Get to Know Your Hamstrings

You might be surprised to know that tight hamstrings could be causing you low back pain, pulling on your knee and causing mobility problems with your hips and glutes.

Let me introduce you to your hamstrings in this post and then learn how to Move Your Hamstrings followed by how to restore & stretches to help loosen the tightness and heal your body to help prevent future injuries.

Location: Posterior (back side) of body between the Hip and just below the Knee

Muscles: Consists of 3 muscles: from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris.

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Nerves: branch of Sciatica Nerves

Actions: Flexion (bend) of the knee joint and extension (straighten) of the hip joint.

“The hamstrings play a crucial role in many daily activities such as walking, running, jumping, and controlling some movement in the gluteus.”

Injuries: The hamstrings are quite susceptible to injury.

“At the hip, the hamstrings play a role in a posture condition known as flat low back. This is because the result of their contraction at this location is a pulling down of the pelvis in back, a move also known as a posterior pelvic tilt. The posterior pelvic tilt, in turn, tends to elongate the natural low back curve, overstretching and/or weakening the muscles in that area and possibly predisposing you to disc injury. Tight hamstrings may also play a role in sacroiliac dysfunction.” 2

(Image 2 Ref 3)

Hamstring injury risk factors include:

“Prior hamstring injury. After you’ve had one hamstring injury, you’re more likely to have another one, especially if you try to resume all your activities at pre-injury levels of intensity before your muscles have time to heal and rebuild strength.

Poor flexibility. If you have poor flexibility, your muscles may not be able to bear the full force of the action required during certain activities.

Muscle imbalance. A muscle imbalance may lead to hamstring injury. When the muscles along the front of your thigh — the quadriceps — become stronger and more developed than your hamstring muscles, you may be more likely to injure your hamstring muscles.

Sports that require sprinting or running, or other activities such as dancing that might require extreme stretching, make a hamstring injury more likely.” 1

Injury Prevention:

“As part of an overall physical conditioning program, regular stretching and strengthening exercises can help minimize your risk of hamstring injury. Try to be in shape to play your sport; don’t play your sport to get in shape.” 1

References:

1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hamstring-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20372985

2. https://www.verywellhealth.com/hamstring-muscles-296481

3. http://www.aspirechirodfw.com/important-posture/

5 Tips to Prevent Tech Neck Pain

Looking down at your phone, tablet, or laptop can cause ongoing neck pain. When you hold this tilted, head-forward posture for long periods of time, you may develop a repetitive stress injury or muscle strain.

This ailment is commonly referred to as tech neck (sometimes called text neck) and can be avoided by changing a few habits. Here are 5 simple steps you can take to prevent the pain:

1. Raise your screen higher

Hold your phone or tablet up close to eye level to avoid sloping your head forward or bending your neck down. If your arms get tired from holding the screen higher, buy a holder to elevate your device, or rest your elbows on a tabletop to prop your arms up comfortably. If you work on a laptop, get a second monitor and adjust the height.

2. Take breaks often

If you have to look at a screen for an extended period of time, take breaks. Develop a habit of taking a 2- or 3-minute break every half hour, and set an alarm on your phone to remind you. Use these breaks to change your posture and move around, keeping your muscles loose and spine aligned. Try this quick stretch on break: tuck your chin down, then slowly raise it upward. Then gently turn your head over one shoulder, then the other.

3. Sit in a chair with a headrest

The ergonomics of your chair can help you maintain correct posture and avoid tech neck. Switch to a chair that has a headrest and keep the back of your head flush against the headrest while you use your screen. Holding your head in this position will prevent you from looking down with your neck flexed forward.

4. Strengthen and stretch your muscles

Strengthening and stretching your chest, neck, and upper back can help to prevent muscle imbalances caused by forward head posture. 

Over time, muscle imbalances can develop due to long-term forward head posture. To prevent these imbalances, it helps to strengthen and stretch your chest, neck, and upper back muscles. Keeping these muscles in good shape helps support the weight of your head and minimize strain on your cervical spine.

You can also perform exercises that target your abdominals and lower back. While it may seem counterintuitive to work out this part of your body to prevent tech neck, these muscle groups play a role in supporting your upper body, including your neck.

5. Use pain as a warning sign

If you experience pain in your neck, between the shoulder blades, numbness or tingling in the arms, or frequent headaches, there may be a more serious issue going on. Pay attention to these warning signs and act quickly to make changes to reduce or eliminate any head-forward posture straining your neck.

See What Is Cervical Radiculopathy?

Try all or some of the above methods and see which ones work for you. If your neck pain symptoms don’t improve, it may be time to seek help from a qualified health professional.

Learn more:

Workplace Ergonomics and Neck Pain

Forward Head Posture’s Effect on Neck Muscles

 

original post: https://www.spine-health.com/blog/5-tips-prevent-tech-neck-pain

 

Do You Have Tech Neck?

Do you text a lot? Looking down at text whether digital or print?

Students and Desk Jobs can create headaches, neck pain and more.

This unnatural, forward positioning of the head and cervical spine places additional stress on the intervertebral discs, vertebrae, and facet joints, which may exacerbate or accelerate spinal degeneration. Additionally, as the bottom the cervical spine hyperflexes forward and the top of the cervical spine hyperextends in the opposite direction, the spinal canal lengthens through the neck, which increases stretching and tension on the spinal cord and nearby nerve roots.

Most cases of neck pain have a postural component as part of the underlying problem. In such cases, recognizing and understanding poor posture can play an important role in finding neck pain relief.

Common Symptoms Associated with Text Neck

Text neck symptoms commonly include one or more of the following:

• • Pain in the neck, upper back, and/or shoulder. This pain may be located in one specific spot and feel intense or stabbing, or it may be a general achiness and soreness that covers a broader region, such as spanning from the bottom of the neck and into the shoulder(s).

• • Forward head posture and rounded shoulders. Muscles in the neck, chest, and upper back can become deconditioned and imbalanced due to prolonged forward head posture. This deconditioning can make it difficult to maintain good posture with the ears directly over the shoulders.

• • Reduced mobility. The neck, upper back, and shoulders may all experience some tightness and reduced mobility.

• • Headache. Muscles at the base of the neck could go into spasm and become painful, or pain could also be referred from the neck up into the head. Excessive amounts of time looking at screens, regardless of posture, may also increase the risk for eyestrain and headache.

Increased pain when neck flexion.

 Text neck symptoms tend to worsen when the neck is flexed forward into the position that originally caused the problem, such as while looking down and texting.

Where and how pain is felt can vary from case to case. For example, someone who primarily looks at a phone screen while using both hands (or no hands if it is lying on a table or lap) may be more susceptible to having pain evenly distributed on both sides of the neck and/or upper back, whereas someone who uses one hand may have more pain on one side due to using or straining those muscles more.

The Difference Between Good and Poor Posture

Normal head posture vs forward tilt

Good posture, as it relates to the neck, is commonly considered when the ears are positioned directly above the shoulders with the chest open and shoulders back. In this neutral position, also called normal head posture, stress on the neck is minimized because the head’s weight is naturally balanced on the cervical spine.

Forward head posture occurs when the neck slants forward, placing the head further in front of the shoulders rather than directly above. This head position can lead to several problems:

• Increased stress on the cervical spine. As the head is held forward in poor posture, the cervical spine must support increasing amounts of weight. One rule of thumb is that for every inch that the head is held forward in poor posture, an additional 10 pounds of weight is felt on the cervical spine.¹ So if the average head weighs between 10 and 12 pounds, just 1 or 2 inches of forward head posture can double or triple the load on the cervical spine.

• See Cervical Spine Anatomy and Neck Pain

• Hyperflexion and hyperextension. The lower cervical spine goes into hyperflexion with the vertebrae tilting too far forward. The upper cervical spine, however, does the opposite and goes into hyperextension as the brain automatically keeps the head up so the eyes can look straight ahead. This alteration of the cervical spine’s curve lengthens the spinal canal distance from the base of the skull to the base of the neck, causing the spinal cord and nearby nerve roots to become somewhat stretched.
• Muscle overload. Some muscles in the neck and upper back must continually overwork to counterbalance the pull of gravity on the forward head. As a result, muscles become more susceptible to painful strains and spasms.

• Watch: Neck Strains and Sprains Video

• Hunched upper back. Forward head posture is often accompanied by forward shoulders and a rounded upper back, which can lead to more pain in the neck, upper back, and/or shoulders.

The longer that poor posture is continued—such as being hunched over a computer or slouching on the couch—the more likely that neck pain, stiffness, and other symptoms may develop.

 

 

Original Post Source: https://www.spine-health.com/conditions/neck-pain/how-poor-posture-causes-neck-pain

What is Stress?

What is Stress?

If I asked you what is stress, you would most likely give me a list of things that cause you stress. Things like money, work, responsibility, maybe your family or too many things to do and not enough time.

What Stresses You Out?

But those things are relative. Similar to the old saying “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” the same holds true with stressful situations. Each persons stress triggers are different.

So then I might ask you, why do those things cause you stress?

And this is normally when most people try to give me a back story or a big story to explain why it is stressful. And hidden within that story are the under tones of worry or regret.

We worry about what will happen in the future or regret/relive the past events.

Essentially you are not in the now when you are stressing. Those stress triggers teleport you to a moment in the past or scenarios of the future (no matter how realistic or sci-fi they may be).

Are You Living In The Future or Past?

When you start worrying about the future or past, regardless if the stress is only in your mind, your body gets involved. Stress hormones get released; the body thinks that the mind is in danger therefor it prepares for escape from the problem – to physically escape – except we don’t. In fact, we typically endure a lot of stress of the mind and do very little exercise and then all those stress hormones are stored in your body.

This leads to belly fat, unexplained physical pain, possibly headaches or even more chronic issues like heart disease, diabetes II, hormone disturbances and dermatological issues.

Are You Experiencing Any of These Symptoms?

Stress is your body’s response to stressors.

On the minor level, it stops or slows depression, raises your blood pressure, causes a rush of hormones for quick physical decisions – might make you cranky or quick to snap.

Although we might have different things that stress us out at different levels, staying in a constant state of stress can cause big issues.

NOT ALL STRESS IS BAD.

But I do want to clarify that not all stress is bad. It’s only when you are in a constant state or when you don’t physically work out the stress hormones that have been released into your body.

What Have You Learned From Some Challenging/Stressful Situations?

Stress, or challenges are also a key part of learning and developing ourselves, therefor learning how to deal with stress is the important thing – not avoiding all stress. Haha, That would just make life to boring!

Your Success Coach,

Izzy Nalley

12 Yoga Poses to Help Back Pain

Back pain can be caused by sitting, standing, doing nothing or sprinting. Back pain affects all ages and sadly, 85 percent  of the U.S. population suffers from back pain. It’s the second most common reason for seeing a doctor in the United States followed by coughs and other respiratory infections.

Back pain is the third most common reason for surgery and to make it worse, failed back surgery syndrome is seen in 10-40 percent of patients who undergo back surgery. Not only does the surgery not fix the original problem, but more issues result from surgeries than were present before surgery! Fewer than 5 percent of people with back pain actually make good candidates for surgery. According to a recent article in USA Today, “The U.S. health care system spends about as much each year on spine problems as it does on cancer.” With statistics like these, it’s no wonder that people are looking for alternative treatments for back pain. Before going under the knife, consider how a consistent yoga practice may reduce your back pain.

The Power Of Yoga To Treat Back Pain

While severe back pain due to a recent injury should always be examined by a doctor, chronic and moderate-level back pain can often be assisted with the power of yoga. Yoga naturally helps strengthen and lengthen your spine, stretch your muscles, and fix your back’s alignment, which can often be at the root cause of persistent back pain for those of us who sit at a desk all day.

In fact, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, chronic back pain sufferers who practiced yoga on a regular basis were half as likely to need pain pills or over the counter treatments for their pain as non-yogis. There are specific yoga poses that help to alleviate back pain more than others, and they have been outlined below. Do the following pain-relieving yoga sequence two to three times a week to start feeling back pain relief.

Related: The Power of Choosing Exercise to Treat Back Pain

12 Yoga Poses That Reduce Back Pain

Start with some deep breathing exercises in and out of the nose called pranayama. Prana means life force or energy and yama means extension. Just think of a slight lengthening as you inhale and a releasing as you exhale. You will want to continue this practice of breath awareness through each of the following poses for 3-5 rounds or more depending on the time you have available. So grab your yoga mat and let’s go!

1. Child’s Pose

Start on the hands and knees and sit hips back towards the heels. Bring the big toes together and keep the knees together to create support to round the back over the legs and get into the thoracic spine. Child’s pose lengthens and stretches the spine while relieving tension in the neck and shoulders. You can also try using a block under the the forehead for more relief. You can come back here as often as needed.

2. Cat and Cow Pose

From child’s pose, rise up to hands and knees. For Cow: Lift the chin up and drop the belly to the mat as you look up arching the tail bone upward, then round the spine upward dropping the tailbone down as you look back to the thighs, like a cats back. Try this a couple times slowly, wallowing in each pose to feel the stretch, then move with the breath for few times: inhaling as you move into Cow Pose with the chin and tail bone up, exhale into Cat Pose. Movement with the breath is called vinyasa and this will create some synovial fluid along the spine which will lubricate the back, making it feel more supple.

3. Downward Dog

Come on to the balls of the feet and lift the hips up, then release the heels down toward the mat. This is another option to come back to in between poses. Downward dog lengthens and strengthens at the same time. It’s also a big stretch for the hamstrings which can be the root of back pain. Take some time here to pedal the feet, twist the hips and rock side to side.

4. Crescent Lunge On One Knee

Crescent lunge helps open up the hips which can significantly impact the back. It’s a great pose for sciatica. Step right foot forward between the hands. Aim to place the foot right below the knee so the shin is vertical. You can keep hands on the mat for balance or reach the arms up over your head to lengthen the spine and open the chest. Add a twist: lift your right hand up, with the left hand by the right foot and rotate the chest into the thigh or upwards. Twists are great for improving spinal range of motion. Repeat on the left side and come back child pose or down dog.

5. Warrior 1

Bring the right foot between the hands and bend the right knee, release the back foot down to the mat and lift the body and arms up. Think of bringing the back hip forward so that the hips are aligned. This creates some twist in the low back. Warrior 1 is an energizing pose that creates stability and improves balance. Having better posture can significantly impact and alleviate back pain.

6. Triangle

Straighten the right leg  and reach right hand forward and down to right leg. You can make contact above the knee, on the shin, foot, floor or use a block and place the hand on the block near the front foot. Left arm is up and chest is open to the side. Triangle pose gets into the spinal nerves and strengthens the lower back.

7. Revolved Triangle

Legs stay the same, switch the arms so left hand is down toward right leg and right arm is reaching up. Revolved triangle is another pose that improves balance with the help of the internal and external oblique. This pose activates the spine! Repeat on left side

8. Locust Pose

Lie face down on your belly and lift the chest and legs up off the mat. You can take arms by your side, reaching fingers behind you. This is complete activation of the entire back of the body.  Locust pose with strengthen and elongate all the muscles along the spine.

9. One Leg Forward Fold

Seated, extend the left leg out in front of you and bend the right knee, letting it fall open to side like half butterfly. Reach forward and fold softly over the legs. Switch sides after three breaths. This pose will get into the hip and psoas which when inflamed can significantly stress the back. Try not to force this, but just relax in the pose for optimal release in the spine.

10. Knees To Chest

Lie down on your back and hug knees up into chest. This has the same affects as child’s pose without the impact on the knees. It rounds and releases. You can gently rock right to left for a gentle massage on the spine.

11. Twist

Keep the knees bent and drop them to the right as you turn your head to the left. Switch sides after three to five breaths. Twists relieve pressure in the low back and encourage spinal range of motion.

12. Supported Corpse Pose

Place a pillow or blanket under the knees and lie down with arms by side. This final pose, or savasana, allows the body to absorb the practice. Always try to take a few breaths in stillness to let the breath practice be the focus to relax the mind.

If you’re short on time and want a quick and effective yoga flow to relieve your back pain, try this 4-minute flow below. You can do it in the morning before you start your day, or at night to unwind, stretch out your back, and relax.

Yoga is known to relieve many stresses in the body and mind. When practiced regularly, you can become more in tune with how the body responds to certain activity and move mindfully. It’s great for improved flexibility and range of motion, but also injury prevention. There are restorative yoga classes and workshops designed specifically for back pain. Check your local studios and instructors for a class near you!

Source: https://gethealthyu.com/12-yoga-poses-help-alleviate-back-pain/