Blog Entries by Jennifer Gloystein
Posted 12/21/2011
I recently joined a new gym to begin my training for the Lincoln ½ marathon coming up in May. I definitely prefer to run outside, however the snow, ice, and freezing cold temperatures keep me confined to the gym in the winter months. O the joys of living in Nebraska, however the Husker football easily off-sets the weather!
A recent trend in exercise equipment in almost every gym is to have a television screen mounted directly to the piece of equipment (see picture below). Most people love this new feature because they can choose what they want to watch and directly plug their headphones into the treadmill and listen to the television program. As much as I enjoy watching television, I would prefer to run on a treadmill, elliptical or stair stepper without a screen 12 inches in front of my face because I feel better physically….this however is not an option at my gym (every piece of equipment has a television screen).
So, why am I concerned about working out with a television screen directly on the machine?
1) Staring at a television screen 12 inches in front of you causes your body to extend (your back to arch backwards). This results in compensatory activity of mechanics involving your trunk, hips, knees, etc. leading to possible injuries throughout your body.
2) Being locked into a visual stimulus this close and straight ahead of you results in focal vision, and eliminates your peripheral vision. Focal vision is your narrow, straight ahead vision (think of tunnel vision). Peripheral vision, which is the awareness of what is around you to your left and right helps to facilitate flexion of your body 
, whereas focal vision is associated with increased extension tone. Ideally I love for my patients to look around when they run (you should be aware of your surroundings, both to the left and right, rather than staring at the ground or something directly ahead of you).
3) Visual and audio stimulation can increase sympathetic activity of the central nervous system which also leads to increased extension tone.
So, I challenge you to avoid watching a television program next time you are working out. Your back, knees, hips, etc. may thank you! Maybe have it on, but only occasionally glance at it. Or glance at televisions around the area that are not so close to you. Try to look around the room or the gym. I find it enjoyable to look around the gym and analyze individual’s posture and mechanics, therefore taking my eyes of the television is not too difficult for me!
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Posted 12/07/2011
I typically get my blog ideas for clinical experiences, and over the past week, I had a couple patients who were having trouble with their home exercise program that I had given them. Both patients were experiencing upper back/neck tension with the exercise shown below. This exercise should relieve tension (not cause it) when performed correctly. Therefore, I further analyzed the patient’s performing this activity. In both cases, the problem was that they were not exhaling correctly. One individual was exhaling with “pursed” lips, while the other was exhaling very quick and forcefully.
Those who have been to our clinic know that breathing is important with every exercise you do! Respiration is the foundation of the science of the Postural Respiration Institute™. Exhalation is the focus of today’s topic. There are several reasons why we emphasize patient’s breathing correctly with our activities, but most importantly to appropriately using the diaphragm as a respiratory muscle rather than a postural stabilizer, to help us get into a “neutral” or flexed position, and to minimize use of accessory (neck) muscles to help breathe on the next inhalation.
I had to teach both these patients to exhale correctly, and when doing so they had no tension in their upper back or neck performing the exercise. The exhalation phase of breathing should be about three times longer than the inhalation. If one does not fully exhale all the air, then “dead air” remains in the chest wall, your ribcage remains elevated and externally rotated, and muscle tension develops in your neck and shoulders. We sometimes use a spirometer to measure the amount of air you can exhale, which is often decreased. If you never get all the air out of your body, you cannot fully inhale because space in the lungs in being occupied by the “dead air”. Not only is this important for decreasing muscle tension, but air exchange controls oxygenation of our body. When we inhale, we supply our body with oxygen, and with exhalation we eliminate carbon dioxide. If you have “dead (non-oxygenated) air” in your chest wall, you cannot fully re-oxygenate on inhalation, and you may be fatigued easily, get out of breath with simple activities such as going up a flight of stairs, get headaches, not sleep well or wake up tired after a full night of sleep.
To help these two patients over the past week, I really encouraged a full exhalation. I am often saying “Blow all the air out, every last bit drop of air that you have in your lungs.” I often utilize tools such as a straw, party favor or balloon to help the patient realize they are getting the air out, as well as provide a small amount of resistance which engages the abdominals and assists with pulling their ribcage down into a depressed and internally rotated position assisting them to get all the air out. So, please consider, have you (and/or your patients) been exhaling correctly (and fully) with PRI activities?
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Posted 11/01/2011
For those who know me, I have pictures of my nieces all over my office desk and home. I have several pictures of them in a full squat position playing with something on the floor….A full deep squat. Now imagine yourself sitting in a full squat position playing your favorite board game or card game with your family or friends. Many of us would fall backwards on our bottom instantly. As we grow up (in our country at least), we spend a lot of time sitting on chairs, benches, toilets, couches, and many of us lose our ability to fully squat. Other countries do spend a lot of time squatting, and their health is benefiting from it I am sure.
Squatting is a very important, and something that we as therapists at the Hruska Clinic are often evaluating (and trying to improve the ability to squat) with our patients. A full, deep squat (when done correctly) assists with: decreasing muscle tone in the back, improving normal hip and knee mechanics, and placing the pelvic floor muscles in position to allow for easier bowel and bladder elimination….just to name a few. When done incorrectly, it may cause the patient pain in the knees, back, hips, pelvic floor, etc.
So, can you squat? A full, deep squat keeping your heels down and knees in, without falling backwards or experiencing pain? If not, you may be a good candidate for Postural Restoration physical therapy.
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Posted 10/31/2011
JASON MASEK! Congrats to Jason and his artistic ability....I anticipate these pumpkins will get more and more creative every year! We will be donating our entry fee money and the food donations that we received this week to the Lincoln Food Pantry.
Posted 09/27/2011
You may have recently read an article posted on our website, The Value of Blowing Up a Balloon. We commonly use balloons in our clinic to assist our patients with improving normal diaphragmatic breathing, ribcage position and improving postural mechanics. Every day, I teach my patients how to breathe with their exercise programs.
Many individuals are habitual mouth-breathers, inhaling and exhaling through their mouth. When this is done, you do not correctly use your diaphragm muscle, but rather use muscles of your anterior chest wall and neck to help you breathe. This can become a major contributor to pain patterns including: neck pain, shoulder tension, back pain, forward head posture, TMJ pain and dysfunction, headaches, asthma, snoring, sleep apnea and many others.
I ask you to consider how you breathe. Normal diaphragmatic breathing involves inhalation through your nose, and exhalation through your mouth. It is for this reason, that nearly every exercise at the Hruska Clinic involves a breathing component, and sometimes a balloon. Holding your breath or breathing through your mouth during physical activity results in inappropriate muscle activity and can contribute to pain and dysfunction and/or hinder your rehabilitation process.
Questions or comments for Jen? to send her an email!
Posted 07/18/2011
In this week’s “Swing into Health Golf Series” blog, Jen addresses the importance of Left hip rotation in the follow-through of your golf swing. Check it out!
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Posted 07/06/2011
Learn about appropriate frontal plane positioning & it’s effect on your golf swing by watching Jen’s latest video…
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Posted 06/29/2011
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Posted 06/06/2011
For those of you who may not know, I am an avid golfer! As a competitive golfer in high school and at the collegiate level, I have developed a strong passion in golf swing mechanics and injuries. Unfortunately, I did encounter a few golfing “aches and pains” over the years, but this lead me to where I am today, becoming a physical therapist, and working at the Hruska Clinic! My background in Postural Restoration has provided me with a whole new approach to golf swing mechanics, common golf-related injuries, and treatment.
As we embark upon prime golfing season, I invite you follow my “Swing into Health Golf Series.” I hope to provide you with information to help with swing mechanics, take a few strokes off your game, and most importantly play pain-free.
In the next few blogs, I plan to discuss the three planes of the body (sagittal, frontal and transverse) and their relationship to the golf swing. Sagittal plane activities involve bending and straightening of our body…we do a lot of these activities (walking, biking, elliptical, stairs, squats, bench press, leg press, etc.). Frontal plane activities require our body to move side-to-side (skiing or rollerblading) and transverse plane activities involve rotation of our body. Golf is very much a tri-planar sport requiring all three planes to work together correctly, and if one plane is not functioning properly it can lead to injury.
Check back soon to learn more about the sagittal plane’s influences on your golf game!
~Jen
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Posted 09/23/2010
My last blog “Do you know how to walk” focused on the importance of heel strike when you walk, and now I would like to further discuss this concept with athletic activities. Of course it varies with the type of athletic activity, but it is rarely advised to play or run on your heels! You will hear coaches say, “get ready”, “up on your toes”, or “game stance”. This is the nature of athletics, being on your heels will slow you down. For instance, in football, you must be ready to go when the ball is snapped. If you are back on your heels you will get beat by your opponent every time. When playing defense in volleyball, you will have trouble moving for the ball if you are sitting back on your heels waiting for the attack. The same is true when playing defense in basketball, and with many other athletic activities.
So, as an athlete, I would recommend that you remember the concept of heel strike when you are walking, and when you are not participating in your respective sport. You typically are only practicing or playing a game for a couple hours per day, and you walk the remainder of the day. In order to help offset the muscles that you use when you are running or jumping on your toes and decrease your likelihood for future injury, be sure to emphasize “heel strike” when you are walking before and after your athletic activities.
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Posted 08/31/2010
This may sound like a silly question, since we all started walking when we were toddlers, but I find that many of my patients do not know how to walk. Over the weekend, I took a course offered by Ron Hruska and he reminded me and several other therapists’ in the room that many people don’t know how to walk correctly. I see this everyday when I watch my patients walk up and down the hallway. Gait is a term for walking, and there are many phases in the gait cycle. The first phase of walking is heel strike, and many people have poor heel strike on one or both sides when they walk. If you avoid striking your heels while walking, you will alter the proper mechanics at your foot, ankle, hip, back, etc. Since heel strike is the first stage of the gait cycle, you have now altered the entire sequence of walking. Your body has to compensate for this, and will likely lead to pain or dysfunction.
I would recommend paying more attention to how you walk. When you take a step, do you hit your heels first? Your heel should hit the ground, and then you should feel the arch of your shoe, followed by pushing off your big toe. A simple exercise I would recommend to help you recognize heel strike is to first walk backwards, feeling your heels hit the ground first. This helps to stretch (or inhibit) your calf muscles. Walk up and down your hallway a couple times each morning backwards. Follow this up with walking forwards slowly and placing an emphasis on hitting your heels to the ground first.
If you don’t know how to walk, you will have difficulty running or doing other activities pain free. So, let’s go back to being a toddler and learn how to walk again!
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Posted 06/15/2010
I would like to take a brief moment to follow-up on Dave’s recent blog regarding bench press. Some of the muscles engaged in this weight lifting exercise are the pectoral (anterior chest) muscles. These muscles are often too tight and strong in many individuals for a variety of reasons (weight lifting, poor posture, poor breathing mechanics, or occupations that require a lot of computer or desk work). This can lead to rounded shoulders and pain in the neck, shoulders, or headaches.
Check out this stretch to help decrease the tightness in your pectoral muscles, while maintaining a good pelvic and neck position and most importantly breathing correctly. Performing this stretch can help prevent future occurrence of headaches, or neck and shoulder pain. Please remember, if you suffer from any pain or discomfort, you may benefit from seeing a postural restoration physical therapist for full evaluation before performing these suggested activities on the blog.
Posted 05/24/2010
Check out inline skating!
I am here today to discuss a cross training activity that takes me back to my youth (1990’s), to consider this summer to strengthen the muscles that help our body move in the side to side (frontal) plane. Inline skating, or more commonly known as rollerblading is a great activity to engage some muscles that we don’t often work called the hip adductors (inner thighs) and abductors (gluteus/buttock muscles). Snow skiing is another great activity, but unfortunately flat Nebraska isn’t ideal for that! : )
If you have viewed some of the previous running blogs posted by Lori Thomsen, then you have learned that our body has to function in three planes (sagittal, frontal and transverse). We do a lot of sagittal plane activities in life! Some examples include: walking, running, elliptical trainer, biking, squatting, etc. This list is nearly endless, as it involves anything that bends or straightens our body forwards and backwards. We often get too strong in the sagittal plane (especially runners), while the other two planes are not nearly as strong. Frontal plane activities require our body to move side to side, and transverse plane involves rotation of the body. Rollerblading addresses all three planes, and is a great cardiovascular activity to improve frontal plane strength.
Tips for Inline Skating/Rollerblading:
• Keep your back slightly rounded, not upright or else you will engage your back extensors rather than your gluteus (buttock) muscles.
• Rotate your trunk by pumping your arms, as seen in the first photo (left arm with right leg, and right arm with left leg).
• Learn how to stop! When you are first learning, please be sure to start out on flat surfaces so you do not have to stop on the bottom of a hill. Rolling to a stop is the best beginner recommendation, and as you get more comfortable you can use the brake on one of the skates. If you have ever snow skied before, you know that you control your speed by swerving side to side, this also helps while rollerblading.
• And of course….Skate at your own risk, falling can result in serious injuries! If you find this activity too challenging or dangerous, check out Lori’s previous video blog discussing other exercises to help strengthen your frontal plane.
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More blog entries can be found in the archives…
