Justin G. Walls, Certified Personal Athletic Trainer

Sometimes I hear people complaining about their inability to hop right out of bed in the morning, or at least get up when the alarm goes off. I have heard (and experienced) of varied challenges ranging from difficulty sitting up, tight lower or upper back muscles, disorientation when arising, and a few others. Not feeling it today... The problem with this is that it makes it even morechallenging to get your day started when it's not starting off correctly. Let's try to examine the most obvious issues: How old is your mattress and is it sinking or sagging? What is your sleep position? Where is the pain? If your mattress is 10 years old, then it's probably a good time to go shopping. When the mattress starts to sag, you will start dragging at opposing muscles and perhaps even alter your sleep position. The sagging is the worst thing that can happen. If your not ready to buy a new bed, just try rolling a towel or yoga mat and slide it either under your lower back...

Back pain can present in a few different ways, which we had discussed in a previous post . Today we are dealing with the iliopsoas and how dysfunction in this muscle can present as back pain The iliopsoas is involved in hip flexion, but due to its insertion at the 12th vertebrae of the thoracic spine and first through fifth lumbar vertebrae, it is better classified as a postural stabilizer. The psoas hooks up to the lowest part of the back and then extends down to the lesser trochanter on the medial side of the femur. This means that an irritated psoas can be felt from your lower back and buttock all the way down to the middle of your inner thigh. That's a big pain and you know where you will feel it! Psoas tendonitis can be caused by shortening the muscle due to anterior pelvic tilt (does your booty look like J.Lo?), overuse (too may hills during a run or just too much running/walking), or poor posture (are you really supposed to bend over that way?). The simplest way...

The NY Times  has an article from this week about training with kettlebells, and how successfully training with them can reduce back pain by training the posterior core muscles that are often weakened by long hours of leaning of desks and computers at work. The best exercise for relieving back pain is the Kettlebell Swing: When the Swing is executed correctly, it incorporates every posterior chain muscle, loosens tight hip muscles, and improves abdominal strength. The back is kept straight through the movement and the head is always 'looking down field'. Knowing the correct weight and proper form are important to correct execution of the Kettlebell Swing requires some flexibility and patience with getting the form. 

No more sore knees for sports and running The link above is for an article by Justin Price, M.A. on alleviating knee pain. Ouch! That's some serious knee pain! The first thing to understand is knee function: the knee only functions in one plane, and that would be going straight forward or straight backward. In order for the knee to move in a different direction, other joints have to give in order to change the legs direction. Those joints that assist in angling the direction of the knee are the hip and ankle joints. If the muscles around these joints are weak or overused, then inflamation can develop, reduce range of motion to protect the area, and create unnecessary load on the knee. An overloaded knee can result in recruiting tendons for support, and the tendon most likely to suffer is the ilioptobial band (ITB), which is located on the outside of the knee. The article mentions the benefit of using the BOSU balance trainer to increase the range of motion of the f...

Let's start with a few simple questions: Where is the pain... generally? Upper back, lower back, hips. What position are you in when you feel the pain? Leaning foward, arching backward, tilt sideways? How painful is it? Now the tough questions: Is the pain localized in one spot? Two spots? Does it happen only at certain times of the day? Is it getting worse or getting better? Corrective Exercise Techniques  can assess just how widespread your problem may be. It's important to understand that the most common source of back pain is actually muscle tightness, especially if the pain is not chronic. According to corrective exercise specialist Justin Price , MA: "A successful corrective-exercise program includes self-myofascial-release ( SMR ) exercises at the beginning and throughout the program as needed." Muscle tissue is all connected through fascia, a collegen-based connective tissue that holds all of the muscles together. Fascia has a tendancy to resist too m...