Archive
Bunions
If the joint that connects your big toe to your foot
has a swollen, sore bump, you may have a bunion. More
than half the women in America have bunions, a deformity
often blamed on wearing tight, narrow shoes, and high
heels. Bunions are also a common occurrence in dancers,
and may be hereditary (if not learned through imitation),
but many are from ill fitting shoes. Nine out of ten
bunions happen to women. Too-tight shoes can also
cause other disabling foot problems like corns, calluses
and hammertoes. The FitzGordon Method helps with bunions
by realigning your walking pattern to allow you to
move evenly and efficiently through your foot with
each step •
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Fascia
is connective tissue that surrounds muscles, bones,
and joints like a seamless web, providing support,
protection and giving structure to the body. Fascia
is one of the four types of dense connective tissue
(the other three being tendons, ligaments and aponeuroses).
Injuries, stress, inflammation, trauma, and poor posture
can cause restriction to fascia. Since fascia is an
interconnected web, the restriction or tightness to
fascia in one part of your body, can spread to other
places in the body. Structural Integration and Myofascial
release are two manual techniques that we highly endorse.
Ida Rolf, the creator of Rolfing discovered that she
could change the body’s posture and structure
by manipulating the myofascial system (the union of
muscle and fascia) •
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Hyperextension
is a straightening movement that goes beyond the normal,
healthy boundaries of a joint. At the FitzGordon Method
we believe that hyperextension in standing and walking
are at the root of many postural problems. Proper
alignment of the leg is imperative for good posture •
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Muscle
Balance
Muscle balance is a vital component to injury prevention.
Whatever you choose for exercise, you need to focus
on muscle balance. The major muscle groups work in
pairs and these pairs exist to be balanced in terms
of strength and flexibility. When you maintain balanced
muscles, you have better body symmetry and better
posture. Injury and compensation for injury is probably
the leading culprit in the development of muscular
imbalance in the body. Many of our daily routines
also cause imbalances. We use our chest muscles more
than we do our back muscles because we do so much
lifting of groceries, children, and other items. We
have more range of motion in front of us and so we
do more things where we can easily see what we are
doing. Activities of daily living often cause pain
due to muscle imbalances even though we are not aware
of what is taking place. Too many hours working at
a computer with bad alignment leads to a host of problems
and injuries. Carrying heavy bags on one shoulder
is another common issue. Imbalance can also be caused
by repeatedly turning the head to only one side to
watch TV, or working with the head turned while the
rest of the body is facing forward. The FitzGordon
Method focuses on building muscle balance through
core exercises and uses walking to reinforce the new
balance that we create in the body. Every competent
step can and should build muscle and reinforce balance.
The results can be startling •
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The Nervous System
is the body's information gatherer, storage center
and control system. Its overall function is to collect
information about external conditions in relation
to the body's internal state, to analyze this information,
and to initiate appropriate responses to satisfy certain
needs. The most powerful of these needs is survival.
The Central Nervous System (CNS) includes the brain
and spinal cord. The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
connects the CNS to other parts of the body, and is
composed of nerves. The Autonomic nervous system is
that part of PNS that controls internal organs. It
has two subsystems. The sympathetic nervous system
is involved in the fight or flight response. The parasympathetic
nervous system is involved in relaxation. Both systems
innervate the same organs and act in opposition to
maintain homeostasis. For example: when you are scared
the sympathetic system causes your heart to beat faster;
the parasympathetic system reverses this effect. This
balance (homeostasis) is responsible in large part
for our physical and emotional well-being. All movement
involves a harmony of the nervous, muscular and skeletal
systems. Our bones hold us up, our muscles move us
and the nervous system initiates that movement •
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Piriformis
The piriformis muscle is categorized as one of the
lateral rotators of the pelvis and is one of only
two muscles that connect the legs to the spine. If
you know what your piriformis is you probably consider
it more of an irritant than a rotator. In many cases,
sciatica, a nerve injury that manifests in a pain
that radiates down the back of the leg, is the result
of your piriformis being in “spasm” and
pressing on the sciatic nerve. With the FitzGordon
Method you will learn how to release muscles in spasm
and through a regimen of exercises and walking, free
yourself from sciatica and related pains •
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Plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis- is a common cause of heel pain.
The plantar fascia is a band of tissue on the bottom
of your foot starting at your heel and attaching to
each one of the bones that form the ball of your foot.
If you have pain in your heel when you stand up for
the first time in the morning, you may have plantar
fasciitis, an inflammation of this fascia sometimes
referred to as "heel spurs”. There are
a number of possible causes for plantar fasciitis
and they often work in combination. Tightness of the
foot and calf, improper athletic training, stress
on the arch or weaknesses of the foot are potential
causes. Shoes that don’t fit, certain play or
work actions or overuse (running too fast, too far,
too soon) may hurt the plantar fascia. People with
low arches, flat feet or high arches are at increased
risk of developing plantar fasciitis. Recovery from
plantar fasciitis is usually a matter of time and
exercise along with a corrected walking pattern. In
some cases a positional splint while sleeping is necessary •
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Posture
Posture is the position in which you hold your body
upright against gravity while standing, sitting or
lying down. Good posture involves training your body
to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the
least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments
during movement or weight-bearing activities. Postural
compensation to avoid pain is one of the most common
perpetuating factors of muscle dysfunction. Posture
is a window to the spine and poor posture can indicate
there is a problem with a person’s spine and
nervous system. One indicator of poor posture is a
slouching, or forward head causing strain on the back
of the neck muscles. It also increases the weight
bearing on the discs and can lead to premature arthritis
of the neck. There are many causes of this type of
posture including car accidents, sports injuries,
working with computers and loss of bone density. Another
common posture problem is the thighs living forward
of the pelvis rather than under it. This causes a
tucking of the pelvis and an increase in the lumbar
lordosis (curvature) and associated muscle weakness.
This can lead to chronic lower back pain, muscle pain,
sciatica, leg weakness, lower extremity circulation
problems and much more. The abnormal spinal weight
bearing associated with this type of posture can lead
to premature spinal arthritis of the joints and discs.
The FitzGordon Method uses core exercises and proper
walking pattern to realign your posture in a dynamic
and balanced way •
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Psoas
Let us be clear about this: the legs do not originate
movement in the walk of a balanced body; the legs
support and follow. Movement is initiated in the trunk
and transmitted to the legs through the medium of
the psoas.
Ida Rolf, 1977:
Rolfing, the Integration of Human Structures
The Psoas (pronounced so-az), considered
by many to be our “emotional” muscle,
is the body’s main hip flexor attaching at the
back half of the inner thigh, crossing over the front
of the pelvis and attaching along the spine at the
lower back making it one of only two muscles to attach
the legs to the pelvis. As Ida Rolf says above it
is the main muscle of walking but it is also intimately
connected to and plays a large role in our body’s
acceptance and processing of trauma. Any trauma to
the body, big or small, physical or emotional registers
in the psoas. This is a normal process as long as
we have the means to accept the trauma and move through
it. Our body’s ability to think and rationalize
can interrupt our nervous system’s natural ability
to process trauma. Instead the trauma can become “stuck”
in the body and can manifest in painful ways. The
FitzGordon Method core-walking program is designed
to free the psoas from its physical and emotional
bonds. A body that walks well is building a strong
support system with every step. Through a combination
of release work, exercises and daily walking you will
develop a tone in the body that will allow for continual
development and support •
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Sciatica
Pain, weakness, numbness, and other discomfort along
the path of the sciatic nerve -- often accompanies
low back pain, which afflicts every adult from time
to time, costing billions of dollars in healthcare
and lost days of work. Low back pain and sciatica
can baffle physicians and other medical professionals,
arising without warning and continuing for long periods
of time. Sciatica is a symptom of a problem at some
point along the sciatic nerve rather than an ailment
in and of itself. A herniated disc in the back, spinal
stenosis and piriformis syndrome are medical disorders
that can cause sciatica. A great many of these issues
arise due to muscle imbalance in and around the pelvis.
The FitzGordon Method uses exercise and movement pattern
to help relieve the misery of this nagging problem •
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