Biotensegrity

In case you are still thinking of your body as a mechanical system with levers, pulleys, and springs much like a mechanical system...that paradigm has long gone out the window.

The new way of addressing the living body is as a three dimensional model that needs balanced tension throughout our soft tissue to function effectively.  Soft tissue equals muscles, tendons, ligaments, bone and fascia. It’s got a name:  biotensegrity.... You can read more about it here: http://www.biotensegrity.com

Shari Berkowitz says: “it is an inner web of 3-dimensional support that connects all parts of our bodies:  A completely reactive and adaptive system of soft-tissue tension. Through this we move, think, digest…everything.”

The thing is: how we think about our movement, ultimately effects how we move, so obviously this is ground breaking stuff.

More to come on how we can use this new thinking to help move better.

Willingness to Change – (off topic post)

During my (very) extended recovery time with all it’s bumps and hurdles I have come to realize many things that go against my previous conceptions.  ARGH!  Not only am I rewiring my entire body; I have to change the way I think about my body and my recovery.  So hard.

What I want to share today is how it is sometimes very important to do activities you either don’t like or don’t want to do to get the results you need.

What does this go against for me?  I have long supported the concept that you need to do an activity you like or love to get results.  Why?  Because that is the activity that you will be the most likely do regularly and with continuity.

Now I see that in order to develop the strength I need to recover and maintain my recovery I need to be doing sooo many more repetitions of basic movements than I want to do.

As soon as my foot and weight bearing started improving, I threw my repetitions out the door and began moving:  beginners Pilates classes, bike riding, and small walks.  Why?  Because I hate performing simple movements over and over again! I’d rather watch paint dry.  Within 2 weeks my hips and injured foot and leg became highly unstable and I was back in the weeds.  I thought I had been so cautious, but I had thrown out the keystone to my recovery:  all those repetitions for my local stabilizers!

I don’t think this situation is specific to rehabilitation though.  People tend to do what they are good at and not what they need to get good.  Me:  case in point

My PT and I joked a lot about how the people doing Pilates and Yoga should be doing strength training and vice-versa.  That would be interesting!  I'd have a whole different clientele to teach.

Pain, Pain Go Away!

SinceI broke my foot last ApriI haven’t had too many pain free days....ok. I haven’t had ANY pain free days.  So, of course, I spend a lot of time thinking about and researching pain.  Here is something interesting I found out:  The pain starts in the brain!  NOT at the ‘supposed’ injury site.

What does that mean?  You and another person both experience a Miniscus tear.  Only one of you experiences pain.  Why?  Because the pain has to do with your ‘threat threshold’ which is different for everyone.  It’s called the Threat Neuromatrix.

I learned this from Dr. Cobb at Z-Health.  He is such a smarty.

Ranting and Flowing with Life's Challenges

It's been quite awhile since I've posted here, mostly because I was in a terrible accident.  On April 29.  I got hit by a car while riding my bike and ended up with the car standing on my left foot for...many minutes.  The outcome of which was/ is all the metatarsals of my left foot are broken in multiple places.  Yes.  OUCH!

Since then I have been completely non-weightbearing for 10 weeks, and also had a titanium plate and screws inserted into my foot to line up the bones that have sheered away from alignment.  My OS is still unhappy with the condition of my bones, however, and he mentioned bone grafting yesterday when I went in for more X-rays.  He isn't considering bone grafting for another 10 weeks, so in 10 weeks I may possibly be starting over again at step 1.

Starting this Monday, June 30, I am supposed to attempt 50% weight bearing.  When I asked how I was supposed to achieve this I was told to get on a scale and put half my weight on the scale, remember how that felt and take it into my day. Never mind that this NEVER works in real life, in walking or any other activities involving  m o v e m e n t!

I asked for a prescription for Physical Therapy and was denied.  The Doctor's reasoning was that they would work me too hard.  How about a physical therapist for gait therapy that will actually help me identify what 50% weight bearing means for me, the patient?

So that is the rant part.  I just had to get it out.  I am so frustrated!

As far as the flow goes:
I have some control over how my recovery goes.  What can I do to help myself?  I can eat well, rest, stay calm and positive.  These are the best tools I have at my disposal.  When overwhelmed I call trusted friends who will encourage, not frighten me.  I keep looking at the big picture; attempting to find the benefit to my new situation/condition.  Open my mind to things that I can learn and also teach others from my new perspective.

As much as I depend on my body, it frequently lets me down or surprises me.  Since going faster and harder is not an option for me (and hasn't been, even before the accident) , I choose to go deep.  I enter the well of my being to access deep strength reserves and also to explore the minutiae of movement, the benefit of release work.

It's a journey.  Every day.

Obstacles to Success

I was reading a blog at the Soma Institute today and found this quote.  It really applies to me.  How about you?

"Perhaps the greatest obstacle to a simple unfolding of potential is the attachment we all carry to what is known and familiar, however painful or unsatisfactory this may be. With that attachment come fears and anxieties of the unknown as well as resistance to the changes that might take us there."
-Linda Hartley-

Ok.  A little plug for the Soma Institute (that I've never attended), but I like their idea of creating a body and mindset that can easily and creatively adapt to change...If you want to learn more about it, here's a link:  http://www.soma-institute.org

Cueing

I write about cueing over and over again, because it is so important.  As an instructor I am always looking for new ways to express the same idea, because different words work for different people.  Or maybe it's not a word at all, but simply an image.  The right word, image or feeling can not only help you find engagement, it can completely transform your quality of movement.

How we learn is always so fascinating to me.  I can watch something a thousand times and never figure out how to do it.  I am a kinesthetic learner.  If you know what kind of learner you are, share that with your instructor so that they can interact with you in more helpful ways.

Here is a cue that is really working for me right now, maybe it will work for you as well:

When standing or lying prone: 
Imagine your inner thigh lifting up to the ceiling while you press your hips lightly down.
This cue puts me right in my center with access to my pelvic floor and Pilates lift.  I love it!

To Lift the Head Neck and Shoulders When on Your Back....or NOT?

To lift the head or not is often a point of contention in a Pilates class.  I remember when I first started doing Pilates  I routinely had a very sore neck.   And yet, I just kept trying to lift my head up.  I thought if I could just figure out how to do it correctly my neck would stop hurting.  So I tried and tried and my neck went right on hurting.

Now I know the thing I kept doing wrong was trying to lift my head up when I couldn't recruit the right muscles!   I would have been doing myself a much better favor if I had just kept my head down and worked deeply into my muscles, gradually strengthening them so that I would eventually be able to use them efficiently.    At the time I was simply unable to stop doing an action that wasn't supporting my workout because I loved the burn from my rectus abdominus when I lifted my head.  Without that burn I felt that I wasn't doing enough work and that I was too easy on myself.  Since I was taking group classes, I probably looked like I was doing the exercises correctly, even though I was actually in a lot of pain.

My stance on lifting the head currently is this:  If you can do it without pain, go for it!  This will really work out the front of the body, especially the upper abs and the rectus.  If not, work up to lifting your head.  Bring it up and down as needed, or use one hand to support the neck. Keeping the head down will work the back body more.  You are still working, but the emphasis is different. The most important thing is not to be in a position that is painful, that causes the neck and shoulders to continuously contract and shorten, as this will not get you where you want to be.  

Be kind to your body and listen to what it is telling you.  Try not to force it to do what it is not ready to do.  It will all come with patience, time, and acceptance.   Lifting the head when you are unable to support that activity will only reinforce existing muscle imbalances.  You absolutely want to feel your muscles being challenged, but that is different from pain.  If you are in pain when you exercise you are not doing your body a service.