PHYT For Function

The skin does weird things in painful areas. Notice how white that area of the Achilles’ tendon is after some instrument massage! (I wish I would have taken the photo with the straight, but you get the idea).

That part of the Achilles already tends to get less blood flow.

Add some pain and it becomes more apparent

We use manual therapy techniques to promote relaxation, normalize blood flow, and hopefully create a better environment for healing. @integrativedryneedling NRT course.
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Always Stay PHYT For Function 👉www.phytforfunction.com.
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#neuroreleasetreatment

How’s your hip feeling?

Pain on the outside of the hip can be from inflammation of the tendons that attach, pelvic tightness, or back pain coming down.

Cupping + Dry Needling alters blood flow and nerve sensitivity. @integrativedryneedling + NRT

If we can normalize the environment to feel safe, the nerves will relax. Relaxed nervous system = relaxed muscles.

Relaxed muscles move well.

Relaxed muscles let you get back to training.

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Always Stay PHYT For Function 👉www.phytforfunction.com.
___________________________________
#neuroreleasetreatment

Dry needling + vibration + heat.

@phytforfunction @hyperice @integrativedryneedling a nice combo.

Cupping. Decompression. Recovery. @ccroc25

Learn all about how to fix muscle knots tomorrow @crossfit_saol at 11:15!

Message or text 216-502-3246 to reserve a spot. Free to the public.

Sets and Reps. This is a little more debated topic. Most pain has some component of altered blood flow. I am a big proponent of adding a metabolic demand to the exercises when working on rehabilitation. Caution: If you have a new onset of low back pain none of this applies. Get the pain reduced first. Rules are no pain or a pain level of 1-2/10 throughout and after performing the exercise. Reps are performed until you get just shy of technical failure. Technical failure means your form starts to break down, not that you can’t possibly do another rep. Are target is to be around 20 reps Plus or minus 5 before this occurs. If you get to 15 and you’re done, you need an easier exercise. If you get to 30 probably a little too easy. Do two rounds of this. That should be enough to get some metabolic stress and target rep ranges related to muscle growth. Again, make adjustments and modifications so there is no pain.

Disclaimer: This is intended for educational purposes only. Do not take this as medical advice we do not have a doctor / client relationship established. All low back pain should be evaluated by a qualified medical professional before beginning an exercise program.

https://youtu.be/-gbAQnJBz-0

Strengthening the low back while dealing with chronic or recurrent low back pain can very difficult. Pain, abnormal muscle activation patterns, and muscle guarding can all make it difficult to create a training effect needed to grow muscle. With that said, there is excellent support that strengthening exercise can be very beneficial in improving pain and reducing disability related to low back pain. So how do you choose the right exercises to build that size and strength back?



One recent study (1) showed that replacing traditional stabilization exercise with hip abduction strength exercises increased muscle thickness in women age 20-45. The hip is closely linked to the low back, in both proximity and nerve connection. If this research holds true and we can increase lumbar muscle size with hip strengthening this may be a way to avoid fearful or guarded patterns that come with back pain. Hip Exercises may be something we can do to build strength without fear of irritating the back.

Visit www.PHYTForFunction.com for this and other blog posts.

Disclaimer: This is intended for educational purposes only. Do not take this as medical advice we do not have a doctor / client relationship established. All low back pain should be evaluated by a qualified medical professional before beginning an exercise program.

Aboufazeli M, Afshar-Mohajer N, Jafarpisheh MS, Heidari M, Akbari M. Recovery of the lumbar multifidus muscle size in chronic low back pain patients by strengthening hip abductors: A randomized clinical trial. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2021 Apr;26:147-152. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2020.12.035. Epub 2020 Dec 30. PMID: 33992236.

It doesn't matter what it is, gallon of water, dumbbell, kettlebell, weighted back pack. You just have to carry it, without putting it down (to the best of your ability) for 20 minutes of walking. Walking can be forward, backward, or sideways. Just keep moving and keep carrying!

Have you ever had that feeling where you knew you weren’t going to be able to make it to the gym so you just said screw it and did nothing? “Been there…”



Little bouts of exercise might not improve your 40m dash time but they add up big time when you are talking metabolic health. In fact, research (1) shows accumulate exercise may be better than continuous exercise at controlling same day glucose levels.

Why is this so important?

We want our bodies to be very sensitive to insulin. Insulin allows the cells to take up glucose from the blood. If our cells are not receptive to insulin your pancreas will have to produce more of it to have the same effect. High levels of insulin have a host of downstream consequences on health. Google the term “metabolic syndrome”. It’s bad news. It is associated with insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (2). We need to figure out how to combat these metabolic changes if we want to improve quality of our heart and brain health, let alone its role in pain, anxiety, and other reproductive diseases.

Why little bouts?

It’s easy to do. It is much easier to find 10 minutes here or there than it is to carve out 90 minutes in a busy schedule. AND IT WORKS.

Small exercise bouts within 30 minutes of glucose uptake have been to shown to reduce post meal glucose levels and insulin resistance. One recent study (3) found that 3 minutes of moderately intense stair walking reduced blood glucose, and 10 minutes improved insulin resistance. That’s HUGE.

Action Plan

Try to find time to accumulate 3-10 minutes of exercise after your meals. That can be as a simple as a brisk walk or doing the stairs. If you eat three times per day that’s 9-30 minutes of exercise accumulated real quick. If you can find time to get another workout that involves some resistance training great. We know that maintaining muscle mass is also very important to improve insulin resistance. Most importantly, though, have the freedom to appreciate little bouts will add up and research shows will improve markers related to heart and brain health!

1. Zhang X, Zheng C, Ho RST, Miyash*ta M, Wong SHS. The Effects of Accumulated Versus Continuous Exercise on Postprandial Glycemia, Insulin, and Triglycerides in Adults with or Without Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med Open. 2022 Jan 24;8(1):14. doi: 10.1186/s40798-021-00401-y. PMID: 35072806; PMCID: PMC8786998.


2. Bovolini A, Garcia J, Andrade MA, Duarte JA. Metabolic Syndrome Pathophysiology and Predisposing Factors. Int J Sports Med. 2021 Mar;42(3):199-214. doi: 10.1055/a-1263-0898. Epub 2020 Oct 19. PMID: 33075830.



3.Moore J, Bartholomae EM, Ward K, Hooshmand S, Kressler J. Three minutes of moderate-intensity stair walking improves glucose and insulin but not insulin sensitivity or total antioxidant capacity. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2022 Feb;32(2):479-486. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2021.10.016. Epub 2021 Oct 29. PMID: 34896000.

I am always in the search of the best exercises to improve aging, quality lifespan and reduce injury risk. We need to control sugar metabolism, reduce body and brain inflammation, maintain muscle mass / bone density, and move with enough quality to prevent non-traumatic injuries. The best version of that program is debatable and I'm working on incorporating something very comprehensive but for now we walk!

How many days can you meet this goal?

Some week's in the clinic you notice trends. This week was all about low back pain. Everyone seemed to have it including myself a little.

I would guess like many of you I am sitting more than normal and then because my time is limited I am choosing to use the exercise bike for my cardio, which of course is really just more sitting. My hips are tighter than ever and all of a sudden some old back pain has returned. From a mobility standpoint we have to find ways to get the hip extended or pulled back behind us more often. This is some of the motivation behind the 20 min walk challenge and certainly why we want to use a hip flexor stretch like the video linked above.

What about strength. There is a consistent argument in the scientific literature about general strength vs. core specific strength. The reality is both seem to work. If you are dealing with some back pain there is some recent literature that suggests core specific training may make some sense. In this study they did 30 min of exercise, 3 days a week. They compared strength exercises vs. core specific exercises. The core specific did a bit better. You can never draw conclusions from one study but probably worth considering adding in. The core exercises they focused on were drawing in type maneuvers and showed improvements in balance, proprioception, and pain.

We know with disuse we can get atrophy which in the study they did look at improvements in muscle mass. It would make sense to me then that your body would start to shift muscle use to different areas from there. Can we use these specific exercises to build back some awareness to the core so that we use it with functional exercises... like walking and carrying something for 20 min...

You can see the exercise list here. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8630919/

Try this move to help with your hip flexor! Especially if you’re doing the walking/carrying challenge!

https://youtu.be/FDOSdQLMHMM

20 Days for 20 Minutes: Walk and Carry Challenge.

Life is busy, what is one thing you can do, every day, no matter what, no matter where you are? Walk.

Let's kick the strength and balance side of this up a notch and carry something.

It doesn't matter what it is, gallon of water, dumbbell, kettlebell, weighted back pack. You just have to carry it, without putting it down (to the best of your ability) for 20 minutes of walking. Walking can be forward, backward, or sideways. Just keep moving and keep carrying.

Be safe with your balance, don't do anything where you think might fall. Pick a weight that you can lift from the floor without worry... 20 minutes is a long time.

I started with a 55 pound kettlebell walking in the snow, probably too much... but its fun. Be safe and give it a go.

Target is 20 days in a row.

I am always in the search of the best exercises to improve aging, quality lifespan and reduce injury risk. We need to control sugar metabolism, reduce body and brain inflammation, maintain muscle mass / bone density, and move with enough quality to prevent non-traumatic injuries. The best version of that program is debatable and I'm working on incorporating something very comprehensive but for now we walk!

Let me know what you think! The image below is my heart rate from this morning's walk.

Why Does Everything Start to Hurt Around 30?

When I started my PT career literally everyone told me "Don't get old". I scoffed it off... like whatever, that won't happen to me. I can say that I've reached the age where I can at least understand what people are talking about. There is no denying the fact that I don't recover like I used to. Nights out used to start at 11pm, now getting to 11pm is a milestone. Even if no alcohol is involved you're going to pay for it the next day. So what happens as we get older and how do we slow it down!

I'm continuously searching for how much of this age related change is due to structural changes vs. nerve related changes. We know there is a tendency to lose muscle mass as we get older. We know that exercise helps prevent that loss, but how? What is the mechanism behind it? If we can understand the mechanism we can better apply the treatment. The thing that bugs me is the intersection between the neurology and the muscles. What's the connection?

Your general strength coaches want to talk about muscles, its fun, its what we see. Why then can I go rip a workout in my teen's, wake up the next morning maybe a little sore but ready to go. Today, if I go and try to go crazy with a strength workout I haven't progressed into I'm likely to hurt something.

I have a strong feeling it has more to do with inflammation and the neural connection to the muscle than it does the structural muscle itself.

If something happens to the junction of where the nerve sends its signal to the muscle then the muscle never has the opportunity to contract and you don't have the ability to generate force. What if it's this interaction of change in the neuromuscular junction that drives these age related changes?