Priya Tew | Pilates with Priya

Posture, Breathing and Pelvic Floor Problems

13 October, 2016 Priya Tew

Your posture plays a huge role in helping your body work effectively and functionally. Many of those aches and pains can all be related to poor posture, which can seem obvious. What can seem less obvious is the relationship between your posture and a weak pelvic floor. Posture can affect your bladder control, prolapse issues and weak pelvic floor problems. So it’s vital to work on getting it right.

Try this out…Sit in a slumped position, with your shoulders rounded and your chest compressed. A fairly typical posture for those who sit alot, and often how we relax on the sofa! Now try to breathe deeply, you should find it is difficult to fill your lungs. In this slumped posture your abdominal contents become compressed and your diaphragm can’t move downwards, so instead of using your diaphragm effectively you use your upper chest muscles to help you breathe.

Slumped forward position and breathing with the upper chest muscles increase pressure on the pelvic floor. Not good. In this position your core muscles (including deep abdominal and pelvic floor) can’t effectively counter the increased pressure.

Guess what, sort out your posture and breathing and suddenly the core muscles start to work in the right way. Our bodies are built in an amazing way.

So start focusing on your posture, with a tall spine, shoulders down in the back, ribcage soft and not pushed out, tall neck and allow there to be space for your abdominals to work.

Next focus on the breath. You want to breath using the diaphragm. That may sound obvious as it is how our bodies are built to work, but so many of us do not breath correctly. It is called Diaphragmatic breathing or thoracic breathing. Some people breath with just their tummies, some people breath with just their ribcage. You want to use BOTH.

Try out this exercise:

Place 1 hand on the bottom of your ribcage and 1 hand on the side of your ribcage. Breathe in slowly and deeply so that you feel your tummy rise and your ribcage expand out to the side. You want to focus on breathing into the tummy and ribcage whilst keeping the upper chest muscles relaxed. Think of your lungs like balloons expanding out to the side of the body.

Breathe out by letting the rib cage fall back to resting and the tummy fall back down.

It takes practise and you may find it quite forced at first. Try practicing when you are relaxing or use it as a way to relax throughout the day and it will become habit.

Exercise 2: breath with a band:

Tie a band or a scarf round your body just below the ribcage. Sit with good posture, your ribcage over your pelvis. As you breath in feel your ribcage expanding into the band. As you breath out the ribcage decreases in size. The band can be a nice way to practice your breathing.

Pilates : the overspill

7 September, 2016 Priya Tew

Pilates isn’t just for the studio, the practise is meant to overspill into everyday life. If all you get out of it is a class that leaves you feeling you have worked hard, released tight areas, exhaled your stress and shifted your focus from life’s stress to your body, then that is good….. but you are missing the added bonus. Pilates is a discipline, so much like meditation or religion, it is meant to be practiced daily and to influence how you life your life. I’ve gone a bit deep there I know. So let’s unpack it a little.

The Pilates basics include breathing, core activation, control, concentration, precision and flow. All things we need everyday.

Breathing correctly can help relieve stress and intra-abdominal pressure. Just the act of breathing alone can release tension, reduce anxiety and strengthen your core.

Knowing how to use your core will make everyday movements safer and protect your lower back. For example lifting a heavy load. If you have a solid understanding of Pilates you will naturally exhale on the lifting phase, engage your core and lift with good posture. Thus protecting your back, keeping tension out of your neck and shoulders and using the power in your legs and bum.

Rotating with good technique using your obliques can prevent twinges in your back and tension in the shoulders. Squatting or lunging rather than bending will ensure you use the global leg and bum muscles and not puts strain on the lower back. All techniques you can learn in your Pilates class.

The concentration use in Pilates can be transferred into your work and home life. Being able to clear your mind and bring your focus to your body, is a useful relaxation technique and can bring mental clarity. People often leave the studio feeling calmer, refreshed, less anxious and more in control of life.

I personally love the control and flow in Pilates being able to go from one movement to the next using a natural rhythm and flow has a certain beauty to it. If you can apply that to the tasks you have to do in day-to-day life, life becomes more beautiful! It is something to aspire to. Flowing from one task to another, multi-tasking in a calm, concentrated manner and being precise in all you do.

Will a Sports Massage hurt…???

2 August, 2024 Priya Tew

Sports Massage for some people conjures up thoughts of bruises and pain. Which can be the case, but if it is, something has not been done correctly.Although a Sports Massage is deeper and more intense than a Spa Treatment Massage, it is far more beneficial for injury recovery, and releasing tight muscles. Sports Massage uses Trigger Point Therapy (TPT) – this involves working a knot or tightness, by using pressure to breakdown and release muscles tissue. The pain you feel through this should ease off during the application of the pressure. For a moment there may be discomfort the pain is released and it is a feel good type of pain.

Most people when I massage them, say, “Ooh, that is painful”, for about 30 seconds, followed by, “Aah, that is nice”.Another technique used is Soft Tissue Release (STR) this is a very effective, and popular technique. STR involves the therapist locking the muscles in place, and you stretching away from the locked area. This will possibly be uncomfortable in the moment, but hugely beneficial afterwards. A little pain, for a lot of gain!

After a treatment you may feel that the muscles have been worked, and then you should feel that they have calmed down.
This is because the muscles and blood flow has been treated, through massage and muscle manipulation. Blood flow will naturally increase in the area that has been worked…naturally you may find your skin slightly reddened, but this is short lived. You may also feel a hot feeling as the blood is being perfused.In the treatments given in our studio, the therapist will ask for feedback during the massage, as well as explanations of the massages being offered. If at any point there is too much pressure, or discomfort, they will adjust accordingly. So there is no need to worry!

To book a treatment, please contact me on [email protected]

Pilates fights pain

26 July, 2016 Priya Tew

Sometimes we can feel as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders, but actually more accurately it is probably on our backs. Back pain can be a result of working environments, busy lifestyles, driving, lifting, poor posture, tiredness and medical conditions. Pilates is proven to be one method to prevent and ease the discomfort of back pain by improving your posture and strengthening your core.

Poor posture through slumping and collapsing in the spine or rounding the shoulders leads to the weight in the body being incorrectly distributed, too much force goes through some areas and not enough through others. Some of your muscles begin to overwork and are constantly fighting against gravity, the composition of these muscles begins to change and they develop more stringy fibres. This is done to save the energy that would otherwise be required to hold a muscle fibre in a constant state of contraction. This stringy feeling is a knot or a tense, tight spot. That’s the point lots of people go for a massage, which I definitely recommend. However, once you have had the massage you need to address why you needed it in the first place.

These tight muscles are often weakened, leading to changes in the natural movement patterns of the joints. A pull one way from a tight, overworked, weak muscle can cause a muscular spasm as the body attempts to quickly stabilise the movement. When one part of the body is not working properly, another part will try to compensate. It sounds like a great plan, but really we want to fix the broken section or we end up with a whole body that is out of balance. It is like tuning an instrument. If one note is out of tune, you can retune to that pitch and the instrument will sound fine, until you play with another instrument.

Pilates gives you the opportunity to work out which parts of your body need correction and attention. By working on your posture in classes, it should have a knock on affect in daily life. There are exercises to strengthen muscles, lengthen muscles, shorten muscles and relax muscles.

The changes that Pilates quickly makes in the way we live in our bodies is always so rewarding to see. Often after only a few sessions, clients will tell me how it is making a difference. I remember one lady telling me how she has to adjust her rear view mirror overtime she gets in the car after class as she has “grown”. Showing how slumped she had become in the day and the difference just one session can make. Another client found his sciatica had gone after 4 classes, meaning he could get down to the floor and play with his kids. Often we will adjust sessions to deal with people’s aches and pains that week. Pilates is a practice that once you feel it’s benefits you won’t understand how you managed without it.

So if you want to deal with those aches and pains, book a 1-2-1 session or a place on an introduction course today.

Pilates in Pregnancy, it’s a must.

10 July, 2016 Priya Tew

I’ve been lucky enough to teach antenatal pilates for 4 years now and in that time I must have worked with over 250 ladies. I’ve also used pilates myself through 3 pregnancies and it has helped keep me strong, shown me which parts of my body needed working on and enables me to keep working and being a hands on mum throughout. The comments we get from some of our ladies are:

“If I miss a class I really notice the difference”

“My hips and pelvis ache less and I can feel the difference Pilates is making”

“Classes help to keep me strong and relaxed during pregnancy”

“I always leave feeling better than when I arrived and with exercises to use in the week”

Antenatal Pilates offers multiple benefits including, developing your natural corset to support your back and baby, helping with the changes to your posture, pelvic floor education, breathing technique, toning the muscles and, thus, helping in weight management. Practising Pilates on a regular basis can improve posture, alleviate backaches, and, ultimately, help with labour and delivery. It can even help the baby rotate in the optimal position. I tend to have a format where I use a mixture of functional exercises that help in daily living, for example moves you will need to bend, lift, rotate, get to the floor, release stretches for the areas I know get tight as pregnancy progresses, core strengthening exercises and some move to help in labour and for baby positioning.

Lets look at some of the changes that happen in pregnancy:

1. Breathlessness:

There is around 15-20% increase in oxygen consumption during pregnancy. The breathing rate will stay the same, but an expecting mum will breathe more deeply each time. The changes in the blood vessels caused by the hormonal changes together with the changed position of the ribcage and diaphragm may make a mum-to-be feel breathless at times.

The breathing we use in Pilates helps make an expecting mum’s breathing more efficient. Focusing on breathing in an antenatal class also has a relaxing and calming effect which can then be used in labour.

2. Muscle, ligament, joint and postural adaptations:

Hormonal changes during pregnancy have an effect on muscles, ligaments and joints. There can be more movement, stretching and instability. A safe pregnancy pilates class will help you exercise within a safe range of movement and strengthen the supporting muscles. It can really help with conditions such as SPD/pelvic girdle pain.

3. Core Strength:

Pilates exercises focus on core stability, and pelvic stability. This obviously helps keep the abdominals strengthened but it also can help keep your pelvis in good alignment and reduce pelvic girdle pain.

4.Posture:

Pregnancy affects posture as the centre of gravity shifts. Some women adopt a posterior pelvic tilt (tucked under) with a flat lower back, whilst others adopt an anterior tilt (bum stuck out) with an increased curve in the lower back. Either way it is not helpful for the body. Knowing about neutral posture will help you correct this in day to day life and pilates will provide you will a range of exercises to strengthen the right muscles.

So if you are pregnant, antenatal Pilates with a specialist teacher is a MUST. If you can’t get to a class or want something to use in between sessions check out my specialst Bump to Birth DVD.

Why we all need a Pilates class.

1 July, 2016 Priya Tew

Having had a baby just a few weeks ago my body is not what it used to be and I am in the rehabilitation phase. Moves I can usually do with ease I can currently not do with proper technique. Harder moves I know I shouldn’t even attempt until I am stronger. So instead of teaching them, I am attending some of our postnatal classes. It’s actually something I’ve never done before as we’ve never had a teacher who was able to cover those specialist classes for us.

It’s made me think about the benefits of being in a class. When I’m fully fit I usually attend a teachers Pilates class. Why? Well to be a good teacher myself I still need to continue to be a student. I need to be challenged t

o work harder and do exercises I am unsure about. I need someone to watch me and correct my technique. I need to work my body in different ways. I need to learn how someone else teaches and pick up tips from them. I need to be inspired.

Yes you could do Pilates using a book, a DVD or an online video. Those can all work but personally I think the class is king. A DVD or online class is great if you know what you are doing. A book is good to read but I don’t see how you can properly do Pilates from a book!
What you get out of a class:
1. A teacher who watches your body, corrects you, gets to know how your body works and what needs strengthening/stretching. Some of my clients have been with me for years and I can tell them exactly how their body will respond to a certain exercise or give them an adaptation before they even start.

2. Teaching points that are designed for you. I may not hands on correct you but may talk to you about the exercise to get you to think it through and use your body to respond. Self correction can be better than teacher correction. It builds that body awareness but with feedback from someone who has a different view. I can see if someone’s gluts are working hard when they shouldn’t be and coach them to switch them off at each repetition.

3. If you don’t get an exercise a teacher can explain it in a different way, give you an adapted version or physically move your body. Sometimes we all need a hand to adjust us.

4. A class is designed for you. I have a lesson plan but adapt it as I go along for each class. I may give different people in the class differing levels, give them equipment or a completely different exercise. It’s more personalised.

5. You can ask questions and get answers. I still do this myself. It’s how I learn. Some people in my classes ask heaps of questions and want to know exactly how an exercise works. Others just want to get on and do it under a watchful eye. However you work that’s fine!

6. Any aches and pain can be taken into account. Our bodies differ week to week. A good teacher will ask his you are and adapt accordingly. I’ve had people unable to put weight on their knees, wrists or who have fallen over and broken a bone – but are still in class!

7. You are accountable to others and in community. Doing exercise with others makes its more fun and encourages you to attend more often and to keep going for longer. In our classes people make friends and really support each other. It’s a lovely
Vibe.

8. There are less distractions. With 3 children I have a lot that can distract me and stop me from doing exercise. Often it’s only after the children are in bed I have time to myself and by then exercise is not the first thing on my mind, the sofa can be more inviting!

When should I return to high intensity exercise?

9 June, 2016 Priya Tew

Exercise can be so so key when you are a mum and so many people I work with and talk to are desperate to get back to their former routine, jeans and get time for them. Having had 2 babies and about to have the 3rd I completely get it.

Why should I wait?

Your pelvic floor deserves a break. After 9 months of carrying a baby it’s had a lot of extra work to do, then there is the act of pushing out a baby. It’s understandable that it may need some R&R time. Jumping back into high impact workouts will put extra pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, preventing them from recovering properly and potentially damaging them further. A weak muscle is a muscle that is easier to damage. It is NOT right to need to wear protection in your pants when you exercise. Leaks should not be the norm.

Your body has had 9 months of carrying a baby around. It takes 9 -12 months to recover nutritionally, so why would it take any less time to recover your physical body?

You need a good, strong, solid foundation before you build. Your core is your floor. So get that strong and the rest will follow. Your lower abdominals, pelvic floor, the postural back muscles and the obliques all functions together to provide your stable base. Don’t rush into running, lifting, jumping in order to have it crumble away under you.

How long to wait:

A lot of the time this is individual and depends on your previous fitness, how many babies you have had and how your pelvic floor function and core were before. But I recommend you wait a good 4-6 months and build up slowly. Listen to your body.

Things to watch out for:

If you feel a dragging or heaviness in your pelvic floor.

Have pain in your lower back, pelvis or abdominals.

Leaks when exercising.

It generally feels uncomfortable or wrong.

THEN STOP.

Go back to working on your core, get stronger and then try again in a couple of months.

Rounded shoulders and how to help them

1 June, 2016 Priya Tew

Take a look at people around you, especially if they are sitting. See any rounded shoulders? I guarantee that once you start looking you will find more and more people that fall into this camp.

Sitting at a desk, slouching on the sofa, carrying heavy bags on your back, leaning forward to play with your kids on the floor or changing nappies, breastfeeding, driving, lifting heavy loads …all these activities can lead to rounded shoulders, tension in your back, neck and shoulders so pain in those areas and headaches.

What happens? Well it’s known as upper crossed syndrome. Here is how is affects your muscles:

The pectorals in your chest become tight and short. They need stretching and releasing.

The lower trapezius and serratus anterious (mid back and shoulder blades) become weak and need strengthening.

The upper trapezius and levator scapulae become tight (neck and shoulder area, the classic areas most people want massaged), these need releasing.

The deep neck flexors are weak and lengthened, so need some strengthening and postural correction.

Some exercises to help:

1. Pectoral stretch on the wall: Put your hand against the wall with elbow at shoulder height. Rotate your body away from the wall to stretch through the pec (chest) and anterior deltoid (shoulder).

2. Chin Tuck: Lie on your back in neutral. Push the chin down towards the chest while pushing the head into the floor.

3. Dumb waiter: Starting with the palm facing the ceiling, elbows bent and against your sides as if you have a tray of drinks on each hand. Rotate the arm out to about 45 degrees while maintaining a neutral wrist. Add a resistance band held over your palms and between thumb and first finger for more of a challenge.

4. Scalenes and upper traps stretch: The scalenes are muscles in the sides of the neck. To stretch the right side, tilt your left ear to you left shoulder. You will feel a stretch through the right side of your neck. Now tilt your head up to look at the top corner of the room or the coving. The stretch will move from your neck to your upper back. Place your left hand over your right eat and using gentle pressure push your ear into your hand and hand into your ear. Hold for 30 seconds. Bring your head up slowly and roll the shoulders to release. Do the same for the left side. You can either sit or stand when doing this stretch.

5. Wall Angels : Stand with your back touching the wall, arms by your side. Engage your core, think about your posture, lengthen up through your spine and the crown of your head. Raise both arms up so you can still them slightly in front of you. As you breath out bend your elbows and think about your arms sliding down the wall behind you (they probably won’t actually touch the wall it is there as an aid). Bring your arms down to a right angle or a chicken wing position, then straighten them back up. You should feel this strenghtening in your shoulder blade and upper back area. Keep your neck long throughout.
Think about your posture as much as you can. These exercises will help but ultimately correcting your posture throughout the day will make the biggest difference. Try setting a reminder on your phone/screensaver or stick a post-it note somewhere as a visual. After a few weeks of working on your posture you should notice that you automatically remember to adjust your body and things feel better but keep working on it. It is an ongoing lesson to complete!

Raspberry leaf tea – a natural labour aid?

5 May, 2016 Priya Tew

Raspberry leaf tea is one of those buzzwords that sometimes gets floated around in the last trimester of pregnancy. Until pregnancy 3 I had never given it much thought but then it was suggested to me by a midwife. Being the kind of person I am I decided to look at the evidence for it.

An observational study in 1999 (1) looked at over 100 women retrospectively. Those who had taken the tea did have a shorter labour. Sounds quite promising so far

Then moving to a review by Holst in 2009 (2) who found 6 studies to compare and contrast. One of these was 50 years old and all of these were relatively small in terms of numbers of people in the studies. Sadly there just isn’t much research on this topic. The findings were that the tea can help to facilitate more rhythmic contractions of the uterus but there were some conflicting results. Some studies did show a shorter first or second stage of labour but only by a few minutes.

A better study in 2001 (3) (a randomised controlled trial) was conducted looking at the safety of the tea. It was found to be safe to take in pregnancy. When you look at the effects it had, these were it shortened the second stage of labour by a mean of 9.59 minutes and there was a lower likelihood of needing forceps.

So all in all there seem to be no safety concerns with taking sensible, moderate amounts of raspberry leaf tea (2-3 cups a day) or the capsules in pregnancy. It is advised you start this around 32 weeks of pregnancy. The benefits can be for some that it helps the uterus prepare for contractions and for some there may be a slightly shorter second stage of labour. The research shows us these benefits are by no means sizeable but hey, I quite like the taste of it and it can help pregnant mums feel like they are doing something to help labour be easier using a natural aid.

My top tip: don’t expect to find it in a local supermarket. You may need to order it online or go to a health food shop for it.

References:

(1) Aust Coll Midwives Inc J. 1999 Sep;12(3):20-5. Raspberry leaf and its effect on labour: safety and efficacy. Parsons M1, Simpson M, Ponton T. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10754818

(2) Holst, L., S. Haavik, et al. (2009). “Raspberry leaf – Should it be recommended to pregnant women?” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 15(4): 204-208. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19880082

(3) J Midwifery Womens Health. 2001 Mar-Apr;46(2):51-9. Raspberry leaf in pregnancy: its safety and efficacy in labor. Simpson M1, Parsons M, Greenwood J, Wade K. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11370690

Carpal Tunnel: how to help.

28 April, 2016 Priya Tew

This is one of those conditions that you certainly know you have when you get it. I’ve had it twice now: the first time was 4 months after giving birth to my boy. I would wake up in the night to feed him, pick him up, get pins and needles in both hands and then they would go numb. The end result being by the time we finished a feed I had to use my arms to put him back into his cot. It led to me having mutliple massages, which helped a little, and doing lots of research. I learnt a lot about my posture and how breastfeeding plus general stress was a huge contributing factor. A few changes to my feeding posture, extra pillows and a magic stretch really sorted me out.

Moving on to pregnancy 3 and the delight of carpal tunnel popped up again in the last few weeks. Certainly not as badly, this time general weakness in my grip strength, pain when in a hands and knees position (not ideal when teaching pilates) and pins and needles when sleeping or holding items for too long a time.

So as someone who has suffered from carpal tunnel I thought I would share my top tips on how to deal with it and how to help it.

Symptoms:

Pin and needles in your hands/fingers

Grip weakness

Numbness in the thumb, first and middle finger, that may extend to the whole hand

A dull ache in the hand/arm

How does it occur?

The median nerve runs all the way down the inside of your arm. It originates from the brachial plexus which is just above the shoulder (think halfway between the bottom of your neck and your shoulder, that bit that is often tense and you want a massage in!).

When this nerve is blocked, inflamed or has pressure on it, you can get the the above symptoms.

The carpal tunnel is a tunnel in your wrist designed to protect the median nerve. Pressure on this puts pressure on the nerve and hey ho, carpel tunnel syndrome.

Screen Shot 2016-04-28 at 19.37.36 — Image from: http://www.thebodyworksclinic.com/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/

Stats:

About 50% of pregnant women develop carpal tunnel, it will normally disappear all by itself.

More common in women then men.

Common in people with wrist injuries or those who do repetitive actions with the wrist.

For some people such as myself the issue can be to do with the tension and pressure on the nerve at it’s origin. So I know I carry my stress around my shoulders. Hence when teaching people pilates I so often focus on their shoulders! I can pinpoint the areas that are especially painful at these times. Those points are where the median nerve originates. So it explains the carpal tunnel issues.

For others it is due to pressure or problems in the wrist areas. Perhaps you hold your wrists at an awkward angle for work or when bottle feeding a baby? Repetitive wrist actions or strenuous wrist activity can also be a cause especially if you have a weak wrist from an injury.

How to help:

Firstly, see the GP. It is always good to get thee things looked at. They may offer you splints and depending on how bad things are you can even be offered surgery if it doesn’t clear up. I would suggest you try out some stretches and think about why you have the problem in the first place before jumping to surgery.

Exercises:

Stretch your arm out to the side of your body and point your fingers down to the floor. Now take your ear towards your opposite shoulder. Bring the head back up and repeat.
Wrist circles and making your hands into a fist, then extending the fingers into a star (think twinkle, twinkle little star).
Place your arm out to the side, with fingertips on the wall. Glide your palm down so the whole palm in in contact with the wall. Work from fingers to palm a few times.
Bring your right ear to your right shoulder, drop the left arm and shoulder away from you, this should stretch and release in your left side.

Author: Priya Tew