How is your Balance?

August 30, 2022 Natalie Monson

The Importance of Balancing on One Foot

The simple, yet complex topic of being able to stand and balance one foot. Researchers have been studying the links between balance and brain health. The inability to balance on one foot for at least 10 seconds can be an early indicator of other health problems, and an indicator of potential life span.

Being able to hold your balance on one foot for 10-20 seconds without holding on to anything is linked to an overall increased level of physical ability, a decreased risk of falls, and improved quality of life. Balancing requires both mobility and stability in a variety of ways. Walking and running both require an ability to balance, and push off with one leg at a time. When we lose our ability to balance, walking becomes more and more difficult.

Neurological issues can impact the ability to balance, however strength is the main component required to balance. Balancing requires:

-foot and ankle stability

-core stability

-hip and gluteus strength

-mental focus

Try building these simple balancing exercises into your everyday routine.

-Get out of bed in the morning, and test your balance right away.

-Brush your teeth while standing on one foot.

-Put on your socks and shoes from standing, rather than sitting down.

If you think your balance is bad, don’t give up and settle for that mindset. Practice. Find time and ways to work on your balance daily.

Check out the free short video on my YouTube channel, Natalie’s Core Yoga, join me for a class, book a private session, and watch for my new additions to my video library.

Just keep moving.

Namasté.

Natalie

Quadratus Lumborum - QL

August 3, 2022 Natalie Monson

What is that annoying tightness and discomfort in your mid to low back below your rib cage? It just might be coming from your Quadratus Lumborum, more commonly referred to as your QL.

The QL muscle is the deepest abdominal muscle, located on either side of the lumbar spine. It connects the 12th rib, the lower back, and the hip. The QL are considered a deep part of your core, they stabilize the lower back, help with side bending, and raising your hip toward your rib cage.

It is very common to have pain or discomfort in your QL, either one side or both. We use these muscles constantly, just to sit, stand, and walk. Pain and discomfort can be caused by tightness, weakness, or both.

If you consider yourself to have tight hips, weak and tight glutes, then you are likely to have a tight QL as well. The QL can compensate, and becomes the main muscle used to move the hip. This results in a compromised gait/walking pattern, and compression of the lower back.

Some of my recommended treatments for pain in your QL are:

-Try some yoga therapy with me!

-Side bending – experiment with standing, sitting, side lying.

-Child’s pose with a side reach.

-Strengthening – side plank, plank, little bridge, superman.

-Have a team of good body workers (physio, massage therapist, chiro, osteopath, acupuncture) - get some active release, myofascial work, and assessments of other muscle imbalances and posture.

The Sacroiliac Joint (Your SI)

July 8, 2022 Natalie Monson

The Sacroiliac Joint

The SI joints connect our spine to our pelvis. They are quite deep in the body, and are protected by strong ligaments that help to hold them in place.

Some of you might remember that rap song from 1989, Let Your Backbone Slide, by Maestro Fresh Wes. “…so many suckers on my sacroiliac…”I remember dancing, trying to rap, and pretending to be cool in my fine younger years, but I didn’t even know what it meant back then. And should your backbone actually slide?

The SI joints can tilt, slide, and rotate, but have a very small range of motion, 2-4mm. Typically, there is slightly greater range of motion in women, to allow for childbirth.

The SI joints help to support the weight of the upper body, and absorb shock between the upper body and lower body. This helps reduce the amount of pressure on the spine. They play an important role in stabilization. When they are either stuck or unstable, this can cause pain in the lower back, buttocks, and sometimes radiating pain down the legs.

Some causes of SI joint pain or dysfunction include:

-Osteoarthritis

-Trauma – such as a fall or a car accident

-Pregnancy and childbirth

-Favouring one leg while walking

-Spine surgeries

When you get up from a chair, and you have an immediate pain in your lower back or your buttocks, this can be a sign of SI joint dysfunction.

In the long term, and with my own SI joint struggles from pregnancy and childbirth, here is what I know can help.

-Strengthen your deep core.

-Pay attention to your pelvic floor. Make sure you can fully relax it, as well as engage it. This is most effectively done through diaphragmatic breathing, and seeing a pelvic health physiotherapist.

-Strengthen your glutes – this makes a huge difference in stabilizing your pelvis, and making sure your lower back and hips aren't working ineffectively.

-Combine stability with mobility, and some fascial work.

-Have a good team of bodyworkers to help - physiotherapist, chiropractor, massage therapist, osteopath, and acupuncturist.

-Book in for a private yoga therapy session with me, or join me in a class, in person, or on zoom.

Lower Back Pain

May 31, 2022 Natalie Monson

Back problems are among the most common conditions in Canada. Approximately 80% of Canadians will likely experience some episode of back pain in their lives. Back pain is also one of the leading causes of work absences.

There are many contributing lifestyle factors, such as prolonged sitting, obesity, overall movement patterns, too much exercise, too little exercise, the wrong types of exercise or movement, weak core, pelvic floor dysfunction, auto-immune diseases, diet, and food allergies contributing to inflammation.

With experience both practising and teaching yoga, and dealing with my own lower back pain that began during pregnancy, I have found some techniques that work well, combining mobility and strength. It is important to remember that we are all built differently, and all lead different daily lifestyles. What works for one person, might not help someone else.

In general terms, for a healthy and mobile spine, it should be able to move in every direction, forward bending, back bending, twisting, and side bending. When acutely injured, we may need to take a break from some movements, but a temporary break, not a lifetime of “my back hurts, so I can’t twist”. Simply modifying how we are moving, rather than not moving at all is an effective long term approach.

Some back issues can also affect the nerve pathways. If a certain muscle is tight, and is putting pressure on the surrounding nerves, this can cause issues with our respiratory and digestive systems.

If you consider how you move every day, or if you are sitting for long periods of time, your lower back might be both tight and weak. You will most likely try to compensate your movement patterns, potentially causing issues with your hips, other parts of your back, and the QL (Quadratus Lumborum). Dysfunction with your QL may cause pain in your hips, buttocks, thighs, sacroiliac joint, general lower back pain, and potentially abdominal pain.

You have back pain, but you’re afraid to move because of the pain, this becomes a vicious cycle. You compensate all your movement patterns, muscles become weak and stiff, you become more likely to develop other diseases, and pain that seems to move around your whole body.

To keep this brief, just keep moving. Consider how you can combine movement and strength, and have a good team of practitioners on your side, such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and yoga therapists.

Stay tuned for my upcoming series, as we take a closer look at some of the more common types of back pain.

Flexibility versus Mobility

May 6, 2022 Natalie Monson

Understanding the difference between flexibility and mobility can can be a confusing subject, and is something that I've been interested in lately. Coming from a dance and gymnastics background, I have always been naturally flexible. What I've learned after teaching yoga for almost 20 years now, flexibility is not necessarily the best approach, nor is it sustainable as we age. So, what can we do?

The first thing to understand is that flexibility is considered passive, whereas mobility is more dynamic and active. When you stretch passively, it is important not to overdo the stretch, as this can put more load or strain into the connective tissues. With mobility, it is more of a controlled range of motion, which takes into consideration balance, strength, stability and coordination.

This is particularly important when dealing with injuries and chronic pain. Over stretching can lead to more compensation patterns, and can cause weakness.

Let's use a basic lunge as an example here. If you are quite flexible, it is easy to fall into your joints, and make it appear that you are deeply stretching your back hip flexor and quad. However, if you back off a little bit, create stability, and activate your back leg gluteus muscles, you will actually feel a more effective stretch, and from a place of stability. In the long term, this approach will teach us to pay attention to sensations, rather than the aesthetic of a pose.

It's hard to believe a yoga teacher saying this, but sometimes tighter bodies actually do better because they are less likely to over stretch, and more likely to feel sensations. Flexible bodies tend to stretch too deeply because they don't necessarily feel anything. This causes long term issues with tendons, ligaments, and fascia.

Join me to explore this concept in a variety of ways!

Namasté.

See you on your mat!

Happy Healthy Hips...what does that mean?

November 30, 2020 Natalie Monson

Have you been practicing yoga for years, or are you new to yoga? Have you been to a yoga class and heard the teacher say, “This is a great hip opener.” Did you stop to consider what the term hip opener means, and is loosening your hips an effective approach to healthy happy hips? We must also remember that not all bodies are built the same, so one person’s anatomy might allow to get into a position a lot easier than another person’s anatomy. For example, the angle of which the femur (large upper leg bone) goes into the hip socket, as well as the depth of the hip socket vary from person to person.

Historically in classic yoga practices, there has been a lot of emphasis on stretching and flexibility. But, in the long term, over stretching, particularly static stretching, without considering stability and strength can have negative results. Yoga practitioners often confuse joint pain for stiffness.

If your hips aren’t functioning effectively, the structures above and below them will adjust to compensate. Weakness and tightness in the lower back, and pain in the knees, ankles, and feet are just a few of the problems that may arise from hip dysfunction. The hips consist of a system of bones, joints, nerves, muscles, and fascia that all need to work together to keep the body moving.

If you have been sitting working at a desk all day, your hips will be in a flexion position for a large part of the day. Think of the effect this may have on your spine and the weakness this can cause in the glutes. You cannot just get up and stretch, do a lunge, put your hip into extension to fix the pattern. You need to consider overall posture, stability, strength, mobility, and overall movement patterns throughout the day.

Also, it is important to remember that our hips need to be strong in order for us to walk. If we emphasize stretching and flexibility, we may be causing weakness and instability. The body is smarter than the brain. It will find a way to compensate for movements, causing pain or poor movement dynamics in other areas of the body.

If you are curious to learn more, book a private yoga therapy session with me today. Or come explore with me on zoom or in person.

Some things to remember…

-Your primary hip muscles include the glutes, hip flexors, adductors, and the tensor fasciae latae. So, when considering hip stretches and hip exercises, we must take all of these muscles into consideration.

-Pay attention to your glutes. The gluteus medius and minimus, the deeper side butt muscles, play a large role in stabilization. If they aren’t strong enough, other muscles and joints must compensate.

-Your hip muscles link to, and affect, the whole body. So, when considering freedom of movement in the hips, we can’t ignore how they connect to other areas of the body.

-Are you considering all the ways your hips can move, and are you practicing a combination of mobility and stability, versus only flexibility.

Is your low back or hip pain related to a weak core?

May 2, 2019 Natalie Monson

Is your low back pain or hip pain related to a weak core?

MAY 02, 2019

What is your pelvic floor and what does it do? Your pelvic floor is made up of muscle, connective tissue, ligaments, fascia, tendons, and nerves. It supports the bladder, the uterus, and the rectum, and helps these pelvic organs function. When problems are present in your pelvic floor, dysfunction in any number of ways can occur. This may show up as urinary or fecal incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, pain (which could be pain anywhere from your ribs to your groin), or painful sex. Inform yourself. Your lower back or hip pain could be directly linked to the pelvic floor muscles.

What is your core canister? Your diaphragm should be stacked directly over the pelvic floor. The back of the canister is the spinal muscles, the multifidus.The front and sides are the abdominal muscles, more specifically the transverse abdominis. Neutral alignment of the spine, stacking of the ribs to hips/diaphragm over pelvic floor, and also alignment of shoulders over hips, are key factors in proper core function.

The pelvic floor is sometimes referred to as the pelvic diaphragm. It works along with the diaphragm when we breathe. Learning diaphragmatic breathing is the first, and most important step to restoring proper core function.

When we inhale 3-dimensionally through the rib cage, the diaphragm expands and descends, and the pelvic floor does the same. As we exhale the pelvic floor retracts back upwards, and the diaphragm returns to its resting position. In this explanation, we are not trying to push, pull, squeeze, or do any Kegels. This movement downwards on the inhale and upwards on the exhale is what naturally occurs with the breath. The pelvic floor muscles should be able to expand and relax on inhalation, and slightly engage and lift on exhalation. When we hold tightness or tension in our bellies and/or our pelvic floors, it might take some time to have any sensations with this type of breathing. Years of holding tension in the pelvic floor, bum clenching, alignment issues, sucking in our belly, these are all factors that can create a disconnect to the pelvic area.

Your core is not only your abs. In fact, just strengthening your abs alone may cause core dysfunction. If a fitness instructor or personal trainer cues you to suck in your belly, or move your belly towards your spine, you are most likely not engaging your core correctly.

What to do? Most women have been told to do their Kegels to keep their pelvic floor strong and healthy, however this is misleading. In fact, a large majority of women are doing Kegels incorrectly. Although it is important for the pelvic floor to learn to contract, it is equally important to learn how to fully relax. If we are not learning to properly contract and release, it will eventually become tight and dysfunctional, which would potentially cause any number of symptoms. Overworking or clenching can lead to fatigue, muscle spasm, and pain. A tight pelvic floor is not a strong pelvic floor and can lead to pain, painful sex, incontinence and constipation.

Gently engaging your pelvic floor muscles during activity is good. Squeezing or lifting the pelvic floor (doing Kegel exercises) when coughing or sneezing is also desirable. However, in order for your muscles to work properly when you need or want them to, they must be able to fully relax when needed as well.

Pelvic floor physiotherapists and trained yoga therapists can help with diagnosis and treatment of any dysfunction, issues, or imbalances.

Talk about your symptoms! Don't just accept these symptoms or pain as being normal for women post-partum, peri-menopausal, or anytime in life. Issues such as incontinence are extremely common, but NOT normal.

Upcoming workshop for Women’s Core and Pelvic Floor

New Yoga Therapy Designation

August 31, 2017 Natalie Monson

After enjoying a summer of outdoor activities, holidays, and lots of essential vitamin D, it is nice to welcome you back to a fall routine. My family had a great summer, spending lots of time working in our yard (I even started mowing the lawn, for the first time in my life), playing at many different parks, teaching Olivia how to do handstands, and travelling out east to Ontario to visit family, see Niagara Falls, spend some time enjoying lake life in Muskoka, and seeing Coldplay at the open domed Rogers Centre.

Earlier this year, I applied, and was accepted for, certification and recognition with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). The application process took many many hours, documenting my last 12 years of teaching yoga. The IAYT supports research and education in yoga, and serves as a professional organization for yoga teachers and yoga therapists worldwide. Their mission is to establish yoga as a recognized and respected therapy, and to bridge the gap between yoga and healthcare.

In a typical yoga class there can be a tendency to focus on large surface muscle groups, such as biceps/triceps, quads/hamstrings, and hip flexors. Many students may over-stretch, or work to deeply into intense poses, which actually can create weakness and muscle compensation patterns, in the long term.

Yoga therapists, like myself, emphasize functional movement. We can look at how people are sitting and how they are moving. We can assess neutral spinal alignment, hip function, and teach people to focus on deep core stability and safe flexibility. We can also collaborate with other practitioners. For example, with car accident whiplash, yoga therapists, massage therapists, and physiotherapists can all work together to rebuild strength, guide effective stretching, and manage neck and back pain for quicker recovery.

Yoga therapists understand that not all yoga poses are good for all bodies. People are built differently and need to be encouraged to pay close attention to whether the poses and exercises we are teaching actually feel good. Yoga therapists offer different variations, props, and modifications so that everyone can feel safe in their yoga practice.

Throughout my own years of practice and teaching, I have discovered that one effective way to understand the meditative and spiritual benefits of yoga is through constant focus on the subtleties of movement patterns, beginning from one's core. To slow down, pay close attention to yourself, and let go of everything else is essential for our long term physical and mental well being. We all need more of this calm in our stressful lives.

I am thrilled and honoured to be recognized through this international organization and strive to continue my yoga education, practice, and study of functional movement.

So, this fall, see you on the mat.