Muscle Medicine: The Revolutionary Approach to Maintaining, Strengthening, and Repairing Your Muscles and Joints (31 page)

B. STABILITY-BALL CRUNCH

Purpose:
To strengthen the abdominals and the core in general. This contributes to posture and balance, as well as general spine health. This will also warm up the muscles and help prevent strain on other structures of the upper body.

Starting out:
Sit on a stability ball and roll your back onto it so that the ball supports your back and your knees are bent to 90 degrees. Your feet should be placed as wide as they need to be for balance.

How to do it:
Place your hands loosely at ear level, squeeze your glutes and legs, and stabilize by contracting your abdominals and shoulder blades. With a straight back, slowly contract your abs and lift yourself off the ball, only coming up as far as you can without pain. If good form can’t be maintained, don’t come up as far. Hold for a count of two, slowly release the abs and glutes, and return to the starting position. Do ten repetitions, held for no more than two seconds each.

Troubleshooting:
Do not release the stabilizing contraction of your lower and middle body. Keep your neck relaxed and neutral. Remember to breathe and don’t clench your teeth. Do not round your back—keep it straight throughout the movement. If you have any neck or back issues, or trouble balancing, see the sit-up alternative on page 59.

FULL BODY/CORE

A. BALL BOUNCE

Purpose:
To strengthen the muscles of the core in general. This contributes to posture and balance, as well as general spine health. This will also warm up the muscles and help prevent strain on other structures of the upper body.

Starting out:
Sit on a stability ball with your feet and knees shoulders’ width apart and your knees at a right angle. Observe an upright but relaxed posture.

How to do it:
Begin by squeezing your glutes and legs together and contracting the abdominals. This contraction, followed by a slight release, should create a gentle bouncing motion. Do ten repetitions, then build up to more as you get stronger.

Troubleshooting:
Look straight and keep your head relaxed. Remember to breathe and to not lean forward or back.

B. SINGLE-LEG TOE TOUCH

Purpose:
To strengthen the muscles of the core and body as they contribute to balance and stabilization.

Starting out:
Stand balanced on one foot, keeping your back and neck in a straight line. Keep your eyes fixed on a point on the floor about four feet in front of your foot.

How to do it:
Keeping your eyes fixed on that point, hinge at the waist and reach your opposite hand to touch the supporting foot. Hold for a count of two. Repeat with the opposite hand and foot. Do ten repetitions, without stopping if possible.

Troubleshooting:
Move slowly and maintain a stable balance. Bend the knee as much as necessary to balance and stay pain-free. The goal is not to reach the foot but to stay steady, so focus on relaxed stability and not on the distance between your hand and foot. Keep your eyes fixed on a point, and your head relaxed. Remember to breathe and don’t clench the teeth.

C. KETTLE BELL SWING

Purpose:
To strengthen the muscles of the core and the rest of body as they pertain to balance and safe back movement.

Starting out:
Stand straight up with your feet slightly wider than shoulders’ width apart and hold a kettle bell with both hands at the midline.

How to do it:
Stabilize by contracting your abdominals and shoulder blades. Keeping a flat back, bend your knees and bend forward at the waist to swing the kettle bell through your legs. Then contract the abs, glutes, and legs together with your shoulders and back to swing the kettle bell up to forehead level or higher as you straighten your knees. Keep the motion continuous. The object is to use all the core muscles to control the weight and keep it swinging smoothly. Do ten repetitions. If a kettle bell is not available, any weight (dumbbell, can of soup) can be used as long as it is held firmly.

Troubleshooting:
Look straight and keep your head relaxed. Remember to breathe and don’t clench your teeth. Don’t lock your knees or let the kettle bell swing out of control. This should be a controlled, rhythmic swing, where the body works with the momentum of the weight. If you have back pain or previous back issues, check with a physician or therapist before attempting this exercise.

THE HIP

INTRODUCING THE HIP

The hip can be a puzzle. An injury here can show up as muscle pain in the thigh or the butt, or a strain in the lower-back or abdominal area. What makes the hip a difficult joint to diagnose is its design. For the system to work the way it’s supposed to, not only does the joint have to move without a serious hitch, but the twenty-seven muscles that cross the hip also have to fire in perfect synchrony.

Yet the hip looks so stable, orthopedists have only recently begun to see it as a likely suspect behind midsection pain that was typically blamed on the lower back or else shrugged off as “only muscular.” The hip joint is where the thighbone (femur) joins the girdle of three bones called the pelvis.

The design of the hip joint is a true ball-in-socket: the ball-shaped protuberance at the top of the thighbone (or femur) fits into the hip socket (or acetabulum) of the pelvis. The acetabulum is lined with a ring of fibrous cartilage called the labrum that helps hold the “ball” in place, and an intracapsular ligament connects the ball to the socket. Surrounding the joint is a sleeve of collagen known as the capsule, which is reinforced by several thickenings within the capsular structure known as extracapsular ligaments.