Moving Into Harmony

MOVEMENT & BREATH: HEALTH - FITNESS - WELLNESS

Got pain? Want to be at your best? Get back out on the trail with the right help.

by

Recently a prolific content producer on backpacking had a series of incidents that led to, in my observation, a cascade of the body’s inability to adapt well and heal itself. A myriad of symptoms have presented themselves that in his video published as a health update, he stated he is receiving medical care, they are not related symptoms, and most concerning were his comments he makes about his age, his body’s capacities and what he must now do in the face of his struggles.

To me this is a bad case of the blues, false belief and despair.

To me this is a case of not getting the right guidance or help, in looking wholesomely at him instead of the symptoms he is suffering with. It’s a different way of getting back on the trail with sound guidance from those who understand the inter-related body and the body-mind complex that loves to hike and backpack!

I’d like to breakdown what I saw in the video and where you might find better answers and individual solutions to meet your need and desire, instead of falling trap to false beliefs and into despair.

First major whammy: Trauma, Survival, Rescue & Breakdown

The inability of the body to handle the demands, pressure and lack of attention often leads to the body saying NO WAY in some way. Recovery from a survival situation requires proper down-time, proper guidance and follow through with the right help. The right help is not managing symptoms. The right help goes beyond just getting over an body shutting down event.

Also facing the unexpected breakdown of one’s own body is a challenge physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s even more difficult when you work with a trainer, or coach, and trust the program to be “fit” for the adventure. Being “fit” for an adventure has specific measures and require an individualized program, just like having the right gear for the adventure. If a program focuses mainly on strengthening your legs, core and “cardio” you are in for a huge disadvantage. This is because being capable and confident in the wilderness requires other variables that typical trainer styled programs don’t address. These include functional mobility and movement standards, physiological parameters of how your body adapts to stressors (and yes exercise is a stressor), your recovery and resilience capacities, your daily routine and habits, and the condition you bring yourself to train and to the trail. Let’s break these down a little bit to know what to look for in a skilled trainer or coach (or in my experience, someone with some therapeutic and wilderness experience).

Functional mobility and movement is about how the entire body collaborates for your time on the trails. This includes more than the legs. For example, it is well known in functional movement assessments that the shoulders and neck can limit the mobility in the hips, knees and ankles. May I add, flexibility is not functional when one joint is measured for a range of motion. Also the challenges of carrying a pack, and your spinal health, are more about diaphragm function than your core muscles of the abdomen. Also the diaphragm plays a key role in force transfer and lower leg fluid motion. In addition, I would hope the person you hire to help you get further well, at a minimum assesses your body behavior with the loaded pack you will be carrying.

Physiological parameters that are important for your confidence and enjoyment on the trail include the traditional – heart rate and intensity ranges, and also measures many do not test for (and don’t understand how to interpret the assessment). These include measuring gas exchange potential – without drawing your blood, circulation dynamics (why most rely on hot and stinky compression socks is because of this factor many long distance backpackers and hikers suffer from), adaptations to environmental stressors – cold and altitude, recovery and resilience, nutritional states (oral and gut health), sleep respiratory function, and nasal breathing optimization.

Recovery and Resilience do not happen by chance. The body needs to be trained and supported for the day in, day out rigors of multi-day adventures on the trail. Understanding your body’s signaling language, importance of sleep states, morning felt-sense measures, and mental resilience are essential to your adventure.

Daily routines and habits are essential to know before you get on the trail. For example if you sleep in, or eat late, you can not expect your body and mind (and your physiology) to just switch to a different pattern. I hope you know eating late and sleeping in are dangerous for your overall health and well-being, and even more so on the trails. Other routines include a flexibility, or warm up, prime before the trail day begins, and sometimes a warm-down, work out the kinks, evening routine goes a long ways to being on those long trail adventures.

And lastly, your current state of health, fitness and other performance based capacities as you enter a training program are critical to the right program for you. Having an understanding of what you are working with with your body and mind will make for a successful training program and time on the trail. This includes disclosing history – injuries (if you have injured an ankle there is more of a chance you will injure it again unless it is addressed functionally, not just the symptoms go away), health status (this includes any known conditions that may impact your training and your time on the trail – heart, lung, circulation, digestion, immune, joints and other tissues, sleep, mental/emotional). And knowing who you want to be when you hit the trail is also incredibly important, as getting the right help can include if a stress or strain shows up once your on the trail, you know what you can do to keep you on the trail.

Being capable in the back-country wilderness in challenging environmental conditions that force the body to adapt for function is not about a “suffer-fest.” Thrive over Survive any time out there! Surviving something does not make for a special-ness, or some superhuman capacity. Survival is actually a weakened, sub-optimal state often leaving a person not accessible to many factors related to rest, recover, restore and regain capacities that make one ready and “fit” for their next adventure.

Article by Shawn M Flot, MPT. He is an experience Certified Oxygen Advantage® Instructor. Combined with his 30 years of experience in Exercise Physiology, Physical Therapist for health and performance, and a dedicated Yoga practitioner is making for a power-house to help many people succeed in re-discovering their own health and healing, being optimally fit for their adventures and living well.


Medicine of Movement – Revolutionary ways to Harness your Health!

by

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” – Buddhist proverb

I always remind myself of this powerful statement in my own life, and in the ways I can contribute to helping you reduce your own suffering. The oath of the healing arts practitioner – “first do no harm.”

Movements that ignites the health of the body invite the individual to journey just beyond themselves; to investigate the right kind of challenge in forgotten, or uncharted, territory that moves them toward their goals and draws their attention to what’s needed along the way. Movements that promote subtler aspects of vitality and power are key to sustaining the true health of the body. This is not about what you think in regards to fitness – going to the gym, or an exercise class, going for a run; rather it is about the dynamics within all movements you develop access through feeling, and skill to use according to the seasonalities of your body and life.

Moving Into Harmony offers you the opportunity to go to a place of not yet understood layers of support and collaborative activities in your body-mind ecosystem and we invite you, the attentive explorer, to step into a territory that: 

  • ignites discovery – opening doorways to natural unbound potential, 
  • inspires vivid integration of newly found freedoms and vitality,
  • animates achievements – the fruits of your efforts that are carried through life, and
  • emboldens your capacity to age gracefully.

*Note: Telehealth Discovery Sessions are available as free inquiry into the nature of what limits you. These are offered to help you decide your best path may be for your journey of health.

Over time, with your consistent playfulness and attentiveness to movements that promote and circulate health, you will not only feel the freedom from suffering and the limitations in your life, but you will also harness the capacities**: 

  • Develop strength from an internal layer of stability (not your muscles). 
  • Promote fluidity as the essence of flexibility. 
  • Connect and interactwith the subtle, natural phenomena within you, which signals and guides how you move in your life. 
  • Freely move your whole body in coordinated ways from a spacious balance-point. 
  • Gain agility and responsiveness, and experience your own sense of athletic accomplishment. 
  • Compassionately adhere and endure what life brings you.

This is why Moving Into Harmony emphasizes that Movement as Medicine is essential to harnessing your health. In my 26 years as a practitioner, I’ve come to understand and respect that one’s individual journey on the path of healing is based on the whole person – their body-mind ecosystem and it is this honorable opportunity that I gratefully serve. It provides me the lens to assist you with the best possible solutions.

Get a Free Telehealth Discovery Session

(see details in Telehealth)

Check it out!

_________________

**Please join me in my series, Movement as Medicine where I expand on the concepts shared in this introduction.  

**Exciting news: This article was featured in a collaborative of health professionals – GoTherex. You can visit this post and find out more about GoTherex here.

Effectiveness of Physical Therapy for Low Back Pain

by

A new study out of University of Washington (Seattle) and George Washington University (Washington, D.C.) shows very significant research to support the field of Physical Therapy. The study was published on May 23, 2018 in the the journal Health Services Research. The study reviewed and studied health care costs of individuals with diagnosis of low back pain from over 150,000 health care claims between 2009 and 2013.

“Overall, patients saw “significantly lower out-of-pocket costs — on the average, $500 — when they visited a physical therapist first,” says Bianca Frogner, a health economist at the University of Washington, and lead author on the study.”

In the study the use of opioids prescription drugs and advanced imagery procedures (MRI and CT scans), as well as emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalizations, were evaluated for effectiveness of delivering cost effective services for low back pain.

Patients who received physical therapy for low back pain before trying other treatments had an:

  • 89 percent lower chance of needing opioid prescription pain relieving drugs,
  • 28 percent lower chance of needing or requiring advanced imaging studies,
  • 15 percent lower chance of needing to go to emergency room, or being hospitalized

Part of the study also suggests that patient education on the musculoskeletal system might actually understand this pain better than the average family physician. This is very true. In a recent study published in the Annuals of Family Medicine (May/June 2018) titled Physician Activities During Time Out of the Examination Room by Valerie Gilchrist, MD, et al.

On average, doctors in this study spend 8 hours and 8 minutes in the office per day and have 20 patient visits. Visits last an average of 17.5 minutes.

Approximately one third to one-half of a patient visit is spent entering data into the computer (depending on staff assistance in the room during visit to document the visit), lessening the patient face to face, and contact time to effectively listen and connect with the patient, determine the patient’s needs, desired outcome, plan of care, education and any treatment provided. It is not possible for clear guidance can occur during this short time. The education and optimal care for a person suffering from low back pain needs to be individually catered based on:

  • Local, regional and other areas affecting or affected by low back pain –

Kenneth Harwood, a coauthor of the study and Director of Physical Therapy at George Washington University, says Physical Therapy can diminish a patient’s pain by physically moving the joints of the back, knee, or hip through a full range of motion, thereby decreasing the stiffness and immobility patients might feel.

  • history of current condition –

As studies show, pain lasting greater than 4-6 weeks requires a different plan of care because tissue healing has been completed. The pain someone experiences is likely not related to the tissue that was injured. It is usually based on adaptive patterns, compensations that produce less competent movement and mobility, ineffective use of the body or parts to perform the required activities in one’s life, protective behaviors that actual complicate one ability to move and heal, and other behaviors related to past and current experiences relating to the pain and dysfunction a person experiences.

  • lifestyle,
  • demands and stressors in their life at work and at home,
  • desires and wants for healing,
  • what are the current strategies a person is using or doing to alleviate the pain, and improve their function in their life,
  • what activities they are interested in doing for self care,
  • what they miss and want to get back to when low back pain is not limiting them,
  • cognitive abilities to understand pain signals and how to respond,
  • learning capabilities,
  • body awareness abilities,
  • beliefs and false beliefs about their body and the pain being experienced,
  • social and family dynamics around limited abilities and capacities secondary to pain,
  • and more……

The average physician visit mentioned above is not enough time to even touch the first two variables.

“the evidence continues to mount supporting the implementation of more effective, non-invasive care for low back pain, and that many pricey standard treatments — including surgery and spinal injections — are often ineffective and can even worsen and prolong the problem.”

It’s also worth noting, that some patients who could benefit from physical therapy don’t get it, because of health insurance imposed restrictions from the policy they were either given by their employer or they signed up for. In addition, some health insurance policies place services in a different category of reimbursement, cost limits (at $2500 – $3000 per year, this would cover on average 8 to 10 visits based on cost billed) and lower reimbursement rates from the health insurance companies increasing out of pocket expenses. These become barriers to get the proper and effective care a person suffering from low back pain could receive.

Physical Therapy is a valuable resource to promotes healthy living through movement, nutrition, and education that can improve the health of a person’s spine.

“We need to look for better ways to help patients manage the current pain they have and prevent it from coming back in the future” says Bianca Frogner, adding that physical therapists “are well positioned to provide ideas on exercises, movement and ways of living to prevent the pain from getting worse — and hopefully from ever coming back, once it’s gone.”

Effective strategies are available at Moving Into Harmony to provide effective and efficient exercises that promote the health of the spine, preventing the debilitating affects of re-current low back pain, discovering movement patterns and how mobility affects the health of the spine and the body, and develop long term strategies and activities for a healthy spine.

Contact us about your interest and how we can help –

[hc-hmw snippet=”I-am-Interested”]

 

 

“I don’t believe Physical Therapy can help me” – pt. 1

by

Disbeliefs are despairing.

Disbelief is what will stymie you from pursuing your goals to live at your highest level.
To do what you want to do.
To Live beyond your perceived limitations that pain is controlling.

And because you have gone to a Physical Therapist for the challenge you are having.
You are doing all the “right” things.
Doing your exercises and stretches with commitment and perseverance.

_____________________

And yet the challenge is still limiting you from doing what you want to do!

So you resolve to the disbelief that another Physical Therapist can’t help you.
You believe a consult at Moving Into Harmony won’t do any good.

DANG!!!

I’m here to share stories that can shift that disbelief to hope.
Hope to possibilities!
Possibilities to Advancement!
Advancement to Living with Higher Levels of Performance for the things you WANT to do!
Greater Confidence
Greater Options for Health & Wellness.

WAY BEYOND just trying to be PAIN FREE!

_____________________

I hope this story helps you pursue your desire to discover to be BETTER & GREATER!

60’s year young with ongoing sciatica pain. Been to Physical Therapy for 6 visits. Some change in her sciatica, but never went away fully. Stopped going because insurance said she had to do home exercise. Very committed to getting better with what she was shown. Doing her home exercise program daily (sometimes twice a day) the PT gave her – core strengthening and stretches for the hip and low back. Sciatica was not getting better, in fact was getting worse, now down around her ankle.

Unable to go to exercise class, that she enjoys.
Unable to sleep, which she needs.
Quality of life is less – not what she wants.

Do you see the decrease in her enjoyment, needs, and wants?

And she was doing what she was shown, but was unable to seek help because her health insurance did not see the benefit of further care, and the PT was not able to do anything else to support her.

Sound familiar? Sound like a recipe for disbelief and despair?

Well, she followed her doctor’s great advice. “Just go see Shawn. He is magic! He can help get you back on track with probably 1 visit, for sure with 2. Just go!” This was enough of a nudge to get her to call me.

First visit – great interview and great story telling by her.

Her story is important and relevant to her – what it feels like, what helps, what doesn’t help, what she wants me to help her with, and what will be a measure of success for her.

Her story is important for me to listen to.

With LISTENING I can start putting pieces together that may not be relevant to her.
A few questions as INQUIRY. And I can now observe how and possibly why she is struggling.

AND most importantly what is available to her that she can work with to help moving the direction of her struggle back toward healing. AND toward her enjoyments, and begin participating in the activities in her life that are important to her. That bring her joy. That serve her wants, and her needs.

Movement is Medicine.

So I watch her stand, transitions (standing from the chair, sitting back down), sitting, AND most importantly with the movements she was doing trying to help herself, and a few things she wanted to be able to do, especially in the class that brings her enjoyment.

What did WE discover?

It was not in her hips and low back.
Yes the symptoms arose from there.

AND there was something very important about how she was presenting in ALL of her standing, sitting, transitions (standing from the chair, sitting back down), and a few of her exercises that a BIG RELATED piece was not being addressed.

Any guesses?

It was the realization she has a strong tendency to hold in her shoulders and neck. Who’d thought?

Well….that is how I view and relate the body.

The isolated focus on the symptomatic area was not serving her healing potential and possibilities for healing and moving toward living with LEVELS of GREATNESS.

OMG!
Her sciatica decreased, to soreness in the hip, as we were together within the hour.
She was able to perform some of her routine without increasing the pain….meaning going down her leg.

And as we continued the following 20-30 minutes, she was in complete awe of how many times she had caught herself holding in her shoulder and neck.

BTW, in her follow up visit (2nd visit), one week later, she reported NO-SCIATICA, a little back stiffness and occasional ache. With simple modifications to HOW she was doing her exercises and stretches, adding a few simple routine movements and awareness exercises in her day, shifting her attention and re-directing her worry and disbelief toward what is possible, because she experienced something better, and increased her perception for what is possible.
AND …….

On her 3rd visit she was back to her exercise class, freer and more engaged as she says because she was not in pain, or worried about the pain….
she stayed after class for socializing (before she rushed home to ice her hip),
she is sleeping 7 hours pain free,
waking up more refreshed and energized that she had for a year,
AND she is exploring more opportunities to further her progress and ways to enhance her abilities and performing in the activities she can and wants to.

HUGE!!!! 3 visits, profound awareness, excitement and enjoyment with life,
PAIN is not the limitation,
CONFIDENCE is what she can do, and
EXCITEMENT  for the possibilities she can

DO THINGS with GREATNESS!

Give me a try, and explore what Moving Into Harmony can do for you!
Mention you read this article, or the word BELIEVE,
and receive a SPECIAL DISCOUNT on your first visit.

Soar to your highest potential!

SCHEDULE A CONSULT

A note about sciatica – it gets worse, meaning it goes down the leg further when the nerve is more irritated; less irritated or inflamed the less in the leg AND the more in the buttock or low back…..please be aware EVERYONE who recovers from sciatica will experience LOW BACK PAIN as you are healing, because that is the source of the symptom). Lessening symptoms is not enough to promote GREATER LEVELS of PERFORMANCE. Do not be content with that as your outcome. GO FURTHER. Pain free is good. AND there is more available to you BEYOND PAIN! Movement that promotes greater power, greater balance and coordination, greater agility and performance with activities that bring you joy and excitement for life, that bring you ALIVE without the worry when it will come back. If it does you use the signal instead of going into flight or freeze – stop what you are doing…..protect….brace….drop hope and take on fear or disbelief…..and wait for it to go away. NO! you respond differently to the signal and see how the body trying to talk to you brings you back to awareness. The patterns you developed and relied upon for some reason are stronger than the new ones you are developing. So the body is just signaling, getting your attention to continue to develop and move toward balance (Harmony) and greater possibilities rather than going backward in the direction of something that your body recognizes does not serve you. Practice makes perception. Greater options. Greater possibilities for Greater Performance and Living to your Highest Level you want!

Give me a try, and explore what Moving Into Harmony can do for you! Mention you read this article, or the word BELIEVE, and receive a special discount on your first visit.