Podcasts about lordosis

When it comes to the spine, most of us envision it as a straight structure. However, the truth is that the spine is designed with intentional curves to enhance its strength and flexibility. In this podcast, Dr. Tony Nalda explores the normal curvatures of the spine, the types of curves, and what happens when these curves deviate from the norm. Understanding Spinal Curvatures The spine's natural design includes curves that contribute to its resilience and ability to absorb and distribute stress during movement and compression. In the side view or sagittal alignment, the spine should appear as an elegant S curve, extending from the neck through the lower back. The two different types of curves are: Lordosis - the forward bend of the spine, either in the cervical or lumbar spine Kyphosis - The backward bend of the spine, typically occurring in the middle part of the spine or thoracic spine These curves play a crucial role in maintaining the spine's biomechanical function. Normal Ranges for Curvatures Each section of the spine has its unique curvature, and it's essential to stay within the normal range to ensure proper biomechanics. The ideal curvature measurements are: Cervical Lordosis - ideal range around 40 degrees, with a normal range between 20 degrees and 40 degrees Lumbar Lordosis - Ideal range around 40 degrees, with a normal range between 30 degrees and 60 degrees Thoracic Kyphosis - Normal range around 40 degrees, with variations between 20 degrees and 45 degrees The Impact of Abnormal Curvatures When the spine deviates from these normal ranges, it can lead to various issues, including adult spinal deformity. This condition arises when the spine loses its natural range and biomechanics, resulting in disruptions that can lead to future complications as we age. Scoliosis: A Three-Dimensional Problem An unnatural sideways curvature of the spine, known as scoliosis, presents a three-dimensional challenge. Scoliosis is identified when the curvature exceeds 10 degrees, accompanied by rotation into the concavities. Maintaining the spine's alignment from both the front and side views becomes crucial to prevent complications like spinal degeneration and arthritis. To address these concerns, Dr. Nalda and his team at the Scoliosis Reduction Center offer proactive treatment models. Their goal is to restore the spine's normal curvatures and remove abnormal curvatures, ensuring natural function is preserved as the body ages. This proactive approach aims to reduce the risk of conditions like adult spinal deformity. Understanding the normal and abnormal curvatures of the spine is vital for maintaining overall spinal health. If you want to delve deeper into this topic, tune in to Dr. Nalda's podcast for more valuable insights into spinal health and alternative treatments. Artlist.io 847544

Swayback, or equine lordosis, is characterized by a large dip in the spine of a horse, often resulting in a high wither and severe downwards curve to their topline. Swayback is more common in older horses and broodmares who have carried multiple large babies. Lordosis can also occur in younger horses with a genetic predisposition.  Equine lordosis is caused by a failure of the ligament support structures along the length of the back. When the ligaments are weak, stretched, or compromised, the spine can sag toward the ground. Although shocking in appearance, equine lordosis does not usually mean a horse must be retired from all ridden work. With good management, these horses can remain sound and pain-free through their ridden career.  Swayback horses require appropriate conditioning to strengthen their topline muscles. Special consideration must also be given to ensure proper saddle fit. This podcast reviews the causes and management considerations for swayback horses. Read more: https://madbarn.ca/swayback-horse/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠_______________________________ Mad Barn Academy is dedicated to supporting horse owners and equine practitioners through research, training and education. Visit us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://madbarn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more resources, videos and articles.

When examining X-rays or MRIs of the cervical spine, terms like cervical hyperlordosis, reversal of cervical lordosis, or cervical kyphosis often come up. To grasp these concepts, it's essential to understand what cervical lordosis is and why it matters. The spine possesses natural curves when viewed from the side, making it stronger against gravitational and compressive forces. These curves distribute mechanical stresses evenly throughout the spine, including the neck (cervical), mid-back (thoracic), and lower back (lumbar). There are two main types of curves that exists in the spine and depending on where they're located, it can either be abnormal or normal. A normal range for lordosis typically falls between 30 to 40 degrees. An ideal cervical curve is around 40 to 45 degrees, but there's a bit of flexibility within this range. Hyperlordosis and Hypolordosis Hyperlordosis refers to an excessive forward curvature of the cervical spine, which can be problematic. On the other hand, hypolordosis occurs when the curve drops below the normal range. When the cervical spine bends in the opposite direction and becomes kyphotic, it's called a reversal of cervical lordosis. Reversal of Cervical Lordosis The reversal of cervical lordosis refers to a condition where the natural forward curvature of the cervical spine is lost, and the spine starts bending in the opposite direction, forming a backward curve or kyphosis in the neck. This reversal is problematic because it disrupts the spine's normal mechanical load-bearing capabilities, which can lead to various issues, including neck pain, nerve dysfunction, degenerative changes in the spine, and even organ function impairment. Correcting the loss of cervical lordosis is crucial to restore proper alignment and prevent further complications in spinal health. Dr. Tony Nalda has shed light on the significance of cervical lordosis and its role in spinal health. Treatment should focus on identifying the underlying cause and restoring the normal cervical curve. The ultimate goal is to correct the loss of cervical lordosis and improve overall well-being. For more on this, check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast. Don't forget to subscribe for more valuable insights and discussions. Artlist.io 847544

When patients have their spine examined, the term lumbar lordosis often gets thrown around during discussions about spinal health. In today's episode, we discuss the world of spinal curvatures, demystifying their significance, and uncovering secrets behind lumbar lordosis. Lordosis vs Kyphosis These are different types of spinal curvatures, like the graceful bends of a bridge that give it strength and flexibility. In essence, these curvatures exist to help our spine better handle the everyday stresses of life. Imagine kyphosis as a gentle backward bend, while lumbar lordosis is its opposite, a subtle forward curve. Each curvature has its designated area in the spine – kyphosis in the mid-back (thoracic spine), and lumbar lordosis in the lower back (lumbar spine). It's like a choreographed dance of curves that contribute to our spinal health. But lumbar lordosis isn't just a one-size-fits-all deal. Just like people, spines come in various shapes and sizes. Ideally, lumbar lordosis should be around 40 degrees, but a bit of flexibility exists. Think of it like a normal range for blood pressure – there's a sweet spot, but some wiggle room is okay. What's interesting is that too much or too little of lumbar lordosis can lead to problems. Imagine if your blood pressure were sky-high or too low – not good, right? Similarly, if lumbar lordosis goes off-balance, it can result in various spinal issues, often causing discomfort and pain. And it's not just limited to the lower back; it can ripple through your entire spinal alignment. Causes of the loss of lumbar lordosis or hypo lordosis in the lumbar spine Spinal Fusion and Scoliosis Surgery: Procedures like spinal fusion, especially in cases of scoliosis surgery with devices like Harrington rods, can lead to a flattening of the spine's natural curvature. This flattening can result in a decrease or loss of lumbar lordosis. Trauma and Injury: Significant trauma or injury to the spine can disrupt its normal alignment, potentially causing a decrease in lumbar lordosis. Such incidents can shift the spine out of its proper position, impacting its curvature. Global Loss of Alignment: When the overall alignment of the spine is compromised, it can lead to a reduction in lumbar lordosis. This can occur due to various factors, including poor posture, muscle imbalances, and degenerative changes in the spine over time. Degenerative Disc Disease: The degeneration of spinal discs, which act as cushions between vertebrae, can contribute to a decrease in lumbar lordosis. As the discs lose their height and hydration, the spine's natural curvature may be affected. Ankylosing Spondylitis: An autoimmune disorder known as ankylosing spondylitis can lead to fusion of ligaments and discs in the spine. This fusion can alter the spine's curvature and result in a reduction of lumbar lordosis. It's important to note that any loss or abnormality in lumbar lordosis can have implications for spinal health and overall well-being. Maintaining proper spinal alignment through exercises, ergonomic practices, and proactive care is essential to prevent these issues and promote a healthier spine. For more spine health tips, check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast. Artlist.io 847544

In this episode, Allie shares her personal journey of dealing with scoliosis and how a proper diagnosis and finding the right doctor and the right treatment can result in a successful outcome. A roller coaster-induced sickness prompts Allie's friend to suggest she take an X-Ray as she noticed something is wrong with her neck. While under normal conditions, our neck has a natural curve, Allie's as it turns out is in the opposite direction. Cervical spine misalignment on the nerve pathways can cause pain in various parts of your body such as the hands, arms, neck, and skull base. Common symptoms include neck pain, vertigo, dizziness, numbness, and tingling. Lordosis vs. Kyphosis The cervical spine has a normal alignment and that normal alignment is called the Lordosis, where the spine bends like a backward C facing forward. What Allie has is called cervical Kyphosis where the spine bends backward. So, she had a 100% loss of this normal curve. When you lose this normal curve, it can start affecting the neurology that goes through the spine thus, creating all kinds of widespread problems like Allie is dealing with. With proper treatment and with the help of Dr. Tony Nalda, Allie went from a cervical Kyphosis, a backward bend curvature to a forward bending curve, from a negative curve to a positive curve. Allie's journey highlights the significance of addressing spinal health and how Dr. Tony Nalda's approach has brought positive changes to Allie's well-being. To find out more, check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast. Musicbed SyncID: MB01540UVKNINAN

What really causes Cervical Lordosis? A direct lesion to the cervical spine or an injury caused by prolonged muscular spasms might alter the degree of neck curvature. Some causes of cervical lordosis are injuries, trauma and poor posture. Nowadays kids, teenagers, and even adults have poor posture because they just look down on their phones, tablets, even laptops, which gives them a poor posture which can cause cervical lordosis. Postural abnormalities in the curvature might occur over time as a result of improper standing posture, regular weightlifting exercise, or aberrant sitting posture. Congenital disorders can cause a little shift in the neck spine at birth. This might be related to womb development or damage to the neck after birth, either by normal delivery or cesarean delivery. The conditions of the musculoskeletal system are: Kyphosis Discs herniation can alter the spinal discs Scoliosis The most common symptoms of cervical lordosis are headaches and pain going down into your arms to your toes. Can also experience weaknesses in disc degeneration. For more information, please check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast. Artlist.io 847544

Orthopedic surgeon Charles Crawford, MD chats with moderator Tobias Mattei, MD about his recent NASSJ article, "Predictors of segmental lumbar lordosis following midline posterior (transforaminal) lumbar interbody fusion: Does interbody device type matter?"

Sitting for long periods of time each day directly contributes to the current epidemic of chronic low back pain. This study analyzed the differences in lumbar lordosis in five different sitting postures compared to a traditional standing posture. Episode Highlights:The Effect of Standing and Different Sitting Positions on Lumbar Lordosis: Radiographic Study of 30 Healthy VolunteersNovoPulse – Where recovery meets performance. Learn more about this new technology that reduces pain and inflammation while improving function to get your patients back to the activities they enjoyAutomatically get more leads and conversions from your website with The Smart Chiropractor. Click here to schedule your demo. Our members use research to GROW their practice. Are you interested in increasing your referrals? Discover the best chiropractic marketing you aren't currently using right here!

Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Jenni * https://twitter.com/horsewizrd/ * Chris Topics: * Lord Chumley * Topic Lords editor Esper Quinn weighs in on Transformer lore: "The second ever podcast I really worked on was called Sound.wav, a read-along Transformers comics podcast. I knew nothing about Transformers, and my friend Nell knew everything about them. We stuck to the IDW canon, but my understanding is, Transformers show up as naturally occurring "sparks" (a sort of semi-magical soul-piece) on the surface of the planet Cybertron, which if left to incubate will form a liquidmetal shell, which eventually becomes a full-on Transformer. (There's also something called Cold Construction which takes raw sparks and puts them in purpose built bodies, but whatever.) All of this means Transformers, in my mind, DO NOT qualify as actual robots. To me, a robot has to be built by somebody, but Transformers are just a metallic alien entity. On the podcast, we eventually had James Roberts, writer of the IDW comics series, and I confronted him with this: he agreed that Transformers are not technically robots. Felt pretty smart that day." * "Also, again I can only speak for the IDW canon, but Transformers on Cybertron don't have much of a concept of gender at all. Indeed, Transformers who were disconnected from society for millions of years and developed their own culture are the ones who sort of pioneered gender, purely as a cultural signifier. There's even explicitly trans transformers, who were known as one gender and switched to the other, and the storylines are handled pretty well in my opinion! (Other storylines, like the one explaining Arcee is a woman because she was experimented on by a mad Cybertronian scientist, are handled far less well.)" * "Transformers in IDW do have romance, and have officially recognized ceremonies for both 'amica endura' (equivalent to marriage), and 'conjunx endura' which is like eternal friendship." * "While you stepped out, there was brief discussion of Ultra Magnus and Minimus Ambus: Minimus Ambus is a tiny dude who wears the 'Ultra Magnus Armor,' Ultra Magnus being a sort of Dread Pirate Roberts semimythical figure of the universe. Good character, who has a good romance arc with Megatron!" * Is an edgelord phase a standard part of being a teen or what * Lordosis behavior * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordosisbehavior * Lordi - The Riff * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr9AattFkqo * Unedited (syncable) commentary: https://youtu.be/6qwGyZwDNI * Lord Dunsany the metalhead lord rewilding his estate * https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/07/people-think-youre-an-idiot-death-metal-irish-baron-rewilds-his-estate * Time Lords Microtopics: * Taking a picture of a dog. * 140 strawberries. * Jim Not Knowing About Video Games Day. * Starting with how Smurfs fuck and then moving on to how Transformers fuck. * Transformers hanging out with humans because the humans can wipe them in places they can't reach. * Where Transformers come from in the various Transformers cosmologies. * How Grimlock built the Dinobots. * Sitting down with a screwdriver to make some buddies. * The hypothetical 1980s girl-child who might buy an Optimus Prime toy if it was wearing a pink bow on its head. * R.C., the hyper-pink Transformer with the wide, child-bearing hips. * Finally getting to the topic at hand. * Whether all Transformers are aromantic. * What kind of god would make a car in space where there's nothing to drive on. * The canonical term for when two Transformers are in a relationship. * Rarified Energon. * Prime's Rib, in which Future Feminists complain that there are no female Transformers so Optimus Prime constructs one from his own body parts. * The Wild 80s. * The British big game hunter who wanted to hunt the most dangerous game, Optimus Prime. * Mounting the nose of the plane you shot down as a trophy in your den. (The plane was actually grounded when you shot it.) * Whether teen edgelords are still a thing or whether teens are now performatively wholesome to freak out the olds. * The Alpha Teen. * The two genders of edgelord. * Toddlers hurting you so they can practice having empathy. * Accidentally promising a cat sexual favors. * The cat sticking its butt in your face so you'll lick it clean, because that's what the cat's mom did. * The innie arch vs the outie arch. * Bears playing 20 questions with themselves to determine whether you are also a bear. * The scientific term for scritches. * Sitting vs. standing up to wipe. * The various orders in which you could wipe, stand up, and flush. * Pushing vs. dragging. * Tai-chi vs. chai tea. * A picture of Lordi getting a vaccine. * A toilet in the shower. * The scene in Mad Max Furry Road where the guy with all the water hoses down the adulant throng below, except it's toilet paper instead of water. * Bringing the ugliest people you know on dates with you so you seem more attractive by comparison. * Whether it's still a cold cut if you heat it up. * Zombo Cop. * Making Video Content during the zombie apocalypse by putting GoPros on all the zombies. * Live streaming a zombie trying to walk into a brick wall. * Looking out on the zombie apocalypse and saying "time to finally eat the rich!" * The flashback explaining the origin story of the huge pile of bloody toilet paper. * Whether David Lynch explained something once. * The Lobster as a benchmark for bad date movies. * Pokemon that are weak to Basket. * Scientists studying the guillotine and determining that it's actually that basket your head lands in that kills you. * The worst part of the zombie apocalypse: when the self checkout tells you to wait for assistance, nobody ever comes. * The lordiest lord of them all. * A cool young lord. * A Jack Russell terrier named Beavis and Butt-Head. * Two dogs, one named Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful and Doc, and the other one named The Seven Dwarfs. * Hearing bird song you don't recognize, going to google and typing "Weee weee wha weee what's bird is this" * Shazam for bird call. * How to identify a bird that ages backwards. * An app that can take photos of an object and tell you whether it's a wizard in disguise. * Turning 25 and realizing that most movies are no longer about you at age 20. * Whether Doctor Who was based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. * Gene Roddenberry playing Willy Wonka. * The Gum Chewer. * Deleting a tweet in which you are cranky about Doctor Who. * Doctor Who showrunner Stephen Wolfram. * The vicar turning out the be a giant wasp and the author turning out to be a transphobe.

In this edition of HealthBeat, we discuss Lordosis and Cervical and Shoulder Retraction Exercise in Patients, And Finally, a Story about Disc Degeneration of Young Low Back Pain Patients. Want More Health and Technology Info - Follow Dr Eglow at - http://www.twitter.com/teglow Please Support HealthBeat Advertisers - http://www.audiblepodcast.com/healthbeat For information about adding Personalized Healthbeat Podcasts to your offices Web Site, to help you attract new patients, please Email us at healthbeat@chiropracticradio.com COTs HealthBeat is now available on Stitcher Radio - Surf to - http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/31530/details And remember to surf to our Show Notes, located at http://www.ChiropracticRadio.com My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-35ddbc0845765814071fb2d2e8501841}

In this edition of HealthBeat, we discuss Lordosis and Cervical and Shoulder Retraction Exercise in Patients, And Finally, a Story about Disc Degeneration of Young Low Back Pain Patients. Want More Health and Technology Info - Follow Dr Eglow at - http://www.twitter.com/teglow Please Support HealthBeat Advertisers - http://www.audiblepodcast.com/healthbeat For information about adding Personalized Healthbeat Podcasts to your offices Web Site, to help you attract new patients, please Email us at healthbeat@chiropracticradio.com COTs HealthBeat is now available on Stitcher Radio - Surf to - http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/31530/details And remember to surf to our Show Notes, located at http://www.ChiropracticRadio.com My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-35ddbc0845765814071fb2d2e8501841}

Posture is often thought to be at the heart of Pilates, but is it still relevant? Can "faulty" posture really cause pain or dysfunction? What is dysfunction anyway? We take a look at all these topics and a few more in relation to posture. Links Variability in the location of bony landmarks makes postural assessment meaningless https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/106698108790818459 (here) Experienced physiotherapists have 1.5-2cm error when palpating ASIS and PSIS https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1356689X11001512 (here) Posture is highly variable and poorly reproducible https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0021929017303135 (here) Lordosis, range of movement and lumbo-pelvic rhythm are all highly varied in people with and without back pain https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12891-016-1250-1 (here) No consensus on causality of spine postures and low back pain: A systematic review of systematic reviews https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002192901930524X (here) No relationship of lumbar lordosis with hip flexibility or abdominal strength https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10671188.1963.10613213 (here) No relationship between pelvic tilt, lumbar lordosis and abdominal strength https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article-abstract/67/4/512/2728199 (here) No relationship between pelvic asymmetry and back pain https://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/1999/06150/The_Association_Between_Static_Pelvic_Asymmetry.11.aspx (here) Exercise probably can't change posture anyway http://www.luzimarteixeira.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/a-review-of-resistance-exercise-and-posture1.pdf (here) -------------------------------- Ways to engage with us for FREE Join our https://breathe-education.com/pilates_elephants-register/ (free weekly Q&A)  Get our free ebook on https://breathe-education.com/posture/ (Posture Myths in Pilates) Connect on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/breathe.education/ (Breathe Education), https://www.instagram.com/the_raphaelbender/ (Raphael Bender), https://www.instagram.com/cloebunterpilates/ (Cloe Bunter) and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BreatheEducation (Breathe Education) -------------------------------- Masterclasses and online courses Do a https://breathe-education.com/masterclasses/ (Masterclass) with us Read more about the https://breathe-education.com/diploma-of-clinical-pilates/ (Diploma of Clinical Pilates) -------------------------------- Have Questions? https://breathe-education.com/coachingcall (Book a time to talk with our team) *Links may not work on some platforms. You'll find all the info at https://breathe-education.com/podcast/ (https://breathe-education.com/podcast/) This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: AdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

On this episode, I answer questions about addressing lordosis in the youth athlete, patient education on “alignment”, and how to begin addressing upper crossed syndrome. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a 5 star review and be sure to check out the Facebook group Physical Therapy Clinical Development

#6 Overcoming Injuries, Dealing With Chronic Pain, And Mastering Kyphosis With Aidan Horn Aidan Horn is one of the best Street and Park mountain bikers ever do it. Aidan shares his incredible journey and self discovery throughout his many injuries and recovery's. Leaving us with many gems, most notably the important's of perseverance and how he copes with kyphosis.  Be sure to follow Aidan on IG and always wear your helmet https://www.instagram.com/aidanhorn/?hl=en For More information on Kyphosis  https://www.osmosis.org/learn/Lordosis,_kyphosis,_and_scoliosis 2019 Party Master Tour  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn5B483JIM0 The Rise  www.The-Rise.com

Talk to a Dr. Berg Keto Consultant today and get the help you need on your journey (free consultation). Call 1-540-299-1557 with your questions about Keto, Intermittent Fasting or the use of Dr. Berg products. Consultants are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 9 pm EST. Saturday & Sunday 9 am to 5 pm EST. USA Only. Take Dr. Berg's Free Keto Mini-Course! In this podcast, we're going to talk about scoliosis, kyphosis, and lordosis, and how these conditions relate to vitamin D. Scoliosis is an abnormal curve in the back. Kyphosis is more of a hunchback. Lordosis is a condition where the person has a swayback. When you look up the cause of scoliosis, it's very unclear. A study out of Hong Kong found that 30% of people with scoliosis have osteopenia. Osteopenia is the start of bone loss, which can be caused by a lack of calcium or (more likely) low vitamin D3. A few symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency: • Scoliosis • Kyphosis • Lordosis • Muscle spasm • Bowed legs • Knocked knees Vitamin D has a lot to do with the development of the skeletal system, especially the spine. It's very important for a mother to have enough vitamin D while carrying her baby and while breastfeeding. But, 50% of pregnant women are deficient in vitamin D. How to know if you're vitamin D deficient? If you press on your breastbone or shin and it's tender—that could be a sign of a vitamin D deficiency. Other signs of a vitamin D deficiency: • Muscle spasms • Depression • Weekend immune system Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio: Dr. Berg, 51 years of age is a chiropractor who specializes in weight loss through nutritional & natural methods. His private practice is located in Alexandria, Virginia. His clients include senior officials in the U.S. government & the Justice Department, ambassadors, medical doctors, high-level executives of prominent corporations, scientists, engineers, professors, and other clients from all walks of life. He is the author of The 7 Principles of Fat Burning. FACEBOOK: fb.me/DrEricBerg?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Anchor TWITTER: http://twitter.com/DrBergDC?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=Daily%20Post YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/user/drericberg123?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Anchor DR. BERG'S SHOP: https://shop.drberg.com/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Anchor MESSENGER: https://www.messenger.com/t/drericberg?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Anchor DR. BERG'S VIDEO BLOG: https://www.drberg.com/blog?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Anchor

Mike & Byron discuss why back pain is so incredibly common in most people over 30 years old and explain why strength training has such high effectiveness in treating and helping manage it.

Cambios en la posición de la columna lumbar, posición neutra vs flexión modifican los brazos de palanca y la eficiencia de la musculatura extensa lumbar y su capacidad de soportar cargas de deslizamiento (shear stress) Changes in lumbar lordosis modify the role of the extensor muscles Stuart M. McGill *, Richard L. Hughson, Kellie Parks Clinical Biomechanics 15 (2000) 777±780

Welcome to Episode 014 Tackling Pain with Kyle Simpson from KS Sports Therapy In this podcast episode, Neale interviews Kyle Simpson from KS Sports Therapy as they discuss Tackling Pain and rehabilitating after Injury as well as understanding why people get injured in Sport and Exercise. Stay tuned as Kyle and Neale link the importance of learning anatomy and physiology in order to understand how to serve your clients best and avoid injury. Click the PLAY button below to listen to the entire episode Grab the FitPro Sessions Podcast show notes: https://parallelcoaching.co.uk/episode014-tackling-pain-kyle-simpson Timestamps: 1:20 Who is Kyle Simpson and KS Sports Therapy 2:00 What made you get into Sports Therapy in the first place? 3:00 “I picked Sports Therapy on a bit of a whim to be honest” 4:10 What was it like qualifying as a Sports and Exercise Rehab Degree Qualification? 5:20: “I really enjoyed learning Anatomy” 6:00 The importance of knowing Anatomy and physiology outside of your exam 6:50 “No one muscle works on its own” 8:00 “Being injured doesn’t mean you need to stop exercising all together” 8:45 What was the biggest take away from your degree other than the qualification? 9:30 What’s your thought on an online sports therapy course? 11:00 The problem with sticking to the same plan for all clients 11:20 What other courses and seminars have you done to progress you and your business? 11:50 Social media nad word of mouth for getting new clients 12:20 Compulsory CPD and short courses every year through BASRAT 13:00 Researching new topics and injuries as they come up 15:00 “Everyone’s body has a certain level of tolerance that they can withstand when they exceed this tolerance that’s when they get injured” 17:30 “Although pain might be in one area, the cause may be elsewhere” ... 31:30 Why do you think that 80% of coaches don’t stay in the fitness industry past 18 months 35:50 The importance of an initial consultation and testing 42:00 What is your thoughts on Lordosis, Kyphosis, and Scoliosis? 46:00 How much of your work is mindset and behavioral change? 44:00 Learn Question: How to overcome barriers? 48:30 Learner Question: What can you do with Plantar-fascitis? 52:00 “Isn’t it worth taking a few months out of running now, to have the rest of the year running pain-free?” 52:30 Learner Question: Why do you think anatomy is important for fit pros? 54:00 What three tips would you give someone wanting to start as a coach or therapist? 55:20 What makes an Outstanding Coach? Learn more from Kyle Simpson and KS Sports Therapy: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KSSportsTherapy/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kssportstherapy/ Website: https://www.kssportstherapy.com/ Download Free Mock questions here: https://revision.parallelcoaching.co.uk/fitness-exam-mock-questions • Check out what learners are saying: HERE • Like us on Facebook: HERE • Follow us on Instagram: HERE • Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: HERE • All Fit Pro Sessions Show Notes: HERE --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fitpro-sessions/message

In episode 66, Richard and Karen discuss how poor posture is one of the hot topics right now, and rightly so as our prairie roaming, hunter-gatherer body's are forced to comply with 21st-century lifestyles. Humans are not designed to be held into a static position for long periods of time, whether sitting, standing, bent over, lying down, etc. and if you take a look around at peoples postures the evidence is pretty overwhelming. We look at poor posture from a physical and psychosocial perspective   pdf of the Surviving in a Flexion World Presentation slides Upper and Lower Cross Image Posture Strap Image Posture Newsletter Post Hip Mobilizing and Stretching Video

On this episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, I welcome Dr. Sarah Haag on the show to discuss pelvic health for the non-pelvic health PT.  Sarah has pursued an interest in treating the spine, pelvis with a specialization in women’s and men’s health.  Sarah looks at education, and a better understanding of the latest evidence in the field of physical therapy, as the best way to help people learn about their conditions, and to help people learn to take care of themselves throughout the life span.   In this episode, we discuss: -Intake questionnaires to screen the pelvic floor for patients with low back pain -Pelvic health red flags -How to address pelvic floor health with a conservative population -Assessing the pelvic floor muscles without doing an internal exam -And so much more!   Resources: Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire: http://www.rehab.msu.edu/_files/_docs/oswestry_low_back_disability.pdf Sarah Haag Twitter Entropy Physio Website Home Health Section Urinary Incontinence Toolkit   For more information on Sarah: Sarah graduated from Marquette University in 2002 with a Master’s of Physical Therapy. Sarah has pursued an interest in treating the spine, pelvis with a specialization in women’s and men’s health. Over the years, Sarah has seized every opportunity available to her in order to further her understanding of the human body, and the various ways it can seem to fall apart in order to sympathetically and efficiently facilitate a return to optimal function. Sarah was awarded the Certificate of Achievement in Pelvic Physical Therapy (CAPP) from the Section on Women’s Health. She went on to get her Doctorate of Physical Therapy and Masters of Science in Women’s Health from Rosalind Franklin University in 2008. In 2009 she was awarded a Board Certification as a specialist in women’s health (WCS). Sarah also completed a Certification in Mechanical Diagnosis Therapy from the Mckenzie Institute in 2010.  Sarah has completed a 200 hour Yoga Instructor Training Program, and is now a  Registered Yoga Teacher. Sarah looks at education, and a better understanding of the latest evidence in the field of physical therapy, as the best way to help people learn about their conditions, and to help people learn to take care of themselves throughout the life span.     Read the full transcript below: Karen Litzy:                   00:01                Sarah, I was going to say doctor Sarah, hey, it just feels weird because we've known each other forever. But Sarah, thank you so much for coming on the podcast to talk about pelvic health for the non-pelvic health PT. So there are a lot of physical therapists who I think are interested in pelvic health, but maybe they don't want to like dive in literally and figuratively. So what we're going to do today is talk about how we as physical therapists can treat people with pelvic conditions, with pelvic issues without necessarily doing internal work. What are the functions of the pelvis, really important for bowel and bladder health, right? Sarah Haag:                  00:49                I mean, it is very important for survival, sex, very important for quality of life and propagation of the species. So these are all things that matter. But also when people come in with low back pain, when people come in with hip pain, I always find it very interesting that people say, but I don't do the pelvis. You know, the pelvic floor is only a musculoskeletal structure. We're not trained in most programs to palpate or to touch. It's just skeletal muscle. That's all we're assessing for really as pelvic floor PT’s. So I just think it's interesting. It's like a blurry void when you're looking at a body diagram.  Oh, there's your knee. So it's really important I think to understand what's there and you don't have to go there, but you have to know what's there and know that some people need help there and help them find the help. Karen Litzy:                   01:34                So if someone, let's take this person that has low back pain because that's a diagnosis that we can all agree that we see on a regular basis. So what are a couple of questions you can ask during your initial evaluation? Sarah Haag:                                          So the subjective part of the initial evaluation that perhaps a lot of people are missing or that can take in that pelvic area. There's a couple of ways that you can kind of like cheat your way in where you don't even have to think about what to ask to begin with. If you have a red flag questionnaire, there is a bowel and bladder question on there. So, it’s really interesting because people will sometimes circle yes on those and then never discuss it. Like, wait a second, we asked the question, they said yes, it's a thing. Sarah Haag:                  02:22                So there's your in, it was like, I noticed you, you marked yes on the bowel and bladder changes. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Most of the time it is not truly a red flag. Most of the time it is not a sign they need to be referred to a physician.  Most of the time it's like no one's ever asked me that. Yeah. Stuff is different. There's your in. And then also if you use the classic Oswestry. So it was modified I think in 2001 or 2002 to take off a sex questionnaire. The second question of the questionnaire and it was revalidated and all of those things, but if you use the original, it's pretty awesome because now they're like, Huh, nobody's asked me about sex. And then you'd be like, ah, I see that this is an issue. Sarah Haag:                  03:06                One of my favorite Twitter stories is I get a direct message from someone asking me about a patient who was having pain with intercourse and I was like, thanks for reaching out. Absolutely. Can you tell me more about when they're having trouble and where it hurts? Would you like to know where it hurt their knees in one particular position? And I said, fantastic. You can help with that. So, so it's not always, it might be a sex problem, but it's not necessarily that problem. So we have to not be shy about asking those. Low back pain is the most expensive health care problem we have in terms of multibillion dollar, probably millions and millions worldwide. And so of course addressing back pain, we're still working on the best way to do that. Sarah Haag:                  03:52                But there’s a high prevalence of urinary incontinence and people who have low back pain. So if you're seeing people who have low back pain and after, if anyone else went to the pregnancy talk this morning, after vaginal deliveries, the prevalence of incontinence goes ways up, goes way up. So if you're seeing someone with back pain, if someone has had babies, all you can eat what you can do. So we were like, well I see this in your history cause that's pertinent history for back pain. Correct. And then it's like, Hey, I noticed this, any issues with this? And here's the reason I'm asking because you can't just go, do you pee your pants? Because people like, do I smell like what happened? Like, so if you're just like, you know, there is a really high prevalence and the nerves in your back go to your pelvis and all of these things. Sarah Haag:                  04:32                So I'd be really curious to know are you having any issues in this area? Cause there's help if you are. And then kind of go from there. Karen Litzy:                                           And I want to backtrack for just a second. When you were talking about red flags and said some are truly red flags and some aren't. So just so that we're all on the same page, what would be those truly red flags? Sarah Haag:                                          Truly in the pelvic world or in the entire rest of your body world is any unintentional weight loss or weight gain, 10 or 15 pounds over a short period of time. Also like fever, like temperature issues, loss of appetite when you have those other constitutional symptoms that go along with it. So just having some quirkiness with your bowel and bladder, it's really no reason to panic. But if you have also a fever and also a recent traumatic event, no, no, we want to just make sure everything's okay. Sarah Haag:                  05:26                And the cool thing is that if you go to the doctor, it's like you don't have a UTI. Everything else is looking fine. Awesome. Then I can help with that. But the red flags, there's been a couple of great papers that have come out where it's like, it's not like if you have pain at night, freak out. No, no. If you have pain at night but also a sudden bowel and bladder change and also, okay, now we need to check in for it. But don't panic if it’s the only one. Karen Litzy:                                           And now let's say you're using these questionnaires and someone puts on bowel, bladder or someone circles sex as something that they're having difficulty with. And I love this question because this was something that was brought up last year at CSM. So there was a physical therapist there who said, well, I live in the south and these are not easy questions to ask because people are more conservative or they don't want to talk openly about their bowel and bladder issues or about sex with their partners. Karen Litzy:                   06:28                And so what do you say to those people? Those therapists that, are dealing with a population that's maybe much more conservative and they're not sure how to approach those subject matters. Sarah Haag:                                          I always say just always with kindness and with a good intention and with a good explanation. So you can't not do it because it's awkward for you. You should be asking for a medical reason, right? So quality of life is in our wheelhouse, right? Like we're doing all sorts of quality of life questionnaires. Pee in your pants is a huge detriment for your quality of life in many cases, not being able to have sex can impact your relationship with your partner, your feelings of ability to even have a partner, having babies. All of these things that end up being huge stresses, which is gonna make a lot of other things not as good either. Sarah Haag:                  07:28                Just start simple if you're asking questions. So if someone comes in with like straight forward knee pain, I'm like, how sex, no, that's not how, that's not where we go with that. But if someone's coming in with low back or pelvic issues, the way I usually approach it is to bring it up anatomically. So this is the anatomy. This is what we're doing. These are where the muscles go. Most people don't think about them. And when they're, if they're having issues like incontinence or have had babies, those pelvic floor muscles are muscles. Like everything else. We're going to work in PT. So I'm going to ask you some questions and I try to do it in a spot where you have some privacy. I know some PT places you're like in the middle of a gym. Sarah Haag:                  08:06                If you can find a quiet corner, do everything you can to put them at ease. But just to be like this is why I'm asking. And if you can see that resistance be like all right, like it's not necessarily the number one priority for this treatment anyway, but if those things happen to be issues there is help, it can get better and you just let me know if you have any questions. Cause not everybody wants to talk about it and it's not my job to convince you to deal with it. It's my job to help you if you want help. Karen Litzy:                                           And if you're a physical therapist that isn't specializing in pelvic health, it's a little bit different. Cause if you're specializing in pelvic health and people are going to you because you specialize in pelvic health it’s way easier, you know, these questions are going to come up.  But for those of us who don't specialize in pelvic health, then those questions can be a little bit more sensitive. So I just want you to make that distinction there for people. Sarah Haag:                  08:48                Yeah. And also if you're going to ask if you're going to take that step and be like, all right, I'm going to ask about the incontinence. I mean cause sometimes you're in situations where it is an obvious issue. Other times it's like, well, based on their history they're actually at risk for it. Then you can talk prevention, which has always been kind of fun. But just if they give you some information, especially if you got up the guts to ask them, then please, please do something with it. Don't just be like, oh yeah, so great incontinence noted in the chart. I'll put it on the diagnosis list, like how the plan and there are some things you can do without doing a pelvic floor exam that can make amazing changes. Karen Litzy:                   09:49                How can you evaluate pelvic floor muscles without having to go internally? I think that's a question everybody wants to know. Sarah Haag:                                          Great question. I'll be honest, some people don't want you to touch him there like full stop. And so I will actually give people, I would say it's kind of like a choose your own adventure. So we can actually, we can all check our own pelvic floor muscles right here. And I would basically talk you through it. You would tell me what you felt. I keep an eye on everything else to see what else you were doing. But it would be very honest that my assessment is going to be, I believe you, it seems you're doing it correctly. Right? But I have to believe you, but you can actually palpate externally. As a clinician you can actually do it and you can do it in sidelying. Sarah Haag:                  10:33                You can do it in hooklying and some people will do it in prone. I'm not a super big fan cause I can't see their faces. And also it can be kind of a vulnerable position. Basically if you just palpate, if you find the ischial tuberosity, you know about where the anal sphincters are. Okay. There's normal human variation. So I always say move slow and make sure you're asking for feedback. But you know, mid line is where the sphincters are going to be. We're not going midline. So you just kind of find that ischial tuberosity and palpate your way around to the medial part of it. And that's where the pelvic floor attaches. So then you can kind of talk them through, like I'd like you to squeeze and there's a bunch of different cues. Sarah Haag:                  11:22                One of the most common cues, especially for the back end, is to like squeeze. Like you don't want to pass gas and that's awesome. But if you're a main problem with urinary incontinence, that's the back side, back side, not the front side. So how do we get it up there? So another cue that has been found to be very helpful, it's only been studied in men, but it is, shorten your penis. But what's interesting is ladies, I know we don't have them, right? Imagine that feeling, right? So like just imagine like pulling in, right? It totally changed where hopefully if this is a class, it would have asked where did you feel it? But like it, it changes it from the back and biases it towards the front of it. So find a cue that gets them to go, oh my God, I felt something. Sarah Haag:                  12:07                You're like, awesome. So if you're doing a Kegel and like this happens, you're probably not doing it right. If that's happening, you're probably not doing right. But if like I'm Kegeling now and then I let go, you shouldn't have seen me get taller or tensor or breathe funny. It should be very sneaky. So as you're palpating on the medial side of the ischial tuberosities your feeling for those muscles to contract. So it's kind of like a gentle bulge and you can totally feel this on yourself here if you're comfy or somewhere else. But when you feel it, it's almost like when you're feeling like if you have your biceps slightly bent and you kind of like contract and you feel at tensioning and like a little bit of a bulge, that's what you're feeling for. Sarah Haag:                  12:51                Okay but it can always be tricky cause I use the word bulge. Some people will have people push down. So we should also be able to like relax your pelvic floor and push down, like having a bowel movement. That shouldn't happen when you're trying to contract. So like when I say bulge, you should feel like a gathering of the muscle. That's what you're feeling. If you feel your fingers get pushed down in a way they're doing the opposite of a contraction. So there they're relaxing.  It would kind of depend on what they were doing and the cues you were giving. So it could just be like, I'm pushing down like doing a Valsalva. But it is basically a lengthening into the pelvic floor. I don't know if it's always a relaxation, so to speak. Karen Litzy:                   13:33                It's kind of lengthening. And what is the difference between that Valsalva or lengthening and that small bulge? Like why is that significant? Sarah Haag:                                          When you feel it, you'll know it's significant because if they're pushing down in a way that's not a contraction. So if you're going for strengthening or more closure to hold things in, yeah, you want that kind of like tensioning and bulge. But if you're actually the problems, constipation, I can't get things out, you want them to be able to relax and link them. Karen Litzy:                                           Got It. Okay. All right. So now we know how we can kind of feel our pelvic floor muscles without having to do an internal exam. So once you figure out, and kind of what you said sort of leads right into the next question is if you have someone that's coming in with incontinence and you are looking for that sort of tightening or gathering up of the muscle, which I think that's a nice cue for people to understand because bulge can sometimes be a little confusing for people, but I liked the cue you're feeling the gathering of that musculature. Karen Litzy:                   14:45                Is that something that you are then going to add into a home exercise program or like once you find that the pelvic floor muscles working or it's not working, what next? What do you do? Sarah Haag:                                          Well, so I'll be honest. It's always I like him and people are brave enough and the patients were brave enough to be like, sure you can have a feel like let's figure this muscle thing out. I usually try it in a normal active kid in a normal setting. So not a public one. No pelvic settings are normal too. But in like just a normal like say outpatient therapy, be it or orthopedics or neuro, I would actually have them ask more questions about incontinence before even checking the pelvic floor muscles. Because the different types of incontinence are going to kind of tell you a little bit more about what you should do. Sarah Haag:                  15:35                So some people have incontinence when they tried to go from sit to stand or when they cough or when they go running. So I want to know a little bit more about when is it happening because if it's only ever when you're putting your key in the front door or when you're running into the bathroom, that's more urgent continence. Would pelvic floor muscle exercises help? Maybe, but also probably looking at their overall bladder health, which is where a voiding log would come in very handy. And actually a shout out to the home health section and they have an incontinence urinary incontinence toolkit. It's free for members for sure, but I think it might be free for everyone. Sarah Haag:                  16:15                So it's a pdf that actually talks you through the different types of incontinence because the most common form of incontinence urge incontinence, which is you're an urge incontinence is proceeded by a strong urge to go. So this is one of those things where, so there's a bathroom at the end of the hall. So if you're like, I'm totally fine, but then your eyes wander, you're like, oh, I could go and I didn't have to go. And then I would get up to go and I got to the bathroom and all of a sudden it's like, oh, where did that come from? Like all of a sudden it felt like your kidneys did a big dump, but they don't, that's not how kidneys work. Sarah Haag:                  16:59                It's just how it feels to you. So what that really is, is your detrusor muscle kind of going, I'm so excited. I imagine a puppy, like have you ever like gone to let a puppy out the door? Like, so they're like, hey, I want to go out and you get up and you make a move for that door. And they're like so excited. Your bladder is like that sometimes. So that's more of a behavioral thing because what would you do with the puppy who's now like, wait, every time I do this, she lets me out. Pretty soon you're letting that puppy out every 10 minutes because yeah, because that's what the puppy trains you to do. So that's kind of more of a behavioral thing. And so that's proceeded by a strong urge. So it's not just when you're going to the bathroom, but if you get a strong, unexpected urge and leak, and that's usually a lot of people also experience some urgency and frequency. Karen Litzy:                                           So if you feel like you're not getting to the bathroom in time, what would be a really logical plan to that? Sarah Haag:                  17:52                You'd go more often, you're like, Ooh, maybe I need to not wait so long. But the thing is that then you're training yourself to go more often, your bladder is perfectly capable of holding more that kind of sensitivity and those signals you're interpreting or like, ah, no, I should go now. And then pretty soon you're that person who can't make it through a movie. You're that person who can't make it past a bathroom without needing to go. And you're the person that no one wants to go on a road trip with because you're stopping every like hour on the hour and every rest stop. But now is that because your brain is interpreting this as such? I know that there's a physical manifestation obviously, but is that like have you trained your brain and to feel that way to interpret that as such? I would say yes because most of the time, even if it wasn't intentional, like it's kind of like a slippery slope. It's like I almost didn't make it that one time. I'm going to plan ahead. And then what starts to happen, especially if you're like, all right, Sarah Haag:                  18:54                your bladder is filling up. You kind of feel like you need to go and you go to the bathroom and it came out and it's like, all right, so that was nice and normal. But then imagine that time where you're like, hold on, I almost didn't make it, but you were stretched this much. You're going to start going when the bladder stretches this much. And then pretty soon if you let it so you're like, Ooh, now I'm going down here. Now I need to go sooner. And this is one way you can tell this is happening. And it can happen sometimes without ending up with a diagnosis of urgency, frequency or incontinence. But where you get to the bathroom and you feel like you've got a goal, but then nothing happened. Goals, like it's the smallest tinkle and you're like, I thought it wasn't gonna make it, but that's ah, that's all that's in there. And so that was like big urge little output. That's kind of a mismatch. And that'll happen sometimes. Sarah Haag:                  19:48                But like if you're paying less than that, that's not much more than your poster board then a nice healthy post void residual. So you don't have to empty at that point if you're bladder’s saying, empty me now. And that's all that's in there. Yeah. So it's kind of like you're the sensitivity of your bladder has turned way up. Just like how we would compare that to the pain. So the sensitivity is turned way up so that it takes less of a stimulus in the bladder itself to trigger that feeling of you have to go, even though the bladder is barely full. Sarah Haag:                                          And there's actually some interesting conversations with urgency and frequency in that feeling of extreme urge, can that be considered a pain? And so it's kind of interesting conversation because there is normal, there is a normal sensitivity of normal urge, but when that urge becomes pathological, yeah. Sarah Haag:                  20:47                Too bothersome. Does that crossover into it? Distressing emotional experience? I would think so. Like can you imagine if you're like on a train or something like that and you have to really, really, you have, you're having that urge. I mean, that's very distressing dressing. That's very distressing. That's like you're suffering. So if you have someone like that what do we have them do? So they keep a diary, which you can get on the home health section and we'll have a link to that in the show notes. You basically ask them to keep track of things for a couple of days. I tend to keep it simple with what are you drinking and when and when, when are you going to the bathroom? If people are willing to measure, that's the best, but not many people are willing to measure. Sarah Haag:                  21:37                So what I try to have them do is to kind of come up with their own plan. And I tell them this is not an exact science because you're not measuring, but that's okay because if you have a strong urge, which is kind of a lot, but you have like a little tinkle, that's kind of a mismatch. If that only happens after your third Mimosa, okay, that might actually be like a normal bladder thing. Do you know what I mean? So we kind of look at things that they're bringing in that may or may not be irritating to them. We look at are they getting enough fluid and bladder loves, loves water. But the first thing most people cut out if they're having urgency, frequency or incontinence is water is they cut out their water. It'll almost always backfires. Sarah Haag:                  22:19                So don't do that anyone watching. It also makes you constipated, which you can increase your urgency and frequency. So, so yeah, so surprise. Everything needs to work well to work well. Okay. But yeah, so you kind of look at that and I just look for patterns and then I have people try to change one thing at a time. If all you're drinking his coffee all day, but actually you have good data, good parts of your day and bad parts of the day. Is it the coffee? Because if you're drinking coffee all day, you're probably not going to be very nice to me if I say, how about you stopped drinking coffee? Um, emotional response up. So you just kind of look at it. It's like, Oh, when does this happen? What do we need to change? And it can really help you narrow down. Is it really urge incontinence? Is it actually just frequency and they're not leaking like they thought they were or you know, is this primarily a stress incontinence issue? Karen Litzy:                                           Well, so it sounds to me like there's not a lot of hands on work there. Sarah Haag:                                          No, no, it's more behavioral. Susan:                          23:27                Do you ever use pelvic tilting to get the posterior versus anterior pelvic floor? Sarah Haag:                                          So that's a neat work with from Paul Hodges Group. So however you're sitting, most of us are Slouchy, just do a pelvic floor contraction, however your brain tells you to do that, do it and just feel where you feel it. But then if you get yourself in a situation where you like get more of that Lumbar Lordosis, and so like you stick your tail out, you get more lumber lordosis and then you do the exact same thing. So you're not changing your cue. For most people it's cuts to the front. And it's kind of neat because one of the things, one of my pet peeves is when we were talking about earlier is my pelvic floor therapist get tunnel vision and are just doing pelvic floor exercises, but not reintegrating it into how they're, they're using their body. Sarah Haag:                  24:18                So if you have a runner who's a chronic but Tucker and she's leaking out of the front, obviously, how would it feel if you like got those glutes back a little bit? Because you can't run and Kegel at the same time. You can't, you can try. It's not going to go well. And certainly not for like a 5K and let alone not a marathon. So changing how that is biased because most of us don't think about the pelvic floor until you have a problem, right? But they've been working, right? They've been doing their thing. You're using them when you walk up those stairs you're using them when you're getting up off the floor. So they do something, the key goal is like your bicep curl. You want a stronger bicep, you're going to do some curls, you want a stronger pelvic floor, you're going to have to do some pelvic floor exercises. Sarah Haag:                  25:07                But that's not your management plan. You kind of want to, someone said it yesterday, kind of like the core muscles are there like automatic, like when you get ready to do something you don't think, okay transversus were good. Like it just all happens and you want to kind of get the pelvic floor back into that system and make sure it's strong enough and coordinated enough to do its part. So you don't think about it. Dave:                            25:37                So along those lines then, would you say that if somebody is more lordotic, they're more likely to engage the anterior floor and then flat back more of the posterior floor? Sarah Haag:                  25:47                That tends to be what they're finding on like EMG studies and what I will see clinically with people if they do a ginormous buttock. It’s really interesting if you're like, how's your breathing when you do that and, and how good is your squat, let's say when you do that. And it's like, Eh, it is what it is. I'm like, okay, so what if we do kind of take it into where some people, especially if they've been told by other practitioners to like watch your Lordosis, it's kind of huge. Which isn't really a thing. But you know, they kind of, they're kind of like going in there, they're like, I'm so scared but it kind of feels good and then you have them do that movement or try that exercise. Usually they're like, that was way easier than I thought it was going to be. Sarah Haag:                  26:30                But again, if it's not working, then we try something else cause everyone's anatomy is different. Sometimes if they have a lumbar issue, getting into the ideal position for their pelvic floor, may or may not be easy for them, at least at first. But I think you need to play around with how it feels and how it's functioning as opposed to, I mean, I've been guilty of it in my career of like, ah, you need more or less of what you're doing with your spine and were just different. So it's where it works best is where it should be. Jamie:                          27:03                So for a lot of the outpatient conditions and orthopedic setting, there's still an emphasis on giving some kind of qualitative documentation to the muscle contraction, whether it's a manual muscle test or something like that for payment purposes. So what are some strategies or tips for clinicians to be able to take that palpation externally and then relate that into their strengthening documentation? Sarah Haag:                  27:29                So if you're just checking externally, like just palpating outside, it's like a plus minus like, Yup, I felt it. Uh, they couldn't find it. So kind of plus minus, cause you can't give it more than that. We also have to remember, so when I write about pelvic floor strength in my documentation, I have a number I can put and you can grade it. You have to do that internally, which is why if you're like, ah, we need to know more, refer him to a friend or go to the training. But I usually give a lot more information. So like, all right, so they, you know, they had like a three out of four, three out of five squeeze. The relaxation was not very coordinated and kind of slow, but then their subsequent contractions were five out of five. Sarah Haag:                  28:09                All right. Do you know what I mean? We have to, because of payment and insurance and all of those things, we have to write something down. So what I do is I write down what I find and I'm happy to talk about it. So if you want to deny it, I can talk vagina all day with you. And I have, and their questions usually get shorter and shorter. Um, because really they're asking for information that isn't necessarily the most helpful. So if you're checking an externally plus minus, but also I've had people who five out of five but still incontinent, Sarah Haag:                  28:41                So then they're like, well they're not weak but you put down, you're going to do strengthening. I'm like, well yeah, because it's more of a strengthening, not just a strengthening with a functional goal attached to that, if that makes sense. So sometimes it's more words, but don't be shy about one. Well, first of all, please be honest, be as accurate as you can be, but also don't be shy about doing the best care and be willing to stand up for it. If it gets denied. It's not cause you gave crappy care likely. I mean, do you know what I mean? I'm like, I dunno how long you practice, hopefully. Good. But if you get denied, it's not necessarily key because you gave bad care or even did a bad note. It's because they decided they weren't going to pay based on something. Hopefully logical that you can talk about. You can always appeal. So don't let payments scare you away from giving the best care. Sarah Haag:                  29:36                Sorry. Another soapbox of mine.  So that was urge incontinence. Stress Incontinence. Karen Litzy:                                           So let's talk about that because I think that gets the more airtime, so to speak. So that's when you see the crossfitters are the weightlifters or there's a great gymnast pitcher yesterday going backwards where you there backwards over the pommel horse, not the pommel horse. It's the worse just a horse. A spurt. Like it was, yeah. And you're just like, that could be photo shopped, but also it probably isn't. Yeah. Or like we've all seen like the crossfit videos where women are peeing and then everyone high fives them because they worked so hard that they peed, which, you know, not normal. We know that that's been addressed by a lot of a pelvic health physical therapists. Karen Litzy:                   30:32                So I would like to know first I think we just gave the definition of stress incontinence, but I'll have you give the definition quickly. But then I'd like to go back to something that the question that Dave had asked about the positioning and how that works within weightlifting or within, you know, waited or loaded movements. But go ahead and give the definition of stress incontinence first. Sarah Haag:                                          So stress incontinence is basically when there's an increase in intrabdominal pressure that is greater than the closure of pressure of the urethra. And you have some sphincters as well as the pelvic floor helping keep all of that closed. But if you increase the pressure enough on the insides, and that's why you hear, and again, it's primarily women, but also a lot of men after prostate surgery, they cough and you get a spurt or you know, you jump and you feel it come out. Sarah Haag:                  31:21                Those are usually because the closer pressure has gone down or the intra abdominal pressure has gone up. Karen Litzy:                                           Okay, great. So now what does that look like? For the average physical therapist who's not a pelvic health therapist. And let's say they are seeing someone for hip pain and you ask them, are you ever incontinent? Or if they are, you know, heavy lifters are, they are adding load and they say, oh yeah, but that's normal. Or they have low back pain and they say, yeah, but that's normal. Everybody does it at my crossfit box or whatever at my gym. So how do you then, if you're not you, you are someone who's not a pelvic health therapist, how do you address that? Sarah Haag:                                          Well, first of all, what all of us should know while incontinence is super common, it is not normal. Sarah Haag:                  32:16                Not ever being dry is normal. So we need to get away from this idea that like, well, everyone's doing it. It's like does that make you want to do it? Like I feel like, no, I feel like no is the answer. So first of all, just, and sometimes they don't know that. Like, I know that in some like young girl gymnastic teams, like the color of their leotards are chosen to like, not show the pee because they're incontinent that young. Yeah. And I see a lot of women as adults sometimes before they've had babies sometimes after, right? So like what's the, what came first? But they've had lifelong issues with what's essentially public flourish. She's with incontinence, sometimes pain with intercourse, all of those things. Competitive gymnasts, competitive cheerleaders. Dancers tend to be probably the biggest, runners or another group. Sarah Haag:                  33:12                There's been some studies, there's one study and I cannot recall it. I mean, it's probably like 15 years old now. We're 100% of this division one female track team reported urinary symptoms. 100%. Like every girl. So common. Heck yeah. Normal. So many girls. Yeah. So the biggest thing if you're not a pelvic floor therapist is to check out their function. So if they can identify when they're having issues, it's when I get to this particular weight or it's when I get to mile 17. Okay. And I usually throw in, like if I ran 17 miles, I'm not really sure what my body would do. Like I dunno, but it still shouldn't leak. But if you can find out where that breakdown in the coordination in the endurance and the strength and whatever it is happens and look at what's happening there. Sarah Haag:                  34:04                Because if you can run 17 miles or you can lift 200 pounds without leaking, but then you do, you're not, you're not weak. Right? Like if you can do all of that, something's happening there to make this happen. Cause if you can lift 200 pounds in that league, something's working, it's just not still working when you try to live 210. Okay. So let, let's look at what's changing or number of repetitions. Right? That’s what you're looking at. Sarah Haag:                  34:52                So if you collapse your chest and which I would probably do after running 17 miles and I'm like this. And now what happens when I collapse what happens to my bottom half when I collapsed my shoulders? Well my butt just tucked. Cause I'm just trying to get through now. The funny thing is the breathing is also harder. So while I'm doing this as kind of a mechanism to keep going, it's harder to breathe because nothing's working diaphragm to have a full excursion, right? Yeah. So, so I like to look at if you're running fine for 17 miles, I want to see you at mile 16. I want to see what's changing over that mile. I want to see what you looked through my team. And can you, when you start to get to that point, can you make an effort to change something? Sarah Haag:                  35:32                Do you notice a change in your breathing when you're lifting 210 instead of 200 and kind of look at it from that way cause you're not going to kegel why you do that. What do you mean? Oh well say to like precontract and prime and all these things and, and that's fine, but it's like if we go back to the running, you're not kegeling and all that time your pelvic floor after like 30 seconds is like, dude, you don't want me to get that tired. Like it's going to be like, we're going to stop that now. So yeah. So the way I would approach that, if you're not me, yes and not going to do a vaginal exam, is you look at their performance. So if they said, I have knee pain when I do this, when I go from 200 to 210, they're my squat. Sarah Haag:                  36:13                How they do, they're looking at the mechanics. You would look at what's happening, what is different? Cause you know, the joint can do it, you know, the muscles can do it. What's changing. And you would address that. So it’s really no different if they can tell when they're leaking, you're just looking what can, what are the things that can change it? Usually the tail lift and looking at their breathing or two really easy ways to go about it. Karen Litzy:                                           Okay. All right. That's great. And, and, and that goes with that. Does that also work with, let's say instead of you're not a runner weightlifter, but you’re like a new mom or something like that and you're okay, but then by the end of the day after you've been maybe lifting the baby or you know, doing whatever you're doing it, it doesn't necessarily have to be sport related is what I'm saying. Sarah Haag:                  37:06                I think about like function, but definitely, I mean, you asked about, but no, just everyday if getting out of a chair makes you leak, that's, but then it's basically a squat. So you are, you're looking at the activity that they're having difficulty with and making small changes got in most cases. Karen Litzy:                                           So I think the biggest takeaway here for me is that not everything is solved by doing a kegel. Sarah Haag:                                          I think a lot of non pelvic health PT’s may have that, that misconception that if someone has incontinence, well Kegel time. Right? And that's all you gotta do. That's what most people do. If they go to the doctor and they mentioned it's like, ah, you know, that's pretty normal. It's not, it's common. And then they'll be like, do some kegels and, and a lot of women and men don't know how to do them. Sarah Haag:                  37:53                So then they're just, I'm squeezing stuff and it didn't work. And it's like, Oh, before we get too far, can we check and see how you're doing them? And I think that's kind of a beautiful segway. So let's say you have your new mom or you have your athlete or whatever and you are, you've tried some stuff, right? Cause none of this is life or death, right? I mean it's fine to try some things. So already not doing anything about it. So trying to change up a couple of things is perfectly within your purview, especially again, you're seeing them for hip or low back. It all, it's all together. You're good. But if it's not changing, if it's not getting better, if when you ask them, you know, can you contract your pelvic floor, what do you feel? They're like, I got no idea. Sarah Haag:                  38:33                And they're like, but please also don't touch me there. Or are you touching there and you're like, yeah, I don't feel anything either. And I've used all my cards but I don't know what to do. That's when you refer. Because just like any other things, somebody coming to see you as a physical therapist, you're going to do some things. And if those things are not working or they're getting worse, you're going to try something different. Or call the doctor or refer to a friend. Right? So if you change some things and you're like, I'm amazing, they're all better. Awesome. Do they need to go to pelvic floor therapy? I'd say no if their incontinence resolves or their pain resolves. But sometimes with especially we see it a lot more in I would say the more active athletic population is a pelvic floor that's more like this. Sarah Haag:                  39:19                So it's like tight and there's a hundred people call it hypertonic or high tone or short pelvic floor and all these things and basically in my brain, the way I categorize it is like you should be able to contract your pelvic floor and you should be able to let it go. And we can all get better at that. But if you're like, I'm here, how good is my contraction going to be? Because I'm not showing you my pelvic floor. Like it's not going to, it's going to taste like it's going to not move very much. But if you get them to relax more or they're like, oh, I didn't know that was there, that's better. Then you all of a sudden you have a good contraction. Karen Litzy:                                           How do they relax? Do you just say relax? Sarah Haag:                  40:01                Before somebody tells him to relax, the worst thing to do is be like, can you just relax? So I try to have them feel the difference between contracting and not contracting. Because what will happen and people use what the traps all the time is like. So like, ah, so much tension. All right. Again, telling you to relax your shoulders. Things I didn't think of that. But if you squeeze and let go like as a little bit of like, Oh, I feel that, oh, oh there's some more space there. So I start with that. Okay. The pelvic floor. But again, if they're like, I just don't know, that's something that is so easy to feel with a vaginal or rectal exam. So that's where it's like, ah, you're having some trouble. I would recommend, would you see my friend for one visit have this exam, they're checking out your muscles and just see if he can feel that relaxation and then come up with like cueing or a plan that works for them. Sarah Haag:                  40:54                Cause it's not just about like slacking everything out. It's really feeling that that relaxation, that lengthening of the muscles there and being intentional about it. You don't want to lie there would hope like maybe it'll let go at some point. Audience member:                               So you talked about kegeling and what about dosage or prescription and quality versus quantity and how you prescribe that to your patient. Sarah Haag:                                          There is no hard and fast rule as to like how many, how much. So that's where, again, I would have them do some and see how the coordination goes. Cause if they're otherwise neurologically intact and they're kind of getting it, how many do they need to do? Sarah Haag:                  41:57                I would say it's not unreasonable to go kind of basic strength and conditioning principles of, you know, like I know eight to 12 reps three times a day. That's an okay starting point. And actually, I don't know if you know this, so I'm writing a book on incontinence and the PT people have it, but it's the editor just asked me, she's like, well, since we don't have like a hard and fast number, do we, should we put that in there? And I said, I think we do. So that's a good starting point. Not everyone would be able to do that right off the bat, but also some people be able to do that and they're not getting better. So it's kind of like let's start here and see what happens. And then you can kind of titrate it up and down. If I do an exam on somebody and they can't contract for 10 seconds, they can only contract for five, I'm not going to have them contract for 10 seconds at home. I would probably honestly in that case, have them go, I need you to make sure you can feel the good contraction. So you actually also asked about quantity and quality. I want quality, because all of us can do 100 crappy ones. I'm not sure how much it would help. So really looking to be like, okay, so I feel that contraction and I'm breathing Sarah Haag:                  43:10                and I usually actually have stopped counting seconds. I've had people go by breath, so if you, let's do it. We're going to squeeze our pelvic floors and you're just going to keep squeezing as you breathe in and breathe out normally. Nothing, nothing fancy. And then keep squeezing while you breathe in and breathe out and let go. And what I hope you felt was a squeeze to start with maintaining the squeeze. Some people will feel kind of like a little, a little wave as they breathe, which is not unusual. But then when you stop the breathing and you let go, you should feel that let go. So if you didn't feel that, let go. I usually say that's one of two things without feeling right. I can't tell without feeling is that you got tired and you lost it or you forgot to let go. Sarah Haag:                  43:51                So that's okay. Have a wiggle reset and try again. Because if you're not feeling the contraction, what are you doing? Like you might as well take a walk because then you'll actually be using your pelvic floor. I like going with the breath because a lot of people like to hold their breath when they're like, they'll do like they'll just suck at it and it, you'll feel a lift, but it's just a vacuum. It's not really your muscles doing their thing. So by doing the breathing, if you breathe in and out twice nice and slow, it's 10 seconds. You don't have to count. So if I have you do four of those, you just have to like count on fingers, two breaths come and arrest for two breaths. So much easier to keep track of. And then people actually do them. Cause if I could tell them to do ten second holds, one, two, three, four, five, six, nine, done. And that's not really helpful either. So like the too slow breaths. Now you're breathing and don't have to count and you're going to stay honest. Audience member:       44:57                So trying to bring this into the neuro world for someone who's post stroke and has stress incontinence or they've had neural damage of some sort and have stress incontinence, Are there any PNF techniques where you can incorporate the pelvic floor to help with that? Sarah Haag:                                          I haven't had PNF stuff since college. And I'm old. So what I would say is, is if I'm recalling that they go through movement patterns and as you're doing those things, there are things will be happening on the pelvic floor. It seems to make sense. What specifically, I don't know, but if you're kind of working more with that tone in general, I've only had a couple of patients come see me like post CVA and feeling their pelvic floors is amazing because while it makes perfect sense that one side might be like hypertonic are nonfunctioning until you feel it. Sarah Haag:                  45:49                It's like, wow, that's so cool. Like once I totally normal springy, they can contract and relax the other side just like they're, they're hemiparetic arm. It's cool. With stuff like CVA or neurological involvement, you really want to make sure you're on board with the physicians and you know that bladder function is still intact because depending on where the stroke is and what exactly happened or where the spinal cord injury is, you don't want to mess around with screwing up the bladder or the kidneys. So if they're not going to the bathroom or they're only leaking during transfers, that could be stress incontinence or it could be overflow incontinence because their bladder is so distended with the effort. So that's something you would really want to make sure you talk with their nurse or their attending physician and make sure, so how are things working? Sarah Haag:                  46:38                Because the other thing we need to remember is a lot of things we're still working on people who have had neurological insults, right? So once you're like, okay, bladder is relaxing as it fills, contracting, as it empties, it's emptied fine. We're not worried about this being overflow incontinence. I would actually start to incorporate stuff like blow before you go. Where you're managing it the same way you would for someone not having a stroke, but half of that, the beam continent and actually going to the bathroom it seems, I can make it sound very simple, but I have a slide and of course that I teach where it has all the like the tracks up to the brain and all the tracks who, the spinal cord to the bladder. But we got the sphincters, we got the detrusor, all of this stuff just happens. Sarah Haag:                  47:25                And when I click the slide from this beautiful simple picture, it's just font about this big, explaining all of the complex things that are happening so far as we know. So again, as long as they're, bladder is functioning on that basic level where it knows when to empty and it can empty, I would treat him like a anyone else and not assume that it's just because of a high tone pelvic floor on that one side. That's the issue. But if you get that person and you do your PNF, please tell me what happens. And if it changes their incontinence, I would really like to know. Karen Litzy:                                           And when you're looking at the bladder function, that is something the physician is doing through an ultrasound, is that how that works? How did they do that? Sarah Haag:                                          They can do it through an ultrasound so that that they are, they can look mostly at like post void residual. Sarah Haag:                  48:12                But then also there's a test called neuro dynamics. And this is a test that involves, a catheter and there you're a threat. And then a probe and another orifice down there to help measure for intra abdominal pressure. And it's kind of a neat test. If someone wanted to do it on me for free, I would probably do it. But they're also looking at an EMG the whole time. So they start to fill up your bladder was sailing so you know how much is in there and you're awake for this test because they go tell us when you, when you feel the first urge to go and they mark where that is. And so you can see how much fluid is in there. And I'm like, tell us when you get like the, I should go to the bathroom now urge. And they mark that and then they're like, okay, tell us when you can't take it anymore. Sarah Haag:                  49:00                And they mark that. So then they know how much your bladder can truly hold. But also looking at what's your detrusor doing, which is the smooth muscle around your bladder, what's happening to your pelvic floor, where is the weakness? And usually when they're full, sometimes they'll have people cough to see if anything leaks or if any sphincters happen or sphincters what they're up to. But it's, it's involved. But there's a lot of good information. And interesting side note is that if you do so, that's really I think really helpful for like a neurologic population just to make sure. I did have one patient I was lucky enough to work with a PT who became a physiatrist who specialized in neurogenic bowel and bladder and she let me come down to watch  urodynamics of one of my patients who was really against cathing. Sarah Haag:                  49:46                He didn't want to cath. So she came down, she brought him down to the urodynamics and as it and cause he's like, I am voiding 400 to 600 milliliters every time I have a bowel movement. And like that's pretty good. I mean like most are four to 600 CCS and turns out it was only under very high pressure. He was already getting reflects into his kidneys and after he voided four to 600 CC's, he still had four to 600 left, which is too much. So even though he was having some output, that was the test that really made it clear to him like, oh, it's coming out, but it's not healthy. Like I need to cath. Jamie:                          50:41                What are some of the considerations that you might go through in your thought process when you're dealing with a male versus a female pelvic pain or incontinence issue? Sarah Haag:                  50:53                That's a lot. I could talk for days on that. Well I'm not sure. When you're talking about considerations. We need to take into consideration our patient preference and what they're comfortable with. We can tell when our patients are uncomfortable or we should be able to but then kind of try to work out, they might not want to talk to me about this, but who can I get that they would, cause a lot of people would assume that men aren't really comfortable talking to females. But a lot of the men who come to see me, just want help, and we've had several male students come through and you know, they run into like women not wanting a male therapist to do it. Sarah Haag:                  51:36                It's just finding that, right? Just like any other body part, finding the right person to help. But then if we go to, you know, bringing up those subjects, I don't know that in my brain it's so, so different. Male to female, you're going to take into consideration their history for sure. I feel happy saying that because now with we have kind of like a gender spectrum, right? We have people who, who have transitioned in varying degrees and we have people who haven't transitioned but totally identify with the gender. They weren't assigned at birth and all of these things. So basically I take it functional. So can you just walk me through the issues you're having, your questions, concerns when it's a problem, if anything makes it better, does anything in particular make it worse? And then we problem solve from there? Sarah Haag:                  52:26                So I guess I didn't really have a good, a good answer, man. Male to female. Their situations are usually different, but it's kind of different across one gender or the other. Anyway. Is that kind of answer it? Yeah. Great question. Karen Litzy:                                           Well, thank you so much. Thank you. I think we covered a lot and I thank you guys for being here and I hope that you guys got a lot out of this and can kind of take this back to your patients now. So last question that I ask everyone and it's so knowing where you are now in your life and your career, what advice would you give to yourself as a new Grad? Sarah Haag:                                          Ask more questions. To be honest on, I came out of school pretty much like, like the teachers know best and what I learned is right. Sarah Haag:                  53:16                And then when you get into the real world, I ended up thinking I was not very good at my job for awhile because like you would do what you were taught to do but it wouldn't work. And then, you know, some things happen and I got older and more comfortable and when you start asking questions you realize there isn't one answer. So if you start asking those questions, you're part of, you're part of the solution. By kind of pushing those boundaries and not like, I wish I would've just asked more questions sooner. I'd be so much smarter than I am now. Karen Litzy:                                           Where can people find you on social media if they want to get in touch with you? Sarah Haag:                                          Sarah Haig, PT on Twitter, you can find me on my website, www.entropy.physio and um, I mean Facebook, Sarah Hague. Sarah Haag:                  54:07                I don't know what my picture looks like right now, but I'm friends with Karen, so if it says I'm friends with Karen, that's probably me. Karen Litzy:                                           Awesome. And just so that everyone knows a lot of this stuff that Sarah spoke about, we will have links to it. We'll have links to the home health section. We'll have links to the testing, the urogenic testing. Is that neurodynamic testing? You could just send me a link or something about it. So we'll have it all in the show notes. Thanks everyone for watching the live. We appreciate it and everybody, thanks for listening. Have a great couple of days. Stay healthy, wealthy, and smart.       Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!  

In this episode: -What is the thoracolumbar junction of the spine? -The curves of the spine (kyphosis and lordosis) -The relationship of the spinal muscles and the abdominal muscles -The effect of tight muscles at the thoracolumbar junction, like hamstrings, on breathing -Exercises to loosen and strengthen the muscles of the back -Releasing the spinal muscles release to get a fuller and better breath -How optimizing the way you stand, walk and sit can help you find your best breath.

Leave us a Review Understanding Back Pain and Why the Foundation Training Method worked for Dr. Eric Goodman and how it is helping thousands of others. Dr. Eric Goodman - On how his major failure's lead to the development of and hyper-focus on what eventually became Foundation Training. Learning about the Posterior chain and how keeping these muscles strong can be a total game changer for our alignment, strength and back pain.  Links: The Foundation Training 2 DVD set Buy Dr. Eric Goodman's Books: Foundation True to Form 12 Minutes of Foundation Training (Video) Lordosis Peter Park Website  Martin Sexton Music Eric says "You must Google- Wayne Rosen"  But also.... Psychedelic Mushrooms, Olympic Water Polo, Kelly Slater, Lance Armstrong, Living out of Donation Buckets, Peter Park, Wayne Rosen, Lakey Peterson, TED X, Being a new parent, Moving from Florida, to California, to Denver, to California, to an RV traveling the entire country to Hawaii and back to California Connect with Foundation Training Foundation Training Website Youtube Instagram Connect with The Shifting Perceptions Podcast: Shifting Perceptions Website Facebook Instagram Twitter Connect with Jay Alders Jay Alders Website Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Pinterest Connect with Chelsea Alders Om Mamas Doulas Website Sun Dreams Productions Website Instagram Chelsea Om Mamas Doulas Sun Dreams Productions

In this episode, David discusses Kyphosis, Lordosis, and Scoliosis! Plus, a brand new Question of the Week!

This week on Solcanacast Hannah and Lucia dive into the glorious world that is the LIVER–geez, it does so much! Listen as Lucia touches on how our (generally healthy) livers process toxins and what to do to support efficient detoxification processes. She'll be back soon with even more information all about what else the liver […] The post Liver & Lordosis | You Have A Body Podcast: Episode 16 appeared first on NoisePicnic Podcast Network.

Lucas:              Welcome to the Yoga Talk Show, your one-stop destination for all things yoga, health and wellness.  So hello and welcome, everyone.  This is Lucas Rockwood, and I'm here today with Nick Polizzi, who is the creator of Sacred Science and he was also heavily involved with Simply Raw, two films that most of you are probably very familiar with.  And if you're not familiar with them, you'll be familiar with them very soon.                           I met Nick about a year ago in New York city at a conference, and it's really interesting.  There's kind of frontline people and then behind the scenes people, and it's interesting because the behind the scenes people do a lot of the heavy lifting and a lot of the conceptual work and so it was really interesting and exciting for me to meet Nick, who was involved in the film Simply Raw, which already had a huge impact on me and my life and on a lot of our listeners' lives as well.                           In any case, Nick's going to be talking to us today about his wild adventures in alternative health, raw food, herbal medicine and medicinal healing.  So thanks for joining us, Nick.   Nick:               Oh, it's a pleasure to be here.   Lucas:              So as we're having this chat, you're right in the middle of a big launch of Sacred Silence, which is a film that you shared with me about a year ago.  And for people who are listening who have never heard of anything kind of off the wall, medicine man, healers, (01:23) give us an overview of what that whole project was all about.   Nick:               So just going back to Simply Raw, I've been involved in a couple films before The Sacred Silence, and both of them were about alternative healing strategies.  One is the Tapping Solution that's all about meridian points and tapping on different spots on your upper torso while going through traumatic events from your past and releasing pain that way, which is more of a Chinese medicine style.                            Then Simply Raw came along, and that was more of a nutrition-based, super food-based film.  As we made those movies, while we were interviewing the different experts that you saw in each of those, (02:05) it felt like a lot of them, when we asked them about the origins of their teaching, were turning to more indigenous practices, in particular Shamanism.                            So we kind of took note of it, but when we were making those films you kind of keep your eye on the ball and keep creating the film that you're making.  But I was really curious about Shamanism by the time I had finished making those two films, or being involved in those two films.  So once those films were out, the next project for me was, hey let's at least take a look at Shamanism, figure out what it's all about.                            And we sort of scoured the globe for the most Shamanic-rich cultures, and the Amazon has one of the most, if not the most, dense percentage of Shamans per capita on the planet.  So we went down to the jungle, started doing some research.  Not only is there a really thriving culture of Shamanism, medicine man, I'm not sure if your viewers are familiar with this idea of the indigenous healer.  (03:14) The Shaman is somebody who plays the role of both the priest, the healer and the wisdom keeper in any given tribe.                           If you look into different parts of the world, most indigenous cultures have a Shamanic-type structure, where there isn't really a government, there isn't really a -- what interested us most about the Amazon was that not only does it have a very rich lineage of healing in a lot of the remote cultures that live within the jungle, (03:50) but the jungle itself is home to over 44,000 species of plants, less than 3% of which have been studied by modern medicine for their medicinal value.                            So we thought to ourselves, okay so on one hand we have what we're looking for.  There are amazing medicine men, medicine women in this culture that are doing incredible work, but on top of that they have the benefit of a pharmacopeia of amazing healing plants that haven't been studied by modern medicine yet.  That's what led us down to the jungle, and that's what pretty much culminated in the film, The Sacred Science.   Lucas:              So you're this guy and (04:25) what makes you want to make movies about energy healing, about raw food, about medicine men?  Most independent filmmakers are making movies about two disturbed teenagers wandering across the Brooklyn Bridge and things like this.  What prompted you to do this?  Did you have a health crisis in your life?  Is there a health crisis in somebody else's life?  Is it just something that's always fascinated you?   Nick:               I never really knew what it was until at one of the film festivals we were in, during the Q&A it just popped out and I realized that that was probably what it was.  I realized what it was.  (04:59) I was hit by lightening when I was 16, and it's really interesting how we a lot of times forget or compartmentalize and disregard some of the significant things that have happened to us in our life as just being, 'Oh, that can't possibly be contributing to where I am now.'                           But once I got hit by lightening, and it wasn't some crazy, sacred thing where I was on top of a mountain and it just happened and it was this amazing, enlightening experience.  I was playing basketball in my driveway and it was during a thunderstorm, and lightening came up as I was going up for a lay-up and hit my basketball hoop.  I was after that, a much different person.  It did something.  I don't know how woo-woo you want to get, but it definitely shifted something inside me, and there were a lot of episodes I had that were unexplainable.  Nick Ortner, producer of The Tapping Solution, a good friend of mine, helped me through and was fascinated by.  He had no way of understanding them, neither did I.                           I didn't need to be sold on holistic medicine.  Let's put it that way.  I didn't need to be sold on energy work.  That was something I already had a dose of, probably too soon, without having any way of understanding what it was.  But I probably was initiated into some sort of spiritual healing practice when I got hit by lightening when I was 16.   My career has somehow manifested in such a way that I get to make films about this stuff.  So that's the origin probably of how I started on this path, and then once I started making films about alternative medicine all the rest of my career kind of just filled in by itself and that's where I am right now.  (07:11) I'm on this path of trying to figure out how to legitimize a lot of these archaic, traditional healing methods that have been kind of discarded over the last 1,000 years.  So I don't know why I love this so much, but it's kind of all I ever want to do.  It's really all I want to do is create films that explore new healing modalities.  Sorry, that was a long answer.   Lucas:              No, no, it's interesting.  I think if the sky parts and strikes you down, I can imagine that would have a profound impact on everything thus forward.  One thing that I'd like to ask you about, because you've gone down in the Amazon, you experienced some really freaky, alternative stuff.  One thing that I find in the alternative world, and this is me speaking as somebody who's guilty of this, as anybody else, but as soon as we get into the alternative world we immediately assume alternative is better.  We throw away all the conventional stuff.  So I'm just curious.  You took some pretty ill people into the jungle and you took some people who would normally be on very, very conventional medicines to very alternative medicines.  I'm wondering your totally biased opinion, how did you walk away from that?  (08:26) Did you walk away thinking, hey this is the answer or this is an answer or how did your perception change in terms of finding a balance between allopathic medicine and traditional healing medicine?   Nick:               I think I walked away with a feeling that might not be as interesting as I wish it was.  I think my feeling was that some of these methods are extremely effective at treating certain illnesses.  The neurological disorders, like Parkinson's, incredible.  (08:59) There are things going on in the jungle right now that are going to be probably heard about relatively soon, plants that are being discovered that it's like night and day with what you're seeing right now on the market for Parkinson's and MS and things like that.                           But other things, like cancer, one of our patients in the film had extreme results, beneficial results from cancer.  A few of the other patients didn't, and that was kind of how it was.  And I think that's probably why people look at our film as being reliable or trustworthy, is because we show you both.  We're showing you what does work, what doesn't work.   But I think that my overarching feeling about these modalities is probably a little bit more boring now than it was before I went down there.  I think I went down there with this idea that, wow this is all going to cure everybody.  (0948) But I think that my feeling right now is that modern medicine and natural medicine are both very important, and modern medicine is extremely good at treating acute conditions but it's terrible at treating chronic ones.  I think that Amazonian medicine and indigenous medicine in general is really good at treating the chronic conditions.   So I think they both have a very substantial role to play.  It's just that one of them is dominating right now, and we need to sort of leave some breathing room for the natural medicines to come in.  David Wolfe says it really well.  He says 200 years ago, if Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall you wouldn't be able to put him back together again.  Now you can.  But you also have ridiculous increases in chronic conditions, too, right now.   So I think that both of them are very valid, and I think our mission really is to just give voice to the natural medicines that have sort of been ignored or discarded, discredited over the last 200 years.  So that's how I feel about it.  Just as a wrap up, the beautiful thing about the Amazonian traditions and other indigenous healing traditions, in Siberia and in Australia, is that they treat you from within, so that even the patients that didn't get healing results in our film still email me now talking about how even though their body didn't heal the way they wanted it to there were life-changing spiritual transformations that happened that they continue to feel the benefits from.   Lucas:              Yeah, I think there's no question that the mind aspect in healing is just really coming to the forefront right now and it's pretty undeniable to bring that into any kind of healing modality.  When I was a teenager, I used to spend summers in the Sierras in California, working at about 10,000 feet with a string of burrows.  One summer I was up there and I met this guy.  He scared the pants off me, actually.  He would spend the entire winter in the cabins that I would live in when I was up there.  And spending a winter at 10,000 feet in the California Sierras is like spending a winter on the moon or Antarctica or something.  Nothing should live.  In May, there's still snow everywhere.                           He was this big, big, giant guy, nearly seven feet tall, didn't have any meat left on his body.  I kind of got his story, and he'd been coming there and he considered himself the caretaker of this cabin.  Nobody had ever hired him, nobody ever knew he came but he'd been the winter caretaker for something like 25 years.  He had really, really bad gear, so he would come in on cross-country skis, come in about 35 miles on cross country skis.                           In any case, I thought this guy is going to know these plants.  I was spending all this time on the land and I was fishing in the creeks and I was really trying -- the truth is, there isn't much.  When you get that high, things really start to die.  But I figured this guy's going to know the land.  It was interesting, he did.  He knew every single thing you could eat, and again, there weren't many.  And he knew about the different kinds of fish and how the fish were originally brought in and they weren't native and all these kind of things.                           What was interesting to me, I think it kind of relates to what you were saying, is (13:27) a lot of times the biggest revelations are really pretty subtle.  His big thing, his big take away from the Sierras was this willow bark.  This willow bark, he discovered, was similar to aspirin, which was helpful in terms of pain from his walking around in bad shoes, but he also found that it had this anti-aphrodisiac property, which he thought, of course, a solitary male basically living like a monk in a hut.  He thought this was going to be the next big thing.  He thought if they just gave this to teenage boys, like the truancy and the delinquency rates were going to completely drop through the floor.  But it was interesting and it was really, really subtle.  He'd find a natural form of pain relief and a natural way to deal with what would normally drive a man from the forest, which is his libido.                           Interesting stuff.  (14:29) So I also know in the film, there was one gentleman who didn't make it.  Is that right?   Nick:               Yes, that's true.   Lucas:              That's pretty heavy.  How did that impact you?  How did that impact the group?  Were you prepared for that?  How did that go down?   Nick:               I was not prepared for that.  (14:49) As much as we knew it was a possibility, obviously we took very sick patients down to the jungle, we were prepared for it in terms of on the ground with the right services and everything that somebody would need, but in terms of emotionally I wasn't prepared for it.  I'm an optimistic guy.  Even though I throw myself into pretty intense situations, I always like to sort of expect the best result to happen.  I wasn't mentally or emotionally prepared for it, and it was a really intense experience.    The gentleman who died, he was suffering from neuroendocrine cancer, and he was one of my -- I hate to say this, but he was one of my favorites of the patients.  He and I bonded really well beforehand during our interview.  We visited each patient in their home before we went down there, and got a read on who they really were and he was just such an incredible guy.  And of all the people that you see in the film, he's probably the guy, even though he's got a serious health condition, he's probably the guy you least expect to be the one that passes away.   In the beginning of the film, we tell everyone five people get real healing results, two people leave disappointed and one person doesn't come back, period.  So everyone knows that somebody's going to pass away.  Some people think what we mean by that is they're going to stay down there and become a Shaman, but I think most people understand that there probably is going to be somebody that passes away.  Most people don't think it's going to be this person.   In a really kind of tacky or inappropriate way, the fact that he passed away was incredible for the shaping of the movie, and I think that he's the kind of guy who is probably humorously, from wherever he is now, looks at it as being the perfect addition to this project, because he was so about what we were doing and he was such a sweet soul and he knew, later on after talking to his family, his loved ones, they had all said goodbye to him before he even came down because his condition had worsened since we had seen him during the interview.  So he knew, his family knew that he was going to pass away.  He just didn't let us in on it, so it was kind of a surprise.   So yeah, he's an awesome guy and it's really more sad for me, not from the project's perspective but because I just wanted to spend -- I wanted to be friends with him.  He and I had plans to hang out afterwards.  But from the perspective of the film, I think it really gave us the opportunity to talk about our society, conventional Western society's relationship with life and death, and that was a gift because a lot of what the healers in the jungle talk about is this dying process.  It's this fear of the unknown.  (17:50) The dying experience, when you boil it down to its essence, really comes down to the fear of the unknown, which is a fear that we experience every single day.  It's just that when you die you really have no way of peaking around the corner and seeing where you're doing.   So Gary's passing gave us the opportunity to really go into that, because it shocks the audience.  When you see somebody pass away in a documentary that you're attached to, in real time, it brings up a lot of issues.  So it gave us the perfect opening for one of the medicine men, named Habin, to talk about life and death and all the misconceptions and all the crazy storylines and how desperately we avoid even thinking about it here in the West and how alive and part of the healing culture it is down in the Amazon.  Something that is looked at as being a gift, and it's not nearly as feared as it is here.  So it was a really mixed bag, but like everything that's happened with this film, it really turned out to be perfect.   Lucas:              (18:56) So I guess the million-dollar question is if you had to do it all over again, would you cast him?  Would you bring him down again?  Do you think you made the right choice?   Nick:               Yes, I do, 100%, 100%.  Listen, if I had reason to believe that his passing could have been avoided by him staying up here or having some other course of treatment, then I would obviously not have brought him down.  But this man had tried everything, and he was paying like, gosh, I'm trying to remember what the figure is, I don't want to misquote him because he says this in the film, but I think he says he was paying $2,000 or $3,000 a month for a shot that he was getting to sort of keep the cancer at bay a little bit, but it was still failing.  And he had no money.  He had no ability to afford it.  It was not something that was covered by his healthcare.  And he said he was sick of it and it made him feel terrible and he was in pain every day, and this was his last and final option.  (19:51) So 100%, I would have brought him down, I think it was a perfect way for him to make his transition.   Lucas:              Interesting.  (20:02) Nick, before we wrap up here, tell people about what you're working on next, how they can get a hold of you and if they want to see what you're up to and how they can connect with your films.   Nick:               Sure.  First of all, we have a free screening going on right now.  It ends tomorrow, Thursday, October 17th.  So if you want to watch Sacred Science for free, just come visit us, TheSacredScience.com/screening and you'll get the information you need to register and we'll send you all the details you need to tune in not only to the film but also to a bunch of really awesome guest speakers that we have presenting.  Most of them have already presented their material, but we have links to all those things that will be sent to you via email.  So again, TheSacredScience.com/screening and you can watch the film for free.                           In terms of what we're working on next, this film has really opened up a lot of doors.  The first two films were great, in terms of giving us great experience on how to actually go about making film, but this one has been in a ton of film festivals and we've had a lot of opportunities surface since it's been released.  It's kind of a tough decision for us.  (21:13) We want to either go further into Shamanism itself or start making a film or two about some of the lessons we've learned that have come up from the ceremonies we sat in, things that we've noticed about society that are really quirky and conspicuous that we'd like to point our cameras at.                           (21:38) One of our next films is most likely going to take us to the Siberian Steppes and into some remote regions of China and Mongolia, to sort of track down the earliest and potentially the most Shamanic traditions there are on the planet.  (21:57) One of our other films are going to be addressing an institution that has existed for thousands and thousands of year and that may or may not be serving us.  So there's two different films.  We'll keep you posted.                           If you join us for the Sacred Science free screening, you'll get all kinds of updates about future films as well.   Lucas:              Sounds great, Nick.  Thanks for all the information.  Speaking of your new films, one thing that resonates with me is everywhere I go I feel like people are desperate for rites of passage and ceremonies, and I think a lot of the interest in ayurvedic medicine, in medicinal healers, in Shamanism, I think a lot of it comes back to that.  So many people have lost their faith in whatever it is, so it's interesting stuff.  I'm excited to see what comes next.                           Again, thanks so much for joining us.  (22:49) Everybody listening, check out SacredScience.com, and thanks, Nick, and we'll talk to you real soon.         You've got questions?  We've got answers.  Welcome to the FAQ round.  If you've got something that you want to ask, send your questions to Podcast@YogaBodyNaturals.com.  And now, let's hear what's going on with our listeners.   Miranda asks:   Q: (23:14) I've done a bit of research, and the correct term for my condition is Lordosis.  I can't stretch my arms or shoulders back very far.  I'm not sure if this is connected to that or something different.  Wondering if the yoga trapeze will help to straighten this out.     A: If you don't know, the yoga trapeze is an inversion device that we manufacture and we teach students how to use.  It's really fun for spinal decompression.  It gives you traction on your spine.  It's really great for passive backbends.  We actually do core work and upper body strengthening poses on it as well.  It's great for functional strength.  It's kind of like a yoga version of a TRX, if you've ever seen one of those at a gym.  You can do a lot more on this than you can do on a TRX.   In any case, Miranda, in terms of Lordosis, is this going to help?  It's really hard for me to say.  I'm not a medical expert in terms of that condition.  The thing I would recommend is working with a teacher, if you can, and perhaps working with a physio or a chiro who could perhaps give you more structural integration information.   Jola asks:   Q: (24:18) I would like to take up yoga class, but which one would you recommend?  I've never done it before.  I'm 64.  I walk my dog every day, and I'm reasonably fit.  I've had back problems in the past, so I have to be careful about bending down.  I'm an anxious sort of person and get a lot of tension in my shoulders, and it takes me ages to get to sleep at night.  Sometimes I don't sleep at all.   A: Great question, Jola.  In terms of what type of class I'd recommend, I always say the same thing.  Do the type of class you love.  So if you're somebody who likes something intense and strong and athletic, no matter what your age, I'd take a look at hot yoga, take a look at power vinyasa, ashtanga-style yoga.  The great thing about yoga is it's great for any ages.  We have students even coming to our yoga teacher training courses in Thailand who are well into their 60s.  We've had people in their 70s.  So it's not an age-restrictive thing.  Of course, your body's not the same at 64 as it was at 24, let's be honest here, but you can still do a lot of things with yoga and you can get all the benefits.  So that's if you're on the athletic side of things.   If you prefer a more calming practice, if you like meditation and if you like quieter classes, take a look at local classes that might be called hatha yoga, they might be called yin yoga, they might be called restorative yoga, sivananda or integral yoga.  Some of these classes might have chanting and they might have Sanskrit words and perhaps even things connected to deities and religion.  That may or may not be of interest to you, just as a word of warning, but many of them will not as well.  You can always feel comfortable asking the studio about those things.  It's always a good thing to ask, if you do have concerns about that.   In terms of your nightly sleep, using gravity yoga right before bed is very, very effective.  We also teach a belly breathing routine that's very, very effective for falling asleep at night.  We'll try to link to it here in the show notes.  Belly breathing is when you lay on your back, you relax your belly completely and you breathe in and out through your belly, usually to a four count.  So you inhale for one, two, three, four, and then exhaling for four, three, two, one.  You keep your chest still, your face relaxed and you breathe just into your lower abdomen.  So your belly swells and fills on the inhale and it falls and collapses on the exhale.    And what this does is it has a very strong effect on your central nervous system, and again, you switch from that sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system.  You switch from your right nostril preference on the exhale to your left nostril preference on the exhale, and your body starts to really calm down.  So that would be my suggestion for you.   Susan asks:   Q: (27:02) I had pots break 14 years ago and never healed properly, so cannot walk for more than a block without so much pain.  I cannot use this foot in the yoga swing but could use the knee.  I have carpal tunnel in both wrists.  I cannot lift weights, use bands, do push-ups, et cetera, and will not be able to use my hands in a yoga trapeze.  Do you have any tips for using the trapeze that way?  I bought it to release my back pain.   A: Okay, Susan, this is a great question.  I'm not sure.  You said you had a break.  I'm not sure what kind of break this was.  I'm guessing you broke something in your spine.  I'm not really sure.  In any case, it sounds like you have quite a bit of pain in your body.  The yoga trapeze is fantastic for getting traction on your spine.  The one caveat to that is you do need to be able to get in and out of it and you do need a fair amount of mobility to be able to utilize it.   Now, there is another inversion device which is very, very common.  It's just a lot bigger and a lot more expensive, but it's called an inversion table.  You might have seen them before at a chiropractic office or at a health fair.  It's a long table.  It looks like a massage table, and it tips and goes all the way back and you can invert on the table.  This might be something that might be more appropriate for you.  With carpel tunnel, with pain, if you can't do any kind of resistance training, this might be a safer thing for you to try.  So think about that.   Q: (28:27) I'm morbidly obese, I'm 5'2" and 223 pounds.  I'm on a disability pension so I'm limited on the food we can afford.  I eat lots of tuna, chicken, potatoes, frozen veggies, et cetera, because the fresh stuff is out of my price range.  Would you have any tips on losing weight?  Also, what other products other than the yoga trapeze would you recommend for me?   A: In terms of other products, I wouldn't recommend anything.  If you're on a tight budget, just to natural activities that you love.  If you like to walk, go for a walk.  If you like to dance, put on a DVD and dance.  Put on some music and dance.  If you like to play with the neighbors or the kids or whatever it is, do that.  There's this myth that in order to be thin or lose weight you have to do extreme exercise.  It's almost never true.  In fact, almost always the opposite is true.  We have a sister business that I own and we do a lot of work with obesity and weight loss, and our most successful clients do little or no extreme exercise at all.  Usually they do natural activities, just like walking around, playing in the park, very, very natural things.  It's not necessary to get extreme.  So that's the first thing.   In terms of eating healthy on a budget, this is a real challenge.  Cheap food is fattening  food, and that's a really, really sad state of affairs but it is a reality.  Healthy food is more expensive, and people like to tell you that it's not but good food costs more.  And that's just part of the situation.  Now all of that said, there are plenty of options that are lower in cost and almost equal in terms of nutritional value.  It sounds like you found quite a few of them.  Frozen vegetables, for example, are nearly as good as fresh vegetables.  So that's perfectly fine.  Your cheaper meats, like tunas and chickens they're not too bad either.  What I might recommend, if you're a meat eater, is go and try to get less common meats, like organ meats and like leftover pieces from really high-quality meats, for example you might get organ meats from grass-fed cows which would normally be very expensive.  The organ meats will be very inexpensive and they're very, very nutrient-dense.   But all things considered, if you're thinking about investing in products, I would for sure invest in good food.  And it doesn't need to be super expensive, but for sure it's going to cost more than even takeaway food from a restaurant.  So with all that said, please keep in touch and let's see if we can figure out some good tools to help you and we'll go from there.   Esther asks:   Q: (30:56) What is your view on eggs?  I'm eating organic, free-range, cruelty-free eggs pretty much every day for breakfast with spinach and avocado.  What alternative, high-protein, vegetarian breakfast could I eat?   A: Eggs are really, really interesting.  If you've been hanging around YOGABODY for a while, you know for over decade I just eat plants, so I haven't eaten eggs in a really long time.  But in my day, I've eaten plenty of eggs.  Eggs are interesting in that they have a very, very bioavailable protein.  They seem like an animal food that we are made to eat, more so than other foods even in that they're very easy to digest.   A couple of problems with eggs.  First of all, they come from chickens.  Chickens are a really messed up animal.  It's kind of like a poodle.  You know when you see a poodle, like you go to Central Park in New York and you see these poodles getting walked around and this poodle looks sort of like an Easter Bunny/fur coat/I don't know what it is.  It's really a mutant, and a chicken is very much like that.  It's a very strange animal, and it's fed terrible, terrible foods like GMO corn and all kinds of really crappy grains.  A chicken in the wild eats all kinds of things, like rats and mice and bugs and grasshoppers and leftover garbage.  Chickens are really wild scavengers.  And then they put them in cages and feed them really crappy food and antibiotics, and it's really a disaster.   In terms of eating organic, free-range eggs, I feed these to my kids.  You've just got to be careful.  A lot of the free-range is kind of a joke.  A lot of the free-range just means that instead of being in cages, the chickens are just all on the floor smashed into each other.  It's really no better.  There are more and more and more truly cruelty-free eggs available, and I'm a huge supporter of that.   So here's the deal with eggs.  Eggs are a great source of protein.  Eggs are also very allergenic, and people develop allergies to them.  The breakfast you talked about, eggs with spinach and avocado is something that my daughter loved beyond belief.  For two years straight, every day she wanted eggs with spinach for breakfast, and suddenly now she won't eat eggs and it hurts her stomach.  She's developed an egg allergy, and it's very common.  If you talk to body builders, weight lifters, they often develop egg allergies as well, from over eating eggs.  It's the white of the eggs that people develop an allergy to, the protein.  I'm not sure why.  I haven't seen any compelling research to explain why.  I have a feeling it's because, like I said, the chicken is a funny animal.  I don't believe in it as an animal.  I think there's something wrong with it.    So that said, eggs from any other animal are better.  If you can get duck eggs, for example, if you can get ostrich, any other kind of egg you could possibly get are going to be more nutritious and more natural than a chicken egg.    In terms of other high-protein, vegetarian breakfasts, the best breakfasts are not breakfast.  Breakfast food is crappy food, by definition.  The sweet cereals, the breads, the grains, all that stuff is gross.  Eat dinner for breakfast.  I like to eat leftovers from dinner for breakfast.  Anything is great.  Since you're a vegetarian, you just want to avoid the dairy.  Dairy is so inflammatory.  It's really a disaster of a protein.  So if you're not eating meat, you want to make sure you're getting a good high-fat, high-protein breakfast.  One thing that I like to use are sprouted lentils.  Sprouted lentils are really, really great because a lot of the starch has been eaten in the sprouting process, so they're protein-dense, very, very easy to digest, very inexpensive and very fast to make.  But the best breakfast food is not breakfast at all; it's dinner eaten for breakfast.   Q: (34:31) I'm confused about conflicting information about fruit.  There's been a lot in the news about how fruit has too much sugar and should be avoided.  What's your view on this?   A: Yeah, so fruit is really controversial.  There's this guy out there called Durian Rider, and he says you should eat 30 bananas a day and then there's other people out there, Dr. Mercola tells you if you eat more than 5 pieces of fruit a day you're going to explode.  I guess I fall somewhere in the middle.  I come from a raw food background, so there's been periods of my life where I lived exclusively off of fruit, and at certain periods in my life I did really, really well off just fruit.  At one point, I had less than 5% body fat, really great energy.  I was able to work about 12 hours a day and maintain about a 3-hour per day yoga practice.  Kind of extreme, but I was fueled by fruit during those days.   These days I'm a lot more conservative about fruit.  First thing I'll tell you is it has a lot to do with climate.  Where you live really affects your sugar metabolism dramatically.  Your age dramatically affects your sugar metabolism.  So what I mean by that is on the internet if you search around for these 80/10/10 guys or these fruitarians, the ones that look really, really good, and there's some really, really healthy-looking people out there, women in particular that people get really excited and they say, wow these people look like models.  They look fantastic, and they're eating bananas and peaches all day, so maybe I should go do that.   The truth is, that might work for you.  It might work for you in the short term.  I've never seen it ever, ever, ever work in the long term, and I'm paying attention and I know people who've tried and they really deteriorate with age.  So if you look at that fruitarian community and you look at the people in their later 30s, in their 40s and especially the people in their 50s, it's a train wreck and they have oxidative stress and they're aging really rapidly.  And I haven't seen their blood work, but I promise if you were to do a glucose tolerance test it would be a disaster.  Your weight, if you're only eating fruit, tends to be manageable.  On any kind of whole food diet, your weight usually stays under control.  But that has nothing to do with your hormones and that says nothing about your fatty acid levels and things like this.    I went off on a little bit of a rant there, but let me just tell you thing about fruit is that the fruit we're eating today is nothing like the fruit we had even 100 years ago.  Let's talk about an apple, for example.  A wild apple is a bitter, mealy, barely edible thing.  A modern apple, I can eat literally five or six of them in one sitting and I can still want more.  So yes, our fruit is way, way, way sweeter than it used to be.  This has been done through selective breeding, in some case GMOs, but mostly just selective breeding.   And so what this means is when we're eating fruit, we want to focus on low-sugar, high-micronutrient fruits.  That tends to be things like your berries, like your cucumbers, like your tomatoes.  Yes, cucumbers and tomatoes are fruits.  Anything seed-bearing is a fruit.  And so you want to try to avoid the really, really, really sweet ones like watermelon and bananas.  Those are very, very sweet.  They're not bad for you, but it's a lot of sugar.  That said, if you're an athlete, if you're very active, that can be a great source of carbohydrates for you.    The thing about fructose, especially concentrated fructose, is it's one of the most lipogenic things on the planet.  What lipogenic means is lipogenesis, it goes into your liver and starts forming belly fat very, very quickly.  So were you to try to gain a lot of belly fat really fast, let's say you were a method actor and you wanted to gain a bunch of weight really, really quickly, the absolute best way you could do that is to eat a whole bunch of fructose.  It would be really, really easy to gain a bunch of fat.  And the reason is, is because of the way it's metabolized.  And so you need to be careful with fructose, especially isolated and concentrated fructose.  So high-fructose corn syrup, like the stuff that's in soda pops, everybody knows you should avoid that.   But if you're eating fruit, here's just a general, general rule.  You shouldn't be eating more than five pieces of fruit per day, and if you're eating other kinds of processed carbs, if you're eating any kind of grains, any kind of starches like breads or rices or pastas or any of that stuff, you need to be even more careful.  So sometimes you'll hear people about going on a fruit-free diet and losing weight.  Well, this is true and this does happen, but a lot of these people, they haven't given up their processed carbs.  So they stopped eating fruit, but they're still eating lots of bread and lots of pasta and lots of rice.  I would be much more interested in you getting rid of the grains and eating more fruit, because they're more healthy, they're more micronutrient-dense.    But as a general rule, again, I've gone on a real rant here, but about 25 grams of fructose a day or less is a good rule of thumb.  Depending on the fruit, that could be just a couple of pieces or it can be about five pieces of fruit, if you're eating low-glycemic fruits.  High-glycemic fruits, there's nothing wrong with them as long as you're active and as long as you're not eating too many other starchy foods.  When people get into plant-based diets, oftentimes they end up eating all kinds of crazy starchy foods all day long and their blood sugar levels get all out of whack.   Q: (39:53) Is there any limit on how often we should be eating beans?   A: Beans or legumes are a really interesting food.  We tend to think of them as a protein food, but they're actually pretty starchy.  Most beans are around 10% protein, so not that high.  Certain beans, like soy beans, are extraordinarily high in protein, but of course they have a couple of drawbacks that make us not want to eat them all the time.  I like legumes a lot.  I've come to like them more and more over the years, and I'll tell you why.  I've learned how to prepare them better.  Most beans give you terrible gas and bloating.  They have oligosaccharides, which is a form of sugar, that we're unable to digest.  But there are simple ways to overcome those digestive issues.   It takes a little bit of work.  Specifically, buying beans dry, soaking them overnight and then cooking the snot out of them.  That's one option.  So you buy beans, you soak them overnight and you cook the crap out of them.  It really, really helps with digestion.  Of course, that cooking is not that great for the protein, not really that great for the micronutrients.  But anyway, that's the way to do it.  The other option, which I'm a huge fan of now and at any given time I have fresh lentil sprouts in my kitchen, is sprouting lentils.  Lentils come in quite a few different varieties.  They have very, very unique flavors.  Some are peppery, some are more sweet.  And when you sprout them it eats quite a bit of this starch.  It makes them much more protein-dense, makes the protein more bioavailable, it eats a bunch of the sugars, it's predigested.  And then I'll very likely cook them, stir-fry them or boil them in soup and they're very fast to cook, very easy to cook.  You don't have to cook them nearly as much, and they're great for you.  So I'm a huge fan of legumes.   They do have some anti-nutrients and things, which people get a little bit too hung up on them.  You just need to learn how to cook.  If you don't know how to cook, I would say beans are not for you.   Marilou asks:   Q: (41:43) Why is it so hard to lift up your upper body when on the floor doing bekasana?   A: Bekasana is a frog pose.  You lay on your belly, you bend your legs, you reach back and you grab your feet and you lift your chest up.  That all sounds fine.  Do a Google search for it, bekasana, it looks really easy and then you go to do it and you feel like you're dying.  It feels like your kneecaps are going to explode and your heart's going to burst.  Why is it so hard?  There are a couple of reasons, Marilou.  Your shoulders tend to be tight, and your upper back tends to be tight and you really need to open up there to lift up and it's just a really intense, awkward position.  So that's about all I have there.   I will tell you, you'll make progress really quickly.  If you practice it every day, you'll make progress really quickly.  Just be careful with your knees.  Be really careful with getting adjustments in this pose.  A lot of teachers like to sort of sit on you, and I do not like that in terms of your knees.  It could be really risky there.  I hope that's helpful.   If you have questions, please send them to Podcast@YogaBodyNaturals.com.          It's now time for the bendy body nutritional tip of the day.  Raw food, edible insects, tropical oils, why not?  It's all fair game.  Here we go.  Let's talk nutrition.   (43:03) Today's nutritional tip is all about water.  The conventional wisdom is drink eight glasses of water per day.  The only problem is, what the hell does eight glasses of water mean?  Is that 8, 8-ounce glasses?  Is that 8 liters of water?  Is that 8, 12-ounce glasses?  Who knows what that is?  So here's my thing with water.  You need to drink a lot more than you think.  There's a couple of reasons for this, but one of the biggest reasons is the food that you're eating right now tends to be very dehydrated.  A lot of people eat packaged and processed foods, and even the meats and things like that that they're eating tend to be dried.  They're not nearly as wet and as water-dense as they should be, which means we need to drink more water.     (43:46) So how much water?  Well, I like to drink about two liters per day.  When I'm in Thailand, I might drink as much as five or even six liters per day, which sounds crazy but it's really hot there and I do a lot of yoga and I sweat a lot.  It really depends on you.  But for almost everybody, I find that a little bit over hydrating makes them feel really, really great.  It reduces your hungry, it helps with elimination, helps you clear up your digestion and your skin.  So it can be really great.  So if in doubt, I'd ere on the side of drinking too much.   (44:17) So how do you do this?  People get really stuck.  The first thing is keep a bottle of water on your desk, and at your home keep a bottle of water on the counter.  And by bottle of water, I don't necessarily mean a store-bought bottle of water.  I have glass bottles at home that I filter water and put them in, and when I just leave them around on the table I end up drinking them all.  There seems to be no limit to the amount of water I'll drink if it's sitting around.  So literally, a jug of water on the counter, on my desk and I will drink it down no problem at all.  I'd encourage you to do the same.  If you're somebody who's out and about all day long, carry around with you a water bottle and carry a large water bottle, a nice big one.  That will help you to drink more water.   (44:57) The second thing is, add something to your water.  The things that I like best are lemon, fresh lemon, cucumber, sounds gross but it's good and then the last thing is we have something called Total Hydration, which is an electrolyte formula.  It actually helps you absorb 43% more water.  They've done clinical trials with firefighters.  It's not necessary for everybody, but if you're somebody who struggles to drink water, is chronically dehydrated, the signs of that are constipation which is very, very common, and headaches, it can be a big help.  If you're a hot yoga student, if you're an athlete, it can be really effective as well.  You can learn more about that in the YOGABODY store.  Regardless of whether you use Total Hydration or not, the key thing is drink more water.  Keep it around.  That's the simplest way to get it down.   You've been listening to the Yoga Talk Show with Lucas Rockwood.  You might not know this, but I live and die for your iTunes reviews and ratings.  So help me out.  Head over to the iTunes Store and give me some love.  And when you're done with that, you can grab the complete show notes, links to everything mentioned in this show, plus all kinds of other yoga shenanigans, at YogaBodyNaturals.com.