You can try multiple exercises. And here’s one of my go-tos. I just prepared this new video short for strengthening – Bulgarian Split Squats. It’s one of the best functional exercises you can do to get ready for winter sports. PLUS,  you can do it from the comfort of your own living room (or wherever you have a steady surface like a chair). The movement pattern helps to steady walking, as well as helping improve strength for winter sports like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, or snowboarding.

What are the benefits of the Bulgarian Split Squat exercise?

• Improves balance as the exercise is done one leg at a time
• Strengthens your hip and glute muscles, which will improve stability in the lower leg
• Strengthens quadriceps muscles that help keep proper alignment at the knee.
• Reduces back strain as the exercise puts less stress on the low back, and typically, is done with lower weights or with body weight alone.
• Improves core strength, as you are required to balance on one leg throughout the exercise

Remember – proper form is crucial! Watch the video here to set up properly and avoid injury.

Pro Tip: Start off Bulgarian Split Squats with bodyweight only. Progress toward working with dumbbells in your hands by your sides as the exercise gets easier.  

With Rolfing locations in Bellevue and Tacoma, Horan Holistic Health can help you with any lower body issue you have that might keep you from living your best life this winter – and anytime!

Tips for Teaching Your Nervous System New Range of Movement

I’m often asked if there are specific exercises to do after receiving a Rolfing session.  The answer is, “Yes, live your life…mindfully.”  That might sound non-specific, but what I mean is mindful movement.

Acupuncture, Massage, Chiropractic, Rolfing, or Osteopathy, while our treatment methods may vary, our overall goals are relatively simple. We are trying to get your physical tissues and nervous system closer towards its healthiest functional state: back to how it’s designed to move without restrictions, bad habits, or compensations.

Employ Mindful Movement

I believe the best actions you can take will be to follow up those sessions with mindful movement.  Continue to do movements that your body is used to doing, like walking, squatting, grabbing things out of drawers and cupboards, and using stairs.  But the key is to do them mindfully.  

Slow down. Do the movements slower, and make sure your body is in a good physical position to do the task. Mindful movement is about being conscious of how you’re moving. Rather than hurrying and making a sloppy move while picking up a load of laundry – like twisting and talking to your spouse or child at the same time. Stop and think about body position.

The key, at least for the first 24-36 hours after your session, is to “teach” your nervous system and tissues that they have different range of motion, and that the different range of motion is safe.  

The slower you move, the more time your nervous system gets to figure out whether something is safe or not. 

If you move too quickly, your nervous system doesn’t get the opportunity to assess, and subsequently, might not allow you to have that new range of motion or strength for fear of tissue being damaged.  So slow down, do movements that your body is used to, and think about your movements.

The First 24 Hours After-Care

Here are a few other items to consider for the first 24 hours after receiving a therapeutic session. The MORE of them you can do, the better! 

Reduce Inflammation

• Avoid processed carbs (bread, pasta, crackers, chips, basically anything that’s been packaged)
• Avoid dairy, unless its been fermented (kefir, yogurt). Obviously, don’t have any if you’re allergic or sensitive to dairy. 
• Avoid caffeine 
• Avoid alcohol
• Avoid all forms of sugar

Add These

• Water – Drink at least 20oz after your session (more is better)
• EPA/DHA – (fish oil) 2g 
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1 – 2 Tbsp (raw) drizzle on anything you’re eating
• Curcumin – 500mg
• Turmeric – 1 tsp
• Magnesium Bisglycinate – 120mg
• Dark Berries – Blueberries, Blackberries, Boysenberries, Raspberries

Movement

• Walk – at least 15 minutes with nothing in your hands
• Yoga – gentle yoga is fine, it doesn’t have to be power yoga!
• Household tasks – perform slowly, being mindful about your body movement
• Workout – IF you are going to work out: 
  • Only do workouts that you’ve done before
  • Slow down your speed of movement
    • It gives your nervous system time to react to its new range of motion

Relax

• Soak – Take a 15 – 30-minute Epsom salt bath to relax your body. Home spa day!

Every issue and every person are different, please make sure and ask your practitioner if there are mindful movements, specific movements or other activities, that should be avoided for your specific case.

Workplace Ergonomics Basics

• Sit AND Stand.  Try to spend roughly half your time sitting and half your time standing.  Humans weren’t designed to sit all day, nor were we designed to stand in the same spot all day on a hard surface.  The more frequently you’re able to move back and forth between sitting and standing the better, (i.e., 30 minutes sitting, then 30 minutes standing).

Pro tip: If you don’t have a Sit/Stand desk, you can stack some books or boxes on your desk and shift your screen up so that your screen is at the optimal height when standing. Or for a somewhat reasonable investment, you could opt for a desktop “converter” like this.

• Support for your Feet.  If you are going to be standing for an extended period (more than 45 minutes), consider wearing footwear with arch support.  The longer you stand on a hard surface without arch support, the more likely your arches are to temporarily collapse. That can create some bio-mechanical issues leading from your legs up into your pelvis and low back, causing low back pain.
• Elbows by your Sides.  Keep your elbows in line with your torso whether you are sitting or standing to make sure your arms are supported by your frame and not the muscles of your neck and shoulders.  When sitting or standing in front of your computer, drop your arms straight down by your sides, bend your elbows to 90°, and wherever your hands are, is also where your keyboard and mouse should be.  Don’t put your elbows out in front of your body.
• Align your computer screen to your Eye Height.  Lift your computer screen so that the middle of your screen is in alignment with your eyes, so that you don’t have to tilt your head up, down, left, or right.

Pro tip: I use a separate keyboard so that my elbows can be by my sides and the screen can be higher up, in alignment with my eyes.

• Look Far Away.  Spend no less than 5 minutes an hour looking out your window at any object that is far away as possible, which will give your eyes a much-needed break from focusing on short distances.
• Movement is your Friend!  In general, the more you can move throughout your day, the better.  Making time to get away from your computer as many times as possible throughout the day is paramount to staying healthy.

Ways to Move

Speaking of moving in support of practicing good workplace ergonomics, here are a few simple suggestions to get you away from your desk. 

• Get some water (hydration is always a good thing!)
• Use the restroom
• Do 10 body weight squats
• Do 10 pushups
• Do 25 jumping jacks
• Walk the office steps
• Take a 10 minute walk
• Grab your laptop and work outside for 30 minutes which is great for eye health (weather permitting). The more natural light you can get into your eyes, the better.

It pays to remember that too much standing or sitting in the wrong position can wreak havoc on our bodies just like playing too hard or exercising a lot using bad form. Healthy workplace ergonomics, whether in your home office or onsite, are essential to maintaining a healthy body. Remember,  check in with yourself often!

Christopher Horan is a longtime Certified Rolfer (CR) as well as a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor (CFNC) through the Functional Nutrition Alliance. His practice offices are in Tacoma and Bellevue, Washington. 

How do your muscles get pulled in the first place? Muscle fibers stretch too far past normal working length, tearing muscle fibers. That causes what we’re most familiar with as a “pulled muscle.” It can be severe enough to keep you from working out like usual for weeks at a time. Let’s talk about recovery and Rolfing – because you definitely want to recover properly to get back to 100%.

How can Rolfing help you recover from pulled muscles?’

Usually, the first thing we want to do is try to stretch it out. The assumption is that we pulled it because it was too short. Here’s where understanding how one part of the body’s musculature and myofascial affect another part is so important.

For example, did you know a pulled hamstring may not have anything to do with your hamstring being short? Yep. It could be that a short quadricep is pulling your pelvis into a front tilt. Because your hamstrings attach to the back of your pelvis, your hamstring is actually being pulled too long! That means the last thing you want to do is stretch your hamstrings. Instead, you need to stretch – or lengthen – your quads.

Other reasons for pulled muscles: Poor habits & dehydration.

You may be thinking, “How could my quads get too short?” It all depends on how you’re using your body, from how you sit to how you work out. If an injury or a bad habit makes your muscles misfire – the sequence is off – then it’s a lot easier to pull a muscle.

Another reason for a pulled muscle is dehydration. You’d be amazed at how much it matters to your muscles that you’re well-hydrated, because there’s simply no elasticity in dehydrated soft tissue. Here, test yourself:

Pinch the skin right behind any knuckle on your hand. Did it flatten out right away? Excellent. Way to keep hydrated. Did it stay pinched for any time at all? You’re dehydrated – drink water now!

Remember, as little as 2% dehydration affects your mental alertness and physical performance. Get into the habit of checking your non-diuretic fluid intake. Caffeinated coffee, sodas, even green tea, causes more frequent urination. If you’re not balancing that out with healthy hydration, you’re placing your muscles – and your mind – at a disadvantage.

We’ll explore all possible reasons for your muscle pain during your initial examination when I evaluate your body mechanics. Our Rolfing sessions together are focused on getting your body – and how you use it – back into balance for the long term. That often means creating new habits and patterns. Let’s get started!

At Horan Rolfing, my goal is to help you move pain-free again. We’ll work together to restore your body’s ease, balance, and strength. Schedule a Rolfing appointment with me in the Tacoma location of Horan Rolfing or in the Bellevue office.

It’s true – you’d be surprised at the number of Rolfing clients who walk in and point to their butt, complaining of sciatica. My first step is to determine through diagnostics which nerves are causing problems, like if the visceral system is even involved.

Here’s what happens with sciatica. The sciatic nerve (root of sciatica) begins in L4 – S3 (L meaning Lumbar vertebra and S meaning Sacral segments) and goes down the back of your leg, continuing into your feet. If that nerve is “pinched” anywhere along the line, you’ll feel pain. It can cause issues walking, standing, lying down – in fact, sciatic nerve inflammation can be a pretty miserable situation.

Nerves can be tricky.  They talk a lot amongst themselves, sharing irritation. They’re reliable in that you know when something hurts. Yet getting specifics on where the hurt begins isn’t always as obvious. One compressed nerve tells all the connected nerves, then the brain, that things aren’t right. Well, then the brain gets involved and suddenly you feel like lots of areas are inflamed. Say, for instance, your toe hurts. That doesn’t necessarily mean your toe is injured, just that the nerves in your toe feel pain. The origination point could be somewhere way up the line.

I’m 2/3 the way through the series with Mr. Horan and it’s been incredible to see my posture improve and my long-time sciatica go away completely. – M. Fish, Horan Rolfing Client

What happens when you tell me, “I think I have sciatica.”

I’m going to look at the potential sciatic nerve compression points – spinal, muscular and organ. This is why the ability to discover the start of your discomfort is so important to resolving it. Every potential cause needs assessment. If you have damage to an intervertebral disc in the spine, protrusion into the nerve area can irritate the sciatic nerve. Or say the nerve is perfectly fine in the spine, but then the rectum or the sigmoid colon (both organs that sit right in front of it) compress the nerve causing pain. Then there’s the deeply seated piriformis muscle, a common source of sciatic nerve pain, tingling, or even numbness that runs down the leg or into the foot, as in piriformis syndrome.

As a Certified Rolfer, my aim is to 1) diagnose the actual pain source, and 2) free up the affected structures. Here’s also where balance is so important to the surrounding areas. It may call for evaluation of your movement patterns. It’s common for habits in gait, stance, or sitting to affect our bodies. Exercise routines could be exacerbating an issue. We’ll look at how retraining those habits or adjusting routines could help.

Christopher Horan’s Rolfing therapies help alleviate issues from sciatica. His mission is to help restore freedom of movement without pain. You can schedule a Rolfing appointment with him in Horan Rolfing’s Tacoma or Bellevue office. Sciatic nerve pain relief is only a call away!

How important is good posture to your body, really?  Some people believe that if you don’t have great postural habits, then you’re always going to hurt. Yet there are some people who slouch through life with little to no pain.

What healthy or good posture does is help in our fight against gravity. Here’s how.

The head is heavy. If it’s lined up correctly, your neck and shoulder muscles can work as they should; if not, you get a tight neck, tight shoulders, and eventual pain.

What’s the proper position for healthy posture? Your ears should line up with your mid-shoulder, as viewed from the side. That places your head and torso in proper position to support your head’s weight. Then your neck muscles can perform as designed, stabilizing and mobilizing to let you easily turn your head, nod, etc. That’s “good posture.”

Posture vs Gravity

What happens when your head is out of position, or “turtled” forward?  Tight neck and shoulders, leading to pain.  Those back-of-neck and shoulder muscles weren’t designed for that kind of counterbalance.  When your positioning is off kilter, the muscles are literally fighting gravity all day long.  They over-contract, can’t work as designed, meaning you can’t rotate and extend your head without pain or limited range-of-motion like you should. That’s not “good posture.”

Your posture can tell me a lot about how your body is doing.

I look to see if your posture is “correct” and if not, why?  Postural imbalance and resulting pain could come from a usage imbalance, genetics, a muscle misfire due to an entrapped nerve, or an irritated organ. From a Rolfing Structural Integration (Rolfing SI) standpoint, I know that the most common reason for your bearing to be off is that your body’s compensating for the pain or discomfort these can cause.

Correcting these internal misalignments are what Rolfing is all about. If postural imbalance is causing you discomfort or pain, my focus will be to restore your body’s balance. I’ll review your posture and take you through a diagnostic process to find the true source of the issue, and improve your posture, too!

Christopher Horan’s Rolfing therapies help to restore your body’s ease, balance and strength. You can schedule a Rolfing appointment with him in Horan Rolfing’s Tacoma or Bellevue office. Good posture is only a call away.

First of all, I hope you and yours have – and remain – healthy. Secondly, I’m happy to announce that Horan Rolfing is open and scheduling clients for Rolfing appointments. You can visit the site here to access my online scheduling system, review availability, and schedule your sessions.

As my Rolfing practice continues business operations, there will be new precautions and office safety measures implemented for the wellbeing of both you and me. I invite you to follow me on social media for updates on the practice, plus tips to keep your body moving well between Rolfing sessions. 

Before scheduling your appointment, please review the below to understand the new operating procedures at Horan Rolfing. And finally, my sincere thanks, for your support and loyalty over the years.

In health,

Christopher

Horan Rolfing Safety | New Operating Procedures

All hard, touchable surfaces are being wiped down with CDC approved cleaners in between every session, including chairs, stools, doorknobs, face cradle, tabletops, disk, my cell phone, lamps.

• All sheets and linens are replaced between every session.
• My hands are washed before and after every session.
• I am wearing a face-mask during every session.

When Not to Come in for a Rolfing Session

Because people with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness, for office safety, anyone experiencing the below symptoms should not come in to Horan Rolfing for a session.

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Chills
• Repeated shaking with chills
• Headache

Until we see each other again, if you’re feeling tight, try a stretch, like the Hip Flexor one below. Thank you for scheduling your next appointment, and for your continued support – see you soon!

Nerves can be tricky little suckers.  They’re really good when telling you that something is wrong, but very frequently can be a bit misleading as to the where something is wrong.  Often the symptoms will show up further down the line of the nerve.  And to make things even more confusing, nerves communicate with one another, so if one nerve is compressed and irritated often one or multiple nerves around it will try to communicate to the brain that something is wrong.  The brain then interprets the info and tells you that those nerves should “hurt” as well and bingo you have multiple areas that seem inflamed.  For a really good explanation on how pain works, you should check this This Blog out.

Compression points (spinal, organ, muscular).  There are a few areas that are common compression points for the sciatic nerve.  One is right at the spine; if you have damage to one of the intervertebral discs, it can protrude into the nerve area and irritate it.  You can have a narrowing of the opening at the vertebra.  The nerve can be completely healthy coming out of the spine and then get compressed by one of the organs that is sitting in front of it (ie. the Sigmoid colon, Rectum, etc).   One other common compression point is when your piriformis (a deep lateral rotator of the femur) is too tight and compresses in on the space where your sciatic nerve comes out of the pelvic bowl and heads down into the back of your leg.

At My Rolfing Practice in Bellevue, WA I see clients quite often with sciatica type symptoms.  Using a few diagnostic tests, I discern which nerves are involved and if the visceral system is involved or not.  I then free up the affected structures.  We might then need to balance some of the other surrounding structures.  We might also need to take a look at your movement patterns to see if we need to retrain how you are moving.  I also often have to talk to people about how they are using their body that might have gotten them here in the 1^st place and see how we might be able to alter some of the habits and/or patterns.

Want to Schedule a Session, Click Here

Two of the primary muscles that help raise support your medial (inside) arch are your Tibialis Posterior and your Abductor Hallusis.  The Tibialis posterior tendon (a leg muscle that crosses the ankle joint and inserts in the medial arch) is usually focused on during acquired flat foot deformities as a primary cause.  It however doesn’t kick in until the passive support of the arch breaks down so we will not focus on it here.

The abductor hallusis muscle starts at the inside base of your heel and inserts into the base of your big toe.  The best way to work this muscle is called the “short foot” exercise.  Here is a brief explanation on how to do it:

To perform a short foot exercise, sit in a sturdy chair, using good posture. Place both feet flat on the floor with your toes pointing straight forward.  Raise the arch of your right foot off the floor without curling your toes and lifting your heel. This is called the short foot position. Hold this isometric contraction for six seconds. Relax, and repeat with the left foot. Inch your feet forward and perform another rep with each foot. Perform 15 to 20 repetitions with each foot to strengthen and stabilize the muscles that comprise the longitudinal arch of the foot. Reposition your feet a little farther away from the chair each rep to target the muscles at slightly different angles. When this exercise is executed properly, you will feel muscle contraction in the foot and lower leg.  As quoted by, Dr. Nicholas A Campitelli – Podiatric Medicine and Surgery

Here’s a Youtube video that will give you a visual on how to do the exercise: Click Here

I’ve done this exercise myself quite a bit trying to maintain healthy arches.  It’s a bit awkward at first but you’ll get the hang of it in a few days as long as you are diligent about doing it a few times per day.  I also find it useful to do the exercise while standing since eventually you’re shooting for this muscle to support your arch while you’re standing and walking.

The second part you need to do is lengthen the tissue on the outside of your feet.  To do this you can stand on the outside of your feet and slowly bend your knees until you feel a stretch on the outside of your ankles.  You will probably also need to see someone who does structural integration Like Myself at my Rolfing practice in Bellevue, WA. Who can take a look at the bones of your feet to see if the bones in your feet are articulating against one another appropriately?

Want to Schedule a Session, Click Here

Clients receive Rolfing from me for flat feet from all over the Puget Sound, including: Bellevue, Seattle, Renton, Redmond, Mercer Island, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Issaquah, Tacoma, Puyallup, Newcastle, Gig Harbor, Fircrest, & University Place.

Here are a couple of links to other sites with exercises you can do IN ADDITION to, not instead of, the short foot exercise:

-http://www.livestrong.com/article/142341-what-exercise-can-i-do-my-fallen-arches/?utm_source=RELARTICLES_R1

-http://www.marksdailyapple.com/flat-feet-treatment/#axzz25hIOMaaQ

One of the ways that a healthy posture can be a good thing is that it means you’re fighting less against gravity. For example, if your head is properly positioned over your torso (your ears should line up with your mid shoulder as viewed from the side) then you entire structure gets to support the weight of your head. This allows the muscles in your neck to perform their designed tasks of stabilizing and mobilizing (i.e. turning, nodding, etc.). However, if your head is shifted out in front of your body it puts a lot of stress on the muscles in the back of your neck and shoulders to hold the weight of your head up while gravity pulls down on your head. This fatigues these neck and shoulder muscles as they weren’t designed to counterbalance the pull of gravity all day long. So they get tight from over-contracting all day long and they’re not freed up to help rotate and extend your neck and head as they were designed to do.

Posture, from a structural integration standpoint, can be an indicator that something is not right in the body. The postural imbalance might be coming from a usage imbalance, or an entrapped nerve that is not allowing a muscle to fire as it is supposed to, could be a genetic variable, etcetera. There are many ways that posture can be affected.

More important question to ask your self when looking at posture is why is the posture not “correct”? As well as, asking whether the poor posture has a potential to be harmful to the body over time. You can have great posture with pain and an ill-functioning body. In which case, the pain may be stemming from something on a deeper level like an entrapped nerve or an irritated organ. Conversely, it’s certainly possible to have poor posture and have a very efficient functioning body with no pain. What’s most common however is that if your posture is off, it’s a strong indicator that you have some type of compensation going on in your body that needs to be addressed so that your body can function at a more efficient level. As a Rolfer servicing Bellevue, Seattle & Tacoma, I will review your posture and ask those bigger questions to find where the true source of the issue is coming from in the body.

Want to Schedule a Session, Click Here

Clients receive Rolfing from me to improve posture from all over the Puget Sound, including: Bellevue, Seattle, Renton, Redmond, Mercer Island, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Issaquah, Tacoma, Puyallup, Newcastle, Gig Harbor, Fircrest, & University Place.