Category: Good Posture

How to Fall Safely

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More than one out of every four people 65 or older falls each year. One out of five falls causes a serious injury such as broken bones or a head injury. Over 800,000 patients a year are hospitalized because of a fall injury. Each year at least 300,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures. These statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a concern for many of my water exercise class participants and for me. When I came across some articles on How to Fall Safely, I decided the information was worth passing on.

I found articles from several sources, including AARP, physical therapist blogs and wikiHow. The pictures in this Blog post come from wikiHow. The co-author of the post was Chris M. Matsko, MD.

Protect your head. Head injuries can be very serious. Make sure you prioritize protecting your head. Tuck your chin down to lower your head. If falling face first turn your head to the side. Use your arms for additional protection. Put them in front of your head if falling forwards or behind your head if falling backwards.

Turn as you fall. If you are falling either straight forward or straight backwards, try to turn your body so you land on your side. This reduces the risk of injuring your head, face, arms or back.

Keep arms and legs bent. It may be tempting to try and catch yourself with your arms. However, landing with your arms straight out can break your wrists and/or your arms.

Stay loose. Tensing up increases the chance of sustaining an injury. The tense parts of the body are more likely to break. Try breathing out as you fall to help keep your body relaxed.

Spread out the force of the fall. A big part of falling safely is to spread out the force of the impact over a large area of your body. This reduces the risk of a serious injury to a single part of the body.

Another suggestion is to roll out of the fall. This is difficult to do unless you have practiced beforehand. If you wish to learn the technique, you can ask a physical therapist to show you how, or practice falling and rolling in a gym with padded and cushioned floors.

Just as important as knowing how to fall is taking steps to prevent falls in the first place. Wear shoes with slip resistant soles. Pay attention when you walk. Be aware of uneven areas on the ground, curbs and stairs. Hold the hand rail when taking stairs. In the home, close drawers after you are done with them. Don’t leave cords in walkways. Keep the area well lit. Use non-slip bath mats. Remove small throw rugs.

Another way to reduce your risk of falling is to improve your strength and balance with exercise. The pool is the perfect place to work on both strength and balance. Because the water’s buoyancy and resistance helps support the body, exercises can be done without fear of falling. Options include the following:

Gait training. Gait training is walking practice. The goal is to lengthen the stride and improve confidence while walking.


Core Strength Training. Core strength training is training for the postural muscles of the trunk. This includes the Trapezius and Rhomboids, the Latissimus dorsi and the Erector spinae. Exercises to try are rowing, bowstring pull, and lat pull-down using the water’s resistance or drag equipment. Walking backward strengthens the Erector spinae.

Deep-Water Exercise. Deep-water exercise is performed, while wearing a flotation device, in water in which a person can remain vertical without the feet touching the floor. Exercisers must aggressively engage the stabilizing muscles of the core to remain upright.

Balance Challenges. Balance challenges are exercises performed with a narrow base of support, such as the feet together, one foot in front of the other, or standing on one foot. Slow movements are more challenging than fast ones.

Falling is scary, but learning how to fall and taking steps to prevent falls in the first place are things we can all do now to reduce the risk.

See you in the pool!

Chris Alexander

balance exercises / Benefits of water fitness / deep water / Fall Prevention / shallow water / water fitness

Why is good posture important in water exercise?

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I suppose my classes sometimes get tired of hearing all my cues for good posture, good alignment, good form. After all, the main thing is that they are moving, right? Well, yes and no. Moving is definitely better than being sedentary. But the quality of movement is important too. The terms good posture, good alignment and good form all mean that the spine is aligned in its natural curves.

When the spine is aligned, the bones are evenly spaced and the discs between the bones are not pinched in any way. Our spines are designed to be able to bend forward (forward flexion) or to the side (lateral flexion), but during exercise it is important to have the spine in alignment. This places the least amount of strain on the supporting muscles and ligaments. It allows us to use our muscles correctly so that we can increase intensity without risking an injury. Good form prevents muscle strain, overuse disorders and back pain. Keeping the bones and joints in correct alignment decreases the abnormal wearing of joint surfaces that could result in degenerative arthritis and joint pain.

If we exercise with poor posture we create muscle memory that makes poor posture feel normal and good posture becomes harder to achieve. No one intentionally wants to train for poor posture! Let’s take a look at some examples of common mistakes in alignment during water exercise.

This is the classic image of good form/bad form in deep-water running. The runner on the right (with the big red X) is leaning forward, streamlining his body so that the water hits his chest and slides down his abdomen. He can travel faster than the runner on the left who presents a larger surface area to the water’s resistance, which is probably why so many people adopt this form. But the front part of the discs in his spine are compressed and he is causing abnormal wear of his joint surfaces. The runner on the left is able to work harder, run with more power, without risk of an injury.

High knee jog

In this photo I am demonstrating another common running mistake, bringing the knees up too high. People who adopt this form are usually trying to increase intensity. But the spine is out of neutral and the high knees risk aggravating the sciatic nerve. Bring the upper leg up no higher than parallel to the floor. Another running mistake is bobbing from side to side. It may feel like you are working harder because there is so much movement going on, but you are compressing the sides of the discs. The best way to increase intensity is to maintain the entire trunk in neutral alignment and add power to the movement of the arms and legs.

High kick

Another mistake is trying to get the leg up too high in a high kick. You are aiming for your full range of motion in this exercise, but you do not want to push it beyond normal. If you try to get your toes out of the water you end up arching your back and taking your spine out of neutral.

Rocking horse

Another exercise that is often performed with an arched back is the rocking horse in shallow water. The exerciser should rock from the back foot to the front foot without taking the spine out of neutral alignment. Arching the back is not a safe way to increase intensity.

Inner thigh lift
Hopscotch

Mistakes are often made while performing the inner thigh lift and hopscotch. The exerciser tries to touch the ankle during the first exercise and the heel during the second one. If you can do that while maintaining neutral alignment, great! But if you have to bend forward to reach the ankle or lean to the side to reach the heel, then you are straining the muscles of the back. It is more important to keep the shoulders level. The purpose of the inner thigh lift is to work on hip flexibility and the purpose of the hopscotch is to work the hamstrings, and both objectives can be achieved without touching the ankle or the heel.

These are pictures of what not to do. For photos of the correct way to perform the exercises, see my books, Water Fitness Lesson Plans and Choreography and Water Fitness Progressions. 

See you in the pool!

Chris Alexander

Good Posture / pictures of water exercise / water fitness  

Water Fitness Progressions

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fullsizeoutput_1e57   I like my class participants. Over the years I’ve heard about their families, their pets, their challenges, and which of my playlists they like. They are more than just class participants, they are friends. I want them to get a good, safe, effective workout every time they come to my class. I don’t want to bore them with the same old routines. I want to challenge them to progress in their levels of fitness. I want to help them make their hearts stronger, to give them an opportunity to improve their muscular endurance, to challenge them mentally, and I want them to have fun doing it.

This means I have to keep learning. That’s why I attend conferences, workshops, and webinars and read water fitness books and articles. One of the things I’ve been looking for is a system for offering progressions. One system that I learned about is periodization. It’s a training tool used by athletes to help them be in the best possible shape during the most challenging season of their sport. Periodization divides the year into 4 seasons, Preseason, Transition Season, Peak Fitness Season and Active Recovery. Why not use this tool to train for the sport of daily living?

My experiments with periodization have become the basis for my new book, Water Fitness Progressions, which has just been published.

Chris Book Cover

Each season has its own focus. In the Preseason we focus on improving posture, performing the exercises with good form, increasing range of motion, doing low intensity intervals, and using the properties of water to create overload. In the Transition Season we improve the quality of our movement by paying attention to how the arms and legs move the water, increase interval training to moderate intensity, and add equipment to sessions of strength training. In Peak Fitness Season we focus on increasing power, performing high intensity interval training (HIIT) and using both concentric and eccentric muscle actions in our strength training with equipment. In Active Recovery we give our bodies a chance to repair any microtrauma that may have occurred during the previous months. We do light cardio-respiratory training, core strength training and have fun activities such as games or relay races to provide a mental break.

The book explains how to do all of this, complete with lesson plans. Each interval lesson plan has 3 versions, a low intensity version, a moderate intensity version and a high intensity (HIIT) version. There are strength training lesson plans using various properties of the water, using buoyant and drag equipment, and focusing on eccentric muscle actions. There is also a section of fun activities.

Thanks to the American College of Sports Medicine, the Aquatic Exercise Association, Pauline Ivens and Stephanie Thielen, who all provided some of the ideas used in this book. My special thanks goes to my water fitness classes, who are my inspiration. The book can be ordered from Human Kinetics (the publisher) or from Amazon.com. Just click on whichever source you wish to order from and the link will take you there.

See you in the pool!

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Chris Alexander

choreography / deep water / Good Posture / Pool equipment / shallow water / water fitness  

Exercises for Balance

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Every 14 seconds an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall. Every 29 minutes an older adult dies from a fall related injury. Fear of falling often causes an individual to shorten his/her stride, shuffle the feet, and bend forward to see where the feet are. Ironically, this increases the risk of falling.

It is important to know how to recover from a fall. First, ease yourself up onto your elbows. Move onto your hands and knees. Then hold onto a firm surface, such as a chair, to support yourself. Facing the chair ease yourself to a standing position. Turn yourself around and sit on the chair.

Balance is the ability to distribute your weight in a way that enables you to hold a steady position or move at will without falling. It is possible to improve balance with exercise, and in fact, balance training is one of the top 10 worldwide trends in the fitness industry. The pool is the perfect place to work on balance. Because the water’s buoyancy and resistance helps support the body, exercises can be done without fear of falling.

There are a number of strategies for improving balance. Some of them are:

  1. Gait Training. Gait training is walking practice with the goal of lengthening the stride and improving confidence while walking.
  2. Core Strength Training. The goal of core strength training is to improve the strength of the postural muscles of the trunk.
  3. Deep-Water Exercise. Deep water exercise is performed, while wearing a flotation device, in water in which a person can remain vertical without the feet touching the floor. Exercisers must aggressively engage the stabilizing muscles of the core to remain upright.
  4. Unpredictable Commands. Unpredictable commands train the body, and in particular the core muscles, to react to the unexpected.
  5. Balance Challenges. Balance challenges are performed with a narrow base of support, such as the feet together, one foot in front of the other or standing on one foot.

For specific exercises using each of these 5 strategies, you are invited to attend my lecture, Exercises for Balance, at the Bone Buddies osteoporosis support group on Saturday, May 14 at 9:45 AM. The meeting is free and open to the public. The location is the Methodist Richardson Medical Center, 2821 George Bush Hwy. Suite 200, Richardson, TX 75082.

Whether you wish to work on improving your own balance or you are an instructor interested in adding balance training to your water fitness class, there lots of exercises to choose from. I hope you’ll join us.

See you in the pool!

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balance exercises / Good Posture / water fitness

How to Train for Good Posture

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You can’t really be physically fit if you don’t have good posture. Therefore you have made a commitment to train for good posture in your water fitness class. Great! This may require you to rethink how you perform the exercises. You will need to be sure to keep your sternum lifted, your shoulders level, and your core braced so that you maintain your good posture no matter what exercise you are doing. Sometimes in your eagerness to increase intensity and burn calories you may inadvertently take your spine out of neutral alignment. Let’s take a look at some common exercises and see how this happens.  All of the photos show the exercises performed with bad form.

High knee jog

Knee High Jog.  This is a great exercise for increasing the heart rate and burning calories. But sometimes in your enthusiasm to increase intensity you may bring the knees too high, as in this picture, putting pressure on the low back and possibly aggravating the sciatic nerve. Bring the knees up just until the upper leg is parallel to the floor.

 

Leaning inner thigh lift

Inner Thigh Lift.  This exercise improves hip flexibility because you are moving the leg in a diagonal plane. You might decide to increase your range of motion by touching your ankle with your opposite hand. But if you have to bend forward to reach the ankle, as in this picture, you are taking your spine out of neutral. Better to touch the inner thigh or knee instead.

 

Leaning hopscotch

Hopscotch.  This exercise works the hamstrings. It is more important to maintain neutral alignment than to actually touch the heel with your opposite hand. If you have to bend to the side to reach the heel, as in this picture, then it is better to just swipe at the heel with your hand.

 

Too high kick

High Kick.  This is a long lever exercise so it takes more effort and burns more calories than its short lever cousin, the knee high jog. The goal here is not to get the foot out of the water though. If you find yourself leaning backward to get the leg higher, as in this picture, you are bringing the leg too high and taking the spine out of neutral.

 

Arching rocking horse

Rocking Horse.  This exercise works multiple leg muscles and also challenges balance because it takes the body off-axis. Watch out for an overly enthusiastic rocking motion though. Arching the back while shifting the weight to the back leg, as in this picture, puts a lot of stress on the low back.

 

Greater intensity levels can be achieved when the exercises are performed with good posture and the power is put into the arm and leg movements. You might be surprised at how hard you can work while keeping the sternum lifted, the shoulders level and the core braced.  See you in the pool!

Good Posture / water fitness   /