You Are Not Too Old to Get Strong.

​: Christine: Welcome. Welcome back Eileen. Eileen: I'm so glad to be here, Christine, and I'm here in your country now. Yeah, so this is so exciting. Christine: This is really a first, because it's the first time I'm recording a session life with a wonderful guest that is with me for the second time. Yes. Which is absolutely fantastic. So. Eileen and you all, you know that I am now teaching Hanna Somatics, and one of the things I learned there is that it's not just one way back to ease and freedom of movement. And you, Eileen, you are a physical therapist and I know you share that same mission. Eileen: Yes, absolutely. Movement is key. Yeah. So many people even traveling here.

When I saw so many people who struggled when they got up off their plane seat and the stiffness and the struggle they had to move and: having to like furniture walk because of their balance issues because of weakness and immobility and stiffness. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. So when you talk, you can also talk to that camera sometimes. Okay. 'cause that's where, Speaker 2: um, got it. So you want wanna just get the side of my face? Yeah. Christine: So in this live conversation, what we'll do, we will explore our experiences with our approaches. And of course I would also love to invite you to do something life here with Yes. Bit of activity with us. Eileen: Yes, yes. I would love it. I would love it. Christine: Wonderful. That's great. So Eileen, you and I, we work with people who came to believe pain is inevitable. So from your perspective, what is the very first mindset shift that they need?

Eileen I think that we've been fed a narrative that is not true.: Mainly for our entire lives. We have been fed this narrative that as we get older, we are supposed to lose mobility, we are supposed to have joint pain, we are supposed to be stiff because it just comes along with aging. But it's not true. I have worked with people over a hundred years old and had them doing squats and parallel bars. I have worked with people in their eighties who struggled to get out of a chair, and in three weeks they were leg pressing 200 pounds and getting up outta the chair like a shot. I've worked with people who had joint pain and they were using canes or walkers, and when they made the changes and they did the work, their lives were completely transformed. So. I think the mindset that we're supposed to lose, the quality of our life as we get older is the first thing that has to change. Mm-hmm. Christine: Wow. Eileen: It's not true.

Christine Okay. And, and I mean, I know that like muscle stiffness for example, is: not sitting in the muscle, but it's sitting in the brain. Actually the, the motor cortex that doesn't really re remember what the real tension should be. So what is, how are you approaching this? So what are, how are you changing people's minds and also their body? Because the body is stiff. Eileen: Yes. Yes. So what happens is, is the muscles have these little mechanisms in them, and they all have a different job. And those little mechanisms work best when you're training for maybe changing the speed of the movement or going into the end range of the movement. Or doing lots of repetition. So those little mechanisms are communicating with the brain, motor cortex so that things start to respond differently. And what I have found also is a lot of people's brains are disconnected from their body. And so I actually have a video on my YouTube channel that says, does your brain know where you are?

Eileen And I don't mean their address. I mean their: physical self. And I will have people do assessments where they stand and I'll have them close their eyes and feel how their feet are contacting the floor. And a lot of the times there's a disconnect there. There's a lack of communication. And so if the brain doesn't know what the foot is perceiving, it's very difficult for the brain to tell the body what needs to move because the brain thinks there's a part missing. So now it will compensate. And use other muscles that it can communicate with to do the movement, which causes all kinds of dysfunction. Eileen: So what happens is we need to improve that communication between the brain and the body. Christine: Hmm. And how often would we need to do those? Are they exercises that you're teaching?

Eileen Well, my focus is on three plane movement because most people when they're training, whether they go to the gym or they work with the, your conventional physical therapist who doesn't have this knowledge because not all do. Physical therapists are very different. The: training that's received when a PT graduates is sort of, okay, now we're kind of entry level, and then whatever coursework they take after that, they could be specialists with hand function or wheelchair fitting, or someone who's post-stroke. So the training's very different. And so my training is in three plane motion. And most people, when they're training, they're only training in one plane of motion. For instance, you know, if they wanna have a strong core, you know they'll do crunches. And the interesting thing is, muscles work best with the communication with the brain, which I love how you're trained in that.

They do best when the muscle lengthens before it shortens, because when you lengthen the muscle, it triggers that communication and the muscle now gets loaded, ready to unload. So if you're doing a crunch, you're starting in neutral and all you're doing is shortening. But if you're standing to load the core and you lengthen: first and then shorten, and then rotation, a lot of people don't understand that the abdominals love rotation, it really switches on that communication. So we need to be moving in three plane motion. And they're very simple movements. They're not huge movements as you, your expertise has taught you and you just, I mean, you can do a workout in 20 minutes that can completely mobilize the entire body and have you ready for the day. Christine: And what's the, what's the, the result of the workout? Is it more strength or is it more mobility or? Eileen: Well, that's a very good question because it depends on the person's goals. Because we're all unique and some people need to strengthen. Some people need to improve their mobility. Some people need to improve their proprioception, their sensory of what's happening in that communication.

So depending on your goals, the same workout can accomplish the same, the goal you need just by: adding some hand weights, some free weights. You're still doing the three playing motion, but now you're working on strengthening. Or if it's more than mobility, you're gonna work going into end range of motion. And as you do that repetitively, it's sort of this inchworm effect. It improves. And if it's for proprioception, now that's, we're working on communication, but it's all the same movements. It's just a different focus. Christine: Okay. Okay. And by the way, this, miscommunication or lack of communication between brain and muscles in the body, we call that motor sensory amnesia. Eileen: Ah, I love it. Christine: So there's no, no more connection there. Yes. And yeah. So would you be able to show us a little exercise?

Eileen Absolutely. I would love it. So, what I have seen is probably one of the most, important issues that people have, especially with a lot of sitting and computer work. If you're somebody who does a lot of driving, and if you're just: kind of sedentary, what happens is between the neck and the low back, the trunk, the thoracic spine gets very stiff. It loses motion. And a lot of the times I'll go to assess someone and I'll ask them to rotate and your audience can try this right now, just see how far can you rotate one way and how far can you rotate the other way. And you can see how far I'm rotating. I mean, I'm going all the way around and looking behind me. When I assess people, they think they're fine and they'll, they'll have this much motion, which is, which is less than 50% normal motion. And so. What you wanna do is you wanna get that T-spine mobilized. It also can help with breath work with rib expansion. It will be beautiful for neck pain or low back pain because the low back basically translates rotation from the hips to the trunk and from the trunk to the hips.

The low back doesn't rotate much. So if somebody turns and they have low back pain, it's probably trunk: mobility that's lacking, or hip mobility or both. So this can help with low back and it can also help with neck. And if you keep your eyes fixed when you do the motion, which I'll show that can mobilize your neck from below and help with neck pain. So I thought this would be perfect to show. Yeah. 'cause I can do it in sitting. Christine: Wonderful. Eileen: And you can do it at your desk during your day. So what you wanna do is you wanna think about your spine in the back. And this isn't about just rounding out the low back. This is about getting the, the upper back or the, the T-spine to move. So if you cross. And you kind of do a little kind of slouch and crunch, and you can see I'm bringing my elbows down into my belly. So this is just going to get a nice flexion in that T-spine. And if I keep my eyes fixed, I can get a little motion in my neck, but it's happening from below. So my neck muscles aren't doing any work.

And it doesn't aggravate the neck, it releases the neck. So this is the flexion. And then we wanna do extension. Now extension, you: have to think about it. You're going to lift your chest up toward the ceiling, and then you're going to go back, kind of like you wanna touch your shoulders on the chair behind you. And again, if I keep my eyes fixed now again, I'm getting that mobility in my neck from below. So it's kind of, you kind of think of it like part A, part B, you're lifting your chest and then you're leaning back and that's gonna give you the extension. Eileen: And then we have side motion. And with the side motion, I think of it kind of like the rib cage is sort of gliding right and left. And it's easier if you do it one motion at a time. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna kind of, sort of feel like my ribs are going this way and you're gonna feel you get more weight in one butt cheek than the other. So if I'm gliding to my right, my left butt cheek gets a little bit lighter and we're just getting that nice side motion in the trunk.

And then of course we wanna do the other side as: well. And so now my right butt cheek is getting a little bit lighter, but it's not lifting off the seat. And then the last is rotation. And if you're gonna keep your eyes fixed, you get a beautiful mobility, I'm gonna rotate my trunk. And I like to, if you wanna get extra motion, kind of use my hand and sort of pull my shoulder under my chin. That gives you that beautiful rotation to the right, and you'll get that nice release. And then of course we're going to do the same to the other side. And when you feel like you're proficient, I would recommend practicing this in front of a mirror so you can see what you're doing. And you don't need to keep your eyes fixed. If you don't have neck problems, you can just let the head go. But

if you feel proficient, then you can just kind of combine this and up this and up. So it saves a little bit of time. And then you can go side to side. And you can: go rotate each side. So you can combine. But so many, I can, I've taught this over the phone where people couldn't even see me when I've done some teleconferencing and people have raved at how much their neck felt better or their low back felt better. Christine: Wow. Wow. And I love this teaching, being able to teach because I feel like this, this work, both of our work is we work with our clients and not on our clients. And I, I always prefer things where I can teach people and they don't need me anymore. Eileen: Exactly. You want to be not needed. Yeah. And that's what I tell people. It's an education that you're giving them that will last them a lifetime. Very important. And I've worked with many people who have had. All kinds of clinicians working on them. And I'm not saying anything against these professions, but they have chiropractic and they have acupuncture, and they have athletic trainers, and they have all of these people.

Well, the athletic trainer: is at least getting them to move. But if you've got people only working on your body who are very skilled and their manual work can be a beautiful adjunct, that you cannot restore your function by someone else's hand. Is only you can restore your function. Yeah. You have to know to do the movement. A muscle will not get stronger with someone working on you from the outside in. Christine: And it won't even get relaxed, more relaxed by someone else doing it. Eileen: Correct. Because the massage feel. And how many people get a massage and they say, I felt great. But it only lasted an hour. Yeah. Or the next day, or, Christine: yes. Yeah. So, wow. Wonderful. Wonderful. So how long, how much time would I need to invest every day? Eileen: Well, again, it depends on goals. If someone is trying to achieve a goal, I would recommend a half hour a day.

Eileen Five to six days a week. If you're just looking to maintain, because now you've achieved what you want to do, then 15, 20 minutes a day, three, four: days a week is enough, but it's not something you do, and then you never do it again. Eileen: Because, you know, we brush our teeth every day to prevent cavities and to keep our mouth healthy. We need to be moving our bodies every day to keep our bodies healthy. Christine: Yes. And there's a reason why we are so tense, because usually, a lot of us are stressed out or have certain patterns of movements, like always wearing our, um, oh, having the bag, the heavy bag on the shoulder, having the heavy Eileen: bag on, on one shoulder. So, yeah. So when this, this, because does this installs? Yeah. Yes. And that pressure turns the upper trap on. So the muscle does this to hold the pressure. So now you're actually Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Christine: Yeah. No. Wonderful. So how can people learn from you? You said you're even doing it over the phone, but I know there are other Eileen: Yes.

Well, those are teleconferences for, organizations that I was teaching for. So I do have a main website, which is have: lifelong wellbeing.com, which I know is a very long name. But that will plug people in. There's a simple quiz with five questions. It takes less than two minutes. And however they answer those questions, based on what you are looking for and your concerns, it will aim you toward all of the content I have that will help you with that. Any of my YouTube videos or any of my programs, I also have a free, movement assessment, which is a 21 minute video and they can assess their own three plane function. It's completely free. And take a class, a video class on, uh, introducing how to work in three planes. So, Christine: and I remember I once did one of those classes with you and there was an exercise where you said, how often can you stand up from sitting position in.

Eileen Yes, yes, yes. And, and that, you know, it's interesting because I have an online academy, and I teach live every week in the academy and, and do Q&A. And I, I call them my students. They're mostly 60, 70, some are: in their eighties, mostly women. We do have some gentlemen. And we had a class once where we did 90 squats in seven minutes. Wow. So. You know, this thing that we're so old we can't do things is not true. Christine: And when do I have to start? Because now I'm turning 60. Is it early enough or is it already too late? Eileen: It is never too late. As I said, I had that gentleman in his eighties who we, in three weeks, he was much stronger and much more fit and much more high quality of life. I've worked with people in their nineties. I've worked with people over a hundred years old. The human body has the capacity to improve function, movement, strength. No matter how old we are. Christine: Wow. Eileen: And, and there's a thing that says that age related muscle loss, and I won't talk on it for hours because I could, but it's not accurate when you look at the research, these people lost strength and muscle because they were sedentary. It was not because they were older.

Christine And so can I rebuild the muscle: when at older as well? Eileen: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Wow. Yes. Christine: Gives me hope as well. Yes, yes. Wonderful. Eileen: And it doesn't take that long Uhhuh, you have to be feeding your body properly. Yeah. You have to be hydrating well, because muscle is 78% water and a lot of people aren't drinking enough water and they're drinking things that dehydrate them. They're caffeinated or alcohol. But, it, yeah, you can definitely get stronger no matter how old you are. Wow. There is no limit unless you have some disease that you know. Christine: And also pain free, I guess. So even if someone is already in pain, there is always a way out. Eileen: Well, I have an entire website called Move Without Pain. Eileen: And it is all movement based training that is very simple to learn. A lot of my videos on YouTube are movement-based training, and I have had

so many people tell me who I've never met, even on my YouTube channel. I have one on plantar fascitis, and they've said that they never had anything that helped them until they did those movements. Wow. Because everything's connected and everybody wants: to isolate a body part. And plantar fascitis is not just because the bottom of the foot's not performing. There's a very special way the foot has to move for gait, but you also have to have hips that are functioning properly. You have to have a trunk that's rotating well. When you walk, if your trunk doesn't rotate, that can actually cause the foot to not move properly, and lead to things like plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis, or the whole body's connected. Yeah. And so when somebody sees you as a body part, when you walk through the door, they're gonna be limited in how much they can help you. Yes. Christine: Wow. Wow. Now, what is your vision? Eileen: Oh, my vision is to erase pain from the world and to help everyone to age without decline. Wow. Because we don't have to. Christine: Wonderful. Yes. Wow. I, I think there is nothing to add to that. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much for coming, Eileen.

Eileen Thank you for having me to, to Europe, to Germany. I know. I'm: in Munich, everyone, and I'm loving it. The people are amazing. The food is amazing. I have had the best time and wonderful hosts who've helped to make it such a special trip. Thank you. You wonderful. Thank you. Yes. Thanks for coming. Great.