LYT

Tag: exercise

  • Exercise and Pelvic Organ Prolapse

    Exercise and Pelvic Organ Prolapse

    by Dr. Ashley Newton PT, DPT

     

    Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the pelvic area does not adequately support the pelvic organs above. The ability to support is based on connective tissue, nerve functioning, and pelvic floor and core muscle strength and coordination. Pelvic organ prolapse can often create bothersome symptoms for people including heaviness in the pelvis, low back and pelvic pain, difficulty emptying with urination, and bulging at the vaginal opening. Oftentimes, people with pelvic organ prolapse are nervous about how and if they can participate in exercise. The answer is resoundingly yes! Specific exercise and pelvic floor training can help reduce and manage the symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse. However, there are a few things to consider and keep an eye out for when exercising to avoid exacerbation of symptoms.

     

    1. With lifting: Always lift with a neutral spine and get the object close to your body. Rounding the back and head places downward pressure on the pelvic organs. When the back and head are neutral, we are better able to use the core and pelvic floor and the deep core musculature is able to support the pelvic organs. 
    2. Avoid holding your breath: Think about it this way – if you hold your breath, you hold all that pressure and air in your body. That pressure is pressing down on the pelvic organs!! Keep breathing through exercise and if you find that you are tempted to hold your breath, try modifying the exercise or pose. 
    3. Modify high-impact activities: Plyometrics (jumping), running, etc. – result in increased load on our bodies. When we run, our body absorbs 2-4x the body’s weight as force. That is a lot for the body to manage and if the body is already having trouble supporting pelvic organs with lighter activities, it can make symptoms worse. Lower impact activities reduce the stress on the core and pelvic floor and also give people the opportunity to slow down and focus on their posture. 
    4. POSTURE, POSTURE, POSTURE: I can’t say it enough! Your skull should be stacked over your rib cage over your pelvis. This optimizes how our tissues and muscles co-contract to support the spine. In this posture, we avoid pressuring the pelvis and can lift and support the pelvic organs better. 
    5. Don’t ignore your shoulder girdle!!! Your shoulder girdle is part of your core. It is what allows the rib cage to sit over the pelvis. Those muscles need strengthening so that we can keep the trunk upright throughout the day without rounding and pressurizing into the pelvic floor. 

     

    As always, if you have questions regarding pelvic health, exercise, and/or pelvic organ prolapse specifically, it may be helpful to contact a pelvic health professional (i.e. physician, pelvic health physical therapist) for clarity and information. Check out my clinic’s Instagram @activcoreprinceton_pelvic for all things pelvic health and check out pelvic PTs in your area. Pelvicrehab.com is a directory of pelvic rehab practitioners searchable by zip code!

  • Eccentric Exercise for Tissue Repair

    Eccentric Exercise for Tissue Repair

    by Sarah Apple Kingsley, pt, dpt

     

    If you are familiar with LYT and our yoga classes, you know by now that we LOVE eccentric exercise! If you are not, I will share with you why eccentric exercise is so beneficial in tissue repair and recovery. 

     

    What does eccentric mean? Muscles contract in 3 different ways. The least stressful and straining is an isometric contraction in which the muscle activates without moving at all. Think of your bicep which controls elbow flexion. If you hold the arm at 90 degrees with a weight in your hand without letting the arm move, your bicep has to contract isometrically to withstand the load. Concentric contraction is when the muscle works in its shortening phase. So for the bicep, its action is elbow flexion. When you actively bend your elbow holding that dumbbell, now you are concentrically working the bicep. Eccentrics describe when you work a muscle in its lengthening phase. In this case, begin by holding that weight with your elbow bent and trying to slowly control the lowering into full elbow extension (straightening). This motion causes the bicep to work to control the elbow extension in its lengthening phase.

     

    Eccentric contractions are much more challenging as you are asking the muscle to work at a greater angle. For this reason, you get more effective exercises with just a few reps/contractions of eccentric motions as opposed to doing those dumbbell curls all day long. Eccentric contractions help build muscle faster and more efficiently and also require less oxygen. This means eccentric muscle training puts less stress on the heart and is less likely to cause spikes in blood pressure. Moreover, eccentric contractions are shown to aid in breaking down adhesions throughout the muscle tissue in order to stimulate new cell regeneration and repair. This has shown to be especially effective when treating the rotator cuff with online yoga classes.

     

    The shoulder joint is one of the more common reasons why people seek PT treatment in clinics. There is frequently a loss of range of motion in the shoulder internal and/or external rotation due to rotator cuff dysfunction. There could be scarring, a tear (minor or major), impingement, etc. The adhesions built up in the muscle due to impingement and repetitive microtrauma to the area cause restrictions, pain, and deficits in ROM, active or passive, due to muscle guarding and therefore decreased muscle length. Continuously overstretching or attempting to passively mobilize the tissues and joints are frequently very painful and oftentimes unsuccessful.

     

    By performing eccentric exercises, the body will work actively against the resistance in a lengthening manner, so that you feel somewhat in control of the motion creating decreased muscle guarding. With slow releases, working on lengthening against resistance breaks down adhesions. This is promoting more length in the muscle with each contraction. These exercises can be performed against manual resistance from a therapist or with the use of a theraband. Eccentrics are especially great for improving internal and external shoulder rotation and can be beneficial for shoulder flexion as well. 

     

    The main consideration is the correct exercise frequency. An adequate load must be applied to make sure these exercises are effective. An over or underuse of load can further deteriorate the tendon structure. More studies need to be done on the proper application, which is why these exercises are best performed manually by a therapist. This will help to properly grade the amount of resistance being applied and to track the level of fatigue in order to gauge repetitions. I have found the ability to add a distraction moment to the glenohumeral joint at the same time makes the exercise more tolerable for the shoulder joint complex. This can make it even more effective than self-exercise with a theraband. 

     

    To try the exercise, start with a light resistance band, holding one side in each hand with your elbows bent at 90 degrees and in by your sides. Make sure the heads of your arm bones are positioned well in the socket. If they tend to roll forwards, shrug your shoulders up, back, and down before beginning. Pull the band apart with both hands coming into shoulder external rotation (the elbows stay in by your sides as the fists go out with your thumbs pointing up). Then, as slowly as possible, allow the fists to return to starting position or even slightly further towards your belly for shoulder internal rotation. Perform repetitions until you are fatigued, but not in pain. 

     

    We LOVE eccentrics of all forms in our LYT yoga practice so check out some classes on LYT daily yoga for more eccentric exercise tips!

     

    References:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133471/

  • 21 | Seven Things My Dogs Have Taught Me About Living

    21 | Seven Things My Dogs Have Taught Me About Living

    Today I thought it would be fun to talk about several of the lessons that I have learned from my dogs! Any person who has a dog can most definitely relate, and even if you don’t have a dog, you can take these lessons and transfer them to your own behavior.

    Here are the top 7 lessons I’ve learned from my dog:

    7. How to be present

    6. Positive reinforcement

    5. Loyalty is powerful

    4. Have FUN

    3. Exercise

    2. Unbridled enthusiasm

    1. Forgiveness

  • 12 | How to Reset During the Holidays

    12 | How to Reset During the Holidays

    With it being the day after Thanksgiving, we are talking about doing a post-Thanksgiving reset. Reset is an idea that we have these buttons within ourselves that we can press in order to start with a fresh plate.

    By having the option to press this nonexistent button, we don’t have to go through the processes of repatterning. Oftentimes, the holiday season tends to give us the “blues” which is caused by pressure, high expectations, and overindulgence.

    Reset Acronym:

    • R: Release
    • E: Exercise
    • S: Service
    • E: Evaluate
    • T: Thanks