Dedham Health

Dedham Health and Athletic Complex

Phone: 781-326-2900

The Importance of Strengthening Your Core

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back pain, how to prevent back pain, exercises to prevent back pain,

Raise your hand if you suffer or have suffered from back pain.

There’s probably quite a few of you that can say they fall into this category. Especially as we age, this pain only seems to get worse, am I right? The culprit to this annoyance many of us experience may be a direct result of a weak core. A strong rectus abdominis as well as transverse abdominis are two staple parts of the human core. These muscles, running from below your sternum down to your waist, are vital to performing everyday activities. These muscles allow us to bend over and stand up while protecting your back. They work together with other core muscles to assist with posture.

Just as abs work to protect your back, back muscles support your abs to make things like sitting up right at your desk or bending down to tie your shoe possible.

Building up core strength reaps with benefits. Aside from some I just said, building a strong core will make day to day activities easier for the rest of your life. Oblique muscles, running down each side of your torso from your ribs to your waist make day to day functions possible, such as twisting and bending. These muscles are key when it comes to swinging the golf ball or playing tennis. The list of benefits for a strong core are endless. In order to continue to do the activities that we love, for as long as we can, it is important to be mindful of the muscles needed to make these things happen, and to continue to train these muscles on a weekly basis.

-Taylor St. Cyr, Exercise Physiologist at Dedham Health

Taking a Swing at Better Heart Health

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We all know that tennis is a popular indoor and outdoor sporting activity for people of all ages. Watching tennis on TV can be entertaining, but it is more beneficial to pick up a racket and start playing whether it’s for recreational or competitive purposes. Studies show that people who participate in tennis can improve their heart health, which may decrease their risk of stroke, heart attack or early death.

Tennis provides an excellent total body workout. A total body workout can make the heart work harder and more efficiently. Remember, the heart itself is a muscle, so working the heart just like any muscle in our bodies can become strengthened overtime with better function.

What’s great about tennis is that you can go at your own pace and adjust to your own level of exertion. Tennis in general incorporates frequent short bursts of high intensity, along with longer periods of less intense movements. This workout strategy is similar to interval training, which is a form of aerobic training. Studies done at Harvard University show that this type of training can be associated with lower body fat percentage and improved cholesterol levels. This overall can help boost cardiovascular fitness.

Tennis also has mental and social benefits that is linked to heart health. Tennis as a whole places demands on focus and strategy. This mindfulness may help ease stress, which also places less stress on the heart. Tennis can be played in a match of singles or doubles. For social purposes, a friendly match played with others can help strengthen your social network, overall enhancing mood, happiness and lowering stress.

Tennis is great form of exercise and activity. The more often people exercise and become active the more benefits they will reap. So get out on the court with some friends and take a swing to better heart health! Just keep moving and your heart will thank you in the long run!

-Tiki Walker, Exercise Physiologist at Dedham Health

The effects “sweet drinks” have on your brain

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We all know that sugary drinks are never a good thing, however sometimes we don’t know what is so “not good” about them. Tufts University recently just released an article about the effects sugary drinks have on your brain. Recent studies have shown that regularly drinking sugary beverages, such as soda or fruit drinks, is associated with signs of brain aging and declining memory. Sugary beverages are associated with metabolic diseases like heart disease, fatty liver and obesity. So, regardless of how they affect your brain, they are not healthy.

The best and safest option should and always will be water. Water is sometimes hard for people to drink because of its lack of taste. There are many ways you can naturally flavor your water to make it taste better or to your liking. Try flavoring your water with items such as cucumber, lemon, oranges, berries, mango slices, herbs, mint or even watermelon.

It is so important to stay hydrated, especially when exercising or during these hot summer months. Being hydrated regulates your body temperature, lubricates and repairs joints and transports nutrients and waste throughout the body. If you are dehydrated you are risking your performance and safety. The recommendation is half a gallon of water each day!

Treating Stress to Help Reduce Heart Disease Rates

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Living a healthier lifestyle is sometimes more than just regular exercise and healthy eating. In today’s fast paced lifestyle our brains are under increasing amounts of stress with: work, family, commuting, scheduling, chores, appointments, and an overabundance of news coverage and social media updates. The importance of incorporating a small amount of healthy stress release is just as important as exercises is to help keep your body healthy.

Studies continue to suggest the benefit of stress reduction techniques as a link to reduce and improve heart disease. A recent article from Harvard Medical School “Uncovering the link between emotional stress and heart disease” published in April 2017 offers more evidence that “treating stress reduces heart disease rates”

Learning stress management techniques and putting them into regular practice as a consistent part of your lifestyle can be daunting a first. Dedham Health & Athletic Complex offers an array of MIND BODY classes to teach beginners simple stretching, moderate movements, and meditation techniques. Our instructors have years of experience teaching first timers looking to improve their health and wellness. Especially beginners recovering from orthopedic injuries, cardiovascular events, or other physical limitations will greatly benefit from practicing Stress Management techniques on a regular basis.

Suggestions from The GROUP FITNESS FOR ALL SCHEDULE include:

Gentle Yoga

Simple Stretch

Tai Chi Flow

Beginner Mat Pilates

Beginner Slow Flow Yoga

-Robbie Goldman, Dedham Health & Athletic Complex Exercise Physiologist

TRIing to Relieve Pain

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Tri means three, so the triceps muscle is composed of 3 muscles, and bi means two, so the biceps is composed of 2 muscles. A small little fact, if you’re looking to get toned arms, you better get going on those TRIceps, as they take up more of the arm than the BIceps. While the biceps can cause some anterior shoulder pain as it acts as a primary stabilizer for the shoulder when you’re out to the side, the triceps can also be a source of pain and this is where the blog post will be focused today.

The three muscles: lateral, medial, and long head, encompass the back of the arm. The long head of the triceps inserts into the back portion of the shoulder and shoulder blade and has fascia connections (interlinking) with the teres minor and rhomboid muscles. What this means is that when one isn’t working, the other most likely isn’t either. In patients who do a lot of overhead work, it is common for the long head of the triceps, which helps stabilize the shoulder joint and prevent displacement of the shoulder joint down and back, to be underdeveloped. This underdevelopment means that something else is working more, most likely the medial head of the triceps, which is closest in placement. Therefore, you find a lot of tightness in the medial head of the triceps and poor muscle girth in the long head of the triceps. This can lead to posterior impingement of the shoulder joint, as the triceps isn’t doing the work to stabilize the joint.

What do we do for these patients? It is important to get the fascial link, the muscles that are interconnected into each other, working properly and with good control and coordination. The muscles of the shoulder blade must work to help open up the spaces within the shoulder joint to prevent any type of impingement in the shoulder. You’ll find that most of these patients have dominant posterior deltoids that initiation the shoulder extension/retraction movement instead of the scapular retractors. Isolate these retraction muscles and you’ll be amazed at how fatiguing it can be for these patients. Initiating with the rhomboids will provide neurological overflow to get the long head of the triceps to kick on to help extend and adduct the shoulder joint. Use these tips if you’re TRIing to relieve pain, and you’ll be amaze at how easily you’re able to move that shoulder joint!

– Meghan J., Physical Therapist at Dedham Health

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