I'm Back and Z Health Testimonial

I'm Back!
I am back on the blog roll again here and thanks for the patience! I handed in my PhD written exams this past Thurs at 5pm--whoooo ha. I managed 2 hours of sleep that night and was working on them non stop for about the last 2 days before they were due. Good thing for due dates as I always feel like there is one more thing to add or one more reference etc. All told it added up to about 75 pages (excluding references, double spaced) and about 260 references cited. Now I just wait with my fingers crossed.

Weekend
I trust everyone had a good 4th of July weekend since most of use here in the USA were off on Friday. My girlfriend Jodie and I headed up to my parents cabin on Friday until Sunday AM. We got in some wakeboarding, slalmon water skiing and relaxation in general. I almost went out kiteboarding, but in the end decided not to since I have not kited on that lake before and no one around had launched a kite before. Next time hopefully.

We met up with the Fridays (Aaron and Fawn and their brother Shawn) who were just down the road actually and also Steve and his new wife, Rob, Maura and others came up there too. There are some rumored videos of Fawn and Maura doing a Hoola Hoop training session and Maura led us all through a push up session and then on to some random KB work. Good times!! Back to the grind now though!

Z Health Testimonial
Robert Orr stopped in to see me a few weeks ago right before the RKC II. If you are in the Virginia Beach area, but sure to check him out! We were able to get both of his glutes to fire (via Z Health ankle work) and both hamstrings (ankle and elbow work) and I did some hands on work on a scar on his left ankle. Overall he did awesome and rocked the RKC II the following days, so a big shout out to him and congrats!!

Here is the first email I got from him after the session

"It's crazy, I walked in with a tight hammie, ankle and back. During the weekend, I had none of those problems and still haven't. Other than a sore L ankle...just like you said I would.

I am excited about the direction this reprogramming is heading."

And here is a testimonial, verbatim in his words.

Mike,

Here you go. I hope this works for you. This stuff just seems too simple

I contacted Mike with a goal to ensure I have proper form on the R-Phase drills. Mike conducted an assessment of my injury history and movement patterns. Mike made short work of confirming several issues; some were simple others were unknown to me. The short list: a hammie that refused to fire, an ankle locked, an elbow with less than full ROM... The years of abuse on this frame have taken a toll.

After a few drills, my ankle and hammie were unlocked; exactly what needed after spending the day on an airplane. As an added bonus, my back was pain free for the first time in a month. I went through the RKC II weekend without feeling my body's ailments.

I definitely received more than I anticipated in my meeting with Mike. It doesn't matter if your goal is to set a PR in your event or just to play with your kids; pain free. You owe it to yourself to meet with Mike as soon as you can. Your quality of life is at stake.

Thanks again to Robert for stopping by. More good stuff to come soon and a cool story about a top level athlete and some much need thumb mobility. Yes the thumb!!

Those Darn Shoes and Bad Feet

It is not too often I post links to other blogs, but Lou has a great one today about shoes (click HERE) and I could not have done a better job on the story myself (hehehehe---if you have read any of Lou's work you know I am totally kidding as he is a fantastic writer).

The only thing I would add is that if you do switch to a more minimal type shoe (Nike Frees, Vivos) you NEED to do mobility work on your feet/ankles since you are now really relying on them to move correctly. I do believe this is the best way to go for overall movement health.

It is amazing how many shoulder issues can be helped by mobility work (like Z Health) on the feet and ankles. Sounds crazy, but with each foot strike, that energy (force) has to go somewhere (remember Physics 101--energy is neither created nor destroyed) and it goes "up" your body and normally ends around your face and/or opposite hand/wrist crossing sides at your pelvis.

So if your feet/ankle are hosing this up (see--nice technically terms) with each foot strike, you are screwed (another technical term) for starters and many times all the crazy rehab stuff may only delay the issue. Sometimes the crazy rehab stuff will work, but on a first appointment it is a very rare person that I don't have them do some Z drill for their feet/ankles as part of their "Z Health Homework" I am still working on my feet/ankles now after doing Z for some time, but my feet are much much better now.

For shoes I really like the Nike frees and there are some other good ones out there too. Make sure the ball of the foot AND the HEAL are flexible. The Nike free was one of the only shoes designed by Nike to actually help performance, virtually all of the other ones are more based on marketing and style.

Any comments, let me know!
Mike N

Movement and Brain Deterioration? New Study

A very cool new study just published less than 2 weeks ago (who says this blog not bleeding edge-hahha) in the journal Neurology presented a correlation of poor gait (walking movement) with deterioration in the brain in older adults.

In the very near future, I predict via my cracked crystal ball we will have even more evidence that good quality movement will probably be shown to have wide spread neuro effects.

In a previous post about the brain and exercise, it demonstrated that exercise increased the formation of new brain cells!

Now we have further information that you need to get that gait of yours fixed! See this link for more info (note, price is going up as of April 15 also).

Of course I am biased since I do gait analysis, but here is the abstract to read for yourself. It should be noted that correlation does not prove causation, but very interesting!

Rock on
Mike N

Neurology. 2008 Mar 18;70(12):935-42.

Association of gait and balance disorders with age-related white matter changes: the LADIS study.

Baezner H, Blahak C, Poggesi A, Pantoni L, Inzitari D, Chabriat H, Erkinjuntti T, Fazekas F, Ferro JM, Langhorne P, O'Brien J, Scheltens P, Visser MC, Wahlund LO, Waldemar G, Wallin A, Hennerici MG; LADIS Study Group andCollaborators (53)

Mannheim University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Department of Neurology, Theodor Kutzer Ufer, D-68135 Mannheim, Germany. baezner@neuro.ma.uni-heidelberg.de

OBJECTIVE: In the Leukoaraiosis and Disability (LADIS) Study, 11 European centers are evaluating the role of age-related white matter changes (ARWMC) as an independent determinant of the transition to disability in the elderly (65 to 84 years). We aimed at determining the influence of ARWMC on different objective measures of gait and balance. METHODS: Six hundred thirty-nine nondisabled individuals were prospectively enrolled and are being followed-up for 3 years. Subjects are graded in three standardized categories of ARWMC (mild, moderate, and severe) according to central MRI reading. Quantitative tests of gait and balance include the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB; range: 0 [poor] to 12 [normal]), a timed 8-m walk, and a timed single leg stance test. RESULTS: In cross-sectional analysis, deficiencies in gait and balance performance were correlated with the severity of ARWMC (SPPB: 10.2 +/- 2.1 in the mild, 9.9 +/- 2.0 in the moderate, 8.9 +/- 2.6 in the severe group; p <>

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a strong association between the severity of age-related white matter changes and the severity of gait and motor compromise. Physical activity might have the potential to reduce the risk of limitations in mobility.