yogabodyllcjuliehill

Healthy Shoulders Start with Understanding Them

Thu, 23 May 2024 02:15:28 GMT

Healthy Shoulders Start with Understanding Them

Shoulder pain or limited range of motion with your arm is common. When one muscle is overworking, and another is underworking it restricts the movement of the arm by causing pain. It's important to understand the different components that make up the shoulder to improve your function. The rotator cuff muscles are commonly blamed for pain or causing dysfunction yet with four different joints playing into the shoulder there is a lot that can go wrong.

The shoulder has an intricate design to allow our arms to move in a wide range of motions. In fact, the shoulder girdle itself floats to permit increased movement. Greater range of motion also leaves us vulnerable to possible imbalances or injuries. Understanding the joints that comprise the shoulder helps us assess and keep our shoulders healthy.

Think of the shoulder girdle like shoulder pads on a football player. They sit on top of the rib cage. Amazingly our shoulder girdle connects to our torso in the front of our body at the sternoclavicular joint, where the clavicle and sternum come together. See the picture above. This joint allows the clavicle to lift slightly so we can move our arm overhead.

Follow the clavicle along laterally and you'll notice another joint. The acromioclavicular joint is formed where the clavicle and scapula come together. Imbalance in this joint gives us pain or restriction when lifting our arm overhead. Dysfunction here may also present as one shoulder lower than the other, indicating that the upper trapezius muscle is locked long.

The scapula (aka shoulder blade) and the posterior ribcage form another joint referred to as the sternoclavicular joint. The scapula must move freely, or it will restrict movement of the arm. A common area to hold emotional tension is along the inside edge of the scapula. Those muscles get tense and trigger points emerge. Sometimes it is as simple as massaging the tissue and other times we need to rebuild functional movement coordinating the tissue. See the attached video for a self-assessment of shoulder blade protraction and retraction.

Function and stability are needed in these first three joints before we can look at how the arm bone moves in the glenohumeral joint (aka the socket). If the other three joints are not moving well their dysfunction will show up in how the arm bone does or doesn't move. In many instances the rotator cuff muscles are overworking because one of the other joints is imbalanced.

Interested in eliminating your shoulder pain or improving your movement, schedule a movement therapy session.

Low Back Pain, Sciatica, Hip Pain, SI Joint Pain, Knee Pain What do they all have in common?

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:54:38 GMT

Low Back Pain, Sciatica, Hip Pain, SI Joint Pain, Knee Pain What do they all have in common?

Lower back pain, Sciatica, hip pain, SI joint pain, knee pain are all symptoms of intrinsic core muscles that are not well coordinated. No amount of crunches, planks, or sit ups will fix this. More often than not, they make the problem worse.

When you suffer from low back pain, etc. you are feeling the result of a disconnect in your intrinsic core. There are several muscles deep within you that work together to provide stability and support to the spine. These muscles are harder to feel as they are not superficial. When the intrinsic core muscles are well coordinated it provides stability for walking, climbing stairs, carrying heavy objects, sports and moving about your day without bracing.

Bracing happens when there is a muscle imbalance. A muscle imbalance means the nervous system tells a muscle to stay high tone or tense all the time, like setting an emergency brake. Unfortunately, if one muscle is constantly tense the opposing muscle must release its tone (reciprocal inhibition). This tensing of muscles on one side and weakening of muscles on the other side of a joint begins to pull the joint out of alignment limiting balanced support. As we move our body friction is created in the vertebrae, hip, knee, etc. Pain isn’t the problem, it is the body’s way of telling you your core is not stabilizing, you're bracing, and friction is deteriorating a joint faster than it should.

There is a predictable pattern of bracing within the body. We already know which muscles tend to hold tension and which tend to release tone, see picture above.

How do we correct it? We recoordinate the intrinsic core muscles. We reconnect to the cylinder of stability within each of us by doing what we did to build it originally. Babies build their intrinsic core first because it provides stability for all other movements, even superficial core movements like crunches and sit ups.

Retraining our deep intrinsic core muscles to work together isn’t hard. It does take focus and awareness to reconnect and learn to use them throughout the rest of our day.

Schedule a Functional Movement Assessment to start rebuilding your support system and get back to or keep doing the activities you love.

Tripod Points of the Foot

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:40:30 GMT

Stability starts with the Tripod of the Foot

Stability starts with the Tripod Points of the Foot

I might sound like a broken record with how often I talk about the tripod points of the foot in my classes. Stating, "Where the big toe meets the ball of the foot, the pinkie toe meets the ball of the foot and the center of the heel." My intent is to bring awareness to the importance of weighting these points equally, so you don't experience pain like I did.

I remember hearing about points on the feet in some yoga classes I attended. Unfortunately, it didn't sink and years later I suffered from pain in my big toe knuckle and the start of a bunion on my right foot. It was then that I got serious about understanding the importance of these points.

The three points in the picture above are your tripod of stability. There are 3 arches in your feet that come together at these points to provide us stability to stand upright. The medial longitudinal arch attaches at the ball of the big toe. The lateral longitudinal arch attaches at the base of the little toe. Both the lateral longitudinal arch and the medial longitudinal arch attach to the center of the heel. The transverse arch runs from the ball of the big toe to the base of the little toe. Our arches lift and lower as we walk. They function like a spring, absorbing load and providing stability.

When our knee comes forward with the foot weighted, our arches splay out lengthening and spreading to the sides. As our knee comes back our arch lifts up like a suction cup. A common dead zone for people is the point at the base of the pinkie toe. Many of us do not put any weight there. It may appear to be on the floor, but it isn't actually weighted. This not only prevents the arches from splaying properly, it also prevents them from cueing up the kinetic chain to help activate hip muscles.

Our feet have lots of proprioceptors that provide information to the body. Without weighted contact some of that proprioception is lost. Over time our feet begin to compensate in an unhealthy pattern. We start to experience pain in our foot, like I did, or pain up the kinetic chain in our hip, back, etc.

Check out the wear pattern in your shoes or look at the callused areas on your feet. Do you have a callus on the back of your heel or ball of big toe? Are you overweighting one point and not weighting another?

Interested in a simple technique to better understand how you weight your feet? Email me and I will provide instructions. Julie@Juliehillmt.com

Spine Stability First then Range of Motion

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 01:05:12 GMT

When it comes to spine stability and health maintaining shared segmental load is a must. Producing too much movement (or load) from one spot in the spine creates structural issues leading to osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, and disk herniation. Often the muscles that support shared segmental loading of the spine need to be retrained.

A yoga class is great for getting us to move our spines through the different planes of movement. If we are not careful, we can get caught up in the poses and miss the awareness of where we are moving from. We are born with thoracic kyphosis (flexion) in our spine. It is developed in utero and referred to as our primary curve. As infants we work hard to develop our secondary curves. Lordosis is developed in the cervical and lumbar sections of our spine during our first 12 months. Our movements as babies help develop the muscles to support and maintain these curves.

As adults our occupations or habits can cause movement patterns that fail to maintain shared segmental loading of the spine. Repetitive motions, sitting, looking at a computer or down at our phone for extended periods of time all shift us toward failing to support our spine. Unconsciously we move more and more from just a few segments in the spine and eventually suffer from neck or lower back pain. Through awareness and retraining, we can coordinate our muscles again to support and maintain shared segmental loading of our spine. These movements are most likely ones you haven't done in years :)

Our spine is a miraculous structure. If you haven’t gotten down on the floor and crawled around, I recommend it!

Interested in feeling a change?

Schedule a Movement or Breathing session with Julie.

Nasal Breathing Boosts Overall Health & Fitness

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:36:37 GMT

There are numerous benefits to breathing through your nose. The benefits range from obvious ones such as better sleep, a calming state, avoiding dry mouth and gum disease to the less obvious ones like straight teeth, better posture, improving your energy and immune system.

Your initial reaction to thinking about how you breathe is probably like mine was, "I always breathe through my nose, 100% of the time". Take a moment to explore this. Try this short self-quiz. (Be honest.)

Recite the Pledge of Allegiance out loud (Or read this entire article out loud) notice if you are inhaling through your nose or mouth. I find that over 90% of people I encounter breathe through their mouth while talking. Watch the newscasters on TV or listen to the DJs on the radio for examples.

What about when exercising? I definitely used to breath threw my mouth while exercising. When I combined the mouth breathing, I was doing while exercising and talking (I talk for a living) at least 50% of my awake time was mouth breathing. Who knew what I did while sleeping!

Training yourself to continually breathing is worth the effort.

Benefits of Nasal Breathing:

-Filters dust and allergens in the air

-Moistens and warms the air

-Prevents over breathing (it's a real thing and very common)

-Releases Nitric Oxide (NO is a vasodilator, it opens air passages naturally)

-Boosts oxygen consumption and improves circulation

-Improves lung volume

-Aides immune system

-Supports the correct formation or teeth and jaw

-Lowers risk of snoring and sleep apnea

-Prevents dry mouth and gum disease

As a functional breathing coach, the first place I work with clients is nasal breathing which automatically improves their overall breathing. We breathe over 25,000 times a day, 24 hours a day. Taking 4-5 minutes a few times a day to retrain your breathing pattern goes a long way to improving our overall heath.

You may be curious about breathing through your nose while exercising. I was recently interviewed by Matt Miller with Cycle Magazine for the benefits of nasal breathing while biking. Read the interview here:

https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-progression/why-nasal-breathing-could-be-key-to-breathing-better-on-you-next-mtb-ride/

Here is another article from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/when-it-comes-to-breathing-during-exercise-youre-probably-doing-it-wrong/2019/01/23/b4d3c338-1e59-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html

Use this video link for exercises to improve your nasal breathing habit.

https://youtu.be/auNlCLS2uCI?si=Z50LvbMkz-SQdMkY

Questions about where to start with improving your own breathing?

Schedule a Functional Breathing Assessment or send an email.

Keep Your Vibes Positive

julie@yogabodyllc.com (Julie Hill) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 21:21:57 GMT

Keep it on the Positive Side

One way to keep our vibes positive is to use an affirmation. Fall is particularly a good time to incorporate one. Many of us experience mood shifts, decreased energy or even depression as the days grow cold and windy with less daylight hours. Using an affirmation to keep things on the positive side is very supportive.

The words we choose to tell ourselves carry power. Having used affirmations for years, I found some are more powerful than others. Through inquiry, study and practice I learned for an affirmation to be really powerful it must have two things. It must be believable, and it must be felt in your body.

Self-affirmations provide positive support. As we focus our energy on our new intention, it helps shift our behavior. To really harness this power within us, we must truly believe in our words. If the words we choose do not sit well, they lose impact. For example, if your intention is to gain strength and you state to yourself each morning, "I AM STRONG". You may find there is a part of you that disagrees with this statement. A conversation starts in the back of your mind about how strong you currently are, starting to send mixed signals or negative vibes. It is important to phrase your affirmation in a way that is believable to you and in the present tense. Play around with the wording to find one that is inspiring and sits well with you. Write a few different phrasings down on a piece of paper. Try them out by sitting quietly connecting inward, then start repeating the first phrasing of the affirmation from your list 5 or 6 times and notice what comes up. Do you feel more energized, conflicted, or connected? Move through your list finding the one that fits the best. Choose an affirmation that fits where you are today, for example changing, "I am strong" to "I am building my strength each day" or "Every day I connect into my inner strength" can make all the difference.

Connecting our words to a felt sense within us increases our focus and energy. Affirmations need to be felt in our body. Not only does your mind need to be on board, mentally believing in the affirmation, your body needs to be in sync too. Uniting the mind and body harnesses more power to support the positive change we desire. Take a moment to let yourself get a sense of what your affirmation feels like inside of you. Gaining clarity here makes a difference. Ask yourself these questions: How would I feel with this in my life? What types of activities would I do? Imagine yourself doing activities or having conversations as this person. Then use this imagery and felt sense when you state your affirmation to align your mind and body for a positive change.

I encourage all of you to play and explore using an affirmation. If you have any questions or would like a deeper discussion, email me directly for more conversation.

Empower Yourself

julie@yogabodyllc.com (Julie Hill) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 21:17:05 GMT

Empowerment comes from within

Many of you know as a yoga therapist, personal trainer, and energy healer I help people improve their movement, eliminate pain, and get back to activities they love. But what you might not realize is that although I teach yoga poses and strengthening exercises, what I am really teach is SELF-AWARENESS. When we become aware of our patterns, our movement, our thought, and our breathing, we have more capacity to change.

Whether you call it mindfulness or somatic awareness, it starts with transferring attention from your external environment to your internal one. Most of us spend the day focusing outside of our body. Often the only time we notice what is going on inside is when we feel hunger or pain.

“We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.”~ Sheryl Sandberg

The definition of empowerment is increasing the capacity of individuals to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions. Empowering ourselves speaks not only to making choices, but to making better choices, choices that are in line with who we want to become.

Empowering ourselves involves self-awareness and feeling in control. Feeling in control has a lot to do with how we are in the moment. My work with students has led me to find there are two things that take away our control. The first is stress or overwhelm. When we are stressed or overwhelmed, we are reactive using more of a knee jerk response rather than a thoughtful one. We find ourselves overreacting to a situation, saying something we didn’t mean, or agreeing to something we don’t want to do.
The second is increased mind chatter. When our minds are overactive, they have trouble turning off. Our brains are very good at problem solving. In fact they get so good, if we do not have a problem, our mind will start making up problems so it can continue solving them. Most of us have experienced this at bed-time when the mind goes into overdrive.

Using simple practices like Subtle Breathing or an Awareness Check-In encourages us to be present to our body and mind. This very presence allows us to feel in control and to make choices that are in line with the person we want to be. Here is a link to the Subtle Breathing practice https://youtu.be/leaAAj0vJmo .

Small practices used regularly can make a big difference. In the book Atomic Habits, the author James Clear writes about the importance tiny, regular habits can have. He states that, “All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision.” He explains this is the meaning of the title Atomic Habits, “A regular practice that is not only small and easy to do but is the source of incredible power.” If you would like to read more, use this link https://g.co/kgs/EkWi9s .

My students using the Subtle Breathing and Awareness Check-In practices regularly report significant changes overtime. If the idea of growing self-awareness, feeling in control and making better choices toward who you want to become is attractive to you, schedule a private session or email me directly.