Blog
Yoga for Chronic Sitters
What does a day’s worth of sitting do to your back?
Sit up straight and brace yourself as you read: prolonged sitting is killing you slowly and this is no exaggeration. The human body was not made to sit for prolonged periods of time and as a result, it takes a serious toll on our physical and mental well-being. Here are some of the ways that sitting negatively affects your spine:
- Damages your spine by increasing downward compression
- Damages organs and
- Compresses your abdomen and interferes with digestion
- Encourages poor posture which carries over into other positions
- Tightens certain muscles and underworks others, leading to muscular imbalance
In the end, sitting is literally taking unquantifiable years off of your life. The solution is to get up and move; in fact, this is the greatest way to stay feeling young. If you are tasked with sitting on a daily basis, make sure you are proactive in fighting the risk factors that come along with it.
Lumbar Problems: When the Pain Won’t Go Away
Muscle problems are the most common cause of lower back pain
This rather large category can refer to tangible, definable problems like muscle and tendon strains and ligament sprains to the more nebulous muscle problems that result from years of neglect and mistreatment. Regardless, it goes without saying that your muscles are the main support for your spine- any problems in the musculature are going to directly affect the integrity of your spinal cord; the knock-on effect will come to define the way you feel and function in all activities. Therefore, controlling for muscle problems in the lower back is a signal way of increasing your overall wellbeing.
Defining Balance for Athletes
Balance keeps athletes on the winning side of those fine margins
Whether it be a personal record or the winning point in a team competition, balance is one of the elements that determines athletic success. That is why it surprises us that many athletes forego this opportunity: by choosing not to focus on maintaining and improving balance, you are letting go of a great method for boosting athletic performance. At our office in Ramsey, we focus on helping athletes improve their musculoskeletal balance through education, awareness, and natural modalities.
When Dormant Spinal Injuries Resurface
Have you ever suffered an injury?
Many of us, especially during our younger years, have suffered injuries that seemed of little significance at the time- from a slip and fall, to an injury sustained while playing an aggressive sport like football. And while we can all admit that we more resilient in our younger days, it doesn’t change the fact that we never did anything about the injury. It’s true that we are more resilient to injury in youth- we are able to process and heal an injury much quicker, sometimes without any medical attention whatsoever. Now the problem is that many of these injuries do cause damage, damage that remains dormant for years- decades even.
An Action Plan for Extension Intolerance
When extending your spine hurts instead of helping
Many people with chronic, compression-based back pain find that extending their spine is the only way they can feel comfortable. But what about those who suffer in an extended position? If this is you, rest assured: you are not in the minority. People who experience discomfort when their spine is extended are likely extension intolerant. Most often, this includes people who spend the majority of their working day on foot: teachers, baristas, athletes, nurses, etc.
The Power of the Micro-Break
Take a break right this second
You have been on your computer for far too long; you have been looking at your phone far too much. You have an office job and a car- that already tells us that you spend too much time sitting. If you aren’t taking the right steps to protect your spine from this lifestyle, there is every chance that you are setting your spine and yourself up for an old age of disability and pain. While there is no single magic bullet for mitigating the toll of office work on your spine, we can suggest a place to start: it’s called taking frequent breaks. Read on to find out about our guidelines for micro-breaks during a busy day.
Working Your Pelvic Floor for Core Stability
The Pelvic Floor is an important core muscle
The pelvic floor is mainly known for its importance in continence, sexual activity and pregnancy. And while we value all of these things, the pelvic floor is a muscle that should be leveraged 24/7. This layer of muscles, which spans the base of the pelvis and support the pelvic organs, also has important applications in spinal health. As an integral member of the core stabilizing muscles, the pelvic floor works with the deep abdominal, back muscles and the diaphragm to form the main network of support for your spine. Pelvic floor muscles naturally start to weaken around age 40, and letting them fall by the wayside can have serious ramifications for your spine and overall wellbeing.
The Little Known Psoas Muscle’s Role in Lower Back Pain
What is the psoas?
It is one of the three most important muscles that connect the spine to the lower body. Along with the gluteus maximus and the piriformis, the psoas forms the vital intersection in the middle of our body that allows for articulation, coordination and communication between disparate parts of the body. The psoas in particular is a medium-sized muscle that attaches the lumbar vertebrae to the femur. Along the way, it passes across the outside of the pubis and connects with the iliacus muscle to form the iliopsoas.
Myofascial Release is Feel Good Therapy
Are your muscles chronically contracted?
Such systemic tension in our musculoskeletal system has myriad ramifications in the present and a ripple effect that will be felt long in the future. That is why we make alleviating such tension a top priority at our office in Ramsey. When you think about it, almost every facet of the modern lifestyle is geared toward creating muscle tension:
- Commuting, working
- Sitting incessantly
- Sedentary forms of entertainment
- Poor diets and a lack of exercise
This tension is accumulating constantly and pulling your body out of alignment. The best thing you can do to avoid tension on a daily basis is to stretch and exercise regularly. But sometimes your body needs a little more- an extra layer of attention that focuses specifically on the root causes of systemic muscle tightness. All this tension calls for myofascial release!
Yoga For Compression-related Back Pain
You can’t escape the compression
From the day we are born, gravity begins working on our spines. Growing up, our young spines are mobile and generally resilient against the downward force of gravity. But as we grow older, this compression effect begins to show its ugly head. Here is the recipe that leads to compression-type back pain:
- Our spines are finite- they weaken with age
- Our weight is naturally more than when we were young, increasing the burden on intervertebral discs
- We are less active in comparison, and we generally sit a lot more, which increases the compressive force of gravity as compared to standing or lying down.
- Many of us sit with poor posture which further increases the pressure.
- There are many other intangible factors which go into this recipe.
The collective effect is an over compression which causes generalized back pain, especially in the lower back, as well as more aggressive conditions including herniated discs, sciatica and degnerative disc disease. The good news is that yoga can help you mitigate all these factors!