September 9, 2018 – 

Every so often I will meet somebody who tells me of an injury they have or something that hurts.  Just last week, I was encouraging a young lady to train her core and she complained of pain in the hip joint.  Certainly, if she had said nothing she would have stopped from discomfort or fear that there was a problem.  I looked at her movement and simply asked her to point her knees outward slightly.  She continued the exercise and was very happy that she could without pain.  Me, I was happy too that she did not just give up. She said, “you have fixed me a few times. You should tell people!”  Truth is I did not fix anything; I noticed the movement of her leg.  Tight adductors (inner thigh muscles) and the Q-angle of her hip (predominantly in women) create a tissue impingement between the lesser trochanter of the femur and the lateral border of the Ischium.  Thus my asking her to simply slightly turn her knees out solved the problem, presto! Often the bodies injuries and/or pains can be fixed with proper movement and fitness.

Get busy taking care of your body or get busy getting old.

True story, man walks into my FIT today, Mike. Asks what I do here and looks around for a moment, then tells me he is going to ask me a question.  He said “it hurts when I do this (and demonstrates a move with his shoulder while wincing in pain), what do you think it is?”  [Ok, I know what everybody is thinking right now but I cannot say that to a potential patron]. I like solving problems and I played along.  With a keen understanding of movement and dysfunction I asked him what action he does frequently that might inflame or irritate that joint.  He said the chiropractor fixes it when he takes time to go there and spend the money and he goes every few weeks when it gets bad.

I think there is an overuse issue and dig a bit deeper.  “Mike, can you reach up over your head at all?”  So he put his arms upward to what he thinks ‘up over his head’ is.  And as you can guess – his wrist did not go higher than his eyes (but he did lift his fingers upward to make it look like he was). Right away, I suggest he takes this seriously as there is certainly an issue.  I told him it appears to be some weakness in his upper back and thus might be creating havoc like ‘impingement syndrome’ and that he should seek professional care.  He rolled his eyes and told me “that’s what the chiropractor told me to do.

Some physical issues, injuries, or pains warrant professional care, period.

Other problems are an easy fix with proper exercises like stretching or strengthening.  The point here is this, if you have an aggravating pain or frequent numbness … and it has been around for more that 72 hours, take it seriously. I promise, most of these irritations will not vanish by chance.  My guess regarding Mike is that his upper back was too weak to retract his shoulders. Thus, the imbalance between front and back musculature created ‘protraction syndrome’ and therefore pinched nerves.  if you know me we have talked about scaption and upper back strength haven’t we?! YES.

At FIT, not one person I work with is immune to a weak upper back.  We all look down too much, text too much, and forget to stand upright and pull our shoulders back.  Me too, it is the nature of gravity.  Thus the upper posterior chain does or will get dormant.  The fix is to get active making those muscles stronger, period.  I am a very big fan of scaption with resistance tubing.  There are other modes, moves, and techniques but for the sake of time and ease … scaption is king!  It retrains your brain to pull those shoulders downward and backward to make … you guessed it, good posture.

Typically if your body is experiencing pain in the shoulders, neck, or lower spine (low back) the dysfunction of poor posture (weak upper back) started it all. Mike could have fixed his issue with a few very educational Personal Training sessions with me … NOW he will spend a few years just to get back to regular posture IF he doesn’t get inured or need surgery.  I hope he reads this Bob Report because  it is the most affordable and user friendly fix for his issue.

Will he heed this advice?  I hope so.  For today, you and I are hopefully free from pain and enjoy full range of motion in our joints.  If you do not, let’s talk about it ok.

The number one way to prevent falling apart or getting hurt is safe and effective exercise for the rest of your life. Organs have a shelf life and muscles get weak if you don’t use them. Don’t let time beat you down.  Be proactive and please be FIT!

In good health

Bob

Ultimately the greatest help is self-help.  –  Bruce Lee