Now Comes the Hard Part

Six weeks before my family went to Europe, my husband hurt his back at work by moving a 600-pound hoist. Six weeks after our vacation, he had back surgery. Even though he could barely stand for twelve days after the original injury, even though he limped through Rome, Germany, and England, and even though he was in pain for two solid weeks after surgery, now that he is out of pain and now that he is back to his normal activities, now comes the hard part of his recovery.

Not that pain is easy. But the harder part is changing habits and personality to prevent future injury. If Michael wants to avoid another back surgery, he must moderate his activity level and he must stop lifting very heavy things.

Ever since he was a teenager, when every summer he bucked 65-pound bales of hay high onto the back of his Dad's F-250, Michael has identified himself as strong. About a month before he hurt his back at work, he hoisted two full tanks of welding gases (140 pounds) onto the back of our truck. We had purposefully planned the transfer for when our sons were available to help, but he was impatient and did it himself.

Well, no more. The fact is that his muscles are much stronger than his intervertebral discs, and another disc could easily rupture if pressed past its tolerance.

We are only as strong as our weakest link. It is human nature to identify with our strengths rather than acknowledge perceived weakness, but when we ignore our limitations we often get hurt.

I've seen clients become injured by being too helpful. "But I knew my sister needed help painting her house, and I didn't want her to have to paint the ceiling." Others get injured by having to do it all. It's not that she did the laundry and weeded the garden and made a big dinner and spent an hour on the elliptical machine; it's that she did it all in the same day. And, of course, there are those of us who need to be busy all the time with no time for rest. Others get injured, because they can't commit to regular exercise so their weak and inflexible bodies succumb to slight insults.

We might think the behavior needs to change, but the underlying attitude must shift first. If I can accept my inherent worth without always doing something, then I can take time to rest. If Michael can scale back his personal definition of strength to 70 pounds, then he very well may keep the rest of his discs and avoid spinal fusion surgery.

The ego has little regard for the body. It is more concerned with its self-image than anything else. The hard part of recovery is keeping the ego in check, balancing strength with weakness, and accepting the frailties of being human.

Good Health Ideas

My grandmother frequently says, “I am so grateful for my good health. Without my health, where would I be?” Good health is certainly a blessing and it can be a gift. Several friends of mine are releasing new products just in time for the holiday season. You might find one or more of them to be a good fit for someone on your gift giving list.


SmartCore Training is a 70-minute DVD by Staffan Englelid, PT, PhD, CFT. This video is the best group of core exercise I have ever seen. The DVD progresses from basic core strengthening through intermediate core techniques that make the core active in everyday activities to cutting edge exercises needed by athletes. How many times have you known someone (maybe even yourself) to hurt her back as she was leaning forward and twisting? Mastering Staffan’s intermediate exercises would prevent most of these injuries. I think this is especially appropriate for Pilates and yoga practitioners as well as physical therapists, personal trainers and anyone with chronic back pain. It sells for $39.95 through Championship Productions.

Fascial Fitness is a 58-minute and 20-page booklet combination produced by Robert Schleip, PhD, a fascia expert and structural integration practitioner from Germany. He has been working with fitness experts to create movements to rehabilitate and condition the fascial network throughout the body. The movements are like undulations, but bigger and adapted to more traditional stretches and exercises. This is like giving yourself a myofascial release in your own living room. Fascial Fitness is available through Fascia DVDs for $44.95.

The 10 Minute Rejuvenation Plan outlines a 5-exercise routine that was developed by Buddhist monks. As it was originally explained in a book published in the 1930’s the exercises are difficult and could cause injury. Carolinda Witt has ingeniously broken down the exercises into manageable steps with wise safety precautions. The book sells for $14.22 at Amazon. A companion DVD is rare, but useful, too.


Mary Bond’s healthy posture DVD, Heal Your Posture: A 7 Week Workshop will be available soon, but maybe not in time for Christmas. Mary is the author of The New Rules of Posture and a fantastic movement educator. She has a gift for making esoteric principles of alignment easy to understand and use. You can see clips from the DVD and request to be notified when it is ready at her website.

While I’m plugging products, I should mention my new program, Undulation Break, which reminds people to undulate with 22 videos and a smart timer to set to your schedule. Although I originally designed it for people who spend multiple hours at the computer (ergonomic experts recommend taking a short break every 20 minutes), I’ve found it useful for anyone who needs a reminder to undulate. It is just $24.95 and you can try it for free.

Walking: Roll Through The Feet (Exercise of the Month)

Last night as I was driving in Seattle, light rain glistened off the pavement and the street lights sparked. I saw a man jogging with a stocking cap, rain jacket and bare feet. On one hand, I’m a proponent of barefoot walking so we pleased to see that 49 degrees and light rain didn’t deter this man from getting his exercise. “Way to go!” I thought and then, “Ouch!” Barefoot jogging on concrete is too harsh. I would recommend walking barefoot in the summer and in flexible shoes in the winter, which leads us to the:

Exercise of the Month: Rolling Through the Feet

1. Start in standing alignment, with your feet and knees pointing forward. Keep this alignment as you walk, avoiding letting your knees fall in and/or your feet to point out too much.
2. Set your foot down, heel first then roll through your foot trying to feel the little bones in the middle of your foot. Your arch will bounce back rather than collapse if you distribute your weight across your foot. This is like setting down a beautiful footprint from heel to toes.
3. As you lift your foot, peel it off the floor with a little push from all five toes as they leave the ground. Use all of your toes evenly.
4. Let the speed of your walk increase. You can keep this flexibility in your feet even when you walk faster and even when you are wearing shoes.

Karin Edwards Wager, a colleague from Portland, OR, has written a great article on how to choose shoes. Her advice will make it easier for you to walk with ease.

A Message from My Shoulder

My left shoulder blade has a twinge this morning. I keep exploring this sensation, moving my shoulder up, down and in circles. I’m attempting to make it better, or worse, but it nags without change. My mind, of course, wants to know: “How did this happen? What did you, body, do wrong?” When my shoulders hurt, it is usually because they’ve been too helpful. In this instance, my shoulders tried to help my hips.

Yesterday, I enjoyed a fabulous yoga practice that focused on grounding and hip opening. Hip opening has little to do with shoulders, but whenever my body attempts something challenging, my shoulders always try to help by lifting or straining. It reminds me of myself as a child, the eldest sister, who needed to perfect my younger sisters’ actions. “Here, do it this way.” “No, no, no, you better let me do it.” My shoulders apparently haven’t given up this annoying habit.

At least I am conscious of this pattern so I can try to change it. I’m usually aware of my shoulders’ tendency and tell them, “Relax, the rest of my body can handle it.” This incident is a reminder to stay aware. It also makes me wonder where else in my life am I being overbearing in the guise of being overly helpful.

In the meantime, I’ll spend the next half hour on a self-designed, shoulder-strain-relieving yoga practice and then a few minutes with a tennis ball to release the remaining trigger points. Meanwhile I will consider how I can learn to let things be.

I’ve been here before with my shoulders and I will be again. Mind-body learning is a life-long process that starts with a body sensation that leads to awareness through exploration and contemplation that becomes an opportunity for growth and change.

Fascia that is Only Skin Deep

Structural integration (Rolfing, Hellerwork, KMI, SOMA) is known for being deep. Depth is what attracts most clients. “I really want you to get in there,” one client tells me. “I’m glad this isn’t one of those petting massages,’ says another. The process of affecting the body’s fascial network is profound, but sometimes it is only skin deep.

I took a workshop from Liz Silverman Stewart this past weekend – Tracking the Recipe; Sessions 1-3 Review. Liz knows our proclivity to go deep and she encouraged us to work instead with the most superficial layer in the first session.

Unlike deeper, more complex, fascial layers that split, divide, dive and twist, the superficial layer is a single continuous sheet, like an internal wetsuit. Gil Hedley, a master anatomist, has dissected this layer, which you can see at his website. (Don’t look if seeing dissections grosses you out. Do look if you want to see many images of fascinating fascia.) If the superficial layer is not flat or free, it binds to underlying structures and limits movement. Releasing the adipose layer opens a window to the deeper layers in the following sessions.

Release of the superficial layer can be intense like deep work, especially when the entire layer is engaged, or at least much of the layer. That is what I practiced during the workshop. I also received a session in this manner and can feel the space it created for my whole body to move more freely, as though I changed out of clothes that were too tight in places. I can feel the glide of my adipose layer sliding easily beneath my skin giving my movement a sumptuous quality. My forward bends feel delicious from my hips to shoulders and even into the back of my arms.

Releasing the superficial layer is one way that structural integrators help our clients become more comfortable in their skin. (The fascia graphic is from the Hellerwork Client Handbook.)