Latest / NHA Today Podcast / 151: Uncover The Hidden Causes of Pain with Eileen Kopsaftis

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151: Uncover The Hidden Causes of Pain with Eileen Kopsaftis · NHA Today Podcast

0:03
Hello everyone.
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Welcome to another episode of the NHA Today Podcast.
0:08
My name is Sid Nader, and I'll be your guest host here today.
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I'm so excited to be here.
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I'm truly excited to introduce you to today's guest, a friend of mine for a
0:19
couple of years, someone that I truly respect and admire her work and take part
0:24
in all of her classes whenever I can.
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Her name is Eileen Ti and let me tell you a little bit about Eileen.
0:31
She is a chronic pain expert, uh, a nutrition educator and the
0:36
founder of Have Lifelong Wellbeing.
0:39
She's also the bestselling author of two books.
0:42
Pain culprits, surprising truths behind pain, how to uncover the
0:46
cause and what to do about it.
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And her most recent book, aging Culprits, 12 Myths That Sabotage
0:53
Your Future and Steal Your Joy.
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And I have read both of those books and they are excellent.
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So I Eileen's been helping people get out of pain and age well for over 30 years.
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And it's her mission to dispel inaccurate information and misunderstandings
1:08
about how the human body is designed to move and train free of injury and what
1:14
really promotes aging without decline.
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Eileen consults internationally, she speaks nationally.
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She publishes articles, she hosts free educational events and she
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has her own YouTube channel.
1:26
So thank you Eileen for being here today.
1:29
Well thank you.
1:30
I am honored and humbled to have been asked and it's so nice to
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spend time with you again on camera since we created our bone course.
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And um, yeah, it's really nice to be here.
1:40
Thank you.
1:42
You're welcome.
1:42
So today you're gonna talk to us about poor posture, the real culprits,
1:46
and I think all of us can stand to learn more about this topic.
1:50
Yes, yes.
1:52
So, and, and it's interesting, you know, because there, there's, there's
1:56
some debate out there as to what, um, the importance of posture and if you
2:01
do an internet search, you know, as we know, um, inter the internet is not a
2:05
physician, the internet is not an expert per se, it just has a lot of information.
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And sadly, a lot of the times that inflammation conflicts,
2:14
the experts don't always agree.
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Go figure.
2:17
So sometimes you'll get people that will say, oh, posture is very
2:21
important for many, many, many reasons, which I'm gonna go over today.
2:25
But you'll get others who say, oh, posture isn't all that important.
2:28
We shouldn't be stressing that.
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We should be stressing more, and they'll name other priorities.
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So, um, you know, from my point of view, having worked with a patient
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population and, and worked with clients and consulted for chronic
2:41
pain issues and all kinds of things.
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I've seen posture play a huge role in promoting chronic pain patterns.
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Um, and, and I'll explain a little bit about that.
2:53
So, you know, basically posture does matter.
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It really matters.
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And I've got my little outline here so I don't get off track.
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And I, and I stick to the things that I thought were the most
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important for people to hear today.
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So, you know, I, I had this conversation the other day with a, with, um,
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one of my colleagues about vanity, because people will spend a lot of
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money, um, to improve how they look.
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They, you know, we will, they'll go to the nail salon, they'll
3:20
get their hair done regularly, they'll get facials, they'll have.
3:24
Have cosmetic work done.
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Um, it, it's how we look is important to us.
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And so we had this conversation, is vanity actually a really bad thing?
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And I had to look up the definition and it kept using it as a bad term because it
3:37
was overblown, it was out of proportion.
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It was, it was too much, too much concern like egoistic and all that stuff.
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And I'm like, well, who's to say where that line is drawn?
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What if it's just you care about how you look so you feel confident and
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comfortable when you're out in public?
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Is that really.
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Not good.
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I mean, what's negative about that?
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So, uh, you know, most of us wouldn't go out to the supermarket dressed
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the way we are when we're watching a television movie at home in our pajamas.
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So how we look matters, and when it comes to posture, I've seen this, I, I teach
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these classes at the local community college, um, and, you know, both men and
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women, they care about how they look.
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They don't want that head so forward that it looks like it's pulling their body.
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They don't want that big dower's hump that hunch back, that, that hump
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back, whatever term you wanna give it.
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And I'll explain why that happens, um, shortly.
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But we, we care about how we look.
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We want to be standing up straight.
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We wanna look good when we're in the holiday pictures.
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And I, I've even had teenagers who saw their prom picture.
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And they were 16 and they said, look at my posture.
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That's terrible.
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I wish I could go back and take that picture over.
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So it matters how we look, how we feel about ourselves.
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And then we've also got the, um, you know, there's the thing
4:58
about growing shorter, and I know that's kind of an oxymoron, right?
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Grow shorter.
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But, but the, the funny part is it's, it's not necessarily, everybody
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thinks it's gravity, it's compression.
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It's, it's because, you know, we, we shrink as we age.
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That's not accurate.
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It's actually very inaccurate because it has nothing to do with age.
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Um, I've been five foot four since I was a teen.
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I'm still five foot four.
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I know other people who have not shrunk and I'm not some special anomaly.
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The, the issue is when we get shorter, there's a couple of reasons for that.
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One of them is posture.
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I mean, people get taller just by being able to stand up straight
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and pull their head back over their shoulders where it belongs.
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I mean, right now you can see how tall I look.
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Did I just get shorter?
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My height didn't change anatomically, but because of my position, it did.
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And then of course, you've got the disc degeneration, which is not
6:02
gravity or compression or age related.
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It has everything to do with impaired circulation to the discs.
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And I love, you know, I, I attended a physician's committee for
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Responsible Medicine conference.
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I've attended many of them, but this one in particular, I went
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specifically to hear Dr. Lena Capella.
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Uh, from, uh, I believe she's from Finland.
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Um, she did a presentation on cardiovascular disease and
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back pain, and I was fascinated what that had to do with it.
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And it had to do with impaired circulation.
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And she showed disc degeneration is impaired circulation
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to the lumbar arteries.
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So that's not age related.
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And, and so, you know, we tend to get caught up in this, this thing
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about aging that's really inaccurate.
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But I won't get off on a tangent about aging.
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We're gonna stick to posture.
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So, um, and then how we feel.
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The, the head weighs on average about 15 pounds.
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And I usually joke and say, okay, um, if you're smarter,
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maybe your head weighs 20 pounds.
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But, but ideally, the goal is about 15 pounds of pressure is
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meant to be on these muscles.
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For every inch that the head goes forward, it adds 10 pounds of stress
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and pressure to the muscles in the body, mostly the neck muscles,
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the, the upper shoulder muscles.
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The upper trunk muscles.
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And so, you know, I go forward now that's 22 pounds, 32 pounds,
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42 pounds, 52 pounds of pressure.
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Now that's gonna lead to neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, um, headaches.
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That's gonna lead to a lot of issues.
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So how we feel matters too.
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Now, um, one of the other things that I wanted to talk
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about was the health concerns.
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We don't, the, the structural integrity of the spine.
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So those vertebrae are stacked and i'll, and I'll talk about the curves that are
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meant to be there and why in a moment.
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But those vertebrae are stacked and when that head goes forward, it completely
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changes the alignment of the vertebrae.
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And so because of that, it can cause potential harm to the structures.
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And so the body has this phenomenal ability to protect
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itself as much as possible.
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And so what happens is the body literally puts fluid or creates fluid in those areas
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to prevent structural injury and damage.
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So it's kind of like, you know, putting more oil in the car to make
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sure those structures don't rub.
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So we've got that fluid there.
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That's what that hump, that's why that happens.
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That fluid kind of hump is because of.
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The body trying to protect itself.
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So, so Eileen could, um, per posture then, could that result in permanent
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structural changes to the body over time?
8:56
It can, but that's a really good question, Syd, because I've worked with people in
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their nineties, um, like a hundred even, and been able to improve their posture.
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So it's, it really depends.
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Now it depends on what caused it.
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If the person, if it was, um, and I'm gonna get to the potential
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health causes, uh, in a moment, but it depends on what causes it.
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So remind me about that and, and I'll make sure I mention that.
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But, so, and then of course, how we, how we function it, we're
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gonna have a lot of difficulty.
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If, if the body is very forward, you're gonna have a lot of trouble
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reaching up overhead and the shoulders are dependent on how well
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the upper trunk vertebrae will move.
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We want mobility between the neck and the low back.
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And if we're forward like this, you can only lift your arm so far
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and everybody can even try this.
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I mean, I'm, I'm, you know, pretending that I'm hunched forward and this
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is as far as I can push my arm.
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It won't go any further.
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And that's because my upper trunk, the spine will not extend in this position.
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But as soon as I get upright, see how much motion I was
10:08
lacking, I can get that motion.
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So I've seen people who've had shoulder treatment, you know, they, they've been
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to, to a well-meaning, but a kind of misinformed healthcare professional who's
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trying to crank on their shoulder to get those last few degrees of flexion.
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But it's the upper trunk.
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It's the thoracic vertebrae that need to be mobilized, that need
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to be reset in order to allow that full motion in the shoulder.
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So, so it will impact your shoulder function.
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There's also a much higher risk of falls when we have poor posture.
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Because it completely changes your, your center of gravity, um, and has
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to sit over your base of support.
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And usually it's right around the level of the second lumbar vertebrae.
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So it's kind of around your belly button, depending on your anatomy.
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And if you are leaning forward, your center of gravity is going to, your base
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of support, I'm sorry, is going to move.
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So now your center of gravity is trying to figure out where it has
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to sit and you're, you're gonna struggle to have good balance.
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Somebody who has very poor posture, if they're in a crowd and they get
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bumped into, they're less likely to be able to catch themselves
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before they fall and get injured.
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So it's, it's very important, um, just safety wise to have better posture.
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Do those, um, devices that you see work help, you know, there's devices you can
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buy and braces to help with posture.
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Do you ever recommend those or not?
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See, that's a really good question.
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Also, thank you for that.
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You're thinking of things I haven't thought of mention those, those
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devices, those braces, the human body is designed to work according
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to whatever stress we place upon it.
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And whenever we provide any kind of external support, the body says,
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oh, we don't need to work as hard because we've got outside help now.
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And the muscles will literally get weaker.
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So it might, you know, the brace might get you upright better and you're, and
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you're, you're looking better, you're a little bit taller, but your muscles,
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when you go to take the brace off may end up causing more pain, more impairment,
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more dysfunction, because now they've gotten weaker because they were on
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vacation while the brace was being worn.
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So, um, now there are some times that braces are a good idea.
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If someone has had a compression fracture, for instance, the brace can
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give some support while they're healing.
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So, so that can, and it can also help them to be able to move around and, and get
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up and do things without extreme pain.
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So there are sometimes a brace is a good idea, but for the most
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part, we really want our body to be doing what it's designed to do.
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We wanna train to restore the muscle function and give us
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a better posture, so, right.
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Um, perfect.
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So the, um, you know, the difficulty reaching, the higher risk of
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falls, the impaired respiratory function, that's another thing.
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If you are.
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Really coming forward like this Now, gravity is gonna kind of
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keep pulling the head down.
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We, we forget about gravity unless we're, you know, step off a curb.
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We don't float up, we go down, the gravity is always there,
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but we kind of forget about it.
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But if you end up here, gravity is just gonna keep pulling you down because
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you're, you're kind of going with it.
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And so you're just gonna progress more typically.
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And the respiratory function, your lungs need that nice expansion of the
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ribs in order to take healthy breath.
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And so your breath is gonna be impaired.
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Even digestion can be impaired because everything is just kind of
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getting compressed and, and it's not gonna function as well because it's.
14:00
Not in a really good place all the time.
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So, so there's a lot of reasons that posture really matters.
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Um, and so I think it's important if we hear somebody who says,
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oh, it's not all that important.
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Well, they're a little unenlightened about some of the facts, that's all.
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So, um, I remember years ago I watched an interview with Jane Fonda, and
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she was in her eighties at the time, and they said, well, you look great.
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And she goes, two things.
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I stay lean and I have good posture.
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Yes.
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That's what, what made her look younger.
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Yes.
14:30
Yes, absolutely.
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Mm-hmm.
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Being upright matters.
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Absolutely.
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So, all right.
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So, um, the health concerns, like I said, that structural integrity of the
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spine, it's, it's gonna build fluid.
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It's going to, the curves are not gonna be where they belong.
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Um, and then, um, you know, I already mentioned respiratory
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function and, and the fall risk.
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So the curves, when we are in the womb.
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We are all curled up.
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You know, that fetal position that everybody's very familiar with.
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A lot of us sleep in the fetal position.
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Um, but that makes our spine like a C curve, right?
15:03
It's not there.
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It doesn't have those opposite curves.
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Now, as the baby moves around and grows, and I happen to have, my youngest grandson
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right now is gonna be, uh, six months.
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Um, actually he turned six months yesterday.
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Today's the 18th.
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Correct.
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So he turned six months yesterday.
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But he's learned right from birth.
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I was there when he was born that, you know, when he was faced
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down, he lifted his head right up.
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Well, that starts to create that different curve in the neck.
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And then the low back also moves outta that C curve and goes opposite.
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So those curves are called lordosis and you can kind of,
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you know, think of the letter L.
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So it's kind of curved in.
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And then you've got the kyphosis, which is the curve out.
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So the upper trunk stays curved out.
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And then the sacrum down below the low back where the, the
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tailbone is, that stays curved out.
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So we've got in out in, out, and that's important because it makes
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the spine about eight times stronger than it would be if it was straight.
16:04
The, the curves.
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If, if we all know about antique chairs and how they usually have these
16:09
spindly little legs, and how could that possibly support somebody who weighs
16:12
maybe 200 pounds, but it will, because the curves in the legs, even though
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they look small and not, not very strong, creates a lot more strength.
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It's a physics thing.
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So it also allows us to be more flexible and, and, um, as I said, stronger.
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So we want those curves.
16:32
Now, they do need to be, um, balanced well, and a and in a little bit.
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I'm gonna walk people through away for them to assess their posture, both
16:42
in standing and lying down if they're interested in checking that out.
16:47
But we want those curves.
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Now, if the curve is out of balance, then it's usually hyper.
16:54
All right.
16:54
We we're all aware of that word, hyper.
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So if we have too much of a curve, whether it's out or in,
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that will create an imbalance.
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And typically the most common things we see is a hyper curve in the upper back.
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So it'd be a hyper kyphosis.
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And you know, that's the dower's hump, the hump back, the hunch, hunchback,
17:13
the round back, whatever you wanted.
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Call it.
17:16
And that can definitely lead to, to, um, mild, to severe back pain, um,
17:22
fatigue because the body's working so hard to keep you from falling down on
17:27
your face, that it's spending a lot more energy trying to keep you upright.
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So you're gonna fatigue a lot faster and just anything that you do.
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Now, there are some different causes for that hyper curve.
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One of them is osteoporosis.
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And I know you and I spent a lot of time together creating our healthy,
17:46
um, a, um, aging well with strong bones course, but so, you know, we're very
17:51
familiar with this, but the audience may not be, if you have osteoporosis and
17:57
you experience compression fractures, typically the compression will
18:01
happen in the front of the vertebrae.
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So if I'm turned, and if you were to divide me in half and kind
18:08
of open me like a door and you could see the side of my spine.
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You would see the front of the vertebrae compressed if I had
18:16
compression fractures, so the back of the vertebrae would still stay taller.
18:21
So now you've got like a wedge, and of course that wedge is gonna
18:25
cause the spine to collapse forward.
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So that can be one cause of a hyper kyphosis or a hyper curve.
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And you and I both know that osteoporosis is very much diet and
18:38
lifestyle related, and there are so many things that women can do to, um,
18:44
have them not have to deal with that issue or even improve that issue.
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There's a lot of data and a lot of very well done, um,
18:53
science-based information for that.
18:55
So that is not a, a, a bad sentence for their future.
18:59
There's a lot they can do.
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And then there's the degenerative disc disease, which I mentioned earlier.
19:05
That Dr. Lena Cap had, um, taught on, and she called it lumbar artery disease.
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Now you've got three main branches of circulation to the low back to the lumbar
19:16
spine, and she's seen in, she's just, she has a profound amount of data, clinical
19:25
studies that she's published over the years for many years now, and she's gone
19:30
to the point where she knows exactly which impaired artery is leading to a
19:37
prevalence of degenerative disc disease.
19:40
So it's, in my opinion, professional opinion.
19:45
It's food related.
19:47
It has nothing to do with age or compression or wear and tear.
19:52
Are you feeding your body so that your discs are getting proper blood supply?
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If you're not, you're gonna have some issues with the discs.
20:02
So that sounds like our, an artery problem.
20:05
Like if our arteries to the heart get in trouble or the arteries
20:09
to the brain get in trouble, and you're saying if the arteries to
20:11
the lumbar region get in trouble?
20:14
Yes.
20:15
Yes.
20:15
And we've got miles of blood vessels in our body and everybody's fearful of
20:19
having a, I shouldn't say fearful, but everybody is doing their best to prevent
20:23
their risk of a heart attack or a stroke.
20:25
They don't think about what about the arteries to my spine?
20:30
What about the arteries to my joints, to my muscles, to the rest of my body?
20:35
It's just as important.
20:37
And if, if someone has been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, they can have
20:42
impaired circulation anywhere in the body.
20:45
It's not gonna be just to that one organ.
20:48
So, and, and a lot of the times, and, and I found this to be true, I've worked
20:53
with people, you know, as you mentioned, over 30 years and I've worked with
20:57
people who had, um, back pain that.
21:01
Did not improve no matter what we did.
21:05
And it didn't matter what movements, didn't matter what treatments,
21:09
it didn't matter what strategies.
21:11
And as a matter of fact, they tended to have increased pain
21:14
after exercise no matter what.
21:18
Those people, I believe had lumbar artery disease.
21:22
Now it's not, I, I was able to speak with Dr. Capella at the conference,
21:26
um, and she didn't have any research that had ever been funded that would
21:32
look at if people changed their diet, would it improve the circulation
21:36
to the lum, the lumbar arteries.
21:38
But we know there's a lot of data that shows it will improve
21:41
the circulation to the heart.
21:42
So it makes sense if it improves circulation anywhere, it can
21:46
improve circulation everywhere.
21:48
The body also has this ability to improve circulation through, um, a
21:53
process called angiogenesis, which is birth of new blood vessels.
21:57
And so a lot of the times if people are going to exercise and they've
22:00
got some impaired circulation, the body will try to create more blood
22:05
supply to the body parts that are being used in to in order to help.
22:09
So.
22:10
You'll see that, and you can even see that in the heart.
22:12
If you look at some of the, if you've ever read Dr.
22:14
Seldon's book, you can actually see that collateral, um, blood
22:18
vessels that are created.
22:20
But for those people who don't see any improvement, I've worked with some
22:24
of them and, and I've gone into the detail about how the diet can impair,
22:28
you know, that, that circulation, and I've heard back from some of those
22:32
people, sometimes months later, a year later, and they finally pulled the
22:36
trigger on changing how they nourish their body and their pain improved.
22:42
So I, I've actually had it reported to me.
22:44
Now I know those are, you know, that's not a even a case study.
22:47
It's, it's, it's somebody telling their, their story.
22:51
But I think it bears value to, uh, to, to know those things.
22:55
So, so, and then we can move on to postural causes of.
23:02
Having that hyper curve in the upper trunk.
23:05
And a lot of that can happen because of old injuries.
23:08
In other areas of the body.
23:11
People are very unaware for the most part.
23:14
That ankle function not only can impact your, just your movement and your
23:20
overall ability and chronic pain issues, but it can also cause posture issues.
23:25
And if you're standing, ideally your ankles are at least neutral, if not just
23:32
slightly into a dorsa flexed position.
23:35
And I've got my little foot here to show people what that means.
23:38
And so if your foot's on the ground, this is a right foot,
23:41
by the way, not a real foot.
23:43
So nobody's upset about that.
23:45
But, um, if, if the toes come up.
23:49
The heel stays down, that's dorsiflexion.
23:51
And a lot of the times people will have an old injury, maybe even when they were
23:56
a teenager in sports or college in sports, or they were, uh, non-weightbearing
24:02
on one side for whatever reasons.
24:04
Um, you know, maybe a total knee replacement or, you know, because
24:08
many, many years ago on that much of a dinosaur in my profession, they
24:13
did, uh, cemented joint replacements.
24:16
And a lot of the times people were non-weightbearing for a certain
24:18
amount of time until, uh, the bone could graft in or, or was
24:23
it uns cemented versus cemented.
24:25
But it's very different now what they're doing.
24:27
Uh, but a lot of times non-weightbearing was required or someone's had an injury
24:31
or a surgery or whatever, and so that ankle will lose its ability to dorsiflex.
24:38
Bring those, those toes up.
24:40
And so when they're standing, their foot might even be in a little bit of a
24:44
planter flexion where the toes point down.
24:47
And if that foot is in a little bit of a planter flexion, what happens?
24:52
It pushes the body backward.
24:54
I mean, everyone right now, if they're listening to this, if you
24:56
stand up and, and you pretend you're pointing your toes down, your body's
25:01
automatically gonna shift back.
25:03
Well, because your brain says, Hey, we're gonna fall to counterbalance that
25:08
the head and shoulders come forward.
25:11
So now it's because the ankles are not functioning properly.
25:16
This person has a forward head and shoulders and a lot of.
25:20
Healthcare professionals aren't aware of that connection.
25:23
And a lot of people, it's very common to have a history of ankle issues.
25:29
Very common.
25:30
So, and that can be addressed in, in a very real way.
25:34
Um, and then we've also got, um, any habits that we have.
25:38
Again, this is under the postural causes.
25:40
You know, a lot of us have these habits of sitting in front of a computer and what do
25:45
we do when we're in front of the computer?
25:46
We're doing this, you know, or, or we're, we're having conversations
25:50
and we're, we're really passionate about hearing the other person.
25:53
So we're leaning forward, we're leaning in so we can hear things.
25:57
And if we're staying like that for, for long periods, those muscles
26:01
kind of get weakened in the back.
26:03
They lock long and the muscles in the front will lock short.
26:07
Or if we're sitting all the time, those hip muscles in the front will lock short.
26:12
And so when you go to stand up straight after sitting, you might
26:16
even feel a pull on the low back.
26:18
Because those front hip muscles are attached to the lower spine
26:23
and so they don't wanna get longer 'cause they've been shorter for
26:26
eight hours you've been at the desk.
26:28
Or if you're a bus driver, a cab driver, a truck driver, um,
26:32
those muscles are saying, whoa, you know, we don't wanna do this.
26:36
And they're gonna pull on the lumbar spine and, and you might feel back pain and you
26:39
think, oh, I got a problem with my back.
26:41
But it's just because of the hip muscles have shortened.
26:44
So, and of course if they're shortened, you can't stand up straight.
26:48
You're gonna be bent forward.
26:49
It, it's, it's, it's a given.
26:51
And again, that can be addressed very, um, very effectively as well.
26:56
So, yeah, that was gonna be one of my questions actually, about what role does
27:00
our workstation play in our posture?
27:03
Mm-hmm.
27:03
Mm-hmm.
27:03
Because what can we do to improve our workstation?
27:06
And what about those desks that raise up, you know, to stand up?
27:08
Yes, yes, yes.
27:10
So I actually have, I mean, I have, I purchased a little desk here so
27:15
I can actually pull this right up.
27:18
And I am now standing.
27:20
So, um, I love it.
27:22
As you saw, it was very easy.
27:24
It was just a little lever.
27:25
It, it, um, if you can lift five pounds, you can raise your desk up and down.
27:29
So it's very easy to use.
27:31
They're very inexpensive.
27:32
Now there's lots of great reviews.
27:34
Now here's the kicker though.
27:36
'cause people think, well, I'll just work at a standing desk and I'll stand all day.
27:40
Our bodies are designed to move.
27:43
Motion is lotion and you, you can hear from people who are cashiers
27:47
or, you know, they're constantly, they're on their feet and they
27:50
can't sit down for hours at a time.
27:53
They'll end up with different issues.
27:54
So we really need to be moving.
27:57
We need to be changing our positions.
27:59
And a lot of times I'll tell people, if you don't have a standing desk,
28:03
just set your phone to go off every 30 minutes, even less if you can.
28:09
If it doesn't disrupt your workflow, you know, 15, 20 minutes,
28:13
stand up and lean back 10 times.
28:16
To kind of open up the front of the body, lengthen those hip flexors so that
28:20
they're not yanking on your low back.
28:22
Now, if you feel like when you stand up, you're struggling to to stand straight,
28:27
then do a very gentle, just a little bit, hands on your hips and just kind of bring
28:31
your hips forward and back a little bit.
28:33
And sometimes if you go back a little further and then go forward a little, it's
28:38
kind of like you're grease in the wheels.
28:39
It creates this beautiful fluid fill effect, kind of this pumping action
28:43
so that the muscles will start to be able to lengthen again without pain.
28:48
So many of us think that no pain, no gain thing, it has to hurt.
28:52
That's a whole different topic, and that has to do with with getting muscles
28:56
broken down so that they get bigger.
28:58
They hypertrophy this.
29:00
If you're rehabbing, if you're restoring motion, it's not about
29:03
pain because your brain is only gonna try to protect you from you.
29:06
And you're gonna be training in dysfunction.
29:09
'cause your brain is gonna say, Ooh, we don't like that.
29:12
Maybe if we turn a little, if we side bend a little, it'll hurt less.
29:16
And your brain won't tell you that you're turning and you're side bending.
29:19
So now you're training in dysfunction.
29:21
So we wanna, we don't want the motion to hurt.
29:25
I often say, you don't wanna punch the bear in the nose.
29:28
You wanna just get that nice, comfortable, successful motion,
29:31
but just stand up and do that.
29:33
Um, and then because you've been sitting on your power source, that's
29:37
what I call max gluteus maximus.
29:39
There, everybody calls 'em the glutes.
29:40
I call 'em max and the hamstrings.
29:43
You've been sitting on that.
29:44
So do a few just very simple chair squats just to get some blood flow back there.
29:49
And by the end of the workday, if people do that consistently throughout
29:54
the day, not only will they feel taller when they finish their
29:56
workday, but they'll feel more energy, they'll feel better because they've
30:00
pumped the body throughout the day.
30:02
So it can be very helpful.
30:04
So, um, back to, yeah, and, and muscle weakness.
30:09
You know, as I said, it can lock short, it can lock long.
30:12
And if we sit on our power source, guess what?
30:16
It, it stops working.
30:18
It, it, you know, those people that I very lovingly say, they
30:21
kind of have pancake butts.
30:22
They don't have any glutes, they don't have any, they don't have max.
30:25
And that's your power source for doing everything, including
30:28
having a nice upright posture.
30:30
So it's important that Max is working.
30:33
And then the last cause, if you will, of that increased curve in the upper trunk
30:38
is, um, you know, this is a million dollar term called iatrogenic, which actually
30:42
means that it's, it's medically caused.
30:45
And the most common reason for that is if people have a laminectomy
30:50
after spinal decompression surgery.
30:52
Now, I'm not saying everybody who has that is gonna end up with this
30:55
issue, but it is prevalent, so.
30:59
You know, I think it's, it pays to be informed.
31:02
I know we often say that you wanna ask questions, what are my benefits from this?
31:06
What are my risks from this?
31:07
And then you make the decision that's right for you.
31:10
You know, before you agree to something.
31:11
It's always a good idea.
31:13
I've worked with a lot of people who, um, you know, they've said, I
31:16
wish I knew then what I know now.
31:18
I wouldn't have agreed to that because they're dealing
31:20
with the fallout years later.
31:21
So it's always good to be fully informed and that thoracic spine, that area between
31:28
the neck and the low back oftentimes.
31:31
And, and one of my, my favorite people to learn from Dr. Gary
31:34
Gray from the Gray Institute, um, calls it the silent saboteur.
31:39
And what he means by that is very often people have.
31:43
Low back issues, shoulder issues, neck issues, posture issues
31:48
because the trunk, that thoracic spine is not functioning properly.
31:53
And that's an area of the body that most people don't even think about training.
32:00
You know, when you go to a gym, have you ever seen anybody say,
32:03
well, I'm working my thoracic spine?
32:05
No.
32:07
And, and it's, it's very easy to do, but it's important to know how it moves
32:12
and, um, what's a good way to train it.
32:15
And I've worked with many people, as I said earlier, in their nineties,
32:18
or, or you know, even up to a hundred, I've had people over a hundred years
32:21
old doing squats and parallel bars.
32:23
I mean, you train people based on their ability, not their age.
32:27
Um, and so if somebody, you know, is, is saying, you know, all older people
32:32
need to just do chair exercises, well, that's gonna fall short of
32:35
what people need most of the time.
32:38
If you are impaired and standing is not an option, then yes, chair exercises
32:42
are great, but if you're able to stand, you really wanna be training
32:46
your body, uh, based on your ability.
32:48
So, so, um, Eileen, would squats be a good exercise then for that thoracic
32:54
spine area, or what, what type of exercise would be good for that?
32:58
Yeah, so the thoracic spine, I've actually got some videos on my
33:02
YouTube channel that I, I specifically teach some movements for that.
33:06
It has, um, it has two ways that it moves.
33:09
There's called type one motion and type two motion.
33:12
The type one motion is when it moves opposite.
33:15
So that means if I'm gonna rotate one way and side bend the other,
33:20
and then the type two motion is when it moves in what's called the same.
33:24
So that means I'm gonna rotate one way and side bend the same direction.
33:29
So if I'm rotating right and side bending, right, that's type two motion.
33:34
If I'm rotating right and side bending left, that's type one motion and the
33:40
thoracic spine, it needs to be able to do both, and it also needs to be able to bend
33:46
forward well and extend back really well.
33:51
So most people are not doing that Type one type two motion.
33:56
And I, I joke, I call it my benik.
33:58
Move, you know, when I teach people how to do it.
34:01
And, um, as a matter of fact, at the NHA conference last year, I, I had the,
34:05
um, the fortune, the good fortune of being able to teach some movement in the
34:09
mornings before the conference started.
34:11
And I taught that that move for the thoracic spine and everybody loved it.
34:15
So, um, it just, you, you're gonna be taller, you're gonna feel better.
34:19
It's just a beautiful thing to do.
34:21
So, so that's that one.
34:23
Um, and then we've got those three commonly overlooked areas
34:28
when we're working on posture.
34:29
The ankles being huge.
34:32
Uh, as I said earlier, if this ankle is not doing that beautiful dorsiflexion and
34:38
it's kind of stuck in plantar flexion.
34:40
And I've worked with a lot of people over the years, and almost
34:44
always when I assess their ankles, I will find limited range of motion.
34:49
Um, now healthy dorsiflexion is anywhere between 10 and maybe 30 degrees.
34:57
I've found people where they were at zero, they had no dorsiflexion at all.
35:02
And even people who were minus, they were literally stuck in plant
35:07
flexion, maybe up to five degrees.
35:10
So there's no way that that ankle is gonna do what it's needed to do in order
35:16
for them to have a healthy posture.
35:18
So, you know, they might be younger and it hasn't caught up with
35:21
them yet, but eventually it's, it's gonna catch up with them.
35:25
And that's not age related.
35:27
That is the circumstances and time.
35:30
It's more time related.
35:31
And I'm not playing on words here because it's not because the person
35:35
got older, it's because the person's ankle wasn't functioning right.
35:38
So that's not really age.
35:40
So, are there exercises we can do specifically for our ankles, Eileen?
35:45
Yes.
35:46
I mean, I'm sure there are.
35:47
Yeah.
35:48
Yes, absolutely.
35:49
Okay.
35:49
And, and it's important to do them in three planes of motion.
35:52
So a lot of the times when people go to stretch their, their ankles or their
35:57
calves, they'll sit on a, on a table and they'll have a TheraBand or, or a rope or
36:02
something pulling on the bottom of their foot and kind of pulling their foot up.
36:07
That's not gonna do it because it's not weightbearing.
36:10
You're not gonna be able to pull that up with the same amount of force that
36:14
would happen when you're on your feet and your body is loading those muscles.
36:18
So it's very important, and again, on my YouTube channel, I've got
36:21
plenty of videos where I show how to do this in three planes.
36:24
Um, the important thing is to, to make sure that you're doing it in
36:29
three planes of motion that you are.
36:32
Coming forward in that what's called sagittal plane.
36:35
'cause we move in three planes of motion, we move forward and back and
36:38
we move sideways and we turn, and the ankle has to be able to do all three
36:44
and it has to be able to do the turning and the side bending, dorsiflexion.
36:50
So it's, it's, I cannot tell you how many times I've worked with people, uh,
36:55
even in the private consulting where they were shocked at how their ankle
36:58
function when it was addressed, improved things like elbow pain or neck pain or
37:05
shoulder pain, especially knee pain.
37:08
Um, low back pain because you know, everything.
37:12
That's our foundation.
37:14
And I mean, think about a house if the foundation is, is crooked.
37:18
The house, you know, the roof isn't gonna be real happy
37:21
and all the other structures.
37:23
So, and then with gait and walking, it's huge, that ankle function.
37:27
So very, very important.
37:29
Um, I look at the ankle function of pretty much everyone I work
37:32
with, if they've got pain anywhere.
37:34
Um, because it almost always is playing a role, if not one of the
37:38
major culprits to the problem.
37:41
So.
37:41
Well, if there's one thing I've learned from you for sure, it's that everything
37:45
is connected to everything, right?
37:48
Yes, yes, yes.
37:49
Absolutely.
37:50
And in my book, pain Culprits, everything's connected to everything else.
37:53
Yes.
37:53
That's in there constantly.
37:54
And people don't realize it.
37:56
We're not a body part.
37:58
So if you go to a clinic and you say, you know, I, I wanna improve my posture, and
38:03
they just see you as a head and shoulders.
38:05
They're gonna be limited in how much they can really help you resolve
38:08
that issue because everything's connected to everything else and
38:12
we need to know that connection.
38:14
And it doesn't mean you have to work, you know, every one of the
38:17
600 plus muscles in the body.
38:19
It just means that you have to know those major areas that play a role.
38:23
Ankles are one of them, hips are the other.
38:26
You've gotta make sure that that front of that hip will, will lengthen.
38:30
Without yanking on your back, will allow you to stand up nice and straight.
38:35
That's you.
38:36
You can't get your head and shoulders back.
38:38
If the hips are like this, they're gonna be forward.
38:41
So it's important to know that and to know how to, how to release that,
38:45
how to get that working properly, and how to strengthen Max and then.
38:51
The other area, of course, is the trunk, as I said, that type one,
38:54
type two motion training that trunk so that you can be upright.
38:59
And then there's one little, um, tip that I wanted to give people that
39:04
they can do when they're sitting that makes a huge difference.
39:08
And that is doing what's called an anterior tilt of the pelvis.
39:13
And all that means is, um, if you do, if you kind of tuck your tail between
39:19
your legs like a sad dog, and you round out your lower back, that's a posterior
39:24
tilt and the anterior is the opposite.
39:27
So you're gonna stick your tail out like a happy bunny showing off as cottontail.
39:33
And so if you're sitting, and I'll go ahead and lower my desk so that
39:38
I can demonstrate this for you.
39:41
So if you're sitting.
39:45
You are letting that low back, round out.
39:49
Now you can buy the most ergonomic chair on the planet.
39:53
You can buy a chair that has more bells and whistles, like this one
39:56
that my son so lovingly gifted me, which is a very expensive chair.
40:00
I always joke and say, this chair should do research for
40:02
me because it's so expensive.
40:05
But it's got everything.
40:07
And if I use it properly, I'm, I'm in a very good posture in this chair.
40:12
But when I get researching and I've got 14 windows open and I'm, I'm
40:15
looking on, you know, 15 different websites, uh, for studies and URLs
40:20
and things, I end up like this.
40:22
So the chair is useless to me at that point, and most people are like
40:26
that if they're gonna be sitting in their chair for a long time.
40:28
So the important thing to do, and I've made a habit of doing this,
40:32
is I sit a little bit forward.
40:34
And I keep my pelvis, or I should say I move it when I'm conscious, I think
40:39
about it a lot, is I tilt my pelvis.
40:42
So right now, if, if your pel, if your low back is flattened out, you're gonna feel
40:47
the weight on your butt bones, the sit bones, those are the ischial tuberosities.
40:51
So you're gonna feel those sit bones bearing the weight.
40:54
But if you tilt your pelvis forward, now the weight goes in front of the sits bones
41:00
and it's more on the upper back thigh.
41:02
Can you feel that?
41:03
Yeah.
41:04
So that automatically watch what happens to the position of my head and my
41:09
shoulders when I change that posture.
41:12
So here's the rounded out lower back, what just happened?
41:15
My head dropped forward, right?
41:17
It has to, I can't, I can't even pull my head back.
41:21
If I keep my lower back rounded out, I cannot pull my
41:24
head back over my shoulders.
41:25
It's physically impossible.
41:27
But as soon as I tilt my pelvis, my head comes right back up over
41:31
my shoulders where it belongs.
41:33
So even just doing that can make a huge difference.
41:37
Now, you may forget if you're on the keyboard or you're on the phone or
41:41
you're, you're doing something where you're, you're really listening and
41:44
you're in wrapped attention, that'll make you forget about that for a bit.
41:48
But just that one simple shift will automatically pull your head back.
41:53
So there are so many little tips and tricks that we can use throughout the
41:58
day that can keep us from those habits that will, will get that head forward.
42:04
And then what I'd like to, to kind of finish with, if I may finish up on,
42:11
is, um, there's a posture assessment I would like to walk people through,
42:15
which just takes a few minutes.
42:16
And then I'm gonna talk a little bit more about what will improve posture.
42:20
So if people are interested in this, if you're listening to this
42:23
and you'd like to assess yourself, go ahead and stand against a wall.
42:28
And when you stand against the wall, the goal is you want
42:32
your, your heels on the wall.
42:35
Your, your backside, your buttocks will be against the wall, and your
42:39
shoulder blades will be against the wall, and the goal is the back of your
42:43
head will be against the wall also.
42:45
Now, when I teach this in live classes, what I see with those who
42:50
have a real change, they've got that curve going on in the upper trunk.
42:55
Their head is forward.
42:57
When they stand against the wall, what happens is they do this
43:00
because they wanna get the back of their head to touch the wall.
43:04
So now they're looking up.
43:05
That's not ideal or optimal posture.
43:10
Optimal is the head is straight back and the head is against the wall
43:15
and the person's not looking up.
43:17
So you might want, if you wanted to do this, you might wanna have a family
43:21
member or a friend or somebody or even, you know, do it in front of a mirror
43:25
if you can, to see if your chin is up.
43:29
That means you've got a forward head.
43:31
That head ideally comes straight back against the wall and your shoulders
43:35
would be a nice flat, seamless line right against the wall as well.
43:39
You wouldn't feel them, the shoulder blades poking and you
43:42
know, pointed into the wall.
43:43
'cause that's the forward posture.
43:45
So that's a way to assess it in standing.
43:49
And then the way to assess it lying down for those who wanna try this.
43:53
If you, anybody who has pain when they're lying down on their back,
43:57
and I'm talking about on the floor now, if you can't get on and off the
44:01
floor by yourself, don't try this.
44:02
But if you can, lying down on the floor without a pillow.
44:07
Now I've worked with people in, in, like I said, in their nineties, who
44:11
their head was so far forward when they laid down on the floor, they
44:15
needed two pillows under their head.
44:17
Because they could, there was no way they could get their
44:19
head anywhere near the floor.
44:21
Even if they were all the way like this, trying to touch the
44:23
floor, it wasn't gonna happen.
44:24
So I would give them two pillows.
44:26
We would, we would assess what was going on with the, with the curves of the spine.
44:31
Um, and then I would have them do some work and then reassess.
44:36
And they would only need one pillow or sometimes not need any pillows.
44:40
And we, that change could occur in like 15 minutes.
44:44
So knowing the right things to do can make a huge difference.
44:47
Age doesn't really matter.
44:49
So.
44:50
Here's the thing.
44:51
If the person's lying on the floor and they can do it without a pillow,
44:55
they may notice they're looking up in order for their head to hit the floor.
44:59
So that would be an imbalance.
45:01
A lot of the times people will have what's called a military neck.
45:04
They'll lose that curve in their neck.
45:05
They might have had a fe fender bender, um, some kind of an issue
45:09
that went on some kind of an injury.
45:11
And there are ways to get that curve back in the neck and, and restore that.
45:16
And that goes beyond the scope of this, this talk.
45:18
Um, but that can be improved.
45:20
And then that upper back curve, ideally if you're lying on the floor with
45:27
your arms and legs extended and try closing your eyes so that your brain
45:30
can tell you where everything is.
45:32
Try not to try to feel it with your hands because we want that communication back.
45:37
I actually did a video that says, does your brain know where you are?
45:41
And, uh, it wasn't talking about your address, it was talking about does your
45:44
brain know where your body parts are?
45:46
You want that communication.
45:47
So.
45:48
If you're lying on the floor like this, notice if the shoulder blades feel
45:52
like they're poking into the floor.
45:53
We want 'em to be a nice flat, seamless line.
45:55
And then notice if just below the shoulder blades.
45:59
And that's where the brow line would be if you're wearing a bra.
46:02
Um, and if you don't wear a bra, you know where it normally sits.
46:05
If, if someone is wearing one, you want that area to be bearing weight.
46:09
And a lot of the times it'll feel like that's floating, and that's
46:12
because the, the masses in spaces or the curves are imbalanced.
46:17
And then also notice if you're lying on the floor, if you've
46:20
got a big wailing arch in the low back and it feels uncomfortable,
46:25
that's obviously an imbalance.
46:27
And then notice if you feel like your tailbone is poking into the
46:30
floor, that's another imbalance.
46:33
That's, that's a, that's a, a, a tilt of the pelvis because of things being off.
46:37
And then your thighs are actually meant to bear weight about midway down.
46:41
And a lot of the times, if the curves are off, those thighs
46:44
will feel like they're floating.
46:45
One or both.
46:47
So it's, it's a good way to tell what's going on with your posture,
46:52
what's going on with your spine.
46:54
It gives you a good, if you don't have a, a professional where you can
46:57
go and stand next to a plumb line and have them assess you professionally.
47:02
This way of lying on the floor and up against the wall can give you a
47:05
really good idea of what's going on.
47:07
And then when you're doing some posture work, reassess the posture and see
47:12
did the posture work actually work?
47:15
Because ideally, if it did, you will notice a difference.
47:18
If you're not noticing a difference, then maybe the work you're doing
47:22
isn't as focused or as effective as you're being told, so.
47:27
Mm-hmm.
47:28
Eileen, do you have posture exercises on your YouTube channel as well?
47:33
I do have some videos on that, yes.
47:36
Yes, absolutely.
47:38
Okay.
47:38
Mm-hmm.
47:39
Yeah.
47:39
And of course I do teach a lot of classes and, and I do have
47:42
programs online that go in.
47:44
Between my, um, HLW Academy and the MWP Private Club.
47:49
I do have some programs that go much in depth, but the YouTube channel
47:53
does provide a lot, um, at no cost, and people can, can see if it helps.
47:58
So, all right.
47:59
Uh, and then the last thing I wanted to talk about was, you know, what
48:03
improves the posture is dependent on the person's current status and any,
48:10
um, actual causes because the body, your posture is literally telling you how
48:18
your body has a adapted and compensated from your life, from injuries, um,
48:25
health issues, habits, even diet.
48:29
So the posture is a way of, of telling you, your body has had to do things
48:36
in order to address what's going on, and you maybe weren't aware of it.
48:41
So.
48:42
Once you're aware of it, you know, they, they don't, they
48:45
say awareness is the first step.
48:46
So once you're aware of it, and then you know, doing the
48:50
right things the right way.
48:52
Is huge.
48:53
So, um, one of the things that is very important is that low fat, whole food,
48:59
plant-based eating to make sure that there's no impairment in circulation.
49:04
Um, it's huge.
49:06
It also will help to decrease any chronic inflammation, joint inflammation,
49:11
because if your joints are inflamed, you're not gonna move well, you're
49:15
gonna be limited and, and it's gonna alter even your standing posture.
49:19
So, so that food is.
49:21
A big part of this, um, making sure that you're well hydrated.
49:25
Muscles are 78% water.
49:27
They have, they really struggle to perform well.
49:30
If someone is even 2% dehydrated, um, the muscles will start
49:35
to not play nice with you.
49:37
Um, sometimes chronic pain is because a person's not drinking enough water.
49:42
And, and I always joke because I hear this a lot, you know, I've worked in
49:46
nursing home settings, I've worked in home care settings, done a lot of work in
49:49
orthopedic, outpatient, uh, I've worked in acute care, uh, hospital settings.
49:54
I've worked in pretty much every setting there is.
49:56
So I've kind of seen it all.
49:58
I'm not saying I know it all, but I've seen it all.
50:00
And, and what I've seen mostly is so many people don't drink
50:05
water because it's inconvenient to have to go to the bathroom.
50:09
And sometimes it has nothing to do with the fact that, you know, they're in a
50:13
nursing home and they have to ring a bell and wait for people to help them.
50:16
But if you're not in that place and you're in, you can independently toilet.
50:20
But you're not drinking water because it's inconvenient to go to the bathroom.
50:25
I tell people that's how it works.
50:26
Water in, water out.
50:29
There's actually data, and I won't get off on a tangent on, on urinary
50:32
incontinence 'cause I teach on that too, but there's data that shows
50:36
that if you drink more water, it can actually improve incontinence issues.
50:40
So it, it's not the water that's causing the incontinence issues
50:44
and you don't wanna be dehydrated.
50:46
It's, it's, it's, it will impact your muscle function,
50:49
it can impact your posture.
50:51
Chronic pain, um, headaches.
50:53
I mean, I could list on and on and on.
50:54
So being well hydrated is, is important as well.
50:58
And then the last thing that, um, is going to impact your posture more than
51:03
anything is to restore function to those three areas that I talked about.
51:10
The ankles, the hips, and the trunk.
51:13
It's not as simple as most of what we see when we do an internet search.
51:20
You know, pull the head and shoulders back, pull the head and shoulders
51:23
back, pull the head and shoulders back.
51:25
If that worked, everybody'd have good posture.
51:30
We wouldn't see what we're seeing.
51:32
So it's, it's not that simple.
51:34
If the ankles aren't working, if the hips are locked short, if the
51:37
trunk is limited in, in one of those motions, you can pull your head and
51:40
shoulders back till the caps come home.
51:42
But you're not gonna stay there.
51:44
And I've seen people who couldn't even do it.
51:46
They, they bring their elbows back.
51:48
They're like this, you know, that's not your shoulders, that's your elbows.
51:52
But because they're, they don't, their body can't do what
51:55
they're asking their body to do.
51:57
Mm-hmm.
51:57
And so training the body in a way where it's actually successful in the movements
52:03
you're doing can be so rewarding, Sid, and, and it can really change the
52:10
person's trajectory of their future.
52:13
And how often do you recommend people do these movements?
52:17
Like how many times a week and for how long?
52:19
Is there a set pattern?
52:21
Well, unfortunately that's another, it depends because if their situation
52:27
is different then, you know, we're all unique like a fingerprint.
52:31
And I'm not saying this to make it sound foggy or unclear, but what I would tell
52:37
somebody who had a history of osteoporosis compression fractures is gonna be very
52:42
different than I would tell somebody who's just got a, a bad habit of sitting
52:47
forward, hunched at their desk all day.
52:49
Those are two very different scenarios.
52:51
So you have to, you have to make sure you're addressing your specific scenario.
52:57
Um, you know, what's causing the posture issue?
53:00
Is it habits?
53:02
Is it, you know, lifestyle or is it medical con issues?
53:06
Is it history of injury?
53:09
You, you've gotta know these things.
53:11
Um, maybe what would be best for people is I do have a an MPA, it's a movement
53:18
performance assessment, and that's for free on my private club website.
53:23
Uh, it's mwp private club.com.
53:27
And they can for free sign up and they can do a three plane movement assessment
53:33
and figure out, oh yeah, my ankle's not doing what it's supposed to do here.
53:37
I walk people through it.
53:38
It's a 20 minute video, and there's even a document that they can download
53:42
and they can document what they see and they observe in their movement, and
53:45
it can tell 'em if their trunk's not turning, it can show them these things.
53:49
It can show them if the hips are locked short so they can
53:52
kind of assess themselves.
53:54
And then at least now they're in, they're, they're empowered with,
53:58
okay, now I know where to work.
54:00
Now I know what to do.
54:01
That, that's gonna be very helpful.
54:03
And if somebody does have a history of compression fractures, they
54:06
are going to want to work with a professional, um, that is going to
54:11
ensure that they're not doing something that's potentially harmful for them.
54:16
Uh, it's important that they don't round out their back if they've got that
54:19
history that they, they bend at the hip.
54:22
Um, I've got colleagues who have worked with people with some pretty severe
54:27
osteoporosis medical histories who, uh, uh, who literally gain the ability
54:33
to lift a, a box with 50 pounds in it safely without injuring themselves.
54:39
So, um, there, there's so much that can be done, but you, you
54:43
need to make sure you're doing the things the right way for you.
54:46
Yeah.
54:46
Okay.
54:47
Well, tell us how we can work with you.
54:49
How could people, uh, work with you, Eileen, or learn more about you?
54:53
Well, I do private consulting, but obviously there's only
54:56
so many hours in the day.
54:57
So I am very limited with how many people I can work with one-on-one.
55:01
Um, I do have my online programs, which is why I created those, because now
55:08
I'm not limited to the number of people I can impact in a really good way.
55:12
So the private club is, um, it's kind of like a, I tease, I
55:17
tell people it's kind of like a Netflix subscription for movement.
55:20
You can go in there, you can binge watch, but there is,
55:23
you can assess yourself there.
55:25
Um, there is a lot of information in there.
55:28
You can choose a track.
55:29
So if you assess yourself and you figure out it's your ankles, you can
55:33
choose an ankle track and it will provide a couple of dozen workouts
55:37
that will help your body to restore ankle function, but in three planes of
55:40
motion and using the whole body and not isolating a body part because you're
55:46
not a knee that walks through the door.
55:48
You're not head and shoulders that walks through the door.
55:50
You're a whole person.
55:51
And you have to train your body because everything's connected.
55:55
And, uh, yeah.
55:56
And it does shorten the amount of time you have to invest when you're,
55:58
when you're doing it that way.
56:00
So, yeah.
56:01
And my husband and I are members of the club and we just love it.
56:05
Yes, yes.
56:06
Good.
56:06
And then I've also got my online academy, and we do live, I
56:10
did a live class this morning.
56:11
We did some strengthening this morning.
56:13
Um, but every Tuesday we do a live class and I'm there to do a q and
56:18
a for anybody who has questions.
56:20
We do workouts every week.
56:22
Um, the average student in the academy is 50 plus summer in their eighties even.
56:28
And, um, they're, they're seeing, and you know, I've got
56:32
people who are lifetime members.
56:33
They've actually purchased a lifetime membership because they
56:36
see the value and, uh, it's made such a difference in their life.
56:40
So, so those are my two programs that I find can meet the most need.
56:46
Uh, you know, versus the one-on-one, but I am available to at least
56:51
work with somebody and assess them and give them a, a kind of an aim,
56:54
the direction they need to aim.
56:56
Um, you know, that it is possible to work with me.
56:59
It's just that's kind of limited and the programs are more helpful.
57:02
Yeah.
57:02
Plus you have that free assessment, right?
57:04
That's a free video with a document to, to where people can assess themselves.
57:09
That's really good.
57:09
Yes.
57:09
And it also includes a movement class so they can introduce themselves
57:13
to doing the three plain motion.
57:14
And that movement class addresses the ankles and the hips and the trunk.
57:20
So, um, awesome.
57:21
You know, it doesn't go in depth, but it does, does really get people started.
57:26
And I've had a lot of people report to me just that free level membership
57:30
has completely improved their issues, helped them with pain, um, improved their
57:35
posture, improve their balance, a lot of good things just from the free level.
57:39
So, yeah.
57:40
Well, thank you Eileen, as usual.
57:42
This has been so informative and wonderful, and I'm sure the,
57:46
the viewers are going to benefit greatly from this as well.
57:50
Thank you so much.
57:51
Do you have any parting words of wisdom or anything else you'd like to share?
57:56
Uh, well, now that you ask me, I, I do have one thought
57:59
that I would like to share.
58:00
Um, the, the, the mantra, the mainstream narrative that we
58:08
hear so often is, is not true.
58:13
We hear this narrative that we're supposed to decline as we get older
58:17
or we're supposed to get weaker.
58:19
We're supposed to have pain.
58:21
We're we just, this, this narrative, it, it's not true.
58:26
And I have worked with so many people that are way up there in years that
58:31
have radically altered their lives because they learned how to do the
58:35
right things and do them the right way, and they got their life back.
58:40
So we're not destined to decline.
58:44
It's not true.
58:45
And we all know there's people who are running marathons in
58:48
their eighties and nineties.
58:49
We all know.
58:50
I mean, go on to YouTube and watch women who are 90 doing ballet.
58:55
I mean, it's, it, so they're not like the outliers.
59:00
You know, if you look at, at studies, they say, oh, that's an outlier.
59:03
That's not the norm.
59:05
I, I, I look at it this way and I'll close with this.
59:08
Whatever we see that's common doesn't mean it's normal.
59:13
Mm-hmm.
59:15
Disease.
59:16
The definition of disease is that it's abnormal functioning.
59:21
So just because something's common and we know cardiovascular disease is common,
59:27
it's not normal functioning, and we are designed to function normally and
59:33
well, as long as we're above ground, we just need to know what to do.
59:39
Thank you.
59:39
Those are encouraging words and it's never too late to start.
59:42
Would that be a good, uh, true, accurate statement?
59:45
Absolutely.
59:47
No matter where you are?
59:49
Yeah, you can True things.
59:50
I've worked with people in their nineties, their head was four and
59:52
a half inches from the wall, and we got it to like an inch from the wall.
59:56
I mean mm-hmm.
59:57
Yeah.
59:57
It's never too late.
59:59
Awesome.
1:00:00
Well thank you so much Eileen for being here today and thanks to
1:00:04
all of you who are watching today.
1:00:06
I hope this you found this helpful.
1:00:08
I'm pretty sure you would.
1:00:09
There's gonna be links to Eileen's website in the show notes, so
1:00:13
please go over there and follow her.
1:00:15
And thanks again for tuning in.
1:00:17
Take good care.