You take over 8 MILLION breaths in a day. You hardly ever think about them. Thank goodness for that, because if you had to think about every breath, you wouldn't have the capacity for much else. If you break down the mechanics of breathing you begin to realize there is a lot going on. In...

It has been said that you are only as young as your spine is flexible. I think there is some truth to that. A flexible spine allows you to be more balanced, move more easily, and even breathe more fully. It is difficult to maintain spine flexibility because we rarely get the opportunity to...

Turning in bed can be painful or challenging for people with arthritis in their low back or hips, but it doesn't have to be. If you use the correct body mechanics, you can take the stress off your joints and easily get in and out of bed. When you learn to roll rather than lift your body you let...

Getting up and down from the floor can be quite challenging when you have arthritis. Previous videos have shown how you can do this on your own. If you are looking for an even easier way you only need a step stool for easy and pain-free trips from the ground. 

Getting up and down is a lot...

How good are you at activating your butt muscles (gluteal muscles)? When people think about muscles they most often think in terms of how strong or weak they are. In many cases improving your ability to control your muscles is more important than making them stronger. Your ability to activate...

Make a double chin! No thank you. I often hear this misguided piece of advice as a posture correction tip, even from other physical therapists. First of all, it's just unflattering, no one wants to walk around forcing a double chin. Good posture will make you look better, not worse. Secondly, it...

FREE YOUR BLADES! The shoulder is made up of two bones, your humerus (upper arm) and your scapula (shoulder blade). To have a healthy movement pattern in the shoulder there has to be a specific and coordinated sequence of movement between the two. It is very common for people to take on a pattern...

Your ability to control a pelvic tilt will inform how you stand, sit, walk, climb stairs, and even sleep. The pelvis is the connection between the spine and the legs and as such, its position will determine how well you can engage the muscles in your thighs, hips, and trunk. When you lose the...

Rounded shoulders are a common postural issue more prevalent today than ever. Long periods of sitting and scrolling on the phone keep us in forward positions for long periods of time and our body starts to adapt to them. This type of postural stiffness can cause shoulder pain, neck pain, and even...

We all spend a lot of time sitting. Be it on a couch or at a desk over a computer screen this position causes your head to migrate forward in front of your shoulders. When that happens you are forced to look up using only the upper neck while the lower neck bends forward in the opposite...

The bridge is one of the most common exercises performed by people with arthritis, and for good reason. Bridging exercises are an effective way to improve strength in the gluteal (butt muscles) and flexibility in the hips and are easy on the joints. However, when I watch people perform bridges...

Strengthening your core muscles will help to stabilize your spine preventing pain and injury. Common core exercises require you to get on the floor and require maximal muscle engagement, however, effective spine stability is more about coordinating muscles to control your body rather than...

The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body and requires adequate muscle strength, flexibility, and coordination to remain healthy. If any of these things are lacking the shoulder can operate inefficiently causing the rotator cuff to shut down and further arthritis pain. These 3 simple...

Throughout the night, immobility and dehydration deplete the synovial fluid in your joints making them feel stiff and uncomfortable. Synovial fluid is a thick liquid located in your joints cushioning the ends of your bones and reducing friction when you move. Arthritic joints are very...

Putting on shoes and socks can be pretty difficult if you have arthritis in the hips, knees, or low back. It requires flexibility in your joints and a certain amount of coordination of your muscles to easily cross one leg over the other. This exercise teaches you how to maximize your ability to...

Your sleep position can greatly impact how you feel in the mornings. You may be habitually adopting positions that put a low-level strain on your joints. When you maintain that strain over hours you end up with pain and stiffness in your joints, especially if you have arthritis. Whether you...

The forearm is made up of over 20 different muscles. Many of those muscles start at the elbow and travel all the way to the fingers. Stiffness in the fingers, wrist, or elbow could possibly come from inflexibility or irritation of the forearm muscles. These muscles are divided into two groups,...

Healthy walking requires you have the ability to safely and comfortably stand on one leg. In fact, while walking many people have both feet on the ground only 20% of the time. Many issues people have with walking come from a lack of balance or confidence when shifting all of their weight to one...

Your posture plays a large role in how you use your muscles and how much strain you put through your joints. It is common for the shoulders and the hips to become offset from one another in what is known as a lateral shift. This shift happens slowly over time and most people do not even realize...

If you have a chronically stiff neck or just occasionally wake up with a crick in your neck this is the video for you. In this video, you will train yourself to tilt and turn your head with less muscle strain and learn to use all of your spine... not just your neck. This series is gentle enough...

You could be getting out of chairs more easily and with less pain. With a few changes to your form, you can get up more efficiently and with less pain and strain in your knees, hips, and low back. You will identify where your center of gravity is and how to balance over your feet when rising....

The posture you adopt has a significant impact on how you move and how you use your body. It determines what muscles and joints become stiff, or loose, and what muscles become active or inactive or even overactive (persistent knots or spasms). 

In this video, I demonstrate a quick and simple...

The Sacro Iliac (SI) joint is the connection between your legs and your spine. If you can feel the 2 bony prominences at either side of the lowest part of your back, that is where the SI lives. Its job is to allow forces to flow seamlessly from your legs to your body for stability while standing...

Reaching overhead is a highly complex movement. It requires harmonious coordination of strength and flexibility in the shoulders, shoulder blades, upper back, ribs, chest, and collar bones. The better you are at putting all of these pieces together the easier it will be to get your arms up over...