Blog Archives

How upper back and shoulder posture influence each other and cause pain

10/27/2017

Continuing my series of blog posts about how the body works as a unit and how posture deviations in one area cause reactions throughout the body, today I'm going to focus on the relationship between the upper back and shoulders.

Here are the first three blog posts in this series:
Part 1: Introduction to how the body works as a unit
Part 2: Foot and leg posture
Part 3: Hip and spine posture

The upper back or thoracic spine is intimately related with the shoulder complex including the scapula, clavicle, and humerus and any injury or pain symptom in this area can only be effectively treated by looking at the entire upper body as a unit.

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E-cise of the Month: Downward Dog

10/24/2017

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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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Key to Health: Daily Menu

10/24/2017

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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.

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How hip and spine posture influence each other and cause pain

10/19/2017

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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...

trunk and pelvis skeletal system

trunk and pelvis with ligaments

trunk and pelvis with deep muscles

trunk and pelvis with all muscles

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How foot and leg posture influence each other and cause pain.

10/17/2017

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Dem Bones is a well-known spiritual song in which the first verse says:

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the heel bone
Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
Ankle bone connected to the shin bone
Shin bone connected to the knee bone
Knee bone connected to the thigh bone
Thigh bone connected to the hip bone...

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...

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Understanding human anatomy requires looking at the body as a unit

10/17/2017

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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?

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Running Strengthens Intervertebral Discs

10/5/2017

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What can you do to strengthen your muscles? Studies say high resistance exercise like weight lifting.
What can you do to strengthen your bones? Studies say high impact exercises like running and jumping.
What can you do to strengthen your heart and lungs? Studies say any cardiovascular exercise like running, swimming, or cross-country skiing.
What can you do to strengthen your cartilage in your joints? Studies say cyclical loading exercise like running.
What can you do to strengthen your intervertebral discs? Nothing. At least that's what people believed until recently. Before this year there were no scientific studies that showed you could strengthen your intervertebral discs, but a new study has changed all that.

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Osteoarthritis Isn't From Aging or Obesity

10/2/2017

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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:

Osteoarthritis is caused by wear and tear.
Activity causes wear and tear. The more you use your knees the faster they will wear down.
Obesity increases wear and tear on the joints.
The longer someone lives the more wear and tear their joints will endure.
People are more obese today than 50 years ago which helps explain the increase in osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is more common today than 50 years ago because people are living longer.

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.

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How upper back and shoulder posture influence each other and cause pain

E-cise of the Month: Downward Dog

Key to Health: Daily Menu

How hip and spine posture influence each other and cause pain

How foot and leg posture influence each other and cause pain.

Understanding human anatomy requires looking at the body as a unit

Running Strengthens Intervertebral Discs

Osteoarthritis Isn't From Aging or Obesity

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