Balance Integrative Bodywork

Category: Blog

  • Your Body’s Balancing Act: The Bird Dog

    Your Body’s Balancing Act: The Bird Dog

    I see lower back pain almost every day in the clinic.

    In fact, around 1 in 6 Australians were reported to have chronic back problems in 2014–15. I’ve been one of them, so I know that cycle of guarding and worrying. 

    There’s a great Aussie pain scientist named Lorimer Moseley who talks about how pain can be the body’s protective response.

    When my back was at its worst, the mental weight of it made the physical tightness feel so much sharper.

    But we can actually work on building confidence in movement. We can do a lot before giving up, and for me, it starts with building confidence in my stability.

    Why the Bird Dog?

    It’s not about getting a six-pack, but it is a great way to challenge your core and trunk stability. Instead of crunching, your muscles are working quietly to keep you stable while your arms and legs move.

    The Bird Dog teaches the body to coordinate the upper and lower body through a diagonal pattern. When you reach your opposite arm and leg, your trunk has to work to keep your pelvis and spine controlled.

    For me, that’s the interesting part: your limbs are moving while your middle stays relatively quiet.

    How to set it up:

    Get on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Think of your back as a sturdy, level tabletop.

    • 1. The Arms: Make a fist and reach one arm forward, roughly level with your shoulder. Keep your torso from rotating or leaning as you reach. Bring it back and try the other side.
    • 2. The Legs: Slide one foot back and reach the leg away from you, keeping your hips level. Think about lengthening through the heel rather than lifting the leg as high as possible.
    • 3. The Reach: If you feel steady, join the two movements together and reach the opposite arm and leg at the same time.

    The Priority

    Your only job here is to imagine a level bowl of water resting on your lower back and move your limbs without spilling a single drop.

    The movement should come mainly from the hips and shoulders while your middle stays controlled.

    If you feel a wobble, just make the movement smaller. A tiny, controlled reach is way better than a big, clunky one.

    And watch that you don’t lift your heel too high towards the ceiling. The goal isn’t to get your leg as high as possible — it’s to maintain control through your pelvis and lower back while you move.

    It’s a simple move, but it’s one of my favourites for getting the whole body communicating as a single unit again.

    If you are dealing with that frustrating cycle of back pain and stiffness, sometimes your body needs a bit of hands-on help to break the cycle.

    In a remedial massage session, we can look at how your body is moving, identify areas where muscles are holding tension, and work with those areas.

    It can be a great way to ease discomfort and help you feel more comfortable getting down on the floor and working on these stability movements.

    Feel free to book a treatment at the clinic — I’d love to help you get your body moving comfortably again.

    Book Alysha
  • Are you taking advantage of your body’s most powerful regenerative tool?

    Are you taking advantage of your body’s most powerful regenerative tool?

    Sleep.

    Over the last month, I’ve noticed a common theme coming up in conversations with clients — a lot of us aren’t sleeping particularly well.

    Mentally and physically, we can struggle with poor sleep. Add chronic pain, injury, inflammation or stress into the mix and we can create a vicious cycle.

    Your body releases a significant amount of growth hormone during deep sleep, which plays an important role in tissue growth and repair. Sleep is also important for recovery, immune function, memory and regulating many of the body’s systems.

    I’ve noticed that when sleep improves for some of my clients, so do some of their major symptoms.

    So why not take advantage of it?

    Here are a few things I’ve experimented with that have helped me improve my own sleep:

    • Blackout blinds – Create a dark environment. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland and its release is strongly influenced by darkness. I try to block out as much unnecessary light as possible, including lights from devices and TVs.
    • Morning light – Get outside in the morning. Natural light is one of the strongest signals for your circadian rhythm and can help keep your body clock aligned with the day-night cycle. A morning walk is an easy way to do this.
    • Dim the lights at night – Have you noticed how many houses are lit up like a hospital at night? Bright light in the evening can interfere with the body’s natural preparation for sleep. I personally like using warm, dim or red lighting in the evening. You don’t necessarily need red lights — the important part is reducing bright light as you get closer to bed.
    • Food – I try to avoid having a big meal right before bed. Everyone is different, but eating heavily late at night can make it harder to sleep, particularly if you experience digestive discomfort or reflux.
    • Let the mind rest – This one is probably the hardest. No phones, work or stressful activities right before bed if you can help it. Instead, try reading, relaxing, meditating, journaling, spending time with a loved one or simply winding down for the day.

    What about supplements?

    This is where I’ll add a disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or dietitian, and I’m not recommending supplements. I’m simply sharing my own experience and things clients have told me they’ve experienced.

    • Magnesium – I’ve experimented with magnesium myself and, interestingly, I found it stimulating rather than calming. Some people report the opposite.
    • Glycine – I’ve also experimented with glycine and personally found it helped me fall asleep faster and improved my sleep quality.

    If you’re considering supplements, especially if you’re taking medication or have an existing health condition, speak with your doctor.

    • Sauna – I’ve also found a sauna in the evening interesting for winding down. There is some evidence that passive heating before bed may help with sleep, although the research is still developing.

    And finally… bodywork.

    Most of my clients report that they sleep much better after their sessions 😉

    I can’t say that bodywork causes better sleep, but I find it interesting how often people tell me they feel more relaxed and sleep better after treatment.

    Maybe we’re all just looking for the same thing:

    Give the body the opportunity to recover, and see what happens.

    Thanks for reading,

    – Lewis

    Book Lewis