Grip Strength in Older Adults

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I read a PubMed article recently about grip strength as an indicator of health related quality of life in old age and it got me thinking about what we are lacking or sidestepping in our daily lives that means we don’t achieve meaningful grip strength via our normal everyday movements and habits.

The article looked at quality of life in men and women ages 60-94 years old and used the measurement of grip strength to determine overall muscle strength and function. High grip strength is strongly associated with preserved mobility, higher activities of daily living and decreased disability and although it was outlining grip strength as an indicator of ‘general’ health (as opposed to isolationist strength purely at the wrist) there are many habits and environmental factors that rob us of this type of daily movement that would otherwise improve this outcome.

Here’s a list of 5 examples that I came up with to demonstrate ways in which we deny ourselves of those daily ‘movement vitamins’:

  • Coffee grinder – admittedly this is quite hard work but you will be rewarded with not just coffee but a better quality of life….and some would even argue better coffee!
  • Washing machine – imagine all the wringing and squeezing that went on before washing machines, perhaps once or twice a week skip the spin cycle and try and wring out the excess water.
  • Wheelie suitcase – do you wheel your suitcase? Does it glide smoothly across the airport floor?! Think about all that grip work and corresponding arm and core effort if you were to carry it. Not quite as comfortable but perhaps more so than general physical decline!!
  • Car key automatic lock – this seems quite petty but just on principle the price of convenience is robbing us from basic wrist turning actions and even extra movement around the car to lock the doors in the name of convenience.
  • Automatic can opener – another wrist strength robbing device!

To conclude, even though the study just involved a small amount of participants and also incorporated the social aspect of ageing into the equation it makes a good example of how a few simple steps on a daily basis and a bit more awareness can contribute to a healthier outlook.

Grip Strength as an Indicator of Health-Related Quality of Life in Old Age. by Musalek and Kirchengast

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

Hotel Workouts

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sergio-pedemonte-bmy4kUG4n3M-unsplashIf you travel a lot for work it can be hard to prioritise your own movement let alone specific exercise. This post is an aid to those trapped in their hotel rooms (!) and in need of some body maintenance to cancel out all the sitting, screen watching, suit and work shoe wearing (that also ‘cast’ your body into unhelpful postures).

 

  1. Chest stretch: Arm at 90 degrees (i.e. bent at the elbow) with your forearm against a wall or door frame the stretch the chest open, away from the wall. One arm at a time then switch.
  2. Door frame: Reach up to a door frame and try to extend your arms whilst breathing deeply lengthening on the exhalations. Try to create space from your ears to your shoulders.
  3. Back extensions: Lying prone, chin slightly tucked – on an exhale raise your chest of the floor a tiny bit whilst lengthening your arms/fingertips towards your feet. Also try to draw your shoulders back as if opening your chest.
  4. Childs pose: Sit back on your heels stretch your arms forward onto the floor.
  5. Hamstring stretch: lying supine stretch one leg up – use a belt or tie around the foot to get leverage (keep the other knee bent and try not to press/flatten your lower back) Switch legs.
  6. Sit ups: support the head if necessary, deep exhale as you come up.
  7. Plank: On your elbows – keep breathing, back of the neck long don’t drop your chin.
  8. Childs pose: same as before but with the palms up.

Note: Written descriptions of exercises and movements can be lost in translation! So if these do not translate easily for you do get in touch via the contact form. Readers who have had been having sessions will recognise the cues!

Photo by Sergio Pedemonte on Unsplash

10 Min Exercise Ideas

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It’s easy to do exercise for exercise’s sake particularly at this time of year when the internet is awash with new year’s resolutions & calls to reinvent yourself through exercise! What we really need to access through our, let’s call it, ‘planned movement’ is an intended physiological response – meaning not just ticking something off the ‘to do list’ but creating a more nourishing exercise programme that provides ourselves with the missing movements that our modern lifestyles do not afford us. 

Here are three 10 minute exercise ideas (50 seconds per exercise with 10 seconds rest) to try, you could do them as is or cycle through just some of the exercises for a different focus.

10 minute Full Bodyweight Workout (for strength)

Squats (with band pull apart to add in some shoulder blade work)
Wood chops (alternate sides)
Side lunges (or jumping jacks…)
Wall sit
Rows
Band pull ups (with band under foot to work shoulders/core)
Push ups with push back (regular push up half or full with a shell stretch back between reps)
Hovers on all 4’s (or plank)
Hip lift with chair (supine with legs elevated, push hips up)
Leg extensions (supine with alternate leg extension for abdominal load)

10 minute Correctives (for transitioning to better alignment)

Supine half dome thoracic stretch
Supine half dome thoracic stretch, in slightly different place on the spine
Rhomboid push up
Shell stretch (try palms up & down)
Side neck stretch with median nerve floss left
Side neck stretch with median nerve floss right
Calf stretch over half dome left
Calf stretch over half dome right
Long arm reach
Rotator cuff band pull with slow return 

10 minute Evening Stretch (for counteracting the effects of too much sitting)

Chest stretch against wall left
Chest stretch against wall right
Hip rock left
Hip rock right
Pigeon left
Pigeon Right
Adductors knee bent left
Adductors knee bent right
Supine over half dome
Head nods

If you have attended classes or currently train with me most of these will be familiar – if not, videos to follow……. or drop me a line!

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

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In sessions we are often trying to ‘undo’ or improve on aches & pains (limitations) we have, whether it be through bad alignment or injury. Both of these are usually caused by having poor alignment resulting in our inability to maintain a sustainable functioning muscle balance.

If much of your day is spent sitting or sedentary  your body will be cast into that shape, there will be adaptations which define your body as ‘a sitter’ – even if you did a ‘workout’ (whatever that may be). What you do for the majority of your day will dictate how your muscles are conditioned. There will be specific movement pathways that your lifestyle does not expose you to due to ‘modern living’ & in particular the time saving devices we now have at our disposal e.g shopping online instead of walking to the shops & carrying it home, buggies, washing machines, cars etc.

In order to counteract this we need to look at steps we can take to change our environments to afford more movement time, different working postures or movement breaks spread out across the day.

14322757_1152367408139894_4920083886017136014_n3 steps to improving your ‘sitters body’.

  • Work on corrective exercises to help counter the effects of sitting.
  • Try to sit & do the movement we’re already doing with better alignment. See the picture on the left for ideal sitting alignment.
  • Look at ways we can change our environments & lifestyles to incorporate more activity where possible.

 

Take a look back at my post on 6 Ways to Stretch at Your Desk for some ideas on how to counter desk sitting.

6 Ways To Stretch At Your Desk

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As sitting is now described as the new smoking I guess if you can fit some stretches into your workday it’ll just be the equivalent of vaping….maybe?! Anyway, whether you’re standing or sitting for long periods intermittent stretching and movement will help curb muscle tightness & pain as well as go some way into preventing the adaptive shortening of muscles.

Try to do them throughout the day instead of all in one go for get the most benefit – setting an alarm to move every hour will help to remind you.

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1st row: Triceps, arm down back into lat stretch as you bend to the side (second picture).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd row: Hip flexor stretch on chair. Anchor the knee and drive the pelvis forward to open the front of the hip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3rd row: Neck stretch, ear to shoulder into levator scapula stretch as you turn your head hold & try to place nose to shoulder too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4th row: Hamstring stretch making sure you keep the hips parallel and tail bone sticking out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th row, left: Rhomboid push up in vertical or chest opener. From the position pictured bring your elbows in together.

5th row, right: Piriformis / glute stretch – lean on the knee to increase the stretch. Untuck your tailbone.

Pelvic Floor 101!

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In Pilates classes we give a lot of emphasis to using the pelvic floor muscles throughout all the exercises but I wanted to use this post to look a bit more specifically at some of the precursors to pelvic floor problems & signs you may be at risk or already have issues. 

There are specific signs to look out for which can indicate that you may have a pelvic floor problem – these are all suboptimal issues that you do not have to live with, a trip to the women’s health physio (or men’s) will help get you on the road to recovery just like any other muscle injury. I’ll stress again, these are not just conditions of age or things that ‘just happen’ – you can do something about it, just because something is common does not mean it’s normal.

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  • Peeing when you exercise, laugh, cough or sneeze
  • Needing to get to the toilet in a hurry or not making it there in time
  • Loss of control over your bladder or bowel
  • Accidentally passing wind
  • A prolapse – in women, this may be felt as a bulge in the vagina or a feeling of heaviness, discomfort, pulling, dragging or dropping. In men, this may be felt as a bulge in the rectum or a feeling of needing to use their bowels but not actually needing to go
    • Pain in your pelvic area, or painful sex
  • Being pregnant & childbirth

The pelvic floor is just like any other muscle so if it’s too tight or too weak or a combination problems can occur but there are certain events in life & lifestyle factors that can contribute to creating imbalances or dysfunction. Some people have pelvic floor muscles that are too tight (hypertonic) & cannot relax. This can be made worse by doing squeezing exercises & overworking the muscles without learning how to relax – this is why I always try to give time in the class to focus on actually relaxing & releasing the abdominals & pelvic floor.

The main precursors for pelvic floor problems will involve any type of unmanaged pressure within the abdominal canister or where there is poor load transfer .

  • History of back pain
  • Ongoing constipation & straining on the loo
  • Being overweight with a BMI over 25
  • Incorrect heavy lifting e.g using the Valsava maneover
  • Chronic cough or sneeze
  • Previous pelvic injury
  • Poor alignment
  • Wearing high heels

With the right technique & exercise selection, Pilates is a great choice to help strengthen the pelvic floor – at any age, whether you’ve just had a baby or your babies are having babies!

Upper Back Mobiliser

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Modern living tends to cast our bodies into a forward flexion bias stiffening & restricting movement of the upper back, neck & shoulders. It seems to be one of the main complaints & one of the things most class participants would like to relieve. 

The thoracic spine (upper, mid back) provides much of the rotation & extension of the spine but thanks to lifestyle factors such as looking (down & forward) at phones or computers, driving, leaning down over children or  poor posture it tends to get very restricted. Anyone that plays sport is likely to find their performance limited by stiffness in this part of the spine  & it’s common to get compensation injuries in other parts of the body as a result.

Typically a stiff thoracic can cause pain between the shoulder blades but also transfer excess loads onto the lumbar spine, neck & shoulders, which in turn can lead to pain in these areas as well as headaches. A stiff thoracic spine will also result in the Old Hunchback of Notre Dame look (!) & lead to a Dowager’s (or Bison’s) Hump – a thickening of the soft tissues at the base of the neck. So, some good reasons there to keep up with some basic maintenance to keep it supple!

In the classes we work through a few different exercises both in side lying & on all 4’s to help mobilise the thoracic spine & then follow up with some strengthening work to help keep the spine aligned. Here’s one of those exercises that’s really effective as the ground ‘fixes’ the hips which will give you a better chance at rotating correctly through your thoracic instead of cheating with another joint deformation.

Thread the needle pilates_16

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Make sure you have your knees hip width apart & hands, shoulder width apart. Don’t collapse your supporting shoulder / shoulder blade as you bring the other arm under & as you reach up try to really extend through the arm (….mine is bent, probably from too much baby holding!). Try 10 on each side, exhaling as you extend the arm up.

The Mummy Movement Workout

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One for the mummies! If it feels like you never get time to have a ‘proper’ workout & your best attempts to ‘get back in shape’ are always foiled by the unrelenting demands of being a mum, try optimising your daily ‘mummy movement’ by focusing on your alignment. We need to get it out of our heads that in order to exercise we must be head to toe in lycra & down the gym!

Biomechanist Katy Bowman in her new book ‘Move Your DNA’ likens how we should view exercise as being a vitamin supplement – we need to think of exercise just like that – a supplement to our total daily movement. Just like a vitamin you wouldn’t rely on that to keep you healthy, you’d also try to maintain a nutrient rich diet as well. An isolated ‘workout’ is not the be all & end all – in fact a workout means nothing if you’re a couch potato the rest of the time. Research shows that it’s much better to move (or load) our bodies multiple times per day than do it all in one go.

ENG 2016 Kew Gardens-1This is great news for mums – whilst others are frenetically trying to replicate the daily movement they should be getting but can’t, due to sedentary jobs, mums get the opportunity at an action packed day…well….everyday!! No 5 x 30 mins per week for us, as government guidelines recommend!

So how can you optimise your daily activity? Focus on your alignment when you are standing, sitting, bending & moving etc. Maintain good posture, exhale on exertion (e.g when you are moving away from gravity – like when you lift the baby up) & work your pelvic floor muscles in conjunction with movements like lifting the baby or standing up from a squat. Another useful tip is to wear clothes that you can actually move in for example by wearing stretchy jeans & flat shoes you’ll be more inclined to deepen your range of movement, untuck your tail bone & not mind working up a bit of a sweat.

5 ways to max out your daily activity:

  1. Squat the laundry! If you hang your washing out on a rack, squat down to get each piece of clothing – make sure you have good technique and exhale on exertion.
  2. Lift the baby – a few extra cuddles instead of buggy time can create some great opportunity to work your body – remember to keep a neutral spine, costal breathing & recruit those pelvic floor muscles!
  3. Walk during nap time – I  know, I know “sleep when the baby sleeps” & all that but sometimes a good walk can be just as replenishing particularly if your baby is at a stage where they are sleeping longer at night.
  4. Squat to play with your child – squatting to play with your baby not only reinforces some good habits for them but also creates the perfect opportunity to stretch your calves. If you can’t get your heels to the floor place a rolled up towel or similar under your heels. Try to straighten your feet & untuck your tail bone.
  5. Work your back whilst bathing/cot – These 2 are classic ways to a sore back if you don’t focus on your alignment but if you do then it’s a great opportunity to strengthen your back & stretch out your hamstrings. If you have tight hamstrings & can’t untuck your pelvis then bend your knees until you can. Try to keep your back straight & shoulders away from your ears. Change position to rest when you need to.

References: Katy Bowman ‘Move Your DNA’

Post Natal Exercise – Where do I start??

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After a bit of an end of pregnancy slow down (!) on the blog front I thought it would be an opportune time to write some post natal exercise posts to both remind myself & give some direction to anyone beginning the journey of reconnecting with their non-pregnant selves!

With any exercise programme, post natal or otherwise the ability to breathe correctly during exercise is essential to having a fully functioning core. Reconnecting with your breath will provide the foundation to both your core’s recovery rate & help you to progress with bigger more integrated core movement patterns (A.K.A sorting out the mummy tummy!).
Breathe_titled-300x300Whatever birthing experience you had or however fit you were/are post partum reconnecting with your breath is where you need to begin. The nature of pregnancy – with the baby in the tummy thing (!) – can create a disconnect with the way we breathe due to the expanding uterus squashing the diaphragm resulting in there being less room for your lungs to expand – so it is vital to relearn this essential function.

Try this – find a quiet space to practice lying down with a neutral spine & pelvis.

Inhale (the expansion): Breathe wide into your ribs, try to do this 3 dimensionally so use the floor against your back as a reference, don’t just flare the ribs outward. Your abdominal wall will expand. Try to relax your shoulders, neck & jaw.

Exhale (the compression): As you breathe out feel your ribcage contract & lower, your abdominal wall & lumbar/thoracic muscles (see the pic) will tension. Think about connecting with your pelvic floor by drawing it up (think picking up a tissue with your vagina) from your vagina to your anus.

Once you feel you have the full core connection try this sitting & then standing making sure to integrate the pelvic floor contraction on each exhale & fully relax/release it on each inhale.

For some women, it will come as a relief knowing that all is required on the exercise front is a bit of breathing to get started but for others wanting to just get the running shoes back on & pick up where they left off, it may pose more of a frustration or perceived limitation to getting their bodies back. Understanding why we need to start with the breath is key to accepting your journey to hot mumness (technical term!) – safe in the knowledge that you’re going to reclaim (& maybe even improve on) the body you want both aesthetically & functionally without having to pee your way through a kettlebell workout because you haven’t addressed proper pelvic floor & core restoration!

So – at a glance list of ‘Why’s’:

  • Costal breath patterns (as directed above) will help take pressure away from healing abdominal & pelvic floor tissue.
  • Develops your MUCH NEEDED pelvic floor reconnection.
  • Increases your oxygenated blood to help healing abdominal & pelvic tissues.
  • Strengthens & supports your post partum abdominals, back & pelvis.
  • Helps aid valuable relaxation which in turn will help balance the hormone levels that control weight.

For more info on Pilates & women specific exercise click & follow the blog for updates!

Test Your Balance, Part 2

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As a continuation of the post I did on testing your balance part 1 I wanted to add a simple continuum of exercises from easy to hard that you can practice & use to challenge your stability.

 

So as aforementioned in part 1 the goal of these balances is to test your proprioceptive balance system – that does’t mean using strategies such as bending your knees or holding your arms out high wire style…or fixing your eyes on something, it’s about testing your own internal balance system with your body in the correct (or as close to correct) standing alignment.

pilates_16cYour body uses your proprioception system to create an image of what is internal or inside the skin – in much the same way as a dolphin uses sonar or an animal uses it’s whiskers. Proprioception literally means ‘ones own perception’ & that information about change of skeletal position travels by our neurones to the brain to act on. The more muscle fibres you have firing & the more supple (not tight) the tissue, the better the proprioception.

When you practice these consider your alignment: stand with your feet hip width apart & the outside edges of your feet straight. Back your pelvis up over your heels keeping your ribs aligned over your pelvis. Then draw your head back over your spinal column. When you come on to single leg balance make sure you push down into the floor with the standing leg as opposed to hiking the low back/hip up on the non-weight bearing leg.

1. 2 foot balance eyes open
2. 2 foot balance eyes closed
3. 1 foot balance eyes open
4. 1 foot balance eyes closed
5. 1 foot balance eyes open with head turns
6. 1 foot balance eyes closed with head turns