Author: fisiodebcraig

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Long Covid related symptoms

Before becoming an Alexander Technique teacher I was a student and during the learning process I have to be able to apply all the principes to my self. Therefore I could experince my self (and I still do) all the benefits and changes in my ”body use” that helps a lot not only to expand body awareness but also to breath more freely and get reed of unnecessary tension while continuing with daily activities.

Yesterday, as I work as well as a physiotherapist I visited a woman who is suffering from Long Covid sympthoms. This syndrome is still quite new and is under continues research so it’s necessary to stay updated. I’ve prepared my self for this lady and read some updated information.

In one article published in June 2023 I found this guidelines for patients who are suffering this problem and I would like to share it, here in my blog. Between all the advices, they mention the Alexander Technique as a non-excercise movement activity, comparable with Tai-chi and Fendelkrais which are found to be helpful to mitigate the difficulties on daily life activities and therefore improving quality of life.

Have a look:

What can I do myself to manage my symptoms?

At home

  • •Try exercise. Aerobic exercise has been shown to help our brains stay healthy and perform better. Very light aerobic exercise that is adjusted to what you can handle may be helpful. Slowly make increases in the length or intensity of your sessions but watch carefully how that affects your fatigue levels.
  • •Explore non-exercise movement. Non-exercise practices that focus on flowing and thoughtful movement, such as yoga or tai chi, may be a great option to keep you moving even when your energy is low. Classes in Alexander technique or Feldenkrais that teach you ways to connect your brain with your movement can bring flow, balance, lightness, and ease into your daily life, and may help in reducing fatigue and brain fog.
  • •Be aware of your breathing. Some breathing practices have been shown to improve concentration and awareness and can reduce anxiety in healthy adults. A gentle way to begin is to simply exhale warm air through your mouth, without forcing or pushing. Focusing on your exhales in this way clears the way for a good, easy inhale to follow. Breathe in through your nose without trying to force or pull air in. Let your inhales expand your lungs into your back and sides. Just let your breathing find a natural pace, without trying to control it in any way.
  • •Invite restful sleep. Practice good bedtime “sleep hygiene.” Create a 30-minute personal routine to reinforce in your mind that it’s time for sleep. Put away electronics, put on your pajamas, brush your teeth, read or listen to quiet music or a relaxation tape, do some gentle stretching, dim your lights, practice some breathing coordination, meditation, mindfulness practice, or pleasant visualizations.
  • •Eat brain healthy foods. Eat fresh produce and avoid processed foods whenever possible. The Mediterranean diet, which is rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, has been shown to improve general brain health. Stay hydrated.
  • •Practice patience. Be kind to yourself. Understand that you are facing a unique health challenge. Pace yourself. Find enjoyment in what you can do and choose to rest when you feel the need.

Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2023 Jun; 104(6): 996–1002.

Published online 2023 Mar 21. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2022.11.021https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10028338/

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Is bad posture a matter of…

Is bad posture a matter of strength or a matter of conscious control?

It’s BOTH.

Most people think that to avoid lauching posture while sitting or to be able to maintain a more upright position as you walk, is required to strengthen the back muscles, your abs, stretch and get the best ergonomic accessories. Yes, this helps but is not all what is needed.

To achieve a real and long lasting solutions for your posture problems you need to work on what you want to improve, to be more clear, if you want to improve your sitting or standing position you need to also re-educate your body through your brain and body perception (propioception) for this specific act; in a a very similar why like when you learn a sport.

For example when a football player wants to be a better at long kicks he needs to train his coordintation and the strenght that are more used for this activity.

So, what do you need to do to stop having problems with your posture and to finally improve it?

1)Exercise

This will help to increase the general muscle tone, mantain the mobility, activate the cirulation and stimulate the breathing . For example walking or swimming are excellent and complete ways to engage your whole body in one activity and in a balanced way. My favourite are the excercises using your own body weight. I really think that is a pitty that we stopped climbing; like our ancestors or like a child: hands, arms, back and legs working equally and with enough strength to lift your own weight. If you do climb, well done! continue doing it if you don’t you can find a nice easy rutine to follow at home around 7 to 10 minutes. It doen’t need to be hard or difficult, just possible and slightly challenging.

2)Stretching

Stretching exercises should be part of our daily routine like washing our teeth, it brings a lot of benefits and it can take just 10-20 minutes of your day. Soft and gradual stretching of the legs, back and arms. I found that some Yoga exercises are very interesting for this and also the SGA or Global Active Stretching exercises from the Souchard Method.

3) Ergonomic accessories

I can’t stop thinking about our new reality of ”home office” I saw so many people suffering just because they didn’t have the correct furniture. If you are going to buy a new chair, please try it first! It has to be good for YOU. There is so much information about the parameters that you need to check when you are at your desk. In short: ”May the furniture adapt to you and not you to the furniture”. Observe carefully this simple graphic, that I found on the internet:

Scan this image from top to bottom:

-Eyes: the imaginary sight line parallel to the floor helps your head to be in the right position.

-Head, neck and back effortless in balance and supported.

-Elbow in a 90 degree angle and supported.

-Hips in 90 degrees (never less, it will overload your lumbar spine and discs).

-Knee angle (not the most important in my point of view, everybody move de legs constantly, but in this case I would mention that it is very important that the back of your knees are not touching the seat, ).

-Feet resting on the floor or on a support.

Now coming to our key point. If I go to walk everyday 30-60 minutes, stretch 10-20 minutes and have a very nice chair and table to work. I have less pain in my neck, but I’m still lauching when I sit, what’s wrong?

The answer is Conscious Control.

The truth is that if you are used to a certain way of moving, sitting, etc this frequent and habitual way is recognized by your brain as ”good” or ”known” way and all the authomatic adjustments, at an unconscious level are constantlly in use and fascilitated in order to optimize this activity. So, to make a real change you need to develope a more conscious control of your self and with the time your will be able to modify this habitual use.

To explain this to my patients I like to compare it with the process of learning a language; to re-educate your body you need time and practice and it will require you to think until it becomes natural. The Alexander Technique is an excellent approach and very helpfull for people who are struggling to get reed of nasty habitual use. Through the lessons your body awareness will expand and you’ll learn more about how ”your” body works, you will be able to experience this misterious connection between body-mind and you will find out the amazing relationship that this has with your breathing and with your emotions.

Everyday you can dedicate between 5 to 20 minutes at any time or at a more advanced level, while performing any other activity, integrating this to the way you move and live.

When this happens is because your are modifying your habitual use and finally the old patterns, you have started to make a consious choice and to stop them. This achievement together with all mention above will ring you to a whole different level with the relationchip with your body.

If you are curious about the Alexander Technique or do you want more advice about posture improvement don’t hesitate to contact me.

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Sitting is an act of balance

Sitting is an act of balance. In life this act is coordinated by our nervous system and performed by our postural muscles. When the right support is on the sit bones (those 2 bony parts under the bottom) and the head is freely balancing on top of the spine, it is then when you can find the right equilibrium.

Why is it then so difficult to maintain?

First, simply because our body is built to move, not to stay still for hours; second: faulty sensory appreciation. The stress, stiffness, the rhythm of life, bad habits, all of these interfere with the system to find the right natural balance.If you want you can learn how to restore it.

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Bad posture while sitting and faulty sensory appreciation

Many people believe that to avoid slump posture while sitting you need to strengthen the back muscles and your abs, to stretch or to get some magic ergonomic accessories. Unfortunately, non of this is a solution for it.  Sensory appreciation or propioception is the sense that makes us know where our body parts are and help us to create our body schema . One of Alexander’s discoveries is that this sense can be faulty, making us remain sitting in the same way even we recognize it’s wrong, because it ‘’feels’’right, or I would say ”known”.  

Improving your sensory appreciation will create the conditions for you to start recognizing your habitual way of doing things, so then it is possible to stop the old patters and change them for new and more coordinated ones. You will find that then, it is possible to be uprise without effort. This  needs practice, like any new skill you want to learn and improve.

To learn more about the Alexander Technique

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Headaches

Headache is a common problem and it is estimated by WHO that almost half of the adult population have had headache at least once in the year.

There are many different types of headaches according with it’s possible cause.

The most common are tension type, cervicogenic headache and migraine. This three types have different characteristics:

Tension type headache: The person refers the feeling of a tight band around the head and it’s often associated with muscles tightness in the head, jaw and neck. It can be related to emotional stress which triggers the ”fight and flight” response (physical stress response) realising on our system stress chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol. This chemicals make our muscles to tighten even more and be prepare to fight.

If the muscles cannot come back to a more relaxed state then the tension accumulated on them generate more pain and facilitates future episodes.

Neck headaches

Neck headaches – often referred as cervicogenic headaches – have its origin in the upper cervical spine and the soft tissues related with the junction of the head and neck. It can be also related with other muscles which receive innervation from the Accessory nerve (esterno-cleido-mastoid and trapezius). These muscles are also hyperactive while the head is positioning forward and away from our centre of gravity. This habitual tendency on our posture provokes the neck muscles to be in overuse referring pain to the forehead and back of the eye. Other muscles that can refer pain to the head are the chewing muscles, when they are hyperactive, (for ex. bruxism) they become painful and tense.

The symptoms associated to cervicogenic headache are:

-Unilateral headache (but sometimes bilateral), restriction on head mobility, the pain can be reproduced by moving the head, touching different muscles from the neck or by pressing lightly on the interapophyseal joints of the upper cervical spine.

Migraines

Migraines can result in severe throbbing or pulsing pain, usually on one side of the head. This is often associated with other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to both light and sound. Migraines can also occur with aura, which are disturbances of the nervous system. Examples of aura include experiencing flashes of light or blurred vision (visual disturbances), hearing noises or music (auditory disturbances), having pins and needles in a limb (sensory disturbances) and difficulty speaking (verbal disturbances). The causes of migraines are not well understood; however, it appears that genetics and environmental factors play an important role. Suggested causes include alterations in the brainstem and its interactions with the trigeminal nerve (an important pain pathway); and imbalances in brain chemicals, particularly serotonin. A number of factors can trigger migraines in different people. These include: certain foods (eg. salty or processed foods), stress, changes in sleeping patterns, exposure to sensory stimuli (eg. bright lights and sun glare) and certain medications. Also it is proved that neck muscles become hyperactive during the migraine episodes but they are not directly related with the cause, though they can make the pain worse.

I need to mention that many women suffer monthly of headache related with their period, this is important to bare in mind taking it more easy, because you can’t fight the hormones!

Unfortunately it is also possible to have more of one type of headache that they overlap.

HOW PHYSIOTHERAPY AND THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE CAN HELP

Basically both help in the same way, reducing the extra tension in the body and helping to find a better balance in our body. From my experience a combination of both could help to restore the mobility and function of the neck while helping you to avoid creating the extra tension during your daily life activities. As a mindful approach the Alexander Technique teaches you to inhibit your habitual harmful patterns and to apply new ways of thinking that will make you feel less anxious and more relaxed.

In any of these approaches the person need to have medical control, to make a proper use of medication and also to have a headache diary, which is very helpful to find triggers related with the headaches.