I have been reading the book, My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem.  This book "is a call to action for Americans to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but also about the body.  Menakem introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide and takes readers through a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods." Quote from the back cover of the book.

​I have been taking time with the second part of Menakem's book, which is titled "Remembering Ourselves".  He says, "The place to begin the all-important healing of trauma is with the body.  Your body.  Each of our bodies."  He provides body and breathing practices to get to know, experience and understand the body.  I have been enjoying these practices and have incorporated some of the ways to settle into a movement practice.  The movement sequences shared below bring in novel ways to move the spinal chain and mobilize the joints.  "Sometimes trauma energy can get stuck in the joints," Manakem states.  The momentum and rotations can help to release the energy and reduce the tension along the kinetic chain. 

• Lie down on the floor with your legs out straight
• Bring your legs together
• Keep your knees straight and lift both legs off of the floor about thirty degrees.
• Notice: what happens to your abs?  Did they bulge outward?  What does your back do?  Does it arch?  What does your neck do?  Does it tense?

​How did you do?  In my experience, 95% of my clients use a pushing strategy: holding breath, pushing out into abdominal wall and pelvis, arching back and tensing or lifting the neck. Outside of pilates, or working out, this strategy gets carried over into daily tasks such as: getting out of bed, bending and lifting tasks, pushing open a heavy door, etc.   ​

The first step is to become aware of the day to day habits that interfere with optimal breathing:

• shallow breathing into chest and neck
• holding breath
• holding abs
• locking down ribcage or gripping shoulder blades back and down
• lifting shoulders to breathe (over activation of the scalenes, upper trapezius, levator scapulae)
• squeezing butt cheeks (tightens the pelvic floor muscles)
• ribcage and pelvic positions

The second step is to practice breathing.  During quiet respiration there should be movement in the intercostals (the muscles between the ribs), the diaphragm, the abdominals and the pelvic floor.  In order to have strength in the muscles, they need to move through full range of motion: lengthening and shortening. In this video, I talk about diaphragmatic breathing and core function.  Practice lying down, sitting and standing.  Each position places a different demand on the body. 
​Have fun and explore!

The third step is to begin to challenge the system.  Can you maintain the breath as you add a new skill or a new load?  Are you able to get movement into all areas of the thoracolumbar pelvic canister?  Quite often I observe tension and stiffness surrounding the ribcage.  Below I share a breathing drill to get mobility at the lower ribcage and diaphragm and a link from Dr Evan Osar on Three Dimensional Breathing. 

​Susan McLaughlin is a physical therapist who specializes in the management of pelvic floor and orthopedic dysfunctions. She is the owner of ALIGN integration|movement in Salt Lake City, UT.  Helpful tips and other self care strategies can be found at www.alignforhealth.com.

STEP 1:  Get some stimulus to the lats and the muscles between the shoulder blades.  As the arms have moved forward to type on the keyboard, these muscles are now resting in a lengthened position.  This active shoulder girdle stretch takes the muscles into more of a stretch, just like a sling shot, so they can contract back into resting position.

STEP 2:  Stretch the neck and arm.  Lengthen the tissues in the entire arm and neck by holding onto a door jam and leaning away.  This provides a traction stimulus to the wrist and shoulder, which is a wonderful reprieve after sitting hunched in a ball at the computer.

STEP 3:  Get up out of your chair every 30 minutes.  Walk to the water cooler, stretch your arms to the ceiling, stretch your legs, something simple before sitting down again. 

Susan McLaughlin is a physical therapist who specializes in the management of pelvic floor and orthopedic dysfunctions. She is the owner of ALIGN integration|movement in Salt Lake City, UT.  Helpful tips and other self care strategies can be found at www.alignintegrationandmovement.com.

We have all been there... the debilitating stiff neck that occurs after:

• Waking up in the morning and somehow in the middle of the night you "tweaked" your neck.
  
• Long hours sitting cramming for finals or finishing a big project in front of the computer.
• An intense workout of pull ups, lifting overhead, etc.
• Not so roomy airplane seats and carrying luggage around the airport.

In times like these you feel that you are never going to be able to turn your head without pain again..... Until now.  Here  is a quick trick to get more rotation motion in your neck.  

• Assess your neck motion, rotate your head to the right and to the left.  Find a landmark in your field of vision at the end range to mark your initial motion.  Also notice the quality of motion: is it painful and tight? where do you feel the pulling?:
  

This is a simple and effective strategy to improve neck range of motion within seconds.  Whether you are in pain, or just have a stiff neck, use this exercise often for ongoing benefit!

Below is a video sequence to address spinal mobility and upper back tension.  Before you begin, lie on your back with your legs out straight.  Notice the contact of the back of your legs, your low back, lower ribs and shoulder blades to the floor. After you complete the sequence, lie on the floor again and notice the change of your muscles and your connection with the floor.  Enjoy!

Almost a year ago I wrote about the pectoralis minor's referral pattern into the shoulder blade and shared a lovely release using a tennis ball (you can read about that here).  I am back at it again with another post highlighting the pectoralis minor and pectoralis major.  Due to the location of their attachment sites on the skeleton, they can affect the function of the head, neck, shoulder and arm.
Pectoralis Minor attaches to the coracoid process of the scapula  and to the outer surfaces of the third, fourth and fifth ribs. Restriction here can pull the shoulder blade forward (you will see the bottom/inferior portion of your shoulder blade lift away from your body wall), potentially bringing the entire arm with it).
Pectoralis Major is a big fan shaped muscle that is attached to the chest at the sternum (breast bone) and clavicle (collar bone) .  The fan shaped fibers coverge at the arm and attach into the bicipital groove of the humerus.  Restriction in this muscle will pull the arm in front of the body and rotate your arm into internal rotation (with your arms at rest at your sides, look in the mirror: where are your elbow creases facing?  If they are turned toward your body, that is called internal rotation.  In neutral, the arms should rest at the sides of the body with the elbow creases facing forward).

Before you begin with the exercises, do a motion assessment first.  Stand with your elbow creases and palms facing forward.  Lift your arms up and see how far you can lift without arching your back or letting your lower ribs lift away from your body wall.  Complete the movements as show below and then repeat the assessment.  For the first exercise you can use a tennis ball, but I prefer the high grip rubber of the Yoga Tune Up massage balls.