Tag: low back pain


Apr
2014

Top 3 Exercises Every Pregnant Woman Should Do

categories: Exercise, Health, hip pain, Low back pain, Pregnancy

I guess I am feeling very brave today (or something), but I am posting pictures of myself (sorry) at 23 weeks pregnant. I say sorry because I am not one of those gorgeous pregnant woman on Pinterest that look so adorable that I pin their maternity fashion mainly because I want their body. But I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to share the top 3 exercises every pregnant woman should do!

I have treated countless pregnant women in physical therapy for various aches and pains, but it took being pregnant for me to realize that even our own doctors, although eager to help us, don’t consider how exercises may ease our aches and pains. I told my doctor I had calf cramping in the middle of the night, and her quick response was “magnesium!” I told her my back was aching, and she said, “Tylenol and a heating pad!” While these are good options, stretching and gentle exercises can provide pain relief without adding another pill to our evening prenatal rituals.

Without further adieu, the top three exercises every pregnant woman should do are: 1) The Pelvic Tilt; 2) Quadruped Stabilization While Rocking Back; and 3) Hip Abduction with Lateral Rotation (“Clamshell”).

The Pelvic Tilt

Step 1: Sit or stand with good posture.
Step 2: Contract abdominals by pulling your belly button toward your spine.
Step 3: Hold 5-10 seconds. Repeat 10-20 times at least twice per day.

Purpose: Maintain and/or strengthen abdominals. Our abdominals, when strong and firm, act as a natural back brace that stabilize and support our low back. Additionally, labor will be easier if our abdominals are strong enough to help with the pushing! We all want labor to be easier, right?!

pelvic tilt, pregnancy exercise
The pelvic tilt; Step 1
pelvic tilt, pregnancy exercise
The pelvic tilt; Step 2

Quadruped Stabilization While Rocking Back

Step 1: Position yourself on your hands and knees. Make sure your hands are directly under your shoulders and your knees are directly under your hips.
Step 2: Contract your pelvic floor muscles (the ones you use to stop the flow of urine). Hold.
Step 3: Contract your abdominals by pulling your belly button toward your spine.
Step 4: Holding the contractions, rock back toward your heels while keeping your back flat.
Step 5: Hold 1-2 seconds. Repeat 10-20 times twice per day.

Purpose: This is a great position because it is non weight-bearing for the spine! This equates to relief of lower back pain by just putting ourselves in this position. Can I get an amen, sista? It is also an easier position to recruit contractions from our abdominals and pelvic floor muscles, allowing us to fully engage our stabilization system to help our low backs!

pregnancy exercise
Quadruped Stabilization While Rocking Back; Step 1-3
pregnancy exercise
Quadruped Stabilization While Rocking Back; Step 4

Hip Abduction with Lateral Rotation (“Clamshell”)

Step 1: Lay on your side with your pelvis exactly perpendicular to the floor. Knees and hips should be bent 45-90 degrees.
Step 2: Contract pelvic floor muscles and hold.
Step 3: Contract abdominals by pulling your belly button toward your spine.
Step 4: Keeping feet together, roll top knee off bottom knee. Make sure you keep the muscles in your thigh relaxed; you should be contracting your gluteal muscle to lift your thigh. Do not allow your pelvis to move.
Step 5: Hold 5-10 seconds. Repeat 10-20 times twice per day.

Purpose: This exercise engages our posterior gluteus medius (and minimus), one of the greatest muscles in our bodies that we all tend to ignore. By strengthening our “gluts”, we provide more stability around our sacroiliac joint which tends to be looser during pregnancy due to the affects of those fun things called hormones. The “Clamshell” provides us with muscular stability around our pelvis which further leads to a more stable spine.

pregnancy exercise
Hip Abduction with Lateral Rotation; Steps 1-3
pregnancy exercise
Hip Abdcution with Lateral Rotation; Steps 4-5

Good luck, ladies!

***The content of www.kayleemay.com is for informational purposes only. The information presented is not to be taken as professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are having pain, or seeking medical advice, talk to your health care provider. Do not delay in seeking treatment because of information you have read on www.kayleemay.com. Taking recommendations presented on www.kayleemay.com is solely at your own risk***


Jan
2014

Save heels for the weekend

categories: foot pain, Health, hip pain, knee pain, Low back pain

Here’s a riddle for you.

Who owns 200+ pairs of high heels and suffers from low back pain?

This girl:

carrie_bradshaw_tutu
“Who, me?”

I LOVE high heels. I NEED high heels. (side note: my husband tells me I use the phrase “I need it” too much. Don’t know what he’s talking about). I feel like high heels were MADE for girls like me. God blessed me with short, stubby legs and a torso long enough to make me think I have extra vertebrae. I NEED the length that high heels offer my short legs.

But let’s talk about what high heels do to our bodies from a mechanics stand point, and how that can result in pain in strange places (not just our toes).

First, we need to think of our bodies in terms of lever arms, joints, forces, and vectors. Remember physics? Remember Newton? His third law stated, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Let’s keep this in mind.

There’s a million and one ways high heels change the orientation of our posture and movement, but I am going to focus on 3 for today.

1. Due to the upward force of the actual heel (aka the stiletto), the posterior part of our pelvis is raised. This is awesome for the booty. This exact effect is what I believe inspired Sir Mix-a-lot’s song, “Baby Got Back.” If Newton’s third law is correct (which it is), then there must be an opposite reaction from our upper body so we don’t get thrown forward. We have to lean back to keep our shoulders over our hips. This causes an extension force on our low back, and subsequently pain if this position is maintained for long periods of time. You can see this happening to Kim Kardashian when she tries to figure out how to pump gas.

kim_kardashian_mintgreen_jack

2. Keeping in mind that the posterior part of our pelvis moves UP due to the force of the heel, the front part of the pelvis must move DOWN. The muscles on the front part of the pelvis that connect the pelvis to the femur (thigh bone) are subsequently placed in a shortened position. No big deal if this is for one night, but over time, shortening of these muscles feeds into pulling the pelvis forward even when we are just in our slippers at home! Pulling the pelvis forward causes that extension force in the low back we talked about in #1. Ouch.

kim_kardashian_mintgreen_jack-ant tilt

3. The third and most obvious consequence of high heels is that they shorten our calf muscles. Again, this is pretty awesome when we feel inclined to wear heels after that killer calf workout so we can show off the definition we worked so hard for. Thank you, heels, for making my stubby legs look fake-muscular. But once we take those heels off, the shortened calf muscles pull our knees backward, likely causing hyperextension. Do you know a female over the age of 50 who has had a knee replacement? You can tell her to thank her knees for all that hyperextension in her youth. At least now her new metal knees give her an excuse to avoid the metal detectors in the airport. Oh, but unfortunately that results in an awkward pat-down. It’s a lose-lose.

Airport-pat-down-Protest-2-420x0
Photo from lotusimprints.com

So there you have it. High heels cause our backs to extend, our hip flexors to shorten, and our calves to pull our knees beyond where they should be.

But, if you’re like me, you can’t give up heels completely. We NEED them, right? So wear heels in moderation and live by my mantra: Save heels for the weekends.

Cheers to being female.