by Pippa Teague, Strength Coach | Oct 17, 2019 | Abdominals, Breathing, Diaphragm, Pain Relief, Uncategorized
By Anna Burns, PT, DPT
Infinite Potential Physical Therapist
One of the simplest things you can do to manage pain is to breathe. Have you ever noticed that when you’re concentrating, exercising, or in pain, you tend to hold your breath? Our diaphragm is directly connected with our nervous system, which is where pain signals are processed. When our nervous system is on high alert with pain, stress, anxiety, or fear, engaging our diaphragm can calm the nervous system from “fight or flight” status to “rest and digest” status, thus decreasing pain and stress levels. It’s one of our best tools to manage pain; no side-effects, no out-of-pocket costs!
For various reasons over the years, we have adopted a couple of different ways of breathing that circumvent the diaphragm. One is breathing with the upper chest; this breath is “emergency” breathing, a very shallow pattern that we perform when we are stressed or scared. Breathing like this only perpetuates the “fight or flight” cycle. Check out this video for an example of Emergency Breathing.
Another way is “belly breathing,” in which we distend our bellies outward on purpose; there’s nothing to breathe with in your belly; your lungs and diaphragm are under your rib cage! While the belly rising is normal with inhalation, it should not be consciously distended. Check out this video for an example of Belly Breathing.
Optimal breathing engages our diaphragm, a large muscle that sits under our lungs and over our stomach. By breathing into this area that touches all aspects of the rib cage, the diaphragm contracts downwards to expand the surface area for oxygen intake in our lungs. When we exhale completely, the diaphragm relaxes upwards to push out the de-oxygenated air in our lungs. To activate your diaphragm, breathe in through your nose. Check out this VIDEO for an example. Visualize a balloon expanding at the bottom of your rib cage as you inhale; breathe in pain-free existence. Exhale slowly through your mouth as completely as you can until you have no air left; breathe out all the pain. Pause for a second, and then inhale again through your nose. Try not to bulge out your belly on purpose or move your spine. In fact, I love practicing this laying on my back. So take a mindful moment (or several!) throughout your day to breathe. It will help quiet your pain signals by calming down your nervous system.
by Pippa Teague, Strength Coach | Sep 9, 2019 | Breathing, Conditioning, Injury, Injury Prevention, Recovery, Running, strength training, Stressrelief, Stretching, Uncategorized, working with injury
The definition of adversity via Webster’s Dictionary:
“Difficulties, misfortune, ill luck, back luck, trouble, difficulty, hardship, distress, disaster, misadvantage, suffering, affliction, sorrow, misery, heartbreak, heartache, wretchedness, tribulation, woe, pain, trauma, torment, torture.” The list goes on.
Adversity can be defined as any of the above. Everyone goes through some sort of adversity. It’s not about what type you deal with, but about how you respond to it.
Do you ever feel alone when you’re dealing with something like this? I am sure of it, we all do. But guess what, you aren’t alone. The feeling of being alone EASILY gets more believable in a world where social media is constantly in our faces. Old friends, co-workers, gym buddies, cousins, acquaintances, celebrities… they all look SO happy on the screen of your phone. But guess what, they probably have shit going on. Don’t forget that.
So… How do you overcome adversity? You can’t just make it go away, you can’t just run and hide and let someone else deal with it, you can’t just forget about it because it absolutely will resurface at some point.
Adversity can be overcome by the way you react to it.
This can be applied to matters BIG and SMALL.
Small example…
Someone is going 40 MPH in the passing lane and you are LATE for work?
Option A: Tailgate them like a MASShole, honk and give them the finger?
OR
Option B: Remain calm and let them realize they are being slow where they will eventually speed up or switch lanes.
Big example…
Someone does something extremely unjust, unreasonable and unfair?
Option A: scream and yell, accuse and verbally abuse?
OR
Option B: Remain calm with them. Do you best to not let your emotions drive your words. Take your feelings to a conversation with a friend where you can say what you want and get some advice.
Take home… We all deal with shit on any given day. The sun still rises in the morning no matter what was dealt the day before. Get up, shake the dust off and keep moving. Use adversity to learn, grow and become stronger. Get your reps in, practice makes perfect so keep working on overcoming those small hardships because when the big ones roll around, you will be ready.
by Pippa Teague, Strength Coach | May 22, 2019 | Breathing, Conditioning, Flexibility, Foam rolling, Injury Prevention, strength training, Stretching, Uncategorized
Pippa Teague, Strength Coach
Infinite Potential Physical Therapy
So.. what the heck IS foam rolling exactly? Well, it is rolling parts of your body (muscles) on a foam roller giving yourself your own “massage” or some might say “self myofacial release”.
It is frequently used to promote recovery, flexibility and athletic performance. However, as everyone began to become obsessed with it over the past few years, we have learned more about what it DOES NOT do verses what is DOES do. It has NOT been proven to provide long term effects on recovery, perform, OR flexibility. Short term effects on flexibility? Sure. Long term (what we really want)..? Not so much.
The widely accepted theory is that foam rolling / lacrosse balling / super nova-ing is a way to “release” fascia (soft tissue surrounding all organs, muscles, bones and nerve fibers), adhesions, muscular restrictions, etc. This restriction, adhesion or tightness of this fascia causes decreased joint range of motion and blood flow.
Here is the real deal.. to actually CHANGE the tissue that is underneath your skin (aka fascia) you need a SIGNIFICANTLY higher force than a human exerting it on themselves would need to be used! So let’s get one thing straight.. you ARE NOT releasing anything..
So why are we getting those short-term improvements in flexibility, pain relief, etc..?
The theory is that foam rolling CAN stimulating the nervous system to relax which in addition will improve pain tolerance. Similar to other things like stretching, deep breathing and meditation..
Our Advice? USE IT IF YOU LIKE IT AND UNDERSTAND THAT IT PROVIDES SHORT TERM EFFECTS ONLY.
Apply during your warm up (no more than 2-3 mins)
5-10 passes over each muscle group
We know that more does not mean improved outcomes…
So.. in short. Foam rolling or self mobilization can give you short term gains in flexibility, decrease muscle soreness and pain. KEY WORD IS SHORT TERM! What can it do long term? …..? Unsure.
If you foam roll and you feel like it helps you in your workouts and promotes recovery, then keep it up! If you foam roll and are in agony and doesn’t seem to help you then giving it a miss might not be a bad idea!
Learn how your body reacts and do what feels good!
by Pippa Teague, Strength Coach | May 6, 2019 | Abdominals, Breathing, Diaphragm, Stressrelief, Uncategorized
By Anna Burns, PT, DPT
Infinite Potential Physical Therapist
One of the simplest things you can do for your core, your pain, and your stress level is to breathe. When working out or concentrating, it’s always the first thing to go. Our diaphragm is directly connected with our nervous system. When our nervous system is on high alert with pain, stress, anxiety, or fear, engaging our diaphragm can switch the nervous system from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest,” decreasing pain and stress levels. It’s one of our best tools to manage pain.
We have adopted a couple of different ways of breathing that “get around” the diaphragm. One is breathing with the upper chest; this breath is “emergency” breathing, a very shallow pattern that we perform when we are stressed or scared. Click HERE for an example of Emergency Breathing
Another way is “belly breathing,” in which we distend our bellies outward on purpose. While the belly rising is normal with inhalation, it should not be consciously distended. Click HERE for an example of Belly Breathing
Optimal breath engages our diaphragm, a large muscle that sits under our lungs and over our stomach. By breathing into this area that touches all aspects of the rib cage, the diaphragm contracts to expand the surface area for oxygen intake in our lungs. When we exhale completely, the diaphragm relaxes to push out the stale air. To activate your diaphragm, breathe in through your nose (CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO). Visualize a balloon in that area expanding as you inhale. Exhale slowly through your mouth, deflating the balloon, as far as you can until you have no air left. Pause a second, and then inhale again through your nose. Try not to bulge out your belly on purpose or move your back. In fact, I love practicing this laying on my back. So take a mindful moment (or several!) throughout your day to breathe. As one of our clients likes to say, “Breathing is NOT optional!”
