Health Blog by YinTeing

When doing body weight exercises, how do you perform them? Do you utilize the muscles on your glutes, legs and arms (biceps, triceps) or do you engage your core muscles?

It is important that you train and develop your core before doing intensive body work exercise like leg pulls and chin ups. If you have weak or undeveloped core muscles, there is no more to support your exercises. And for those neglect their core, they would constantly suffer body aches (all over- limbs, shoulders, etc) and lower back pain.

How to develop core muscles

Core muscles are best developed and strengthened using tools that trigger an unstable environment. Helpful tools are like the balance board, stability/physio/exercise ball, medicine ball and the BOSU ball. If you are new to this, always get the help of a trainer or attend a class- that will help you to do it using the right technique.

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to overdo core based exercises in the wrong posture- by curling their lower backs as they strained to do these exercises….and end up with pains or injuries. But it is worth learning PROPER  techniques because when you have a good core strength, you will do a lot of exercises in the right posture and form and drastically lower your risk to injuries.

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I am not sure about others but I used to suffer from knee pain on the days I was overweight. Another reason was because I could not give up iced drinks then. So, I bought expensive shoes that are said to be designed for user comfort and worth the price to be paid for. There are brands like Snowfly, Clarks, Hush Puppies, Scholl- with the shoes costing in the rage of RM150 to RM300 plus (up to almost USD100 a pair).

Due my way of walking that causes unnatural distribution of weight, coupled with the lack of lady-like way I normally walk, my expensive shoes generally become almost unwearable after about 3 months. So every 3 months or so, I have to fork out another few hundred bucks for yet another pair of expensive shoes. I also paid a few hundred for specially designed orthotics, shoes that are designed to take into account of the arch on my feet. Those days were okay- I led a highly stressed job that paid well. My circle of friends, a number of them who also suffered from knee pain also invested heavily in shoes- in fact, it was through them that I knew which brands to buy. 

Crocs- expensive but many claimed is comfortable

But these shoes did nothing much to reduce the knee discomfort. Still, I had placed my trust in the perceived value- after all, if it is expensive, it should be good. I’ve never looked beyond anything inexpensive. 

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Knocked knees or genu valgum is a condition that both knees turned inward instead of being straight.  Usually the person’s feet will also turn inward to what is commonly observed as ‘duck’s feet’. This is quite common in children. As the child grows up, the legs would generally revert to their normal position.  However, if it is observed that the child, reaching teenage years still have knocked knees, the common recommendation is to use either corrective surgery or orthotics.

In adults, there is generally no suggested cure for knocked knees. You may think that knocked knees is harmless- it just does not look good when you are walking.

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Due to occupational hazards, some people are developing a hunched back prematurely.  When we think of a hunched back, or a gradual forward bending body, we normally think of seniors at the age of 60 or above. But I am beginning to observe younger and younger people having a hunched back due to:

• occupational hazards
• wrong ergonomics- spending hours in a day hunched in front of a PC

You may find this to be true if you were to observe people around you. For instance, I know a lady who operates a home based dobby being very hunched- since she was in her early forties. Reason being is she spent hours and hours everyday ironing clothes.

Recently I’ve visited my regular hairsylist. I remembered the first time I know her, she was pregnant with her first child. Her girl is now schooling. Over the years, I’ve seen her back going more and more hunched- and she is only about 30 years old.

Causes of Hunched Back- Muscle Imbalance

Why our backs hunch forward? It is because of muscle imbalance. The chest (pectorial) muscles are stronger and used more often than the back muscles (trapezious).  Medically it is also known as kyphosis lordosis. Sometimes you can observe this phenomenon on men who are very into body building- they focus too much to develop muscular chest muscles and less emphasize on the back muscles- therefore, they may walk around in a slightly hunched posture.

I also noticed that tall people tend to have hunched back- especially amongst Asians when it is not common to be too tall. Tall people tend to have to lower themselves to talk most of the time to their families and loved ones. Especially for a tall girl, who would usually have shorter friends and if she is taller than most guys, she will also subconsiously try to ’shorten’ herself by hunching her back.   

Dangers of Hunched Back

When the back is hunched, the backbone does not remain in a neutral “S” shaped position. In fact, the thoracic spine (upper spine) curves outward. This imbalance will cause overcompensation, ie some muscles working harder than it had to. Not only that, it also causes additional stress to our backbone. One can imagine years of chronically stressing the backbone will result lower back pain, muscular aches, osteoporosis, and possibly arthritis.

We may not be conscious of it, but it is better to stand and sit as what nature intends to be without hunching our backs. We will look much nicer and more confident no matter what clothes we wear if our backs are not hunched.

Exercises to Reduce Hunched Back Syndrome

Parents will tell their kids to ’sit straight’ if they see their kids hunched over something. While being conscious of our posture by checking ourselves over the mirror helps, we also need to do some stretching exercises to loosen tight muscles and strengthen the back muscles.

1. Using the exercise band to stretch the front and back muscles

Pic taken from: http://exercise.about.com/library/blbandstretch.htm

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Do you have bunions and cracked heels at your feet? Most of the time, we dismissed as dry skin or the fact that we may have stepped on something without knowing (for bunions and blisters).

But strange enough, after we remove the bunion, it comes back a few weeks later- on the SAME spot. Or after we treat the cracked heel with special creams, it comes back again. We dismissed it as due to dry skin but gets annoyed at the cracked heel, as it can be quite inconvenient and even painful when walking out in the sand (the pain is terrible if something like a grain of sand or a small pebble gets stuck).

Possible cause of Reoccurring Bunions and Cracked Heels.

Would you believe that it can be due to your posture and muscle weakness?
When certain part of your leg muscles are weak, it causes uneven pressure each time you land on your feet while walking or running. As the result, bunions and cracked heels developed due to the stress and pressure placed at a certain part of the feet that is not meant for that function.

For instance, if you have bunions at the balls of the foot close to the toes, it could indicate weak leg extensors or the lateral muscles of your calf. As the result, when you land on your feet, your muscles are not able to absorb the pressure, thus more pressure are placed on the balls of the feet.

People with flat feet (no arch on their legs) are especially vulnerable and would require proper sole inserts (orthondics) to correct the pressure placed on their feet.

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My recent muscle pull experience

Last Saturday while doing some exercises using the Step board in a fitness test, I sprained the muscle on my left calf. For a long time, I’ve always been vary of step exercises because I’ve experienced muscle pulls on my calf and ankle areas.

The pain did not come immediately, in fact I was able to workout in the gym for 2hours on Saturday, followed by about 1 hour of cardio on Sunday- there was just a bit of discomfort on Sunday but not enough to stop me from exercising. Then on Monday morning, I almost could not get up from bed due to the sharp pain experienced from the muscle pull. By Tuesday morning, the pain got worse and I tried to put a heat plaster on my leg to relieve the pain and stiff feelings on my left calf. The pain felt like it will never go off. And to add on, when my friend told me that it normally takes one week for full recovery, I got a bit upset.

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If the muscles in your body are under conditioned, it will result in muscle weakness. The muscle weakness will make the person more prone to injury, muscle sprain or pain. Your body does it best to work together as a unit. Whenever there is a discomfort, your body will automatically compensate for the weak muscle by changing to an unnatural position. The unnatural position places excessive pressure on the compensating part.

What happens if you do not do anything about it:

• –constant pain, sometimes acute, sometimes chronic. Lower back pain, stiff shoulders, pain the neck are all indicative of back posture and weak muscles (especially the core muscles)
• Personal Experience
  I have mentioned in a previous post that I have pain on my right knee. for a long time (before gym days). My body tries to reduce that pain but shifting more weight towards the left leg. Now, the pain in my knee is very much reduced after I began putting more focus on core exercises. But my right hip, who have been bearing the brunt for too long, begins to show signs of pain. I am planning to do more core conditioning exercises to strengthen my hip muscles.Previously, when I started yoga based exercises, doing abdominal and back exercises wrongly (when you do not suck in your belly button towards the spine) will cause tremendous pressure on the lower back. But after one of the instructor advised me to tuck in, I was able to slowly develop a stronger lower back. Now, I do not get lower back pain because I am doing those exercises correctly.

  How to handle posture problems.
  You need to do more stretching and core exercises to strengthen your muscles. And weight bearing exercises to strengthen the weak muscle. If you have an injury, you should not do high intensity exercises. But you need to consider focusing on working on to correct your posture before it gets worst.

  Whenever you start yoga, Pilates or core exercises, let the instructor know that you have an injury. Your instructor will be able to offer you options if a certain post were to bring you lots of pain. Don’t ever force the exercise (especially if you have an injury or chronic pain)- a sharp piercing pain during workout indicates that either you are not ready for the exercise or it’s done wrongly. The safest bet is to go into recommendated exercises slowly and gradually.

  Most important, take the first step to heal any postural issues. Do not be a victim of constant back pain, muscle stiffness anymore. No more spending tonnes of money on frequent massage and spas- once you start to workout your core and do the exercises correctly, your body will feel well.

  Tips:
  You can check out YouTube.com and type in the keywords like ‘exercise injury’ or ‘exercise posture’ to find videos that shows what type of exercises help for certain types of injuries or to improve your posture. I have also compiled some exercise videos on Injuries & Pain Management and Core Muscles (for posture)

• —the part that is well will suffer injury such as fracture or slip disk because the muscles are no longer protecting the bones effectively due to weakness.
• —may led to autodegenerative diseases such as osteoperosis, athritis or osteoarthritis because of weak muscles and more pressure on bones and joints. continue reading…

Now I am a firm believe in core strength and stability. Previously, aside from abdominal crunches, I have performed some stretches using the Swiss ball and it helps a great deal. Recently, I have attended a class organised by my gym on core strengthening exercises using the Swiss ball.

Could it be just a pure coincidence that my knee pain just went off and my movements are so much easier after I have tried out the class? I find the exercises on the Swiss ball challenging but not too tough because I have been doing crunches exercises on the ball for some weeks. I had stopped doing crunches using the abdominals machine as I felt the Swiss Ball actually engaged much more muscles.

Like tai chi and qi gong exercises, you will not see drastic changes in your body as muscle gain, sweating buckets or rapid weight loss. These core muscles are so deep inside your body- and they play such a vita role in your health. Everything from injury prevention and healing, easier movements, better balance and boost to immune system.

It’s likely I will be actively incorporating Swiss ball exercises in my workout routine. I have very good faith in these exercises and will be exploring on how to use these exercises in areas of pain management, improved posture and possibly, delaying the effects of osteoporosis in older folks. Of course, diet plays a vital role as well especially in degenerative illness.

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