Muscle Balancing: The Knee

Knee pain is almost as common as back pain and can be just as debilitating. Simply put, knees are designed to fail. On a long-enough timeline, just about everyone on the planet would need knee replacements. So, because of this flaw in our manufacturing, I thought I would write a post on how you can start to decrease any existing knee pain and improve knee function.

The treatment methods I have listed below are to be taken only as a guide. Many knee injuries have a variety of commonalities, but every injury is a little different, so keep that in mind when trying these. Before starting any of these exercises, you should consult your primary medical practitioner. If anything results in an increase in pain or exacerbation of symptoms, stop the exercise and consult a medical professional.

The first thing that I have my knee patients do is ice. Ice is exceptionally important because it helps to modify pain, swelling, and inflammation. Check out this previous post for the best way to ice (http://doctorlynk.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/ice-for-injuries/)The most important of those three is swelling. The reason reducing swelling is so important is becuase it “turns off” muscles and decreases proprioceptive awareness (balance). This particularly applies to the vastus medialis oblique (VMO), which is part of the quadriceps muscle group on the front of the thigh.When the VMO loses strength, the entire knee becomes compromised in stability. The reason is because the VMO is the only muscle that has direct control over the patella, and without it the patella can track laterally and create impingement. Quadriceps strength is one of the most critical components of maintaining knee health.

Ankle Pumps – This is the easiest exercise to do to assist with swelling. It’s exactly what it sounds like: just pump your ankles up and down. It works best if you can elevate your legs above your heart to allow gravity to help remove some of the swelling from around the knee. I recommend a minimum of 500 per day. It sounds like a lot, but really it should only take 5-10 minutes out of your day.

Quad Sets – This is probably the most important initial knee exercises in physical therapy.

• Starting position?
• Roll up a towel and place it under your knee with the leg straight.
• With a straight leg and lifting your ankle up while straightening your knee by tightening the quads
• Hold for 10 seconds.
• Relax and repeat 10x at least 5x per day.
• You can increase muscle recruitment by rapidly tapping the VMO while holding the contraction

Bridges – This exercise is designed to increase the recruitment of your gluteal muscles. These are muscles you use every day and should be biased for activities like getting out of chairs, going up stairs, squats, lunges, etc. I’ve worked with multiple patients that significantly decreased their knee pain by increasing their recruitment of their gluteals.

• Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat.
• Draw your abs in like zipping up a tight pair of jeans.
• Squeeze your cheeks and lift your hips toward the ceiling.
• Hold for 5 seconds before slowly returning to the start position.
• Repeat 15x at least 3x per day.

If you feel like you are doing it with your back, that means your abs aren’t drawn in. If you feel like you are doing it with your hamstrings, then pick up your toes and only place the weight in the heel.

Face the Wall Squat – Most people with knee pain cringe at the idea of squats, but, most likely, they are doing them wrong. Here is a quick video of a wall squat demonstration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Zo2U42d1o. If you are still having trouble with this, get a chair in front of you against a wall, walk forward until your knees are against the edge of the chair and try your squats from there. This will prevent your knees from going forward over your toes, which is typically where the pain comes from with squats. Keep your weight in your heels, knees behind toes, use your gluteals to stand up, and keep your abs drawn in for safety of your spine.

Quick Kicks – This is the last exercise I’m going to recommend. It helps with joint stabilization and proprioception (body awareness). Stand next to something stable in case you need it for balance. Since this one is complicated, I will let my good friend Dr. Kareem Samhouri tell you about it in a video (sorry he talks a lot). Check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZnr07WIiiM. Try to spend 30 second in each direction on each leg, 3 times.

There are a lot of things that can transpire when dealing with knee injuries, so please use caution when trying these exercises and see a medical professional if you can.

Other resources: Robertson Training Systems (http://budurl.com/RobertsonTraining) – scroll down the page to “Bulletproof Knees”. The other products here are also phenomenal, created by possibly one of the best trainers in the nation, Eric Cressey.
I hope you found this information helpful and feel free to leave comments or ask questions below if you are dealing with knee pain.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

Improve your breathing

There can be a variety of different reasons why someone may have trouble breathing, and you should definitely consult a medical professional if you are having trouble because it could be some serious. Now, with that out of the way, I can talk about a few simple things that you can do to help to improve your difficulty with breathing whether it is simply from being deconditioned, having exercise induced asthma, or something more problematic like chronic bronchitis or COPD.

Lets start first with a little bit about your lungs. Basically, the lungs work with like a black smith bellows. As you breathe in, the diaphragm contracts and it generates a vacuum inside your lungs by opening space and lowers the pressure (like pulling apart the handles of the bellows). As a result, air travels into the lung to equal out the pressure by comparison with the higher pressure outside. As you breathe out, the diaphragm relaxes and air flows out of the body without much muscle contraction. This is called quite breathing and generally requires very little effort, but leaves a certain amount of “dead air” in your lungs that does not supply oxygen to the body.

However, once someone starts to exert themselves and the body requires more oxygen, the need for effective breathing is critical for the continuation of activity. This involves the ability of your body to forcefully exhale or breathe out. By increasing your ability to exhale you can get rid of more of the de-oxygenated air (dead air) and have more space for oxygenated air. So, here are two quick things to help with improving your breathing.

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing - http://doctorlynk.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/diaphragmatic-breathing/
2. Balloons – Yes, go out and buy a bag of balloons and blow up at least 10 per day (you can just keep blowing up the same one until it gets easy and then start another one). By blowing up balloons you will work on exercising the muscles used the exhale (transversus abdominis, intercostals), which allows you to create more space for oxygenated air when you breath in. As you continue to work on this the muscles will become more effective and allow for increased tolerance of higher activity and better lung function. It can also help you clear out fluid that is in the lungs if you are sick (just be prepared to cough a lot).

I hope that everyone can find this tip useful and if you have any questions feel free to post below.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

The Undertaking of a Rope Project, but I Need a Little Help

Ok, so back in January 2011 I was approached by MataLeao about creating a presentation on human anatomy and how it relates to rope and present it at the Jersey Rope Experiment (JRE – they rock btw). I was happy to oblige and made a class for human anatomy with relation to rope despite knowing very little about rope. The class went well, but sparked the interest of my life-partner Ever. Through conversation with her the idea came about of creating a class on how to change the body to allow for greater tolerance with suspension. From there the idea developed into a class not only for suspension, but also for rope bondage.

In more detail, the class or classes will cover how to assess the body for limitations and weakness both with postural assessment as well as movement assessment. With that information, corrective mobility and strengthening/stabilizing exercises will be taught in order to correct for weaknesses and limitations. Through correction of limited mobility as well as increasing spinal and joint stability you can improve tolerance for being in bondage or suspension because the joints are better supported and muscles can handle the stress as opposed to the stress being placed through the joints, nerves, and arteries. There is also the added bonus of reducing injuries, pain, improving metabolism, and correcting posture, but the main goal is improving your experience with rope bondage and suspension. Additionally, I am going to try to cover a variety of techniques that the top can do by adjusting the bottom through cuing and basic physical therapy techniques as opposed to adjusting the ropes.

Below I have listed topics that I would love getting your (bottoms and tops) input on.

• What are the most common reasons that people have to come down from suspension or out of bondage?
• From the perspective of the bottom, what do you find most problematic while in bondage or suspension to be able to maintain the tie?
• Aside from adjusting the rope or the tie, what do you do to allow the person to maintain bondage or the suspension?
• What do you feel are the critical elements for being able to maintain bondage and suspension?
• Sort of a similar question, what do you find are the factors that most limit someone’s ability to stay bound or in suspension?

Here is where you all come in. Being that I am not even a rope novice, I want your input on these topics. Feel free to post here or on FetLife. I am hoping to gain more information on other factors beyond changing the tie or adjusting the rope. The focus of the class is not for the actual rope, but more so on other factors that can be utilized beyond rope that can affect suspension and bondage. Thank you in advance for everyone’s input and I look forward to continuing with this project to make into something useful and effective for the community.

I would also like to extend special thanks to MataLeao, WickedBlueGlow, LqqkOut, Lochai, Ten, Roughmercies, Bendy, Poison Beatrice, David Lawrence, Midori, and The Hammer for your input already! And a special thanks to my life-partner, Ever, for spurring me into action for this class.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

Headache Relief Without Medication

Cervical headaches, also known as cervicogenic headaches or “Rams Horn” headaches, plague a huge number of people with limited benefit through medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxers, and migraine medications. They typically present with pain starting the back of the head that can then wrap up or around the skull and typically end behind the eyes.

The cause of these types of headaches can be multifactorial, but usually it is caused by compression of the suboccipital space between your second cervical vertebrae (C2) and the base of the skull. On either side of there are 4 muscles (see figure below) that help control the movement of the skull, C1, and C2. Also in this area is a nerve called the suboccipital nerve the travels up the back of the head and refers in the “Ram Horn” pattern. The nerve can be trapped by these muscles as well as by the upper trapezius. Furthermore, restrictions through this area can create blood flow impingement for the brain and contribute to headaches.

The good news is that there can be simple muscle energy techniques to help reduce and possibly even eliminate your headaches. One such exercise called a neck retraction can be found through a previous post that I wrote. Now, onto the good stuff.

First, you have to do a quick assessment. Easiest way to determine how to treat the headache is by feeling which side the pain is on. Many times these types of headaches will pick a side to affect. If you have only one sided pain or pain is worse on one side, jump right to Step 1. Otherwise continue reading here.

If you cannot determine which side is the primary source of pain or the feeling is like a metal band or vice on the base of your skull, you can assess with movement. Start with your head in a neutral position. Turn your head to one side and then look down as if you are trying to smell your own arm pit (breathing optional). While keeping your head in this position turn your head and look up toward the ceiling without letting your head move away from the shoulder. Feel for how far you are able to turn your head away from your shoulder. Now, repeat this to the opposite side. Most likely you are going to find that there is one side more limited. Great! That means you have the information on which side to start treating.

The side that you want to treat is the direction (left or right) that had more difficulty looking up toward the ceiling. So, if you had more difficulty when turning to the right toward the ceiling, that is the side to start treating.

Step 1: Lay on your back with a thin pillow under you head and your shoulders.
Step 2: Place two fingers on your temple of the side that you are treating.
Step 3: Place the other hand on the side of the head above the ear.
Step 4: Without moving your head, look with your eyes only as hard as you can as if you are trying to see your fingers on your temple. Hold for 3 seconds.
Step 5: Without moving your head, tip to the left against your other hand. Hold for 3 seconds

Repeat Step 4 and 5 for 3 repetitions each and then retest your motion and see how your headaches feels. Hopefully, your motion will be better and your headache will be reduced. If there is no change, repeat this to the other side by looking and tipping in the opposite directions as before. Repeat up to 10x to the affected side to alleviate headaches and follow up with neck retractions from this post. This is effecting the suboccipital muscles (top left of the picture) to decrease pressure over the nerves causing the headache.

In case the above exercise didn’t work, try laying on a hard floor and place a golf ball under one side of the base of the skull. This may be a little tender to start with, but allow the weight of your head to sink into the golf ball. The goal of this is to slowly gap the space between the top vertebrae and the skull. Allow at least 3 minutes in this position, and its probably good to do this on both sides. You can also try this with two golf balls, but this gets a little uncomfortable.

Now, here is the last quick trick to try to alleviate those painful tension headaches. Feel on the back of your neck just below the base of the skull. You should feel a bump right in the center, that is C2. Trace down the center of your neck with your finger until your get to a second bigger bump. This will likely be C6 or C7. While laying down gently stroke downward from C2 to C7 with two fingers. Repeat this process for 2-3 minutes. This is working to decrease tension through a structure called the ligamentum nuchae that attaches to the base of the skull.

Hopefully one or all of the tricks above can help you to alleviate your headaches. If you have any questions feel free to contact me anytime.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

HE’S BACK

I’ve got a gift for you today:

Body Transformation Mini Circuit <—– (FREEE Workout)
Easy video with no sign up

Do this once per day – it only takes 5 minutes
and you’ll shape up quickly – trust me.

For most people, the kids are back in
school now and your schedule is a bit
more clear.  That’s why it’s such an important
time period to get in great shape.  Dr. K put
together this workout for you so that you
can firm up your butt, tuck in your abs,
and stand up straighter —–> all in 5 minutes per day:

C’mon – You’re at least curious <——— (seriously, who doesn’t have 5 minutes to look great?)

The opportunity is now – holidays come
around quickly, and the next 30 days
can completely change your body for
the entire next winter.  Think about it…

That’s why he’s put together a special
video that you can download absolutely FREEE
and follow-along.  He guarantees to shape you up and
firm you up in the next 2 weeks with just
5 minutes a day of exercise.

You can grab your totally FREEE workout right here:

[Body Transformation Mini Circuit]<—– (FREEE workout)

Ever hear of John Sallis?

Well, this guy did some research and wrote
an article called ‘The Ugly Truth’  – basically,
people who are better looking get paid 12%
more, on average.  It’s kind of crazy.

….and many studies have been done on
how straight you stand up, the firmness of
your handshake, and your perceived confidence
based upon your posture….

This solves that problem, and it does it in
5 minutes a day.  Now that you know
you’re likely to be treated with more respect,
get paid more money, and feel more self-confidant,
don’t you think it’s worth listening to what Kareem
has to say?

Try These Exercises For 2 Weeks & Watch <—— (5 minutes & done)

have a great day,

Lynk

PS – there are only a few spots left
in the last fast-action bonuses as I
write this to you – I highly recommend
you jump on board while the getting’s
good – You’re going to love
Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0,
and you’re going to be blown away
by how much Dr. K actually cares
about you.

Seriously, you know you want to watch!

Best Fish Oil

In my time in school as a physical therapy student I had the pleasure of sitting in on a lecture by Dr. Jose Antonio, who is a supplement specialist, author, and Chief Executive Officer of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. After the lecture on sports supplements I asked him a question about the number one supplement he would recommend for everyone and his answer was “Fish Oil” with the additional advice of taking it right before you go to bed. The reason for this is because your body is less likely to use it as a fuel when your metabolism is at its lowest during sleep. This allows for maximal benefit from the fish oil.

Now, years later, I have done a lot more research about the incredible benefits from taking fish oil as a supplement. I have listed a few of the benefits below, but there are so many more.

• Decrease high blood pressure
• Decrease risk for cardiovascular disease
• Decrease inflammation
• Reduced risk for prostate cancer
• Reduction of free radicals
• Managing high cholesterol
• Protection of cognitive function with aging
• Maintenance of skin, hair, and joints

Unfortunately fish oil, like all other supplements, is not a regulated substance by the FDA (yes, I am fully aware of the flaws and problems of the FDA). This results in companies putting together cheap and in-effective sources of fish oil and selling them to you without any information about the source. This has resulted in recent findings of heavy metals like mercury to be found in cheap fish oils. You get what you pay for. So when you buy that 90 day supply of fish oil from Walmart for $15, its probably not the best source.

The good news is that there is research about which fish oils are more effective and have higher absorption. Krill oil has been shown to be one of the most effective fish oils with a significantly higher absorption rate than most other sources of fish oil. Additionally, because of the lifespan of krill, there is no heavy metal accumulation in the bodies of the krill. What is even better is that it is a very renewable resource. Check out this site for more benefits of and information on krill oil. http://www.neptunebiotech.com/products/nko.

Now, there are a number of companies that have taken advantage of using krill oil as a marketable source of fish oil. The company that I have chosen to use is called Prograde (http://totalnutrition.getprograde.com/essential-fatty-acid.html). The reason I chose them is because the company was created and is run by fitness professionals that were tired of the pharmaceutical and supplement industry marketing false products with no research behind them.

I personally have met and spoken with the head of Prograde Research and Development and know for a fact that they have high quality supplements, one of which is their EFA Icon krill oil supplement.

This is just my personal recommendation because I know that Prograde offers some of the best quality supplements that are all backed with research, but if you can find equal or better for cheaper, go for it!

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

Diaphragmatic Breathing

Here Are 3 Reasons YOU Need To Know About Diaphragmatic Breathing

1. Low Back Pain
2. Improve Fat Loss
3. Heal Injuries Faster

What is the Diaphragm and what does it do?

• The diaphragm is a muscle that separates you heart and lungs from you other internal organs and is the primary muscle responsible for proper breathing.
• It attaches to the inside of your ribs and spine and moves toward the center of your body where it attaches to a tendon.
• As you breath in, the diaphragm contracts and moves downward to allow for your lungs to expand in your chest cavity and take a a full breath.
• As you breath out the diaphragm relaxes and moves back up to the starting position.

Why is it important to practice diaphragmatic breathing?

• Relaxes the entire body and nervous system, where tensions and anxieties are held
• Relaxes the heart, reducing blood pressure
• Increases oxygen levels to our cells
• Supports process of detoxification
• Assists with digestion
• Helps to reduce back pain by stabilizing the spine and core
• Expand the working capacity of respiratory system
• Enhance left and right brain interaction
• Balances the level of acidity and carbon dioxide of blood
• Clarity of Thought
• Focus/Awareness

How does this improve fat loss and healing time

• Improving the strength of the diaphragm assists with maintaining appropriate position of the spine and ribs.
• Maintaining appropriate position of all of your joints is critical for having a higher metabolism
• Higher oxygen levels in the body allow for a greater amount to be available for all activities including exercise.
• Without higher levels of oxygen your capacity for exercise will be limited as so will your results
• Your body runs on two things, oxygen and glucose. If you take out one you can forget about burning those extra calories for weight loss.
• Increased oxygen levels provide more oxygen for healing injuries because without oxygen injuries will take a much longer time to heal.
• Lastly, stress reduction that occurs with diaphragmatic breathing lowers stress hormones in the body that impede both healing of injuries and fat loss.

How to perform diaphragmatic breathing

• Sit in a relaxed and comfortable position that is slightly reclined.
• Place one hand on your stomach between your solar plexus and your belly button.
• Place your other hand at the top of your chest.
• Slowly breath in through your nose and into the hand that is on your stomach. Try to keep the hand on your chest relatively still. You stomach should expand as you breath in.
• Once you have take a full breath in, slowly breath out through pursed lips like breathing through a coffee straw. As you breath out, gently draw your stomach in as if you are zipping up a tight pair of jeans.
• Repeat 10x, at least 10x/day.

As you improve your awareness of the diaphragm you will be able perform this exercise without the use of your hands and in a variety of positions. Also, by incorporating diaphragmatic breathing into your rest during exercise you can improve the quality and decrease the time of your rest periods.

Hope everyone found this information to be helpful!

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

Awesome Immune System Boosting Article

Hey, it’s Lynk. I’ve got two quick updates for you today from my partners over at Prograde.

1) Yes, it’s true, they are launching Prograde Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) next week! I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as they’re available because they’re most likely going to sell out real fast!

2) Here’s a really cool research based article on BCAAs and Immune System Boosting.

http://totalnutrition.getprograde.com/immune-system-booster.html

Enjoy!

Lynk

PS – Oh, in case you missed this one on Tuesday. Here’s another cool article on BCAAs and fat loss:

http://totalnutrition.getprograde.com/bcaas-and-dieting.html

Secrets to Healing Injuries Faster

Working in physical therapy has allowed me to treat pain, weakness, limited ROM, and improve function through hands on techniques and guided exercise. However, not everyone has the ability to go to a professional and many injuries can be taken care of with some basic home remedies that I have listed below.

1. R.I.C.E. – Rest, ICE, Compression, and Elevation. Resting allows the natural healing process to take place for the body to reduce inflammation and heal the injured area. Ice helps to improve blood flow, decrease pain, and modify swelling. Compression helps to decrease swelling and depending on the injured area, helps to take stress away from the muscles or joints. Elevation helps to decrease swelling, particularly around injured joints because swelling decreases muscle activation as well as influx of oxygen and nutrients to heal the injured area.
2. Muscle Activation – Activation of the muscles around the injured areas helps to maintain the neurological connections as well as maintain ROM of the injured areas. Additionally, activation of muscles helps with restoring blood flow to bring more oxygen and nutrients into the injured areas to help with healing. Now, if the motion causes significant pain (>3/10 pain on a scale of 0/10, 0=no pain, 10=ER) then it is better to go back to number 1.
3. Cardio – Cardiorespiratory exercise helps to increase blood flow to the injured areas for more oxygen and nutrients (assuming that is does not aggravate the pain). A large portion of back pain can be eliminated with 2 months of consistent cardiorespiratory exercise.
4. Posture – By placing and keeping the body in the correctly aligned position, the joints of the body and the muscles are in their optimal position of function. This allows for balance around the joints to take place and decrease overall tension through the body. Decreased tension allows for faster healing. (Muscle Balancing One, Two, Three)
5. Seek Out a Professional – If all of the above methods fail, seek out professional help from your primary health care provider. For most aches and pains dealing with the spine or joint I would say go to a physical therapist or a chiropractor. If possible, go to one that has only 2-3 patients per hour and they should be able to give you a ton of information on your injury and answer all of your questions. If they don’t, ask! Because the more you understand about your injury, the more likely it is you will be able to do everything right to let it heal faster. Also, they should give you exercises to do after the first visit. If they don’t, ask! I prefer professionals skilled in myofascial release, trigger point release, and active release therapy.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

Five reasons you NEED more muscle

Hey Everyone,

I felt inspire by something I read today and decided write something real quick on why its important to gain muscle. Now I’m not talking about body builder size muscle, but I am talking about the muscle that anyone can build with a resistance training program without going into the crazy routines of body builders.

First and most importantly Muscle = Sex. Now, I like to consider myself to not be a shallow person, but lets face it. More muscular people are considered to be more attractive. If you are more attractive, even in a relationship, you are more likely to get sex from your partner(s) because they will be more attracted to you! Additionally, the exercise that you work on to improve the muscle helps to lower blood pressure (more hard-ons) and increase stamina when it comes to sex.

Muscle = Strength. Strength will help to improve your functional movement. This includes everything from getting out of bed, playing sports, or working out. Plus, balanced strength around joints helps to maintain joint health, improve metabolism around joints, and decreases chance for injury.

Muscle = Metabolism. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn in a resting state. Given that your body burns 60-70% fat as its fuel source during rest and low level activities, raising your resting metabolism will cause your body to burn more fat.

Muscle = Improved Insulin Sensitivity. Improving insulin sensitivity means that your body will need to produce less insulin to get the jobs done. That means less storage of fat and decreased impact of or risk for diabetes. Since diabetes is the number one cause for lower extremity amputation, I’d say that is a really good thing to improve insulin sensitivity!

Muscle = Longer Life. Consistently research has shown that individuals who maintain a active lifestyle incorporating both resistance training and cardio activities will live longer. Additionally, exercise is highly correlated with increase and maintenance of brain function as you get older. What is really cool is that exercise can help to reverse the negative effects of aging on cognition!

Now, I know there are a ton more reasons, but given the ones above, how could you say that you shouldn’t be working on resistance training.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk