Preparing for Quarantine: Part Two - The Body

Welcome to part 2 of prepping the mind and body for quarantine!   The last thing we need right now is body aches, pains, and stiffness.  Apply these simple truths of posture and breathing to keep your body ready for anything and to keep the positive vibes flowing through the body.​  Take advantage of working at home by getting up and moving more often than you do while in the office, but also laying down to decompress and breathe. Make it habit so that when you get back in the office, your body will go off like an alarm when it is time to move.   

Get your spine set,  braced and organized for optimal movement!

1.  Flawed thinking.  "My (Insert Pain/discomfort Here) is caused by (Insert activity here)" 

When describing pain in the morning, your conversation often starts with "My knee hurts from running"., or  "My back is stiff from gardening / yard work",  or "my shoulder hurts from playing catch".    We tend to blame the activities we do for our pain/discomfort.    Why does it hurt?  "I went running",  "I worked in the yard",   "I played catch".   This is flawed thinking that keeps us blind to the real and very consequential issue at hand: lack of functional mobility during everyday activities.  This flawed thinking causes us to: 

• Wait for a terrible injury / tissue failure (ruptured disc, torn achilles tendon) to inspire corrective action 
• Take advantage of the human body's freakish tolerance to poor movement quality until it's too late 
• Prioritize TASK COMPLETION above everything else. 
• Ignore the simple solution that is right in front of us every day, all day! 

 

1. MOST dysfunction caused by missing range of motion (overtension) and/or moving in a bad position (open-circuit faults).  The precursor to this is POSTURE 
   1. Extended sitting is a major cause of movement  and positional impairments, and combines with other factors (genetics, previous injuries, etc) to reinforce negative impacts in daily living 
   2. Leads to open-circuit faults.  Tissues not intended to manage forces will expire.  Just a matter of time. 
   3. Sitting is toxic for the human movement system, but an unfortunate inevitability in modern society 
      1. Rounded back 
      2. Shoulders rolled forward 
      3. Feet turned out 
      4. Head tilted up or down 
      5. Elbows flared out 

 

1. Solution:  Creating a CLOSED CIRCUIT 
   1. Body operates best - IE, TRANSFERS and DISSIPATES FORCES -when in a closed circuit 
   2. Fire the big guns to create a braced neutral spine.  Relaxing leads to slouching.  We should always be carrying light tension in the big players - glutes, abdominals, upper back, in order to dissipate gravitational forces.  Here's how:
      1. Bracing sequence 
         1. Squeeze butt cheeks as hard as you can (to 100% tension), and release down to 20%.  Maintain this tension while sitting and standing, at all times.  
         2. Pull ribcage down 
         3. Tighten up the belly -"sphincter to belly button".  Same thing: 20% abdominal tension while seated and standing at all times
         4. Belly-smack test-  brace as if someone is going to pop you one in the gut. 
         5. Head neutral – ears over shoulders 
         6. Shoulder blades- "reach down towards your back pockets".  Again, with 20% tension.  Hold while seated and standing.  
      2. Two-hand rule  ​
         1. Place one thumb on sternum, palm splayed out and down, and one thumb on pelvis so that both hands are parallel 
         2. Determines whether you are in a broken position 
         3. Hands move together – you are rounded forward 
         4. Hands move apart – you are over extended 
      3. Breathing  
         1. Diaphragm breathing – expand stomach region instead of ribcage 
         2. Engage abs as you exhale – from 
         3. This breathing patter is automatic when in proper braced-neutral position 
   3. Braced neutral sitting (see pic below of proper sitting, using the the 2-hand rule)
      1. Employ the same bracing strategy and two-hand rule as when standing 
      2. 20% abdominal, glute, and upper back tension
      3. Very taxing to maintain position with defaulting to a bad position 
      4. If possible, get up and move every 20 minutes in order to reorganize 
      5. Change your position as often as possible.  You are not limited to one sitting position – you can lean forward and back while in braced-neutral. 
      6. SIT AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE 

Breathing

Practice breathing by expanding the stomach, instead of the chest.  Stomach breathing calms the body down and ellicits a parasympathetic (calming) response.   Chest breathing triggers a stress response, and feeds any negative emotions or dispositions in a feedback loop.  To break that loop, focus on deep inhales while pushing the tummy out, hold, and exhale slowly, to where one inhale/exhale cycle lasts 10 seconds or more.  Maintain that 20% tension if you are seated or standing.   Sometimes it helps to lay down to solely focus in breathing.  You are at home, so take advantage of that throughout the day.   Note how good and relaxed you feel

If it helps,  take breathing breaks every 10 minutes just to shut your eyes and focus on the sequences above.  Set an alarm on your phone or computer

Breathing better and carrying yourself more efficiently with proper posture is an underlying factor into a great state of mind during these tough times.  

Until next time!  Leave comments with any feedback or questions!