by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 14, 2015 | Blog, Pain Relief
Do you sit at a computer for 9 hours a day and your wrists and elbows can get achy and sore? Or maybe you’ve noticed that doing moves such as push ups or handstands cause wrist or elbow pain?
That is because most of us spend lots of time with our wrists and elbows in flexion (actually basically our entire upper body is in flexion hunched over a computer screen), which can cause the muscles of our forearms and even our upper arms and upper back to get sore and tight.
This tightness in our forearms and our upper back can cause wrist and elbow pain and lead to injuries when we workout. When we go to the gym and do moves like push ups and handstands, we ask our wrists to be in extension, which they may be too tight to comfortably do.
Plus the tightness caused by sitting in flexion can also cause the extensors in our forearms and the muscles of our upper backs to be weak, which can also lead to injury when we lift because we may not be engaging the correct muscles and may be instead overusing weak muscles that can’t handle the load.
Below are 10 Tips to help you prevent and alleviate wrist and elbow pain at your desk and loosen up your upper body after sitting in flexion hunched over a computer. Any time you need a little break from typing, try one of these moves!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 2, 2015 | Blog, Exercises, Mini Band, Pain Relief, Travel Workouts
While working out is an important part of being healthy, getting stronger and preventing injury, that doesn’t always mean you have to go spend an hour or two at the gym.
Sometimes simply moving more and doing the opposite of what you do seated at your desk hunched over a computer screen for 9 hours a day is enough to start alleviating aches and pains. Sometimes all you need to do is a 15-minute workout at your desk.
And a Resistance Band or Thera-Band Tubing is really all you need to get in a great workout at your desk.
With Resistance Bands, you can work your entire body to improve your strength, posture, and help prevent and alleviate neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, hip and even knee pain.
When we sit all day at a desk hunched over a computer screen, our body is in flexion. This can create bad posture, tight overactive muscles and imbalances. All of which can lead to compensations and poor movement patterns which will eventually lead to injury.
Therefore we need to move more. But not simply move more while perpetuating the imbalances. We need to move more and do exercises that can help restore our body to proper alignment and improve our movement patterns.
We need to move not only more, but better.
To prevent and alleviate injuries and improve your health while staying right at your desk, try these 15 Resistance Band Moves To Do At Your Desk.
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by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 19, 2015 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Pain Relief, Stretches
To keep your body healthy and strong, you need to correct the imbalances caused by sitting all day at a desk and performing repetitive movements.
To correct these imbalances and truly help prevent and alleviate injuries, you can’t just simply go and workout. You can’t just simply lift weight and expect to get stronger.
Because even if you have seemingly perfect form, you may not be activating and using the correct muscles to lift the weight – and this could lead to injury instead of you getting stronger and fitter.
In order to make sure you are using the correct muscles when you lift, you must implement all four training elements – foam rolling, stretching, activation and strength training – in your workout routine.
You can’t simply skip to strength training and expect your body to work correctly and remain injury-free.
Before you start your workout and your strength training routine, you must first start to work on restoring your flexibility and joint mobility by foam rolling tight areas. When you foam roll, you help release knots so that muscles can become loose and ready to work.
By starting your workout program with foam rolling, you can start restoring muscles to their proper length-tension relationships. When muscles are at their proper length tension relationship, they can contract properly allowing us to lift more weight and engage the correct muscles to do the work.
Also, by loosening up knots, you can help improve your joint mobility. When a muscle is tight and shortened, it can change how your joint operates. It can limit your range of motion around a joint, leading to improper movement patterns and compensations
But foam rolling alone won’t restore your flexibility and joint mobility.
Once you’ve foam rolled to start getting the tight, overactive muscles loose, you then need to stretch to help elongate shortened muscles.
Below are 35 Stretches that stretch everything from your feet to your neck and wrists. These moves will help you improve your flexibility and mobility so that you can move better and feel better.
And then once you’ve stretched out using a few of these moves, make sure to get those underactive muscles working with some activation exercises before you move onto your strength training!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 13, 2015 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises, featured, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief
Low back and hip pain are common problems especially for anyone with a desk job. However, some foam rolling (or a back massage) and stretching of your low back won’t be enough to really relieve your pain.
Because sometimes where you feel the pain, isn’t the place causing the problem, especially when it comes to low back pain.
Often to relieve your low back and hip pain, you need to focus on foam rolling, stretching, activating and strengthening your entire core.
Because overly tight muscles in your core (such as your hips and lats) and underactive muscles in your core (such as your glutes and deep intrinsic core stabilizers) can all be contributing to your hip and back pain.
Follow our 4 Step Program below to Relieve Your Low Back and Hip Pain.
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by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 23, 2015 | Blog, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief
Knee Pain can be a complicated issue to resolve because there are so many culprits that could be responsible. Since the knee is in between both the feet and ankles and the hip, dysfunction in either place could refer and lead to pain in the knee.
Dysfunction in the hip or in your feet and ankles could lead to muscular imbalances that then cause improper tracking and function of the knee joint. And if the knee then starts to move incorrectly, further problems could then occur up and down your body.
For instance, muscular imbalances could lead to knee valgus aka when your knees cave in. If your knees cave in, not only can your knees start to hurt but so can your feet, ankles, hips and low back. And pain in your lower body could then even lead to dysfunction in your upper body.
Therefore it is important to address all of the issues that could be leading to your knee pain above and below the joint so that Knee Pain doesn’t become pain everywhere.
To correct the muscular imbalances and address all the issues leading to your knee pain, you need to follow our 4 Steps to Prevent and Alleviate Aches and Pains – Foam Rolling, Stretching, Activation and Strengthening.
All 4 Steps must be included to help you prevent and alleviate your Knee Pain for good. Including only one step may help a little, but it won’t truly resolve the problem.
So correct your imbalances and start alleviating your knee pain today with the 4 Steps below.
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by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 14, 2015 | Blog, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief, Stretches
Your body is a chain, which means that dysfunction in one area of your body can lead to pain and injury in other areas of your body.
That is why you need to take care of your feet and ankles – they are your foundation and without a strong foundation, there are going to be problems with the rest of the structure.
So if you are suffering from foot or ankle pain, or have in the past, the best way to keep your foundation strong is by following these four prehab/rehab steps – foam rolling, stretching, activation and strengthening.
Below are tips and exercises to help you implement these four steps to Prevent and Alleviate Foot and Ankle pain as well as pain and injury further up your body!
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