Moab Happenings Archive
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HEALTHY HAPPENINGS August 2017

Relax…take a deep breath.
By Moab Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation

Breathing happens whether you think about it or not. However, with some focused attention and education breathing will not only oxygenate your tissue but improve stability, mobility, and decrease painful symptoms. Our lungs and tissue surrounding them are all interconnected with fascia. Fascia is a thin sheath of fibrous tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ. I describe fascia to patients as the glue in our body that holds skin to muscles and muscles to our bones. When this fascia has been altered by trauma including surgery, and/or poor postural habits, our internal glue may be working too well. These fascial adhesions can cause restrictions in your range of motion, posture, and affect daily and recreational activities. Fascia with in the torso connects muscles, bones, and tissue from your diaphragm and all the way down to your pelvic floor muscles.

Your diaphragm is the main muscle activated when you inhale and its elastic recoil helps you exhale. With proper education, your breath can activate this fascial highway to promote improved blood flow and stability with some simple breathing techniques. I call this three-dimensional breathing.

3-D breath encourages us to fill our upper chest, our lungs, our abdominal muscles down into our pelvic floor fascia simultaneously. This stability improves your seated and standing posture to increase, for example, the duration you can hike pain free. This fascial stability, when activated, can improve core stability while on a bike or running down the trail, as well as the power to lift more weight overhead properly.

If you sit quietly in a chair with one hand on your chest and one hand on your ‘tummy’ and breathe normally- What do you feel? Does your chest rise more? Does your ‘tummy’ move more? If you feel equal pressure during inhalation and equal recoil during exhalation in both areas under your hands - that is a great start. 3-D breath will incorporate breathing from top to bottom, side to side, and front to back to ‘fill’ or activate the fascia in all these areas equally during rest or activity. If you are interested in improving your oxygenation, stability, mobility, circulation, and relaxation than join us for a FREE breathing clinic.

FREE breathing clinic will be held at "The Gym on 5th" located on corner of 500 West and 400 North. This FREE clinic is on August 24th, Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and should last about 45 minutes. Please wear comfortable clothing that allows breathing.

If you have any questions about this article or about our FREE breathing clinic please call Moab Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation located at 83 E Center (435) 210-1985. **SPACE is limited, please call to reserve a spot. If you would prefer one on one instruction in 3-D breath please call our clinic and schedule a physical therapy evaluation to incorporate breathing and improve participation in ALL the activities you enjoy!

Grand County is suiting up for the 2017 Relay for Life

This year, our theme is “Score a Cure for Cancer”. This should be a fun(-filled) theme, where “Tailgating“ is the inspiration word for our camp sites.

For those of you who do not know, Relay for Life is the largest fundraiser for the American Cancer Society (ACS), which in turn is the 2nd largest contributor to Cancer research in the US, 2nd behind the US government. In Utah alone, ACS has 9 active grants, totaling $4,433,500. Those grants are at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the University of Utah, and the Primary Children’s Hospital. Grants for things such as, research studies into Childhood Leukemia, breast cancer, cervical, prostate and colon cancer. These grants are helping support research of Cancer types that greatly affect our friends and neighbors. And that is just here in Utah! Nationwide, there are 725 grants totaling $386,503,388. ACS is helping us find a cure for cancer; a cure in our lifetime; a cure that gives hope to those who hear the words “you have cancer”; a cure that no longer makes those words a death sentence.

Relay for Life also helps fund the Hope Lodge. A place in Salt Lake City where adult cancer patients and a caregiver can stay for free when they are having cancer treatments in the Salt Lake Valley. Hope Lodge has 40 large private guest suites. Hope Lodge serves cancer patients from 27 of the 29 counties in Utah as well as guests from other states who travel to Salt Lake for treatment. Since opening its doors in October of 2015, it has served 5,153 guests and provided 19,753 nights of free lodging. To bring it to a local level, Hope lodge has served 9 guests from Grand County, 12 guests from San Juan County and 14 from Carbon County. These are our friends, our neighbors and our loved ones.

So please, suit up in your favorite sports jersey and join us for a tailgating party on August 5th at the Old Spanish Trail Arena. The party starts at 2pm with a kid’s training camp (the kid’s camp will have a fee). At 2:00 we will also start with some fun laps around the track. 4pm finds us honoring our survivors and their heroes the caregivers and what a great group of survivors we have in Grand County! At 4:30 we will have the 5th annual Taste of Moab. Some of our local restaurants have donated some nice favorites. Survivors eat for free and their caregivers eat for $5.00 along with children 12 and under. The price for an adult is $10. The evening will then progress with local entertainment, a silent auction, and more fun laps. At 10 pm we will have a ceremony to remember those who have lost their battle with this horrible disease. We will light the luminary bags and take time to think of our loved ones as we walk the track in silence. 12:30am brings pizza, and a closing ceremony where we think of ways each of us can fight back against cancer. Relay for Life is all about Celebrating the Survivors, Remembering those we have lost and Fighting Back. Call Yordy at 970-986-9141 for information and ways you can help us SCORE A CURE FOR CANCER!

Crossinology Brain Integration Technique
by Integral Brain Health

If you have identified a struggle, a need, a lifestyle disability like ADD/ADHD or a learning difficulty that affects the quality of your life and those around you.

We’re Integral Brain Integration and can help you make a change. A shift in your focus that is transformative, results-based and lasting.

All-natural & Drug-Free Protocol
We practice a process-driven, all natural and drug-free approach to alleviating symptoms of all forms of neurological conditions. We work with clients that struggle with:
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ ADHD)
• Specific learning disabilities (SLDs e.g. dyslexia)
• Depression and anxiety
• Behaviors affecting well-being
• Lifestyle disabilities that limit your potential and quality of life

Helping You Cope, Manage & Heal
Our methodology helps you to cope, manage and heal the residual effects of the neurological condition. This includes the impact that it has on your family, marital relationship, personal efficiencies and organizational skills. We also can help you gain the ability to appropriately handle emotions.

Crossinology Brain Integration Technique (BIT) is a cutting-edge technique developed by Susan McCrossin. It is a process-driven approach based on principles of Applied Physiology (study and practice of biological systems) and acupressure that assesses and corrects learning disabilities in people of all ages.

It is different because it was specifically developed to cover an 80-point protocol in the brain which means we can identify any blocks no matter what the lifestyle disability is and then most importantly, release that block creating permanent change.

Medication only works to manage symptoms for a few types of ADD/ADHD and there is nothing for individuals with other difficulties such as dyslexia, or autism.

The protocol at Brain Integration is completely non-invasive, and is suitable for people of all ages. In fact, most of our clients report that it is a very soothing and relaxing experience.


Strengthening Your Healing Home
By Elana Davidson

Ask most men if they have ever been to a pilates class and you might hear, “Isn’t that for girls?” In fact, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Most people are surprised to hear that not only has pilates been around for nearly 100 years, but also that it was created by a man! Below is a short history of the man who pioneered pilates and why it might be an important addition to your weekly exercise regimen.

Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in the 1880s as a sickly child. He struggled with asthma, rickets and other conditions that rendered him weak. It was likely this poor start in life that inspired him to work so hard to build health and strength in himself and in others. As he grew older, his hard work paid off and he eventually moved to England where he began working as a professional boxer while also excelling in diving, skiing and body-building. During WW1 he began slowly building his own exercise regimen. He took ideas from classical Roman and Greek exercise practices, body-building, yoga, tai chi, martial arts, meditation and even the movement of animals to combine into a whole-body routine, encompassing mind, body and spirit.

Joseph’s popularity as a fitness guru was gaining steam in Europe when he decided to move to America in the 1920s. His first studio was right next to to the New York City Ballet. Soon, the ballerinas and dancers were lining up outside his door, realizing how effective his methods were for recovering from injuries as well as preventing them in the first place (and likely the reason why pilates is notoriously considered a “woman’s sport”). Today, pilates remains extremely popular with dancers and has migrated to other sports as more and more athletes are realizing the benefits of pilates. Many NFL, MLB and NBA players, as well as Olympic athletes include pilates in their exercise regimes.

Joseph passed away in 1967, but the main tenets of his teachings remain the same: breath, concentration, centering, control, precision and flow with a focus on core-strength. A typical mat class begins with some breath work to bring your attention into your body. Then, through a series of slow and seemingly gentle movements that are designed to build and flow from one to the next, the core of the body is challenged and strengthened.

The focus is quality in pilates, not quantity. So while you may not do more than 10 repetitions of any one move, the attention to control and precision will have even the strongest body-builders muscles quivering. Whether you spend your days climbing, biking, rafting, horseback riding or behind a computer, everyone can benefit from the improvements in posture, abdominal and back strength and body awareness that Pilates offers. So come in and give it a try! As Joseph said, “In 10 sessions, you will feel the difference. In 20, you will see the difference. In 30, you’ll be on your way to having a whole new body.”


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