Save Your Back with 6 Easy Stretches

Don't miss any of HealthyWoman from Bottom Line. Add our address, HealthyWomanfromBottomLine@ebhw.bottomlinesecrets.com, to your Address Book or Safe List. Learn how here. February 13, 2011  Simple Stretches that Make Back Pain Disappear New Treatment Reverses 82% of Deadly Cancers... Without Chemotherapy, Radiation or Surgery This Carrot Soup Gets an A+ No Plunger? No Problem. Secret to Unplugging Your Toilet It's Processed Meat -- Not Red Meat! -- that Harms the Heart   Simple Stretches that Make Back Pain Disappear "For years, I had horrible back pain. Nothing helped -- not heating pads, painkillers, exercise or staying in bed," my pal Linda told me. "Then I went to a type of physical therapist called a postural specialist. She taught me some simple moves and stretches, including a few where you just lie there relaxing in a particular position while your muscles release all their tension... ahhhh. I started doing the routine at home every day, and I haven’t had any back pain in two years." Because I get so many e-mails from readers pleading for fresh information on back pain relief, I followed up on Linda’s remarks by contacting postural specialist Natalie Thomas, DPT, of In Motion O.C., a physical therapy and fitness facility in Irvine, California. She told me that sitting for hours each day (as many of us do) can create major postural imbalances that lead to chronic back pain. "Muscles often shorten and atrophy when not used enough. Since muscles push and pull bones, these muscle changes can alter the way you stand and move and negatively affect the efficiency with which your body functions," she said. Example: Prolonged sitting shortens the hip flexors, the muscles in the front of the hips. When you stand, these shortened muscles change the position of the pelvis... so the spine, which connects to the pelvis, becomes compromised... the chain of imbalances continues up the spine to the neck... and the head juts forward as the body tries to balance itself. "The body was not meant to be in that position, so back pain is inevitable," Dr. Thomas said. If you have back pain: Try the postural exercise routine below. It is generalized to be appropriate for most people, but as with any exercise regimen, get your doctor’s OK before beginning. Each of the following exercises is designed to set up your body for the next one, Dr. Thomas said, so do the moves in the order given. For best results, do the 35-minute routine daily. For video demonstrations: See Dr. Thomas’s Web site at www.InMotionOC.com/other-services/postural-program/ and click on the video at the bottom of the page. 1. Static Back is a stationary stretch that causes back muscles to release while allowing the upper back to fall into extension (the opposite of contraction). Lie face-up in front of a sturdy chair, with your legs raised and buttocks close to the chair’s front legs. Bend knees to 90° and place calves on chair seat (feet should not hit back of chair), with legs relaxed and however far apart you find comfortable. Stretch arms straight out from shoulders to rest on floor, palms up. Relax entire body, allowing your lower back to settle into floor (do not force). Hold for five minutes. 2. Pullovers further encourage back muscles to relax into extension. Start: Get into Static Back position (see exercise #1). With knees close together (no more than two inches apart), buckle a belt around lower thighs... then press thighs outward against belt to maintain gentle but constant pressure throughout entire exercise. Move: Interlace fingers, palms together, and stretch arms straight up above chest toward ceiling. Keeping elbows straight, slowly lower arms until hands touch floor behind your head... then raise arms toward ceiling again. Repeat 30 times with a steady, controlled movement. When finished, remove belt. 3. Flexion Crunches strengthen abdominal muscles, thus taking pressure off your lower back. Start: Lie face-up with buttocks about six inches from a wall and place feet flat against wall, hip-width apart. Allow knees to bend at about a 60° angle so upper thighs are close to chest. Interlace fingers behind head... keep elbows back... gaze at ceiling overhead. Move: Keeping lower back pressed into floor, use abdominal muscles to lift head and upper shoulders straight up (not forward) four to six inches off floor as you exhale... then immediately lower yourself toward floor as you inhale. This move is called a crunch. Repeat 30 times at a moderate pace without resting between crunches... relax briefly... then do 30 more. 4. Kneeling Groin Stretch elongates hip flexors. Kneel on floor with knees several inches apart and upper body erect. Keeping right knee down, lift left knee and place left foot flat on floor about 24 inches in front of you. Place hands on left thigh... let hips sink forward and toward floor, keeping upper body erect (do not lean forward), to feel a stretch in right hip. Hold for one minute... repeat on opposite side. 5. Supine Groin Stretch aligns the hip, knee and ankle connection... elongates hip flexors... and helps release tightness up the spine. Begin in Static Back position (see exercise #1), except place only the left calf on chair... extend right leg and rest it on floor alongside the chair, with outside of right foot resting against a block or box so that foot and right leg do not roll out. Stretch arms along the floor, straight out from shoulders, palms up. Relax entire body and hold for 10 minutes... repeat with opposite leg on the chair. 6. Airbench strengthens the newly elongated hip flexors, fixing the pelvis in its new, healthier position. Stand with your back against a wall. Carefully walk forward as you bend knees and allow back to slide down wall. Continue until knees are bent to 90°. Feet should be hip-width apart and pointed straight ahead... heels directly under or slightly in front of knees... and entire spine and back of head pressed against wall. Hold for 90 seconds. Source: Natalie Thomas, PT, DPT, is managing director of In Motion O.C., a physical therapy and fitness facility in Irvine, California. She specializes in orthopedic manual therapy and posture. www.InMotionOC.com New Treatment Reverses 82% of Deadly Cancers... Without Chemotherapy, Radiation or Surgery Lung cancer? Everybody knows that’s usually a death sentence. TV’s Peter Jennings died just a few months after announcing he had it. But you won’t hear that gloomy outlook from some very fortunate cancer patients. They were treated with a startling new medical cure that harnessed the cancer-killing power of their body’s T-cells. These warriors of your immune system usually ignore cancer. But researchers recently found a way to trick T-cells into destroying deadly cancers. How? With a dose of the patient’s own tumor cells! Read on... This Carrot Soup Gets an A+ When I found my daughter chomping on some carrots, I was delighted -- because I had just read a study from Harvard showing that women who eat lots of foods rich in the yellow-orange antioxidants called carotenoids have a reduced risk for premenopausal breast cancer. When I told her about this, she laughed and said, "Premenopausal? Then I guess it’s too late for these carrots to do you any good." Not at all, I replied, grabbing a few for myself -- because another study in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that the risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease and all other causes was reduced in people who had high blood levels of the carotenoid alpha-carotene, a nutrient that carrots contain in abundance. With that in mind, I asked dietitian Lauren Braun, RD, LD, coauthor of Soup for Every Body, to share a carotenoid-rich, warm-up-your-winter soup recipe with us. Her suggestion: Velvety Carrot and Rice Soup. What you need... 4 Tablespoons olive oil 1 pound diced baby carrots (sweeter and more flavorful than full size) ½ cup chopped shallots ¼ cup chopped crystallized ginger 3 tablespoons uncooked brown rice 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock What to do... Heat oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir in all ingredients except stock, cover tightly and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 30 minutes. Pour mixture into a blender or food processor, add stock and puree to the desired consistency. Return soup to saucepan and reheat. Season to taste with pepper and/or other spices. Makes four servings. Source: Lauren Braun, RD, LD, is a dietitian and menu planner in private practice in Miami, Florida, a recipe analyst for the National Association of Specialty Foods and coauthor, with Joanna Pruess, of Soup for Every Body (Lyons). www.NutriSmart.com No Plunger? No Problem. Secret to Unplugging Your Toilet "My toilet was stopped up. My guests were on their way. And I couldn’t find a plunger!" Lucky for me, I’d learned the secret: Just squirt some liquid dish detergent, wait 15 minutes, and my home and guests were good to go. How often have you been caught in a situation like this -- or any of thousands of other household mishaps? Spills, breaks, lost items -- family heirlooms nearly ruined. Too often, right? Joan and Lydia Wilen, better known to TV viewers as "The Wilen Sisters," have the secret to saving the day on these and thousands of other potentially disastrous mishaps. Learn more... It's Processed Meat -- Not Red Meat! -- that Harms the Heart We’ve all heard it hundreds of times -- cut back on red meat to guard against heart disease. But a recent analysis of data from 20 studies involving a total of more than 1.2 million people from 10 different countries who were followed for up to 18 years suggests that this advice is too broad. Surprisingly, researchers found that eating unprocessed beef, pork or lamb was not associated with increased risk for either heart disease or diabetes. However, eating even a moderate amount of processed meats (those preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding chemical preservatives, such as nitrates) -- such as bacon, salami, sausage, hot dogs, many deli meats and perhaps processed poultry -- was another story. Average daily consumption of one 1.8-ounce (50-gram) serving of processed meat (about one to two slices of deli meat or one hot dog) was associated with a 42% increase in heart disease risk and a 19% increase in diabetes risk. The saturated fat and cholesterol in meat typically are the focus of recommendations to cut back on red meat... yet researchers found that unprocessed and processed meats actually contained similar amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. Where meat products differed: The processed meats contained about four times as much sodium and about 50% more nitrates (since nitrates also naturally occur in meat) than unprocessed red meat -- which suggests that these ingredients may be the true culprits to avoid when it comes to guarding against heart disease and diabetes. Source: Renata Micha, RD, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and leader of a review of 1,598 studies. Tamara Eberlein, the editor of HealthyWoman from Bottom Line, has been a health journalist for nearly three decades. An award-winning author of four books, she is committed to helping other women in midlife and beyond live healthy, fulfilling lives. She is also the "chief health adviser" to her husband of 25 years, college-age twins and teenaged son. BOTTOMLINESECRETS.COM Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy About Us Contact US Bottom Line Publications | 281 Tresser Boulevard, 8th Floor | Stamford, CT 06901 You received this free E-letter because you have requested it. You are on the mailing list as healthwellness82@gmail.com. Or... a friend forwarded it to you. Click here to easily unsubscribe. To change your e-mail address click here. To update your e-mail preferences click here. © 2011 by Boardroom Inc. All Rights Reserved.