Get Moving For Life Blog

Back pain shows up for a number of reasons, the root cause is what we try to address at Lifemoves by having our clients go through a posture and movement assessment and working together with other health professionals involved in their treatment.

One difficulty I have come across in clients several times this past weak is the inability to properly activate the bigger core stabilizers (there are smaller ones between each vertebrae) the pelvic floor, transverse abdominus and multifidus.

These muscles are postural, which means that they should always be turned on to some level to maintain proper posture and spine stability when lifting. They work together in what is called "segmental stabilization." The postural muscles are always active while the phasic or movement based ones, such as obliques and rectus abdominus (the six pack one) are more on/off.

The first stage of a back-pain program is core activation. In this stage we get the above muscles to fire in the proper manner and sequence without moving the spine (there are other muscles that move the spine, such as when sitting up from bed).

Transverse wraps around the body, much like corset. Multifidus is the only muscle to cross the pelvis and the sacrum (triangular bone where are vertebrae fused) and attach to the spine. Women know of contracting the pelvic floor as doing keigels or stopping from unrinating and men think of stepping into waste deep cold water and have your testicles draw up.

All need to "turn on" at the same time to keep the teeter totter of the pelvis stable and balanced. When all are working properly the abdomen will be flat instead of hollowed out. If, you are hollowed your spine will be flexed and no longer in neutral.

In clients with back pain, multifidus on one side is often weak and the other side over active and tight. Place your fingers in your lower spine, glide it to the side until you feel the muscle. Our role through feedback and touching is to re-awaken it. Think of it as as a cable that gently tightens up as it contracts - when done properly it feels as though it is swelling a little without moving your pelvis.

Start by laying on your back with legs bent, shoulders relaxed. Try to get all three gently tightening as you exhale in a sequence - pelvic floor, multifidus and transverse, then release them in the reverse order. One tip is to place a pillow between your legs to get assist the pelvic floor to tighten.

If, you want more information and guidance contact Lifemoves today to book your assessment.

They want to stay active, but knee pain limits their ability to walk, hike, bike, play golf or doother activities they enjoy including work.

Often the quadriceps (front of the thigh) are tight and weak compared to the hamstrings (back of the thighs). As well, with our clients we generally find an imbalance between the outer and inner quadriceps. Both of these problems misalign the petella and knee joint which results in wear and tear of the cartilage (joint cushion) in specific areas. Without this cushion the bones push into each other resulting in joint pain, weakness and instability.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that progresses over many years. Since, bones go where muscles pull it is necessary to re balance the strength and length of the muscles surrounding the knee, hip and ankle to get back to being active.

Stretching properly, on a daily basis combined with appropriate strength training exercises will gradually improve your ability to stand and walk for long periods time while reducing the frequency, intensity and duration of knee pain.

Here some basic guidelines:

Kinesiologists understand that the body is interconnected. What is going on the ankle and hip affect the knee. There are several phases to a knee rehabilitation program. To have your posture and movement patterns assessed contact Lifemoves today.