Marin Movement Center Blog

…sounds like martial arts… indeed, this is one of the keys of all martial art practices. Dr. Feldenkrais himself was a judo master and had a black belt when opening the first judo school in Paris. Much about the science of movement he has learned from the martial arts.

The word “power” is from the 13th century; it’s general meaning is the ability to act or produce an effect (Webster).

In our world, power is associated with wealth, physical strength, power over others in leading positions, power food and drinks, “power naps’, powerful cars, sexual power, powerful drugs and so on.

In regards to our physical bodies, what does powerful truly mean? Absurdly enough, what we teach in Feldenkrais classes are subtle and gentle movements. How boring this must be?! May be a good set up for a nap or day dreaming? Well, in all his research, Dr. Feldenkrais had found that most of us move with too much effort and force, therefore diminishing power. When testing actual muscular tension associated with simple activities, Dr. Feldenkrais had discovered that our movements become less efficient, less smooth, more robotlike and thus less fluid.

See for yourself: sit or stand and reach for an object (such as a book) and lift it up. Notice how much effort you are using. Are your shoulders, neck or jaw tense? Does it seem like you effort too much? Now make it even more effortful: clench your teeth, tighten your abs and repeat the same movement. Notice the tension in your entire body.
Now take a full breath and intend to reach and lift with as little effort as possible. Notice the difference.

Moving with extra muscular effort, even minimally increased over days, weeks, months or a life time, has its toll on our bodies: we fatigue faster, are more prone to injury, become disconnected with ourselves. And we lack energies, zest for life and creativity.

This explains most of the chronic pain conditions: neck and back injuries, carpal tunnel, plantar fascitis, rotator cuff injuries and many more. Our organs suffer too when too much effort is exerted. Fast eating causes digestive problems, lack of rests during the day causes insomia. Just imagine all the medications prescribed for symptoms whose sources can be controlled in shifting our life styles!

Does powerful mean tense, hectic, fast, effortful or forceful? Obviously not! We want to re-create balance and ease in all we do in order to prevent illness and pain. This includes workouts in the gym, on the tennis court, during vacuuming, or while sitting at the computer. What we can learn through the Feldenkrais method is how to “awaken” the small, subtle, delicate movements. They are the foundation for the larger and faster ones that are needed when playing high speed or impact sports such as basketball or swimming a race. Once restoring awareness of those foundational movements, we can move more efficiently, with greater precision and less effort. This is what makes us faster, stonger and more POWERFUL.

Marion Kregeloh is a physical therapist and Feldenkrais practitioner. For more information, you can call her at 415-461-7528

Have you ever heard comments like “you will have to live with this pain for the rest of your life” or “sorry, you will never walk again”………and on and on it goes.

May be you were never told any of those gloomy predictions but you may know someone who was. In my own practice as a physical therapist I have met countless people with stories like that and many of them have proven the world otherwise. Their belief, determination and will power has created change with a healing capacity much beyond their told prognosis.
Neuroscientific research over the recent years has shown that our brain can change and adapt to trauma. The “old” belief, for over 400 years, was that the brain is fixed and no change through life possible. This meant that any injury to the brain could not be healed,ever!

Thanks to the revolutionary discovery we now know that the brain can change itself, not through surgery or medication, but through thought and activity. What does that mean for our lives? In short: we can learn, grow, change at any age and at any point of our life. Habits and patterns that most of us have developed and live by, reduce our capacity for a more full life experience: we can not only create new patterns of thought and emotion, we can also undo old ones, that are not suiting us any longer. Such as limiting self beliefs. We can train an injured person to use the body more fully again, help someone to build trust and confidence, move against the so familiar pattern just because “this is how I was brought up”.

Through communication with our brains, we can almost achieve anything. Pretty cool. Why have we not all achieved our dreams and greatest wishes yet? Well, most likely because somewhere in our belief system, we have not ever identified ourselves with the possibility that we can achieve that what we truly want.

How can I change and get closer to my goals? While I am not a psychologist or brain scientist, I have read much about brain plasticity and am absolutely fascinated with it. And I have worked with many people over the years that have recovered well above anyone’s expectations. One advice experts give is to begin attending to yourself. Notice your thoughts and see how they may be limiting you. Once you are more familiar with your own thought pattern, it becomes more clear why certain things are the way they are. May be you never thought of yourself having the ability to get your dream job. Or that you could paint! (my own personal “old” belief). Once aware, you can begin to change your thoughts. Each time the old one shows up, replace it with the new one. As a Feldenkrais practitioner I am right in the center of this exciting scientifc discovery: in the Feldenkrais work, we teach people to pay attention to their movements, listen to the quality and sensations. Why? The brain wants to grow and change. When we move (and think) in the same ways over and over again, we do not create new connections in the brain. Through attending to our movements, we create awareness; as we invite new ways of moving, our brain makes new connections. Just imagine, billions of neurons that can create new connections. At any age and time. How can I create new connections in my brain each day? Do some things different to introduce new brain connections: brush your teeth with the opposite hand, play the piano while standing up, look into the sky with your head upside down, walk on the other side of the street, smile to your unfriendly neighbor, have an “opposite kind of a day”………….and come to a Feldenkrais class, for a change.

Have you ever experienced pain and swelling in the heel and/or bottom of your foot? Or intense pain with the first steps when getting out of bed or after getting up from a chair?

Plantar fascitis is an inflammation of the fascia of the foot. The fascia is a fibrous band which connects the heel with the back of the five toes. It acts as a shock absorber and supports the arch of the foot.

Certain factors can contribute to the onset and they usually work in combination:
1. Overload: Running, especially long distance, high impact aerobics, sudden triggers such as lifting or moving heavy objects.

2. Faulty alignment of the foot such as excessive arch or lack of arch, pronated or supinated foot and other foot conditions that cause imbalanced weight distribution with walking, sagging of arch common in middle age

3. Arthritis

4. Diabetes

5. Tight foot and calf muscles

6. Unhealthy training habits such as lack of warm-up, running or jumping too much or too soon

7. Weakness of the foot

8. Shoes that don’t fit, such as lack of arch support and/or cushioning (thin sole), too high heels

9. Overweight

10. Pregnancy

11. Prolonged standing on hard floors

Plantar fascitis most often develops gradually but can come on suddenly and be severe, usually it affects one foot at a time.

What can you do? Most important is the beginning of treatment with first symptoms. As you begin to experience heel pain or pain in the bottom of your foot, find out if any of above mentioned risk factors apply to you. If left untreated, problems can become more severe and recovery time can take up to 18 months or longer; some people have chronic problems. I recommend to consult your physician and get a referral to a physical therapist.
Change your work-out regimes as needed. Talk to your trainer or physical therapist about how to reduce impact on your foot.

Apply ice after each work-out; either with an ice pack or ice bath for 15 minutes.

Gentle massaging of the bottom of the foot including the heel before getting out of bed.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or aspirin (consult with your doctor if you have not used any before).

Wear proper shoes or insoles.

Learn correct foot and leg stretches.

Emphasize warm-up and improve your work-out pace.
Watch your weight.

Avoid prolonged standing.

Consider Feldenkrais exercises to learn to move easier, effortless and more balanced with more even distributed weight.

Should symptoms be more severe you may be in need for a night splint to allow the fascia to relax over night and custom fit orthotics to help distribute pressure to the feet evenly.(different devices are available, your health practitioner can inform you about possible options).

Wishing you healthy feet!!

Contact Marion Kregeloh, PT, CFP for more information at 415-461-7528.

One out of every four sports injuries affects the knee. Knees are under a lot of stress when you are running, skiing, dancing or gardening. Climbing stairs may put pressure on the knee equal three to four times the body weight. Our knees are essential for walking, climbing and kicking. In order to be stable the knee depends almost entirely on soft tissue: ligaments, tendons and muscles. Multiple factors subject the knee to injuries: imbalance in thigh muscles (quadriceps and hamstrings), ankle- foot imbalances (pronation and supination), weight, posture and movement habits and angle of thigh bone (hip to knee).

Women have a few disadvantages that are the reason for a higher injury rate among female athletes: smaller and weaker muscles that support the knee, wider pelvis with a sharper angle of the femur (thigh bone) to the knee, weaker hamstring muscles and hormonal changes (have an impact on ligaments and connective tissue). All these criteria make women’s knees more unstable. Women are likely to injure the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) two to eight times more than men in the same sports. They are also more likely to develop chondromalacia (“runner’s knee”).

Here are some important tips that can help reduce the risk of knee injury:

1. If you have pain in the anterior part of the knee, most often associated with patello-femoral pain or chondromalacia, it is absolutely important to avoid stairs and sitting with the knee flexed for prolonged periods of time. If the left knee is affected, avoid driving a car with clutch for longer periods of time. Avoid any pain in the knee with exercising.

To heal patellofemoral joint pain, the most important strategy is to unload the knee joint and avoid heavy impact activities. The combination of a careful exercise approach wiht anti-inflammatory medication, is best in most cases and often makes surgery unnecessary (D. Scott Dye: “pathophysiology causing patellofemoral pain”)

2.Strengthening hamstrings and quadriceps (especially vastus medialis) muscles: you can perform the following exercises: straight leg raise while lying on your back and standing hamstring curl. Eccentric strengthening of the quadriceps is especially important for the anterior knee pain: it provides proper energy and shock absorption under functional load. (Wojtys EM). Example: partial lunges.

3. Stretching tight hamstring muscles.

4. Maintain balanced crouched position during sports (especially women who tend to be more upright due to quadriceps dominance) to build hamstrings and reduce risk of ACL injury.

5. Plyometric training (when no knee pain is present) in order to prepare the muscles and ligaments to respond quickly to force (for example jumping activities). Consult your physical therapist or trainer.

6. Address ankle foot imbalances: such as flat foot, pronated foot, knock-knees. Get professional advice from your physical therapist or other expert.

7.Lose weight if you are overweight to avoid excess weight on the knee joint.

8.Wear proper foot wear that supports your foot and fits well.

9.Avoid: downhill running, deep lounges and full squatts, cycling with the seat low and in high gear, leg extensions with locked knees and heavy weights, exercising on hard surfaces, large steps on stairs and high heels.

10. If you have knee problems resulting from sports or other activities, get professional advice.

You can contact Marion Kregeloh, PT, CFP at Ext. 36 for further advice.