ball will encourage better posture and make it much easier to move your pelvis, hips and spine at regular intervals
2. Use your ribs when you breathe
This might not be welcome news if you have developed a belly breathing habit through slouching or through your meditation, yoga, or tai chi practice. The logic of this advice is simple though, and you can read a full explanation here: Big Bad Belly Breathing – blog
In brief, belly breathing is excellent for relaxation, but it limits rib movement. If belly breathing becomes your everyday habit, you are heading for trouble.
The ribs have evolved to move with every breath we take. For the average person that’s about 13,000 movements per day. The ribs attach to the long middle section of the spine. When the ribs move, the thoracic vertebrae are also moved in a very beneficial way enabling the discs in between them to stay hydrated and juicy and enabling you to keep a young, flexible and healthy spine. Belly breathers are missing out on a potential 13,000 lotion-producing movements per day. Go Figure!
3. Walk sexy or suffer
As you walk to work, school or the shops today, take an internal look at your hips.
- Do they sway a little?
- Does your spine allow a gentle wave to travel up to the neck?
- Are your ankles relaxed, do your arms swing?
Look at some of the people around you. Notice how some seem to express movement from head to toes in a flowing wave. While others carry a motionless torso on stiff legs with unbending ankles. Which are you?
That plantar fasciitis, those shin splints, or aching lumbars could all be the result of your walking habit.
- Try slowing down a little. Relax the ankle of the swinging leg, letting the front of the foot hang down with soft shins
- Maybe imagine a light, relaxing breeze blowing between the two bones in the lower leg as it swings forward.
- Or Imagine you have a long, luxurious tail that swings heavily from side to side with each step.
And finally, whenever possible get your feet out and treat them to the feel of cool grass, hot sand, crunchy autumn leaves. Wake up your feet and your reward will be a better connection to the earth and a more solid sense of where you stand.
For more on the benefits of walking sexy click this link: Walk Sexy or suffer – blog.