Get More Out of Your Walk

A lot of you have heard me talking about core muscles (those around the stomach and low back) and the need to strengthen them in order to protect your spine and prevent injury. Usually I suggest taking a course like Pilates. While classes that help strengthen the core muscles are a good idea, there are a few things you can do while walking to tighten up those all important core muscles.

While out for your walk, breathe in deeply remembering to breathe down into your stomach (not by lifting your shoulders), and then breathe out hard pulling your navel toward your spine. Hold that for a count of five while walking and then release. Do this ten times, take a brief rest, and repeat two more times.

Here’s another one, do lunges while walking. Keep your spine straight and your stomach muscles tight, step forward two to three feet (find what you can do), keep the knee directly over the ankle that has stepped forward, lift the rear foot off the ground and balance on the forward foot for a moment. Do the same with the other foot. You may want to practice that one in the house before you take it out in public ;-)

What Pillow Should I Use

I am regularly asked by patients, “What pillow should I use?” This is a tough question to answer because our body types and postures can be so different and there is very little research available to fall back on (pardon the pun). What is known is that there are a host of waking symptoms (neck pain/stiffness, headaches, shoulder and/or arm pain) that may be eased with the use of a proper pillow.

Before you start looking for a new pillow, make sure you sleep in a position that is not going to hurt your neck or upper back. Sleep on your back or on your side but not on your stomach. Also, make sure your neck and upper back have been evaluated by a chiropractor to insure that the problems you are experiencing are not from something other than your pillow.

A pillow is a pretty personal item but I can offer general guidelines –
• In my clinical experience, the so called ‘cervical pillows’, the ones with the bump, are not that good and most people will discard them
• Memory foam pillows are quite good but you need to make sure it’s the right firmness for you. I personally prefer a softer one. They can be warm.
• A good quality (read expensive), goose down, feather pillow can be quite nice
• Before you shop, decide what’s wrong with your present pillow. Is it too hard or soft? Too low or high? Is it too hot? Does it push into your neck?
• If you stay in a hotel with a comfortable pillow, ask housekeeping if you can buy one from them or where you could get one.
• Buy a pillow where they sell beds and lie on it for 15 minutes. How does it feel?
• If you think your pillow is too flat, fold a towel and put it in your pillow case under your pillow. Does that help?
• A lot of what’s sold is gimmicky. Be careful or you’ll wind up with a closet full of slightly used pillows.

As I said, pillows are quite a personal item. I hope this at least gets you started and good luck on your search..