Nobody wants pain, but without it, we wouldn’t survive for long. Its purpose is to protect us from danger by changing our behaviour. An example of this is telling us to quickly take our hand off the hot stovetop so we don’t get burnt, or making us limp when we sprain an ankle, so we can heal. Pain has evolved over millions of years to keep us alive.

So what is pain, really?

The pain experience is produced by your brain, in response to a perceived danger. For instance, if you accidentally put your hand on the hot stovetop, your brain might create pain to make you quickly remove your hand (and remember not to do it again!). The pain experience is part of the brain’s decision-making process about what threatens us, and pain is nothing more than one of the body’s many protection mechanisms. The brain is able to weigh up (in milliseconds) all information it receives about that injury, at that time and in that place. From all of this information, the brain decides if and when we are to feel pain.

Have you ever heard the shark attack survivor’s stories about not feeling any pain at the time of the attack? This is because the brain perceives that drowning is a bigger threat to their survival (at that time and place) than the bite, so it delays the pain to allow the swim to shore. It is not until this drowning threat is removed that the extreme levels of pain from the injuries sustained may become noticeable. This is all a part of the body’s ‘flight or fight’ protective systems that many of you would know about.

These types of amazing pain stories are also many in war-time tales when there is always the more immediate threat of death. Doesn’t it make sense for the body in these scenarios to delay the pain response so that soldiers can remove themselves from the more pressing dangers such as incoming fire and death?

On the flip-side, there are occasions when the brain perceives a threat that isn’t real and produces pain anyway. An example is phantom limb pain. This is where an amputee feels pain in an arm or leg that doesn’t even exist!

Do these short examples start to make you think differently about pain?

Can you think of any other examples where pain felt by a person, or yourself, may not make sense with respect to the injury present?

Perhaps even more amazing, just knowing and accepting that the pain experience is produced by your brain will actually reduce your pain! We’ve found that the more you understand about how pain is produced, the better your brain becomes at assessing which threats are serious and which aren’t…….and the less threat, the less pain produced!

Remember that understanding pain reduces pain.

Men can benefit greatly from Pilates as a discipline of exercise. Use it as a complimentary session to your gym, running or soccer training regimes and see the difference. 

Here are 5 reasons why getting down on the mats can be a great and worthwhile thing to do: 

Discover muscles you thought you never had. Lifting weights, running, cycling and soccer all have you really working those big superficial muscles. You can certainly see and feel these working. Did you know that behind every movement there is another set of deeper muscles working just as hard? They are your postural or stabilising muscles and they are often neglected. Muscular imbalances through over training, targeting some muscle groups over others, injury and pain can alter the pattern of these muscles, causing weakness, further imbalance, poor posture, and perhaps even injury. Pilates exercises have you moving in a controlled thoughtful manner, targeting these very muscles. Pilates really gets you thinking about a new postural and movement awareness and what a handy thing to have back in the gym or in your daily life. And even better still, it will provide you with a new and improved movement efficiency – stronger and faster any one?

Gain flexibility. Pilates uses controlled and slowed loading and resistance, often with your own body weight. This allows muscles to strengthen in a lengthened position, giving greater flexibility to those muscle groups. This is called eccentric loading and contrasts to the concentric loading of weight lifting. Additionally, targeted strengthening of the deep postural muscles often allows a ‘turning down’ of the superficial muscle activity or tone, again allowing for more stretch and give in these larger muscles. Ever wondered why your hamstrings are always so tight and unresponsive to stretching? Perhaps it is over-activity that can be ‘turned down’ with an improved postural or core strength.

Improve your core strength. Everyone knows that core strength is a good thing- for spinal alignment and health, for improved control of your trunk when moving and for movement power and efficiency. Pilates has you concentrating on good trunk positioning and control, giving you the power for movement of your limbs. Exercises can be upgraded to really challenge this such as using postures over Swiss balls, planks or in one legged standing to name a few. With good postural awareness, slow controlled movement, correct breathing and core activation, you will gain amazing trunk and postural control. This benefit will transfer over into your sport and gym disciplines very well.

Live more mindfully. This is quite a Buddhist way of looking at life, but I am talking more about postural awareness, awareness of your ‘poise’, your breath, your muscle contractions deep within your pelvis and trunk. A new and balanced you in all you do.

Better bladder control and better sex. Advanced Pilates exercises really have you discovering ‘down there.’ Pelvic floor muscles sit at the base of your pelvis and assist in controlling your bladder and bowel habits, help you in sex and support your pelvic organs. Better awareness and strength in these muscles can help you with all of these functions.

Need any more convincing? Head over to Wikipedia and read about the principles of Pilates there

Then join a class and discover a new strength starting with our Beginners Pilates.

For those that may know me, I am quite certain that they would agree that I am pretty good at keeping control and good at NOT losing things. However, when pregnant and mum of a small child (twice), I managed to do all but that! Locking myself out of my home, reversing into a car park concrete pillar, locking myself out of work and down on the street in my exercise gear, no shoes and having to walk home!

Some ‘experts’ out there say that baby brain is a myth, unproven by science, but there has to be a reason out there for us mum’s list of uncharacteristic behaviours. If this sounds like you too, read on and perhaps learn a few tricks up your sleeve to cope better.

http://blog.naturaltherapyforall.com/2012/09/27/busting-myths-on-pregnancy-brain---the-truth-about-pregnesia-and-how-to-deal-with-it/

Here is our stock list and prices for all the gear and props you may want for your practice at home.  Please add 10% GST to these prices.

Thin Pilates Mat (4.5mm thick - red, pink, black)                                      $22.00

Thick Pilates Mat (9mm thick - red)                                                       $125.00

Swiss Balls (45 and 55cm)                                                                     $65.00

Swiss balls (65 and 75cm)                                                                     $70.00

Small stability/chi balls                                                                          $19.00

Yoga straps                                                                                         $19.00

D-shaped bolsters (90cm)                                                                     $40.00

Foam Rollers (90cm)                                                                            $55.00

Theraband resistance band (1m)                                                           $10.00

Starters Exercise Kit (thin mat, chi ball and yoga strap)                             $50.00

Pregnancy sacral belts                                                                           $42.00

Hip injuries are often hard to diagnose and can be often confused with pain radiating from the pelvis or lumbar spine. Hip pain can often be accompanied by lumbar and pelvic pain also.

Today we will explore the hip joint a little more.

Anatomy of the Hip joint

The hip is one of the largest weight-bearing joints in the body. When it’s working properly, it lets you walk, sit, bend, and turn without pain. Unlike the shoulder, the hip sacrifices degree of movement for additional stability. To keep it moving smoothly, a complex network of bones, cartilage, muscles, ligaments, and tendons must all work in harmony.

The hip is a ball-and-socket joint where the head of the femur articulates with the cuplike acetabulum of the pelvic bone. The acetabulum fits tightly around the head of the femur. The ball is normally held in the socket by very powerful ligaments that form a complete sleeve around the joint (the joint capsule) and the socket is made deeper by strong tissue called the labrum.

Hip injuries

Pain from a hip joint can be felt in a number of areas, with the most common being deep in the hip, groin region, outside hip area and lower back. The pain is commonly a dull ache, and can sometimes be associated with a clicking or catching sensation in the groin.

Common injuries involving the hip area include:

• Iliopsoas (hip flexor) strains and muscular dysfunctions. This large muscle includes the 2 muscles iliacus and psoas major muscles that pass across the front of the hip joint. They travel deep into the pelvic cavity to attach to the lumbar spine vertebrae. This is a strong flexor of the hip and is often over-active due to weaknesses about the pelvis.
• Adductor strains (groin muscle strains). These are common in sports with a lot of directional changes and present with a very localised and acute pain.
• Hip joint injuries which can involve the joint tissues and cartilage. These include traumatic injuries such as would sustained in a motor vehicle accident, or ‘wear and tear’ overuse injuries due to poor biomechanics of the hip joint sitting in the pelvis. Overuse injuries include osteoarthritis, joint capsule synovitis and labral tears.
• Nerve problems such as piriformis syndrome where the sciatic nerve can become hypersensitive in the buttock region and refer symptoms into the deep and outside hip regions.

Thorough assessment of the hip, pelvis and lumbar spine is warranted with anyone presenting with pain in this area as the causes can be multifactorial or sometimes difficult to localise.

Pilates strengthening for the Hip

As you will be aware, Pilates or core stability can help to establish an improved pelvic posture and enable the pelvis to act as a solid, stable and efficient foundation for your trunk above and hips below. Targeted strengthening, therefore, incorporating Pilates for those with long standing hip pain has shown to significantly improve pain and function.

It is good to remember that the body works as a whole and when a certain body region is inefficient or in pain, the whole system will alter as the body finds a new way to move. This is called movement dysfunction and often causes pain, quite often somewhere else in the chain.

Here are a few interesting facts about the changes we see in the pelvic strength and stability in those with hip pain:

• Painful or over-active hip flexor (iliopsoas)muscles can slowly weaken the deep abdominal muscles that support your spine
• The timing of muscular contractions that occur ( beyond your conscious control) in the pelvis and spine to make you stable as you move can alter, causing an inefficient and unstable pelvic foundation
• The timing of muscles to control your hip can also alter, causing a weakened buttock muscle system and cause your leg muscles to over work and become tight (such as those hamstrings).

So as you can see, learning to activate and retrain your pelvic muscles can improve your hip control also. Exercises should target the following muscle groups:

• Pelvic floor and transversus abdominus ( deep abs)
• Gluteus maximus
• The deeper hip stabilisers such as gluteus medius, gluteus minimus and quadratis femoris ( the ‘match box muscle’)

The best thing to do if you suffer from groin, hip or buttock pain, is to visit your physiotherapist at The Fix Program for a full assessment and prescription of an exercise program that is right for you.

Save now for individual sessions with our Physios

We have introduced 4-visit and 6-visit packs for hourly sessions for private tuition and re-assessment.These are to be used within 2 months of the first visit, but will save you up to 20%. And all session will attract an individual session rebate from your private fund provider.

Here are the prices:

Individual session    $110

4-visit pack             $392 (save $108)

6-visit pack             $540 (save $120)

Why not treat your self? Or buy a pack as a gift?

There will be a small price increase in fees, effective from Term 1 2013. The new fees are as follows:

Beginners 10 week program                                                $390

Intermediate and Advanced 10 week program (off peak)          $320

Intermediate and Advanced 10 week program (peak times)       $350

Assessments                                                                    $149

One on one Pilates or treatment sessions                              $110

Studio 4 pass package* (one hour each)                               $392 ($98 per session)

Studio 6 pass package* (one hour each)                               $540 ($90 per session) 

2 classes per week ( 2 peak classes)                                    $620 ($31 per class), normally $700

2 classes per week (1 peak and 1 off-peak)                           $600 ($30 per class), normally $670 

2 classes per week ( 2 off peak)                                          $580 ($29 per class), normally $640

*Studio packages are encouraged for multiple individual sessions with our physios and must be redeemed within 3 months of the first visit.

Treat your thoracic spine with Love

As you may be aware, our thoracic spine or mid back does become increasingly stiff as we spend more and more time in sedentary postures. Although, along with the ribs it is there to protect your lungs, heart and other internal organs, your thoracic cage should be mobile and help therefore to unload the neck above and lower back below. Enjoy these stretches for the mid back and chest using your D-shaped bolsters.

The Starting Position:

The focus:

• Lie on your back lengthways along the bolster, making sure it is centred down your spine. Have your knees bent in to the basic relaxed position, with feet hip width apart.

• Place your head on your folded towel which is also positioned at the top end of your bolster. This will support your neutral neck posture. Gently lengthen and then relax through the back of your neck.

• Find your neutral pelvis posture by tilting your ‘pelvic bowl’ forwards and back to reach your neutral zone. Become aware of the heaviness of your tail bone on the bolster.

• Rest your arms down by your sides with palms turning up.

• Move the arms in a floating and relaxed manner.

• Focus on keeping your neck soft and long, shoulders away from your ears.

• Try to keep your tailbone heavy on the bolster.

• Try to control any springing of your ribs at the front of your trunk as your arms lift.

• Really enjoy this exercise as both a stretch and a form of relaxation. Get into the rhythm. Don’t worry about how many you do.

The Movement:

• Breathe in deep and wide, lifting your arms straight up above your head. Lead this movement with your thumbs.
• As you exhale, sweep your arms in a wide circle, gently reaching for your feet.
• Repeat these movements as you continue your deep relaxed breathing.

Tip:

This position on the bolster is fantastic for relaxation. Close your eyes, focus on your deep breathing and letting go across your chest for that ultimate upper back treatment. It’s a perfect way to wind down after being at work all day.

Melanie explores: Dynamic Stretching

I’ve been researching stretching lately as I am embarking on creating a DVD. When Luke Fuller, a former Fix instructor and now Physiotherapist and Osteopath for the ATP world tour sent through his first published article I was very excited to read that it was on stretching.

His article is based on the sport of tennis, but it is following a trend in the current literature that ‘dynamic stretching’ can be used with all forms of sport and exercise regardless of your level or ability. The article explores the benefits of this form of stretching over ‘static stretching’ as warm up prior to full intensity exercise.

Dynamic stretching includes a more active warm up where the joints are taken through their full range of movement slowly, then gradually increasing speed and moving into sports specific movements. For example, moving your shoulder in a full arc (as opposed to holding it in one position), followed by moving the shoulder through the actual motion of a tennis serve. This form of active warm up has been shown in the research to be more effective by increasing the temperature of the muscle and better preparing the body by activating the nerves within the muscles. This was especially noticeable when concerning force and power exercises.

The research still shows that static stretching can be useful after exercise to work on specific areas that may be tight. This is where being aware of your body and the demands of your exercise can help you to discover a warm up and cool down specific for you.

Follow this link to the full article where there are specific exercises for tennis that you may be able to apply to your own sport or exercise. Keep this in mind next time you go for a run, walk, or play basketball, netball or volleyball.

http://stms-web.org/pdf/JMST-October2012.pdf

Download the PDF file and find Luke’s article (pg 109) entitled

Pre-Competitive Warm-up: the Current Literature Suggests that Dynamic Stretching is Preferential to Static Exercises.