8 Power Moves for Perfect Posture By Dr. Kareem Samhouri

Transcription

1 8 Power Moves for Perfect Posture By Dr. Kareem Samhouri

2 All rights reserved. No portion of this manual may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including fax, photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use. This manual may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper and has written approval prior to publishing. For information contact: Back Injury Guide 86 SW Century Blvd., PMB 344 Bend, OR info@backinjuryguide.com Website:

3 Disclaimer This book is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment. Programs mentioned herein should not be adopted by any purchaser without review and consent with your health professional. The authors are neither responsible, nor liable for any harm or injury resulting from these programs or the use of the exercises described herein.

4 Meet Dr. Kareem Samhouri, a.k.a. Dr. K Hello. I m Dr. Kareem Samhouri, also affectionately known as Dr. K among my clients of all ages. I've seen countless people with back injuries who suffer needlessly because they just don't have the right information they need to heal their back problem properly. Some people have wasted years of their lives suffering without any relief. I m a graduate of the University of Miami, Doctor of Physical Therapy program, in addition to earning a bachelor s of science degree from the Pennsylvania State University in Kinesiology. I ve worked in some of the best hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, outpatient physical therapy services, and elite performance gyms in the United States. I ve dedicated my career to taking my hard earned education, research, practical experience and complete dedication to helping people feel better after days, months and even years with debilitating back pain.

5 Sit up tall at work adjust your workstation Problem: Most people sit in awkward positions all day at work, thereby cancelling out all of their hard work and efforts to eliminate chronic aches and pains. By the time they get out of work, they are spending their whole workouts correcting their daily habits, instead of progressing throughout.. Solution: Sit up tall adjust your workstation. Check the following items to be sure that your workstation is set up for success: a) Adjust the height of your seat your knees and hips should be at a 90 degree angle, so that you don t place undue stress on your low back. b) Make sure that your desk height is at a comfortable height so that you are not always reaching up/down once you ve adjusted the height of your seat. If changing desks seems expensive, one round of physical therapy or a doctor s visit is much more and this isn t something that is covered from worker s compensation. The fact is that work isn t the only thing creating your back problem, but it sure isn t helping you out either. c) Check the height of your computer monitor. Your eye level should be the middle of the screen, no higher, no lower. (hint: you may want to grab a text book to raise the height of your screen if it is too low. If it is too high, be sure to check the height of your desk one more time.) d) Be sure that commonly used items are within reach and without rotation. I know that it s important to keep a work space clean and organized, but more importantly, it needs to be functional. Every morning I move certain items closer to me and every afternoon I put them back. For me, the items I use the most are: my laptop, telephone, printer, stapler, and sticky pads. Everything else is allowed to be further away.

6 Give yourself a bit of glute with all of your workouts Problem: Most people arch their backs way too often when they work out. The two easiest ways to prevent this are from contracting your abdominal and gluteal muscles. In order to maintain a stable position, you shouldn t have to brace yourself with an extremely forceful contraction. Instead, it s better to think about symmetrical tension, back to front, with light tension in both your abs and glutes. Solution: This is particularly easy to judge when standing on balance discs or an upside down Bosu ball; too forceful of an abdominal contraction will make you tip forward, too much from the glutes will make you tip backward. After you have observed what an even contraction feels like on both sides, try to remember this feeling and apply it to all of your exercises.

7 Stretch your chest every day Problem: If you re anything like the majority of the population, your workouts follow the guidelines of the mirror workout. Have you ever seen some of those fitness celebrities (not to name names) that look like they are practically falling over from the imbalance between their chests and backs? They are curved so far forward that it s hard for them to even raise their arms over their heads anymore. While this adds a nice shape to your chest and abs, it s not functional, nor safe for painful joints. Solution: Stretch your pec muscles every day. The quickest and most effective way to stretch your chest is by placing your forearm against a wall, such that your elbow and armpit make 90 degree angles. Now, turn away from your arm, exposing the same side of your chest, until you feel a light stretch. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat two more times. You should do a total of 3 repetitions per side, per day.

8 Stretch your hamstrings every day Problem: We spend the majority of our youth seated in a chair, at school. For most of us, this is followed by relatively sedentary positions at work. This results in our hamstrings being in a shortened position most of every day. Hamstrings function to bend our knees, so you can imagine just how short they are all day every day. Solution: In order to counterbalance the effect of our daily posture, we need to stretch. The most effective hamstring stretch for the area of your hamstring that inserts by your knee is done by laying on your back, one knee bent with the same leg s foot flat on the ground. Now, raise your other leg in the air, gripping behind the knee, and attempt to straighten your leg until you feel a light stretch behind the knee. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat for a total of 3 repetitions on each leg.

9 Stretch your hip flexors every day Problem: Again, tight hip flexors are a result of prolonged sitting on a daily basis. When you sit, leaning over a desk for long periods of time, you are shortening your hip flexors throughout this time period. Over time, they adapt to this new shortened length and have a hard time lengthening on demand. Because of the great strength of your hip flexors, when you stand up straight, they pull on the front of your pelvis, tip it forward, and cause you to arch your back. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for your back to accommodate daily stress (i.e. walking) when it s in this extended position. Solution: Stretch your hip flexors every day. Lay on your bed, face up, with one leg hooked over the edge of the bed. Now pull your other knee towards your chest by gripping directly behind the knee. If your hip flexors are tight, the hanging leg will start to come up. By squeezing the glute of the hanging leg and reaching that foot towards the ground, you can effectively stretch your hip flexor. (hint: it is important to maintain light tension in your abs during this process to prevent your hip flexors from arching your back.) Hold for 30 seconds and repeat for a total of 3 repetitions to each side.

10 Stretch then strengthen use your new range Problem: One of the biggest questions in fitness is: When should I stretch? Should I stretch before, after, or during a workout to get the best results? Solution: The simple answer is: there is no straight answer. When working out to keep your heart rate up, it s impossible to stretch before every exercise. Your heart rate would naturally fall, and you would end up with less metabolic demand (weight loss) as a result. However, when you stretch before an exercise, as is important for rehabilitative reasons, you assign a new length to a muscle, and then you strengthen it with this new length. In short, until you have fully rehabilitated your back, you should be stretching, then strengthening. Once you have adequate range of motion and your new goals are fat loss, it is better to stretch following a workout. (Note: Never stretch without warming up. If you are stretching properly, this would put you at risk for a muscle strain and/or make you tighter.)

11 Stop working on Bench Press for awhile and start working on your back Problem: People tend to spend the majority of their workouts on popular exercises. Bench press is normally #1 on everyone s list. Yes, your chest will look nice if you spend a bunch of every workout on bench press, but your shoulders and back will not thank you. It s important to have balance in the strength of your back and chest in order to reap optimal results, both in pain reduction and fat loss. Solution: Every time you work on chest, be sure to stretch your chest. Also, deemphasize your chest for awhile. With exception to your abs, strengthening the front of your body while rehabilitating your back is less productive than strengthening the back of your body. For most of us, that is where we need to place our emphasis. So next time, before you lay down to do a bench press, move over to a lat pull or pull up machine, and work out there instead.

12 Work stability on your abs, not just sit ups. Problem: People spend way too much time working on sit-ups in the gym. However, functionally, this is not the way that our abs work. Our abdominal muscles actually help us control from falling forward with each step that we take. Our abs help keep us from falling backward when we stand up from a chair. Our abs also compress abdominal contents, as is needed to go to the bathroom. However, they are not meant, functionally to work throughout the day for movements similar to sit-ups. So why spend all of this time strengthening our abs to protect our backs when they never have a chance to save our backs in this way? Solution: Work on stability, not just sit-ups. Try out exercises like the plank, crossed extension, moving plank, squats, lunges, and chair stands, with a focus of not arching your back during any of these exercises. Through performing more realistic movements, but shifting the focus to abdominal contraction for protection throughout these exercises, you are able to ask a more realistic demand of your abdominal muscles throughout your workout. Plus, you ll save all that time you used to spend on sit ups!