The other day we discussed a growing awareness and change in approach toward hip exercises.  Hip Flexor Exercises need to be focused and concentrated.  It is difficult to work many muscle groups at the same time as the hips.  What some people have assumed is a workout for several muscle areas might not be as effective as people thought.  Considering that, we need to keep covering the exercises that are out there for your hips.

Hip Abductor Exercises often involve elastic bands.

Here are four more exercises that are relevant to the area:

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

While kneeling on your left knee and your toes down, bend your right knee with your leg stepped out in front of you and  your right foot flat on the floor.  Thrust your upper body and hips forward slightly.  At that point you should feel the pressure on your outward thigh.  At this point, you can do an arching stretch by extending your arms in the air and gently bending yourself back, then holding for half a minute.  Obviously, this stretch works just as well on the other side of your body, so switch up and keep your body in balance.

The Flexor Lunge

With one foot, let’s say the right, step forward and plant it firmly on the ground, lowering your body till you’ve got your opposite knee resting on the ground and your raised knee bent at a 90-degree angle.  Shift your midsection and your pelvis forward and hold for up to 20 seconds.

Standing Hip Flexor

Ever heard of a resistance band?  Good.  Use it.

There are a few kinds, for instance the ones above designed to be held.  With this exercise, you’ll want to anchor the band or chord to something strong to hold it down.  Assuming you can clip the other end to your ankle, stand straight up with the band tied behind you.  Keeping your left leg firm and body straight and stable, begin a careful running motion with your right leg.  Of course, you can switch legs for your next set.  This works the hips, quads and even the abs as running would.

Wall Flexor Stretch

With this one, you’ll want to rest on one knee with your back foot raised nearly to your buttocks and sort of “under”-kicking the wall behind you.  Make a 90-degree angle with your other leg.  Slightly push out your pelvis and hold for 20 seconds.  This will work well for your front hips and increase their mobility.

Basically: Quality Muscle Workout over Quantity

When working the hips, it’s hard to work other muscle groups at the same time.  The hips are difficult to target correctly, so it’s best to concentrate on them anyway.  This is just a sampling of some of the great workouts for that part of the body.  So if you’re used to sitting down all day long, this might be the most important new set of stretches you could work into your routine.

Check in for more on the hips, thighs and butt in the near future.  Stay loose people!

Hip Abductor Exercises

So what are the three exercises the study examined?  Here’s a walkthrough:

1. Hip Abductor Exercises

These exercises open the area between the legs by spreading the leg outward.   One sample exercise is the Front to Back Hip Swing.

With this one, you’ll be laying on your side and propping your head up with your hand, elbow at an angle on the floor – live a cover girl.

The key is keeping your foot level with your hip.  Doing this alone requires some degree of strength, so working on holding that position might be considered an exercise in its own right.  But that’s just a stepping stone.  At this point, make sure your abs are tight, or clenched.  In this exercise, once you’ve got your leg lifted slightly and thus your foot level with the hip, you’ll extend your leg out in front of you.  Keep your leg level.  Then, swing your leg back the other way, behind you as far as you can.  Clench your butt to balance the movement.

2. Hip Abduction with External Rotation

An external rotation would add a twist of the leg with toes pointing upward in the exercise mentioned above.  The idea has typically been to exercise the gluteus maximus more, but this study found that wasn’t really happening with this modification.

3. Clamshell Exercises

http://youtu.be/CiqvDV8pzRk

The idea here is to work your external rotator muscles and abductors.  This study didn’t find so much work going into those areas.  Even though it doesn’t work the major glute muscles, it still activates the anterior hip flexors.

What Conclusions to Draw?

Some of these exercises aren’t what people imagined they would be.  This is just one study, though.  Either way, why not optimize your exercises and have a better focus on your muscles?  Your bottom deserves more attention, even if it is the butt of every exercise joke.

Check back for more soon.

]]> http://ctsplace.com/flexing-your-flexors-exercising-your-hips-to-avoid-repetitive-strain-injuries.php/feed/ 0 http://ctsplace.com/important-shoulder-stretches-to-come-out-swinging.php/ http://ctsplace.com/important-shoulder-stretches-to-come-out-swinging.php/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:34:10 +0000 Joshua http://ctsplace.com/?p=608 You wouldn’t think it’s neglected, but shoulders don’t get the attention they deserve.  When we correct our slouching in the desk chair, we focus on our backs.  But the shoulders hang everything in place.  Like the pull to the butt’s push, the shoulders stabilize your torso and keep your neck aligned.  With all that and more in mind, consider these 5 basic shoulder stretches as examples:

1. Shoulder Rolls

This is the simplest and most common stretch. Stand or sit up straight, exhale as you move and lift your shoulders backwards. In the same motion, wheel them back into their starting position. Exhale as your shoulders move forward back into that position. This is a stretch that comes with repetitions. Do it 3 to 5 more times.

2. Twisted Shoulder Stretch

Sitting with your feet flat on the floor and your shoulders relaxed, extend your arms forward and twist your palms outward. After that, make your arms converge. Maintaining the extension of the stretch, roll your hands together. Your upper back and shoulders should be pointing forward, at least slightly. Then hold the stretch for 20 or so seconds and slowly release.

3. Anterior Capsule Stretch

For this one, it’s best to do it standing. Stand parallel to a wall or a door (or even a fence) and bend your right arm so there’s a 90-degree angle at the elbow. Then turn to your left and step forward. This should pull your arm back, with the 90-degree angle still holding, enabling a stretch in your shoulder and probably your upper pectoral muscle. Turn it around to work the other shoulder (left arm bent, turning to the right).

4. Posterior Capsule Stretch

Laying down on a flat surface and your arm extended outward on the floor/mat/board or whatever, lift your forearm so there’s a 90-degree angle at your elbow. Then, using your other hand, carefully pull the forearm downward (pointing towards your feet.

5. Full Extension Back Stretch

One interesting stretch is similar to the “towel” stretches that seem to be trendy all over YouTube (seriously, just search it). This one though uses a poll or a broomstick. What these objects or a towel would do is stabilizing your extended arms and give your arms a reason to tense up, increasing blood flow particularly to the forearms. With your arms pointed slightly outward in both directions, still clutching the bar (or poll or broomstick, etc.), raise it above your head and gradually dip it lower. Not everyone will be able to utilize the same level of flexibility on this one, but that just means you get to feel the stretch more quickly than you would otherwise.  Sukie Baxter goes further in depth with this, so you should go check her out.

Bear in Mind!

The shoulders are often neglected. We lower them like a sad cartoon character, forgetting they have quite a lot of influence on our neck and upper back. If you want to get into how it makes you look, it’s a downer image. It’s important to be conscious of your shoulders throughout the day, no differently than being conscious of your posture sitting in front of a computer for eight hours.

“A learned taste for cream and sugar (made all the more enticing when they’re designed to smell like seasonal celebrations) is likely one of the reasons why we associate coffee more with decadence than prudence.” – The Atlantic (link in paragraph above)

Coffee, on its own, has its own benefits as we’ve mentioned before (“Coffee as a Pain Reliever,” October 2012).  How did it come to be where it is today?  What got it to catch on?

Coffee & the Enlightenment

That’s right.  Let me explain.  Coffee isn’t an “Old World” product.  Coffee first appeared in Europe in the 1600s, via the Turkish Ottoman Empire.  It had originated in Ethiopia and southern Yemen, where its beverage form was known as a pick-me up.  Suddenly, Europeans who used to start the day with beer or wine were hitting up caffeine.  Instead of being relaxed or drunk, they were alter and on fire.

It literally turned Europe over.  A social revolution ensued as coffeehouses sprang up alongside bars and pubs.  Just like their alcoholic predecessors, everyone came to the local cafe for a drink.  But this time, being energetic and springy, the conversations were more intellectual than emotional.

These are the sort of benefits that people seek when they start their days with a cup of coffee.  Instead of stumbling into the office, they immediately begin tackling otherwise boring and monotonous tasks.

Does It Actually Increase Productivity?

This is the essential question.  Productivity is “an average measure of efficiency of production.”  When we consider what makes a worker “productive,” we need to factor in memory, alertness and decreased fatigue.  Caffeine has that sort of positive spin on all those elements of our personality and productive output.  A few reviews have shown improvements in cognitive performance from regular caffeine intake.  Memory benefits tremendously – if you’re familiar with the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, caffeine helps people recall information that they might otherwise not be able to remember.

Caffeine should be used sparingly and intermittently with cups of water.  Don’t be so quick to dismiss it as antithetical to your health plan.  A single cup goes a long way.

“What neuroscientists have discovered is the human brain is plastic, or shaped by what you learn, at all ages. We all know 80-year-olds who are pretty sharp and people in their fifties or sixties who have lost a lot of cognitive function.”

But reading or abstract thinking aren’t the only way to keep your brain healthy.  All muscles and organs benefit from physical exercise: cardiovascular, stretching and bodybuilding.  It’s been understood for a while that the brain is better disciplined and dynamic in an exercised body, but how long do those benefits last?

According to recent research, it would seem the brain is like any other muscle.  If you don’t keep up your training, you’ll atrophy (muscle decay).  A presentation at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience conference talked up an experiment where rats were given a number of intelligence tests, firstly during a period of regular exercise and then several weeks later after the regimen had been stopped.  The results alarmingly showed that any benefit from exercise had disappeared quickly, right down to the rats’ level of alertness.

The same group of scientists demonstrated a more prominent level of serotonin with rats in earlier tests, but this experiment augments that research to say that the enduring effects of exercise are temporary, wearing off after a few weeks.

One of the researchers put it this way to the New York Times:

“Brain changes are not maintained when regular physical exercise is interrupted . . . though our observations are restricted to rats, indirect evidence suggests that the same phenomenon occurs in human beings.”

A study run by Laura Baker of the University of Washington, published in 2010, found seniors benefited tremendously from a six-month intense workout program on a regimen of nearly an hour a day for four days a week.  These intense programs show clear benefit, though it’s still difficult to say what the minimum amount of exercise would be to get these mental benefits to stick for a duration of time.  Other studies, if academic research is even still necessary, have shown exercise can do a lot to head off or decrease depression and anxiety.

Regardless of the level of intensity, having some sort of consistent and frequent regimen is important, intense or not.  Stick with it and you’ll see benefits beyond just your muscles and skin tone.

1. Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

When the ulnar nerve is pinched against the cubital tunnel and cannot ‘travel’ through it.  The arm contains several different nerves and “tunnels” where these nerves extend through the arm and toward the spine if you will.  In this case, the outer edge of the elbow is one of those pathways.  Minor versions of this same injury are akin to your arm falling asleep, say when you wake up having slept on it or bending your elbow at a sharp angle for a long period of time.  Pain won’t necessarily become persistent, but if it does be sure to straighten out your arm when you sleep, and don’t bend your arm unnecessarily when you are experiencing pain.

There are surgical options if this gets really bad.  Endoscopic ulnar neurolysis is one of them.  One Chinese follow up study (from the Department of Orthopedics, East Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai) looked at neurolysis procedures found they were generally successful.  Other studies have been careful to pinpoint different surgical procedures for different symptoms of cubital tunnel syndrome.

2. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

One way to hurt your neck and shoulder is aggravating the area between your collar bone and the top of your ribs.  A weak grip is the more serious symptom, as well as numbness and tingling.  Shoulder stretches that focus on on the collar bone will alleviate the pain and get the area on track.  One stretch prescribes hunching your shoulders forward and back to neutral, plus the opposite arching them backward and then back into the neutral position.

There have been experiments with scalene muscle injections to treat pain in this area.  One abstract presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (yes, it exists) found that there was near universal pain relief, though about half the patients experienced some sort of numbness.  The treatment looks promising according to the report.

3. Radial Tunnel Syndrome

The radial nerve that wraps around the triceps of your upper arm is potentially subject to repetitive strain injuries.  It’s actually a matter of debate whether or not this would fall into that rubric, but treatment is very similar to things like carpal tunnel syndrome.  There’s a combo of rest and certain range of motion exercises (ROM exercises).  As we’ve described elsewhere, one exercise involves extending the arms out with the fingers dipped down.  Then gently pull those fingers back and hold for 30 seconds.

Doctors have been evaluating the effect surgery’s had on more severe cases.  A 2009 article in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery found that more than 80% of patients were satisfied with the results, while half those who weren’t actually were later diagnosed with something else.  Surgery is generally rare.  There were less than 60 surgeries evaluated overall and only 43 follow ups where patients were surveyed.  In general though, the surgery seems to have a positive effect on sufferers.

Other Injuries

There are definitely more to be on the look out for.  Most of the news about these injuries will generally be found on Google Scholar – not in the News sections of your local newspapers or even the daily blogs.  If you are trying to follow updates, be sure to check this resource.

1. Ball Squats

Ball Squats give added support to your body as you get used to the squat in general. The squat, when done properly (feet shoulder-width apart) is one of the best exercises for the body. In this variation, the ball supports your back as the legs’ bending works the front thigh muscles. Repeat 10 to 12 squats per set.

2. Bridging

Bridging is both a butt and hamstring exercise. Lying flat on the floor but your knees up, lift your body with your legs (keep your upper back down and head supported). This should be an easy maneuver. Repeat anywhere from 15 to 35 repetitions per set. Make sure to rest in between each set.

3. Barbell Calf Raises

This one of the calf exercises can be done sitting or standing. While the video sample uses a heavy weight, it doesn’t need to. Make sure that whatever weight you’re carrying can be easily supported. You don’t have to hang your heels over the back of a small step; this is essentially trying to stand on your toes with added weight.

4. Step-Ups

Step-Ups are the easiest exercise in the world, honestly.  Try it while holding weights.  Make sure to have a secure bench or step and step up (higher than say on your stairs at home), then stepping with your other leg the same way.  From there, step off backwards in the reverse of how you got on.  This is also a cardio workout, so keep it up for over 15 minutes.  Only use light weights at first in order to make sure not to wear yourself out, increasing the weight each new exercise.

5. Chair Lifts are similar to bridging, but isolate the hamstrings.  Lay flat but rest your legs on a stable chair.  Use your legs to lift you up off the ground and get your butt into the air.  Repeat 10 to 12 times for a good set.

Check for more of our other approaches to leg workouts.

That study at the University of Dayton tried to bulk up a group of women over the course of three months to prepare to take a pull-up test.  Before the fitness program began, the women tested poorly on the pull-up bar.  The researchers thought that for sure their scores would improve, but were astonished when it didn’t turn out that way:

By the end of the training program, the women had increased their upper-body strength by 36 percent and lowered their body fat by 2 percent. But on test day, the researchers were stunned when only 4 of the 17 women succeeded in performing a single pull-up.

“We honestly thought we could get everyone to do one,” said Paul Vanderburgh, a professor of exercise physiology and associate provost and dean at the University of Dayton, and an author of the study. But Vanderburgh said the study and other research has shown that performing a pull-up requires more than simple upper-body strength. Men and women who can do them tend to have a combination of strength, low body fat and shorter stature. During training, because women have lower levels of testosterone, they typically develop less muscle than men, Vanderburgh explained. In addition, they can’t lose as much fat. Men can conceivably get to 4 percent body fat; women typically bottom out at more than 10 percent.

So no matter how fit they are, women typically fare worse on pull-up tests.

So is there absolutely no hope?  It’s not impossible to build your strength and reduce your fat as a woman.  There are plenty of super-fit women out there.  Do they need to do pull-ups?

The keys for you should be to keep up your cardio to keep fat down and not to be afraid of doing upper back exercises.  Women tend to have a shorter stature than men in general (which should help with pull-ups), but it doesn’t seem to help.

The thing that pull-ups are for are exercise – not showing off.  Just like the women in the research above, you can gain strength in the same muscles pull-ups work without having to do these.  Here are some alternatives that can get the job done for women who can’t manage substantial pull-ups.

1. Lat Pulldowns

These are exactly what they sound like – reverse pull-ups. Instead of pulling the entire weight of your body up, you can select a lighter weight to pull down. This exercise is also especially important for men who tend to overexert themselves. Pull-ups are challenging. Time spent on pulldown machines can help build up your strength for more successful pull-ups.

2. Upright Rows

Your arms, shoulders and upper back will thank you for this one. While it might present a risk for your wrists, you can make progress by adding as little as no weight to the bar. As you get used to the exercise, including the grip, start adding some weight (not a 45-pound super weight, but 5s and then 10s). Again, your arms and back will handle this better than your wrists, so be careful with this exercise. Check out this vid to get an idea on how it works:

3. T-Bar Rows

This doesn’t have be a heavy exercise (the video below is working with more weight than you need). The shoulders and back will work to constantly pull the bar up.

1. Blackberry/iPod Thumb

As you might have guessed, the mini-keyboard is the cause of this one. Here, the thumb-side of your wrist will be strained. Blackberry Thumb is medically known as De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, which you can read about from the Mayo Clinic. One law firm in London even claimed it was expanding its claims staff to prepare for an influx of work-related compensation claims where texting or emailing on the go is expected of their employees:

Karen Jackson, a co-founder of the solicitors Roberts Jackson, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, said: “If no one knows about the risks involved, they won’t sue, but more and more people are becoming aware of health hazards in the workplace . . .

A lot of people displaying symptoms associated with repetitive strain injury do not realise they are work-related, but the number with symptoms is increasing.”

2. Raver’s Wrist

This one hearkens back to the night club, but as you might have guessed has specifically to do with the repetitive twisting and bending of the hands and wrists with glow sticks.  Of course, you don’t need to be into this scene to get a hit with this ailment.

3. Rubik’s Wrist

The Rubik’s cube is an old intellectual challenge, but enough knowledge about how to solve it has sufficiently passed around to get joyseekers the world over to enter themselves into speed competitions to determine the fastest solve.  That can add up to a lot of strain in the wrists – much more than keyboard injuries might – and in an area that already doesn’t have so much cushion.

As the kid in the video below puts it, “I got lucky on the first layer, but this is definetly one of my better times. Unfortunately, I’ve got Rubik’s wrist and I have to lay off the cube for a while, but enjoy!”

4. Stylus Finger

You’re finger isn’t the stylus in the photo above, but many people use it like one.  Press too hard or too often and you could find yourself with some sore knuckles, palms and definitely throbbing pain in your fingers.  Stylus finger, also called trigger finger, is related to Blackberry Thumb and requires the same line of care to avoid issues.

5. Text Neck

Would you believe there’s a Text Neck Institute?  As they define the problem:

The term, and the health condition, is derived from the onset of cervical spinal degeneration resulting from the repeated stress of frequent forward head flexion while looking down at the screens of mobile devices and ‘texting’ for long periods of time.

As Dr. Fishman, the founder of the institute reminds us, the head weighs around 10 pounds, doubling the pressure on the neck and upper spine for every extra inch someone leads their head forward.  With the rise in use of smartphones and particularly now tablets (Apple and PC), it’s important to remember the basics: keep your eyes level and the screen straight ahead to avoid unnecessary neck bending.

Check out our other ergonomic tips on better posture.  Also, tech is not the enemy if done right!  Here’s a starter list for essential ergonomic products.

1. High-Fiber Pepsi

In November 2012, Pepsi Japan announced a “Special” Pepsi that contains dextrin, the main ingredient in Benefiber.  It will have added health benefit as so long as drinkers don’t use it as a gateway to less beneficial sodas like Coca-Cola Classic or traditional Pepsi.

2. Schweppe’s Grapefruit Soda

This product is available in Israel and contains Vitamin C.  While the Israeli market hasn’t had the benefit of major American flavors like Vanilla Coke or Dr. Pepper, there is a fondness for citrus in the Mediterranean country.  The percentage of real fruit extract in the soda approaches 40% (not just grapefruit), a strong characteristic for any fruit-”flavored” product.

3. Steaz Sparkling Green Tea

Caffeine doesn’t have to have negative effects on your health.  Steaz‘ Green tea soda manages to hold onto the chemical but also contains the antioxidants that non-carbonated tea is known for.  It’s also a no-calorie beverage and is packed with the rarely found B12 (rare that is, if you’re a vegetarian).

4. Reed’s Light Extra Ginger Brew

‘Who cares?  Ginger ale is sold by a lot of companies.’

Wrong.  While most ginger ales on the market contain a ton of sugar and little natural ginger extract, Reed’s uses the most real product. Ginger ale is one of the many ways you can consume ginger, a natural fighter of nausea and muscle pain.

5. Bionade

Bionade is a major drink in Germany that’s proven so independently strong that it’s rejected buyout offers from Coca Cola.  The drink is flavored typically with exotic fruits like lychee and elderberry, but is fermented with malt like beer (how Germanesque!).  It’s low in calories and only contains 14 grams of sugar per bottle.

6. Oogave

Among the often sought yet rarely found club of organic sodas, Oogave offers a number of fruit flavors like strawberry-rhubarb accompany alternative colas.  They contain roughly 24 grams of sugar per bottle and are under 100 calories as well.

7. Diet Coke Plus

With all the flavors and more, Coke actually got in trouble with the American Food & Drug Administration because “plus” denotes the addition of a certain cocktail of vitamins and minerals.  Even so, Coke has carried on with the name and even outlived other attempts by Pepsi to promote similar soft drinks.