The Downward Dog is one of the oldest, most known, and most practiced yoga poses and for good reason. The Downward Dog when done correctly has many positive effects on posture and function. The Downward Dog addresses two of the most common imbalances people have: hip disparities and sitting induced chronic flexion.
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Restoring and maintaining good postural alignment is vital if you want to live a pain free and active life. Doing a menu daily is the best way correct posture imbalances and eliminate pain and physical limitations. Once you're pain free, doing a daily menu will make sure you stay that way by maintaining your improved postural alignment. If you haven't read the other three blog posts related to this (how the body works as a unit and how foot and leg posture influence each other, how spine and shoulder posture influence each other), you can read them here and here and here. In this blog post, I am going to continue the discussion of how the body works as a unit and specifically how the hip, pelvis, and spine influence each other. You will be able to understand and feel this relationship with 3 simple experiments... Dem Bones is a well-known spiritual song in which the first verse says: This wisdom that the human body is a unit where each piece is connected to the next is often lost in current treatments for musculoskeletal pain. Let's help restore that wisdom...
If you know me or are a regular reader of my blog you have heard me say many times "the body works as a unit" or "the foot bones connected to the leg bone". I am a big believer that the body is a unit (which is a fact) and that you must treat the body as a unit. Every week I talk to new clients who explain they've been to multiple doctors, surgeons, sports medicine specialists, physical therapists, chiropractors, body workers, and other therapists and none of these experts have been able to help eliminate their pain. The amazing thing to me is that most of these clients have no idea what is causing their pain or what they can do to become pain free even after talking to and working with many different experts. How can this be?
Osteoarthritis is commonly believed, by doctors and the general population, to be a disease of aging and obesity. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) can be found in about 1/3 of all adults over 60 years old in the United States. The prevalence of osteoarthritis has doubled in just the last 50 years. This is how most doctors have thought about OA up until today:
There have been studies however that are starting to disprove this theory. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences throws the theories of aging and obesity causing knee OA out the window.
The Floor Block is a great e-cise to improve upper body posture and alignment. It is very common for people of all ages to have some degree of thoracic kyphosis, rounded shoulders, and forward head posture. The Floor Block will help correct all these imbalances which can lead to decreased pain, better breathing, less headaches, and improved athletic performance.
To do the Floor Block you will need two Egoscue Small Foam Blocks and an open floor. Summer is winding down and it's back to school time. Going back to school presents several challenges for students of different ages that can negatively affect their posture and health. Here are the challenges preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college/graduate school students face and how to combat them:
August is National Golf MonthIn celebration of National Golf Month this August, I am offering free 30-minute golf specific posture evaluations. Sign up by contacting me and requesting a golf specific evaluation.
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About Matt WhiteheadI'm an Egoscue Institute® certified Postural Alignment Specialist (PAS) and Advanced Exercise Therapist (AET), certified personal trainer, PatchFitness performer, ultra trail runner, mountain biker, dad, music lover, environmentalist, and wanna-be slam dunk champion. I will be providing you with the latest posture exercises to help you live, play, and be pain free. Archives
January 2023
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