43. Transforming Life Through Posture: Exploring the Brain-Body Connection for Better Health

Can your posture really transform your quality of life? Join us as Dr. Michalis Aristodemou shares his innovative insights on how a harmonious relationship between the brain and body can do just that. He sheds light on how our bodies adapt to everyday positions and offers strategies to counteract the negative effects of our habitual postures. By emphasizing mindful, slow movements and the importance of warming up, he reveals how small changes can lead to lasting improvements in posture and overall well-being.

Chapters

0:00 Improving Quality of Life Through Posture

10:05 Body Retraining Through Breathing and Movement

17:57 Understanding and Treating Chronic Back Pain

31:43 Optimizing Knee Health and Breathing

42:53 Finding Health and Wellness 

For more on about Dr. Michalis Aristodemou:

www.eastcoastft.com

+357 99267632

https://www.instagram.com/mikeacy?igsh=MXB4amM1YmV0eHB2ZQ==

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Transcript

Improving Quality of Life Through Posture

Speaker 1 0:00

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Midweek Insights. Today's episode is all about improving the quality of life through better posture, spine health and recovery from chronic injuries. Joining me today is Dr Michalis Aristodimou, known as Dr Mike on Instagram. He's a doctor of physical therapy who is dedicated to helping people regain their function, to reduce pain and to achieve their wellness goals. Dr Aristodimou's philosophy is really inspiring. His approach is centered around retraining the brain to work alongside the body, and he uses advanced technologies and practices to address injuries and to help restore function. His focus is on treating the individual, not just the injury, and he's all about educating his patients on why their injuries happen and tackling the root causes head on. With his very patient-centered care, he maximizes recovery and well-being, and he's all about helping people make real, lasting improvements. Today, we're going to explore this a little deeper. Talk about his approach and he's going to share with us some actionable steps to take, so let's dig right in and get started.

Speaker 2 1:09

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 1:10

Can we start with you telling us about what your work includes and how this is different from traditional physical therapists? Someone might visit.

Speaker 2 1:21

Of course. So basically, in the world of physical therapy it's all about movement. So what we care about is how a person's the ability of one individual to move and execute daily tasks. What I often see is that people are unable to distinguish of black and white or position one and position two, so they often get locked, let's say locked in one position due to their daily habits or daily lifestyle. For example and I'll give an example of somebody who works at a desk their body is going to adapt in that position and then, because if you do something that takes, let's say, eight hours of your day, your body will naturally adapt on that activity that you do. And when you are going to perform other daily tasks, the activity that you did for eight hours straight is going to affect the rest of your activities. It's very likely and it doesn't matter if you are a desk worker or if you are a soccer player, your body will adapt. Layer, your body will adapt. So the goal in physical therapy is, if you have chronic injuries, to take that into consideration in therapy and then teach that individual how to manage its symptoms right, compared to just give exercises to promote strengthening of the body in general.

Speaker 2 3:08

But what often happens is that the strengthening that happens in the body does not really teach the individual to shift out from positions or to increase the awareness of the body, and we often strengthen the individual in the, let's say, in a position that is already stuck in.

Speaker 2 3:29

So if somebody is having a hunched type of a posture, right, because they spend a lot of time on on a desk working and then they will go to the gym to strengthen their back muscles, right, but that in theory, that will strengthen the back muscles, will pull the shoulder blades and the spine backwards.

Speaker 2 3:55

But that is not often the case, because if you do not have access to that range, so meaning if you don't actually go to that range, so meaning if you don't actually go to that range, feel what it's like to be in an extended type of a posture and then shift out of that posture again, then go from a hunched type of a posture to an extended type of a posture, an extended type of a posture, and then be able to control going from hunch to extension, which hunch is more of like a flexion type of a posture. So going from flexion to extension and then introduce the strengthening part, you'll be missing something from that sequence just to clarify we're stuck in some kind of movement and unless we break that away, and then retrain the right way.

Speaker 2 4:56

We won't be actually having exactly unless we are able to teach the body how to shift out of of our habits and then we're not able to actually cause a form of change. And this can happen to individuals that never trained their whole life, to individuals that are, like um, highly, highly active individuals like Because, if you really think about somebody who sits eight hours at a desk and somebody who's a professional marathon runner, both of these individuals do something for a prolonged period of time in one movement. A marathon runner adapts to going forward for long periods of time. Somebody who sits at the desk spends a lot of time sitting in front of a screen.

Speaker 1 5:53

So we almost shapeshift into these new positions right, our body becomes that right. So people are probably unaware that this has become default and that this step needs to happen. So what would you say to people that are unaware or that they are starting to feel uncomfortable? They don't know what they need to do? Point A to point B.

Speaker 2 6:14

So if, for example, you have if you have, let's say, somebody who works at the desk I'll take that as an example right who spends a lot of time sitting going to the gym, and right after work or before work, you need to be able to do a few things and that is right. Before the exercise, you need to spend a lot of time on warming up, but the warm up, instead of being this five minute quick type of a warm up, it should be five minutes of feeling right, Feeling the body. So I would advise them to do movements that are opposite of what they do throughout their day. For example, if you spend a lot of time looking straight, I would say, spend five minutes of warming up, looking up or back right, extending the back, with slow movements, not just quick movements that don't really allow the brain to feel and be aware of this position, and then you can go on and do the strengthening part.

Speaker 1 7:37

Yeah, I think a lot of people miss any kind of movement. We skip fast forward the warm-up. We think it's not that important, but we know it's important, but we don't give it the the. So you're saying really focus on that and get in tune with so start noticing this. So you also mentioned the brain part and I know that from looking at your posts and researching you that there's a huge emphasis on how you use the brain to reteach. Yeah, go into this a little bit more in detail. How does that work together?

Speaker 2 8:07

I want people really to realize that muscles are like the slaves of the brain. So I use that word a lot because I want to give the people the emphasis that muscles is not where we want to focus on if we want to cause a change, because muscles are going to do whatever the brain is going to tell them. So if, for example, you want to achieve a change to your body, you have to control the difference that comes from top to down and not from bottom up, meaning bottom up is the muscles and top down is from the brain to the muscles. So how do we cause this change? Is by this awareness. Like you have to think of what you want to do and feel your body into different positions. And usually this happens when you do this, when you do slow movements, because when you it's basically what I said before if you shift in and out fast from different positions, you don't actually own the positions, you just shift in and out very fast.

Speaker 1 9:30

So it sounds a bit like the kind of movement that you would do with, maybe like a Pilates practice or a little bit of yoga starting off, right when you're getting in tune with like feeling your body and movement. So how else do you focus on teaching the brain to be the master? Yeah, the muscle.

Body Retraining Through Breathing and Movement

Speaker 2 9:47

So some ways we can let people listening at home so, um, if let's say you have, um, let's say you have a, an individual, that again I'll stick to the example of somebody who spends a lot of time sitting at the desk. If you want to retrain your body into more of an extension, I would say to control the speed, I would say use the breathing in and out, so move your body during the exhalation process so as you exhale, for example, you can look and tilt the head up. So, as you exhale, you look up and then feel the posterior chain of the muscles posterior meaning the muscles in the back of the head engaging as you tilt your head up. Back of the head, engaging as you tilt your head up. Then, once you reach the end range position, meaning the position where you look all the way up, you should stay there and then inhale into that position, breathe in and then, when you exhale, you again slowly focus on looking straight, but at the same time as you look forward, you should keep feeling the muscles in the back.

Speaker 2 11:09

So a repetition will be like breathing in and then, as you exhale, you start to slowly look up while feeling the muscles on the back of the neck. Once you reach the top, you breathe in, you keep feeling the muscles in the back of the neck and then, as you slowly the top you breathe in, you keep feeling the muscles in the back of the neck and then, as you slowly look forward, you should start again feeling the muscles on the back of the neck lengthening. So it's going to be one process the muscles are going to be shortening and the rest is going to be lengthening.

Speaker 1 11:41

That's how you Exactly it's a lot to think about. I guess the first time but, I, think, the more you do it it becomes more automatic, and that's the goal. So just to repeat that, it's like a putting into a gear, so taking the breath before you make any movement and then with the outer movement, you slowly extend up, reach as far back, hold for a bit, feel it, and then again take your gear next gear in, breathe in exhale and move again right, and then we've got to keep doing this to practice.

Speaker 2 12:19

Maybe we can practice while we're sitting at a desk, for a few minutes Exactly and this is an example for a very simple movement, for example looking up, and this process obviously gets way more complicated with how complex the task is, for example, bending down, twisting. But that's why a physical therapist breaks down the movement into smaller movements and then, once the patient owns the smaller movements, then we get into the more complicated ones so of course they also listen to themselves in terms of what range?

Speaker 2 12:51

yes, of course, of course, all the way to where they come.

Speaker 1 12:54

Yeah which obviously the pain might stop them. So I wanted to ask also then, so coming into that a lot of people have a lot of back pain and spinal, so let's start with back pain and then also look at the importance of spine health and how we can support our spines. So yeah, with back pain and exactly so.

Speaker 2 13:10

Looking at the back, um, the the back is especially the lower back region is the control center of the upper body and the lower body. Now, it's the control center because, regardless of what you do even, for example, if you use your legs to move forward or if you sit at the desk and then you reach forward to pick things the back has to be working and it's going to be working constantly. Now what happens often is that the back becomes very dominant, so the back muscles become very dominant and thick and because of this constant use. So the key to address the low back region, chronic low back region is to be able to integrate the abdominal region, meaning the abs, which are on the front side of the body, and then the glute muscles. The glute muscles are the, basically the, the base of our spine.

Speaker 1 14:18

So the glute muscles are the base which is very surprising, right? You don't think that yeah?

Speaker 2 14:26

and the glute muscles. The reason, the reason the glute muscles are really important, is because they move the biggest joint of the whole body, meaning the um uh, the femoral bone, which is the biggest, the, and the acetabulum, which is the head, head of the femur which goes into the pelvis.

Speaker 1 14:49

So the it's the top part of the lower spine right, the beginning of the lower spine. No, no, no.

Speaker 2 14:57

It's basically your thigh bone. Let's just call it like that the thigh bone, your thigh bone, okay.

Speaker 1 15:01

Yeah, let's keep it. No problem, no problem, exactly yeah. The thigh bone, the thigh bone, oh, okay, yeah, let's keep it. No problem, no problem, exactly yeah, of course.

Speaker 2 15:07

So the reason the glutes are important is because what happens nowadays is that, since we shifted from walking a lot of time outside to spending a lot of time seated in front of a desk, whenever we sit the glute muscles become inactive and the shift goes back again onto the muscles of the spine.

Speaker 2 15:36

So a therapeutic intervention to treat the spine is where again we use the breathing, so inhaling and exhaling, because with every inhalation and exhalation is where again we use the breathing. So inhaling and exhaling, because with every inhalation and exhalation, whenever we go into a full exhalation, we will feel our abdominal muscles working. So as we exhale fully, we'll feel our abdominal muscles working. And then when we start shifting the, the hips forward and back while we sit or while we lay down, will cause a change in the spine without actually using the spine, because we use the hips, the hips, the hips attach that. That's the bottom part of the spine and um, whenever we use the hips in conjunction with with breathing, we'll um, we'll be able to integrate the abs, the spine and the glutes at the same time so it almost reminds me of this bridge movement you do when we, when we're lying on our back and we're lifting our bottoms and like sucking in the stomach right.

Speaker 1 16:48

So is that what we're doing here, to strengthen the back and the abdominal? Yes, exactly.

Understanding and Treating Chronic Back Pain

Speaker 2 16:53

So, as you do a movement like that, we take the bridge type of an exercise. That exercise teaches basically the glutes, the abdominals, to work together along with the spine. Now, from there it becomes more complicated if we start shifting in and out of positions, meaning like when we actually start moving the spine like left and right or bending forward and back. But that is a great way to start to teach the muscles of the back to calm down a little bit, because the body takes awareness of the glutes and the abdominals how can we protect the rest of our spine in terms of nutrition and daily things we can do to basically align it so we can have the best.

Speaker 2 17:57

So a healthy spine is the spine that is able to move in many different directions.

Speaker 2 18:04

A healthy spine many people confuse that a healthy spine is is the one that is like constantly uptight and the spine that is constantly straight. But that is not really true, and the reason is because the human spine is able to withstand a lot of forces left, right, rotational forces and the reason is because in between our spine we have the spinal discs. Each disc has collagen and collagen is strong when it's being absorbing forces. So a healthy spine is the one that is going to be able to have, on a daily basis, a twisting type of a movement, and I will combine it with breathing. So breathe in and exhale and twist to the left, to the right, forward, back, side to side, and it doesn't have to be a lot of repetitions. It could be like three repetitions from each of these movements that I just mentioned. But that's the key thing to own the range on all of these three movements in a controlled way, using the abs, using the back muscles, using the glute muscles throughout the movement.

Speaker 1 19:28

I like that you said it doesn't have to be a lot because it might put people off thinking they have to spend hours and hours working on reshaping the spine. You're saying, obviously, with the right support and right guidance, a few twists a day, maybe in the morning or the night before bed. Is that enough to help us strengthen?

Speaker 2 19:47

the spine, Of course, because if all you do is like sit in front of a desk and spend a lot of time just sitting there, sitting there and just not really moving your spine, your spine is going to adapt in that position. By adapting that position of not being able to, of not having twisting, bending, side bending, extending, then if you were to do these movements whenever you are done from work, you are going to be let's say, I'm not going to say at risk, but you will have more risk to get injured. That's because these movements are not happening on a daily basis, so it's easy to so that's why it's easy.

Speaker 2 20:28

Exactly, exactly, because it's not.

Speaker 1 20:31

Exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 20:32

Because your body will get caught off guard Right.

Speaker 1 20:39

Yeah, okay, it's like a bit of a shock. It's not used to this range. It's like what is this?

Speaker 2 20:43

And you'll see that a lot of people that have chronic pain will say you know, I went to tie my shoes or went to pick something uh from the, from the table, and I reached a little bit and then, um, the these spasms happened in my back right because it and it's it came out of a, a movement that is not really heavy to do. It's something that their body was capable of doing.

Speaker 2 21:11

That, um, and I find that it's got a shock exactly, and I find that one of the main reasons is what I just mentioned what if someone think, listening to the saying, I've had back pain most of my life?

Speaker 1 21:25

um, I don't think anything can help it what would you say to that person that you know?

Speaker 2 21:29

yeah. So usually and first of all, I'll say um, I never, I never blame a person who has, uh, chronic pain to to have that type of um, an approach or that type of a mentality on for their injury, because if they did not really find something that helped them, that's what they will think. Right, that's the first thing. Now the second thing that I will say to them is which I always say that to my patients is let's see what you actually did for your spine to not feel the pain, for your spine to not feel the pain. And usually what they will mention is that they did take some medication, they did take some massage type of sessions. They did have maybe passive forms of therapy, like electrical stimulation, ultrasound, heat, ice on their back, stuff like that.

Speaker 2 22:33

But all of these are passive interventions that they don't really teach their brain how to use their spine on a daily basis. So that's how their body gets stuck into that cycle of feeling good some days, but then, the moment they will start doing something a little bit more active, the pain is going to resurface again and then they'll do something positive and then it's going to become they'll get stuck in that vicious cycle. So to break that vicious cycle. Simple things as the ones that we did mention before, like the twisting, the bending forward, backwards, movements like that that are happening in conjunction with the abs, the abdominals and the glutes, can really help, because they shift, they unstuck the body from one position that it used to used to be yeah, these other treatments, like when you get this hot cold therapy, and all these other interventions.

Speaker 1 23:35

They're just treating the symptom more than going into exactly, changing exactly.

Speaker 2 23:42

And it's not like I'm against on on these treatments. I'm not against at all on any type of treatment, but there is a time and a place where will you do these things? Yes, of course. When is that? Let's say you have a surgery done right and your body is injured because the surgery is a controlled type of a trauma. Or let's say you have like a fall, your joints hurt and your muscles hurt. If you want to do something passive, just to make the pain go away because you do know what, what caused it, that is fine. You can do this type of passive treatments. But if you were to do um, if you don't really know what's causing it, uh, and then you did try this um, and then the pain stays on the same intensity, or sometimes it gets better and then it increases again, then you, your body, is letting you know that what you are doing is not really helping. So then it's time.

Speaker 2 24:46

Then it's time to pick for something else or do something a little bit different and break that cycle exactly, and yeah yeah, in a way yeah, and I always say any treatment that um lasts more than three weeks with no results is meant to fail. It's not, it's not, it's not going to really help. Because if for three weeks, exactly if for three weeks you do something and you don't really see a result, then uh yeah change the approach.

Speaker 1 25:22

Yeah, I think a lot of people just get stuck to that because they don't know that there's an alternative and it's just what is done right. So it's good to know there are other options. What have been some of the examples of cases that have come to you? Can you tell us some before and afters so maybe people can resonate with their stories?

Speaker 2 25:39

Yeah, usually the people that I do see are individuals who did go to many different physios through the yes type of insurance. They did go to many doctors, they did go to chiropractors, and usually I'm the last guy on the chain or I have the people that will see me on Instagram and then they'll book a session immediately. Now, what I did find that with the people that have chronic injuries and they did this whole cycle of going to physios, chiropractors, doctors they'll tell me that everybody says the same thing. They will say they will come in and they'll say that I did try everything and I'm not seeing an improvement, and I got stuck into this pain the last I don't know two years and I'm not seeing any improvement at all. And then, when I asked them what they did, they will. They will mention these passive uh therapies that I mentioned before maybe a few exercises for strengthening, but that's it. And they will try a lot of different types of medication and they may do these passive interventions. They will go to different healthcare providers and they will prescribe them either 1-2-3 or 3-2-1, maybe with a different order, but it's going to be the same thing at the end of the day. And then what we actually do is examine their posture, examine the way they move. We do that by taking pictures.

Speaker 2 27:18

So and I'll talk about a specific case that I have in my head this last week I had a guy who came in His case was exactly what I mentioned before and then he had a lot of low back pain on the left side I mentioned before, and then he had a lot of low back pain on the left side. Sometimes the pain was on the right side, but primarily, 90% of the case of the time, was on the left side, and everything he did did not really improve his symptoms. And basically what we did was take pictures from the back side and the front. And then I had I did, I filled a very short form basically I check where the hips are in level with the, with the spine and level with the shoulders, and then I see how his body is in static position and compare it with dynamic.

Speaker 2 28:08

A dynamic position, a dynamic position or dynamic movements are walking, squatting, bending, twisting, like things we do on a daily basis, things we should be able to do on a daily basis with no pain. So with these movements, all I saw was something that matched statically to dynamically and basically I saw his uh, his body was shifted to the left side and while he was standing and then, whenever he was squatting, twisting or walking, his body did not really move from the left side. So even when he was walking, he was going from left to the middle and then back to the left, but never to the right side. Or when he was squatting, he was going from left to the middle and then back to the left, but never to the right side. Or when he was squatting, he was squatting more to the left side. So it's not like we did anything crazy, but it was more of like to teach the body that the right side is here also. It's a little bit difficult to explain the the exercise, but it's without exactly.

Speaker 2 29:11

It's an exercise basically where you feel your right heel pushing into the on the floor while you stand and then the left leg is a little bit higher and we did a few repetitions like that and he was able to feel better when he was walking and when he was sitting as well. So, and that is only from one session, and again, it's not like I'm a magician and I treated his pain, it's just he. He did spend a lot of his time on the left side and the moment he shifted out a little bit from that position he did feel some relief it's almost like he was forced into this default again because of either some kind of injury, maybe, or yeah, of course, and discomfort, and then it just becomes your.

Speaker 2 29:57

That's why we also change our body shape changes right, exactly, yeah, and that became his new normal and this could take years to form, and it could also happen quite quickly yes, of course this shift of weight to one side or the other.

Speaker 1 30:11

But I think what, what the key thing you said there's maybe he making him aware, because he probably wasn't noticing it and you kind of analyzing his movements is part of you know what probably helps exactly that's really interesting. What else do people come to you with and have been how?

Speaker 2 30:28

I see patients with basically a wide variety of musculoskeletal injuries. Usually they are more on the chronic type side. I'll see chronic knee injuries, chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain, a lot of shoulders I've seen the last couple of months. So it depends. It's more of like the approach is still the same with all of them. It's basically built awareness.

Speaker 1 31:01

Each joint has its own difficulty, but yeah, but with something like knees, doesn't that affect, like when people can't put weight on their knees or they have a chronic knee injury? How can that actually be?

Optimizing Knee Health and Breathing

Speaker 2 31:15

yes, of course of course, because think about, of course, because think about that. The knee is like the middleman of the ankle and the hip. Now, if the, if the hip is not really, let's let's just call it dysfunctional, let's just call it misfunctioning, let's just call it like that, misfunctioning. Or the ankle is misfunctioning. What's going, the joint that's going to take the toll, is the knee, or maybe both, both and another part. That, um, I find that people miss a lot is when they think that the knee does flexes and extends, basically bends and straightens. Where the knee has a rotational component is almost never taught to patients, because the knee can be if it gets stuck into, for example, the shin bone, if it gets stuck into external rotation. I don't want to get into crazy biomechanics.

Speaker 1 32:34

Yeah, no technical. Yeah, I don't want to get into crazy biomechanics.

Speaker 2 32:36

Yeah, no technical. Yeah, I don't want to get into crazy biomechanics, but if the shin bone is constantly turned out when you flex the knee, so when you bend the knee, if it's constantly turned out and not turning in as you bend the knee, then it's very common to have either on the outside or the inside of the knee. Knee is complicated not as complicated as many people think, but it's one of the complicated joints in the body.

Speaker 1 33:06

So the message is it can be helped with everything else right. In what situations would you say no, can't help? Like where would you draw the line and say this is for something else and refer something to someone else?

Speaker 2 33:18

I will say that on top of my head I have two things.

Speaker 2 33:25

One is a case where a physical therapist should collaborate with another health care provider and the first thing that comes into my head is the psychosomatic type of injuries Meaning if it's very common for people who have either low back pain or have depression to have low back pain among with other type of aches or pain in their body.

Speaker 2 33:59

And we usually physical therapists, are usually good to distinguish that during the interview process because of the screening and the questions we ask. So if we do find such a case, we usually refer that individual to a psychologist as well for the psychologist to do an evaluation to see if they require further treatment. And then the other case that I will say that where we draw the line, let's say during with medical emergencies. For example, if we have, let's say, somebody with low back pain but they do have an aneurysm on their belly, an aneurysm can happen either at the aorta, at the top or at the bottom, and on their vessels and on their vessels. So if a vessel is close to be ruptured, it's going to send pain signals either in the abdominal region or the back. So if we pick something like that we avoid exercise for that moment and then we refer it to a medical practitioner. The same thing.

Speaker 1 35:07

That would have to be treated first right, Exactly exactly. And then could they come back after that's dealt with and we usually call this like the red flags. This is like a red flag so somebody who is listening, and they want to just do everything they can on a daily basis to protect themselves. Some top tips that we can walk away with?

Speaker 2 35:27

yeah, of course so the first thing the to be healthy. I consider these five tips. The first one is to have a good night's sleep. If you don't have a good night's sleep, whatever you do, whatever type of exercise you do, it's not really going to help. So the first thing is sleep. The second one is the diet. Maintain a good diet throughout the day. Third is drink a lot of water. I don't have it with the diet part because people, if they do the diet, they will forget the water part. So I emphasize that a lot to hydrate the body.

Speaker 2 36:05

The third is to have a lot of awareness onto the movement they want to do. For example, if they want to bend forward, they should be able to bend forward, not in a not blunt, not in a blunt way. Like as you bend forward, feel what's happening at the hip area, feel what's happening at the low back, feel what's happening at the upper back, like just in general. Feel the movement and not just do movements that are um, are in a random way. And the last part is strengthen that movement, like the first part is to be aware of the movement you want to do and then the last part is to also strengthen that movement that you are going to do either with more repetitions or slower repetitions, or even with with a weight so with the strengthening and the moving, it's that same thing you said before with you.

Speaker 2 37:08

Know breathe in and then breathe out as you do.

Speaker 1 37:11

Exactly right, exactly exactly whether it's neck or touching your toes or doing a side twist, exactly because breathing is part of.

Speaker 2 37:19

And again, breathing is highly, highly undervalued. The pressures that are distributed in our body when we breathe in and out are different, so we should be able to distinguish those, those pressures. Again, this is like a little bit more advanced, but most people can go by with just breathing in, and then, once they exhale all of the air they have in their lungs, they will feel that their abdominals will engage.

Speaker 1 37:49

And is there a correct way of breathing, because we hear a lot about through the nose out through the mouth, or is it in and out the nose? What is better for us?

Speaker 2 37:59

So I would say, what I do not, what am I kind of? I'm never against things, but I'm never against this. But this specific one I'm a little bit against. So this thing that they call belly breathing, so as as you breathe in through the nose and you push your, basically your, your belly goes out and towards, uh, you know, with no real sensation, so as you breathe in and the belly just bluntly goes away from the body, that is not really helpful for the body okay, what is?

Speaker 2 38:37

so what it is is breathing the nose, and as we breathe through the nose we should be able to feel the abs. If we don't, though when we do the exhalation part and the belly is going to be a little bit more tighter as you fully exhale then on the second breath, as you breathe in, you should be able to start to kind of like feel your abs being stretched as you breathe in. You should be able to start to kind of like feel your abs being stretched as you breathe in, and then on the third part of the exhalation, um, then the the belly is going to be drawn in and the abdominals will be a little bit more tight again I think a lot of people like me might find this a little challenging with this kind, without having someone to like show it right.

Speaker 2 39:22

So to simplify it again, if you could just exactly thank you and thank you for, and thank you for, um, uh, having me to clarify. So I would say the first part is to uh, fully exhale every single oxygen atom we have in our lungs. So the moment you fully exhale, it's very likely that you will feel your abdominals engage. Once you feel your abdominals, and yeah, yeah, full legs scale, exhale abdominals engaged.

Speaker 1 39:53

Do they feel tighter pulled in?

Speaker 2 39:55

rather than out. They will be full when I so instead of like yeah so pulled exhale and, yeah, anybody listening at home might want to try this at the same time. So exhale, pull in Exactly, and then while keeping the abdominals in and close to the spine. Breathe in and feel your abdominals being a little bit more stretched Right. Okay, I'm actually trying this and then on the next exhalation, the focus will be to pull the belly even closer to the spine and the abdominals to be even more engaged.

Speaker 1 40:33

Inhale. With the next inhale.

Speaker 2 40:34

You breathe in and then exhale fully, and as you fully exhale, your abdominals will be engaged.

Speaker 1 40:41

And then you hold the abdominals and then still holding, not, not releasing ah that way. That way you feel what's happening at the abdominal level by breathing in and exhaling a lot of this is counterintuitive and I'm sure, for a lot of people, for for me, like this, is something I would really have to keep retraining, for sure.

Speaker 2 41:05

And so one more thing, if there's something we haven't touched on that you think is a really important aspect of your work that you'd like to mention, no, I would say that we did cover most of the parts of how I do work and I really want to re-emphasize to people, whenever they feel their body stuck into a position, that there are healthcare providers out there that they can help. In Cyprus, we have really good physical therapies. We do have really good strength trainers, so they should really go out or Pilates instructor and they should go out there, find the one that can really help them.

Speaker 1 41:46

So, yeah, now that you said that quickly, are there any exercises you don't recommend that you feel a lot of people come to you with, I would say because you know there is no exercise that is bad, but there is.

Speaker 2 41:58

there are exercises that are more advanced for some individuals. So I would say if you feel unsafe to do an exercise, it's better not to do it. It's better not to do it and it's better to work your way on progressively to feel more comfortable to do that exercise. Because if you are not confident to do an exercise, chances are you you'll get injured exactly.

Speaker 1 42:27

That's brilliant. And do you have any parting thoughts for our listeners? If they take nothing away from this episode and you want them to hear that one thing, what will that one thing be?

Speaker 2 42:36

I will say move with awareness, yep.

Finding Health and Wellness on Instagram

Speaker 1 42:42

Thank you so much for today, for showing up for Midweek Insights and sharing so much about your work and all this valuable information which we have to listen back because there was so much to catch. If you'd like to hear more about Dr Michaly's work and how he can help you, first of all, he's on Instagram. I will attach all the notes in the show notes, but they can reach you on instagram is there, anywhere else we will add on instagram.

Speaker 1 43:04

It's fine, instagram is fine instagram is where I found you actually so thank you for tuning in in this episode. If it resonated, make sure you share and send a review. If something from this episode resonated especially, uh, remember it's the small changes that can make the big differences in how we feel and move every day. So thank you for tuning in again and thank you again thank you.

Speaker 2 43:25

Thank you highly appreciate.