The Magic Pill for Foot Pain

Many people turn to medication when they experience pain in order to get fast relief. But what if a small dose of the right kind and amount of movement could give you immediate relief from your pain? Just as the success of medication depends on the right medication and the right dosage, so too does movement.

TRY MOVEMENT INSTEAD OF MEDICATION!

That’s what this series is all about. Showing people that a simple movement, activity, or exercise can make substantial differences in you feel. I see this all the time in my yoga class. In many classes I start with a “self-assessment”, that is some basic movement and cue people to pay attention how it feels. Then I lead a simple and gentle movement of that region (or maybe a related region) of the body, a treatment or intervention as we call in it Physical Therapy. Then I have people repeat the movement, or “re-assess” how they feel. From the majority of responses, I have seen people have immediate changes in sensation or pain.

Each video will give you education and 1-2 minutes of an activity that may just help your pain. But if you need to "fine tune" your prescription, go to the American Physical Therapy Association to search for a Physical Therapist near you. http://aptaapps.apta.org/APTAPTDirectory/FindAPTDirectory.aspx

I would love to hear your comments about this video and others in the series.

Namaste,

Stephanie

Heal Your Low Back with STRENGTH!

This is another lesson that I give to patients on the very first day of Physical Therapy.  It is the focus of my class at Balancing Owl Yoga Thursdays at 2pm.  The body derives so many benefits from developing strength.  And as we age, we can lose up to .5 lbs of lean muscle mass each year.  Yikes!

 A regular practice of leg strengthening can help ease the sensations in the back  by taking tension and strain off of it.  Having a strong body overall gives you energy.  Energy which can translate to having more "will power".  That's right, strengthening your body can also strengthen your will.  A strong will can help you each and every day build, not only a pain free life, but a life of joy because you're doing the things You want to do.  

With this video you can learn to "stand up" with proper mechanics, but you can also gain the strength to "stand up for yourself".

Namaste,

Stephanie

P.S.  If you need the advice of an expert or need some motivation from a knowledgeable coach, that's what my private sessions are all about.  I will spend an hour with you and together we'll develop a plan to get you back on track to heal your back.  It usually only takes 1-2 sessions and as a bonus, you will get access to 1 or more of my yoga practice videos.  To schedule a session email me: 

info@stephaniecarterkelley.com

P.S.S.  You can also get my advice and coaching from my online course:  Yoga for a Better Back.  You get 10 total hours of education, rehabilitation, and 8 yoga videos to perform anywhere/anytime.

Support for Your Spine and for You

Clients that come to my yoga class or to see me privately always start by telling me about the injury or damage sustained to the body. It is usually a story of something broken with the assumption that it can’t be fixed. What I have learned is that very few people really understand the functional anatomy of their body and (it seems even less!) of the spine. He or she has only been exposed to reports or pictures of the damage or pathology of the body. The words and images have “stuck” so that now the client’s impression of the body or spine is one of being broken or “a mess”.

My goal is to improve your understanding of how amazing the body really is. It has the potential to heal, but when a tissue is damaged (like a ligament) the body has one or more “back up” systems to create support for injured the area. For example, the disc is not the only connective tissue that holds your vertebra together! You have many more ligaments, muscle, and fascia that create layers upon layers of support for your spine.

So if you like anatomy, you’ll like this video. And if you’ve ever seen an X-Ray or MRI of your spine, watch this video to put a new and maybe more positive image into your brain about your low back.

I also offer another way for you to think about support. Your spine may feel less supported when you talk to yourself in a negative way. The messages that you send to yourself have the ability to break you down or create support. Try telling yourself this:

  • I’m doing the best that I can

  • I am enough

  • I am worthy of love

  • I can learn from this failure

Once you start giving yourself internal support, you will start to notice that you also have external support. You have family, friends and colleagues that are ready to support you.

Because the practice of yoga integrates the body and mind, a physical practice focused on creating support of the low back can help you realize the other ways and people that are present to support you.

This month and next, I’m offering a few evening classes to increase the support that I can offer you. Check out my schedule and sign up at Balancing Owl Yoga.

Another way to get support is in my online class: Yoga for a Better Back. It offers 10 hours of content in lessons, meditations and gentle yoga. Each module provides a level of support that progresses as you learn and practice.

Namaste,

Stephanie

Find Comfort in the New Year

We all need some comfort each day. But you FIRST need to realize that you are uncomfortable and ask yourself WHY. So many of us disconnect from what we feel each day in order to just survive. You may unconsciously find ways to create the comfort you so dearly NEED. From the first cup of coffee in the morning to foraging in the pantry at the end of the day, these subconscious actions don’t deal with the true source of discomfort and don’t really give us long lasting comfort.

So we must first deal with the discomfort, not avoid or keep pushing through discomfort in order to create lasting change for the better. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

  • When do you feel discomfort?

  • Where do you feel that discomfort in your body?

  • Is the discomfort a physical experience or does it correspond to emotional or mental discomfort?

  • What would directly affect the discomfort that you feel right now?

Because the primary goal of Yoga is to “yoke” our physical sensations with emotional and spiritual sensations, movement may help you find answers to the questions above. You can start on the floor with cat/cow creating gentle movement and exploring comfort vs discomfort. Most yoga classes progress to standing poses. So you’ll want to try those too.

In this video I will address 3 out of 4 of what I call the “Fundamental Four“ (here’s a handout for detailed cues). Fundamental because they are the standing poses performed in almost every yoga class. It is important that you are familiar and comfortable in these poses. My instruction will help you learn the poses and make them your own with both COMFORT and EASE.

Namaste,

Stephanie

P.S. Are ready to really find out the source of your low back pain? My 4 Module Online Course, Yoga for a Better Back, is a commitment to feeling better in the New Year. It takes 8-12 weeks to complete, but will give you a much better understanding of WHY your back hurts and HOW you can make lasting change.

What's Really The Cause of Your Poor Posture?

I had a discussion with my yoga students about posture. This group of women are all in their 50s and 60s, and each of them (like me) remember a grandmother or other adult admonishing them for a bad posture. We talked a little about why there is an emphasis on a good posture in our culture. Our conversation led me to look into the history of posture.  I found this statement from an interesting website, ThePowerofPosture.net:

"In 18th century middle-class society, proper posture was an essential ingredient in formal situations. The body positioning of strangers was shrewdly evaluated as a measurement of upbringing, physical attractiveness, trustworthiness, self-control, and dignity. Respectable people regarded erect posture as the very thing that set us apart from the animals. Likewise, collapsed posture was seen as a manifestation of immorality and stupidity, a symptom of poor character that lead to things like masturbation and other failures of self-control."

With those strong statements you can understand how our beliefs around posture were formed.  I wonder how close you hold the belief that our posture tells us something about the essence of the person?  In my training as a physical therapist, my beliefs about posture and whether posture is an "impairment" have changed over the years.  In my early career, I was trained to believe that we could "train" and ultimately "change" someone's posture.  But with practice, I began to doubt whether real change in someone's posture could be sustained. When posture was the main focus of treatment, it led to frustration on both the patient and my part.  I also began to wonder how much a person's posture really "resulted" in someone’s pain.  So over my years of practice and now integrating yoga, I have a broader perspective regarding the role that posture plays in our lives, Body, Mind and Spirit.  

Body:

I believe that MOVEMENT in and out of posture is much more important than MAINTAINING a STATIC posture.  It seems that no matter what posture we assume: sitting, standing, slumped or erect; if we sustain that posture for LONG periods of time there will be trouble.  Joan Vernikos, in her book Sitting Kills, Moving Heals, states that the problem is not how much we sit during the day (8 hours +), but how long we sustain that posture without moving.  She advocates frequent low-intensity movement throughout the day to combat the negative effects of sustained sitting.

Mental:

I have seen how changing a person's posture can change also their attitude and affect. 

Try the alignment practice describe in the video placing 3 points of your body along the wall.

Do you notice a difference in your mind and body between these two positions?

When I did this activity at a health fair, the majority of people said yes, they could feel a difference in their body. The improved posture brought awareness to their breath filling lower into the body, chest or belly.  But what was also amazing was how the look on their faces transformed.  With an improved upright posture, people raised their eyebrows and the corners of the mouth, that's right, into a SMILE.  

Spirit:

Why is it so hard to maintain a "good" posture?  Many Physical Therapists and others "Body Workers" focus so much on our posture as the source of pain in the neck and back.  I believe that if it was ONLY a problem of the body, then it would be an easy fix. Improving strength and flexibility should be enough.  We blame our jobs, our computers, and our hand held devices on a curved spine. 

But I have come to view this curved spine as a protective position.  We wear this curved spine like a “Turtle Shell or Amour of Protection”.  Some people even have their shoulders drawn up around their ears.  So I have wondered, what are we trying to protect?  Our heart as the source of love?  Our throats as the center of expression?  Maybe our efforts should be focused on how to allow our Spirit to Shine and our True Self to emerge.

Brene Brown, in her book Braving the Wilderness, says for wholehearted living you need to have a Strong Back (COURAGE), a Soft Front (LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE, even for yourself), and a Wild Heart (LIVE YOUR TRUEST SELF).

I think that advice just may be the solution to the postural dilemma.

Namaste,

Stephanie

It's not degenerative discs causing your pain, it's your hips!

Click on the picture above or this link: https://youtu.be/Oc0xJ65OJvs

Most of my patients and clients with back pain have tight hips which ABSOLUTELY contributes to their back pain.  In this video you will learn physical and emotional reasons WHY your hips are tight (hint: too much sitting and too much stress while you are sitting). I will lead you through a few moves to assess your own hips to see if they are tight. Then I will provide 3 ways to do something about it!  And YES, yoga poses are included!

You will want to watch this video along with a few others that help you MOVE and strengthen your BACK and CORE. Then you will have the tools to perform the yoga series provided in this FREE DOWNLOAD: Yoga for People who Sit.

Take a week to watch and learn. And in just 4 short videos and some consistency of performing the yoga series, your back CAN FEEL BETTER.

Namaste,

Stephanie

P.S. If you like my videos and you are ready to take a deep dive into really HEALING your back, check out my online course: Yoga for a Better Back.

The Effects of Stress on Your Pain and How Yoga can Help

Maybe back pain is just one of the many "conditions" you have. Do you also have high blood pressure, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and/or pain in other areas of the body like the neck, shoulder and knees?

If so, STRESS may be the root cause.

In this video, you will learn how low levels of chronic stress keeps the nervous system on alert all day and all night long. Over time, stress can take its toll on the body. Yoga is one way to create awareness of your stress triggers. Awareness is the only way that you can take charge of your own health.

To create Awareness you need to start a mindful practice, which can be as simple as taking 3 deep breaths or begin meditating. But you NEED to start today! Watch my YouTube video on how to start meditating, even when you have pain.

Namaste,

Stephanie

How your Aging Spine is Like an Oreo Cookie

We see how our bodies are changing when we look in the mirror.  You know what I mean…yes, those wrinkles are evidence that we are aging…normally.

Our spines are no different, we just don’t see how time and stress is affecting our joints and discs every day because we can’t see them…until…

…one day, you wake up with back pain and your doctor sends you for an X-Ray. With that picture (or an MRI which is an even better picture) you can see the changes. You now have visual evidence on the INSIDE that you are AGING…NORMALLY!

The X-Ray or MRI shows your wrinkles on the inside.

But we call those wrinkles degenerative discs and joints and these normal age-related changes are treated like a disease.

Your wrinkles don’t hurt, what if you changed how you approach your wrinkles on the inside? 

What if you accepted these changes and thought of yourself as normal rather than broken? 

Education in this video can help you think and believe differently about the changes in your spine.

Degenerative Discs and Joints are NOT a Disease, they are normal changes due to age.  In this video, I explain (WITH  OREO COOKIES) what this looks like and why it is not something to FEAR. 

These aging changes are not something to FEAR and they don’t need to be painful!

These changes do mean that you have to take care of your spine and there are many ways to do that:

  • regular aerobic exercise like walking or swimming

  • frequent mobility practice to use your range of motion or eventually lose it

  • strength training for support of your muscles and joints 

  • stress reduction to stop your brain from creating pain

If this video gets you HUNGRY for more ways to HEAL YOUR BACK (see my pun there!), email me at info@stephaniecarterkelley.com or learn more about my DIY program blending Physical Therapy and Yoga.

Namaste,

Stephanie

How to Begin Meditating, Even When You Have Chronic Pain

Relieve back pain, neck pain, and others types of chronic pain with the physical, mental, and spiritual practices from Yoga and Physical Therapy blended together.

In this video Stephanie Carter Kelley, Physical Therapist and Yoga Teacher shares how people with chronic and persistent pain can start meditating today!

Resources to begin meditating today:

  • Insight Timer App (free): has 12,000 free meditations and some are specifically for people in pain.

  • Center for Mindfulness at UCSD has free guided meditations of various lengths. As suggested in this video, start with 10 or 15 minutes and build your tolerance to longer sessions. https://health.ucsd.edu/specialties/m...

  • This book by Penman and Burch gave me a path to meditation when I was in pain: "You are not Your Pain". It comes with 8 guided meditations on a CD.

Visit www.stephaniecarterkelley.com for more resources on how Yoga blended with Physical Therapy can help you relieve pain today!

My 1st PT Lesson: Create Natural Movement to Ease Your Back Pain

YOUR SPINE WAS MEANT TO MOVE!

Pelvic tilts from Physical Therapy are the same movements as Cat/Cow in Yoga. You get to take control of these movements to perform a little or a lot. These movements nourish your spine and re-create natural motions to remind your spine it can move without pain.

Stephanie Carter Kelley, PT, PhD and Certified Yoga Teacher shares physical, mental, and spiritual practices to relieve chronic and persistent pain.

See www.stephaniecarterkelley.com to learn more.

If you like this video please give it a THUMBS UP and SUBSCRIBE to the channel. Also tap on the bell to receive an alert each week when I post a new video.

If you want a longer practice to use each day to reclaim the mobility of ALL your joints, sign up at: www.stephaniecarterkelley.com/youtube-mobility-video

What's really hurting your low back is a stiff upper back

Grab your foam roller and learn how to create more movement in your aching back by addressing the stiffness in your mid- and upper back.

You can get foam rollers on Amazon. You need 36" long and 6" diameter. You don't need fancy, cheap will do! The brand used often by PT's is the OPTP Axis. They also have softer rollers for sensitive spines (https://smile.amazon.com/OPTP-PRO-ROL...) As a warning, the black "high density" rollers are really hard.

Our hunched sitting posture each day over many years results in mid- and upper back stiffness. This results in "overuse" of the low back (and neck!) which is one of many reasons you may hurt.

For more information about how to heal your pain, see my website: www.stephaniecarterkelley.com