Please feel free to ask questions about Pilates, Physical Therapy, Difficult patients, PMA Memberships, PMA Certification Exam, Bollywood Dancing!!! Or anything! I will do my best to answer your questions or find the answers for you.
Just email your questions to me at sherri@therapilates.com and I will post the questions and answers to the blog for others to read.
2 Comments
June 21, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Sherri-
Hey so I accidenttally sent the last email before I finished it. So that is the medical history of a client I will be starting with in about 2 weeks. She is a RN in the OB department at CHOMP hospital, super nice and very interested in “getting into her body” and we are working on slowing down, getting into breath, and thinking more about the local muscular system instead of the the global muscles. So I was wondering if you had any advise on how to gain some awareness through the transverse and deeper abdominal layers. She is also osteopenic on top of it all but moves relatively well and is gaining some connection. When I palpate the transverse, and ask her to contract/kegel, I feel NOTHING, I just see her sternum lift and rib cage flare. I am starting to do some research in the different prosedures she has gone through, I really want to help her gain connection and stability throughout her body. I repesct your education and experience so much, I was hoping you could point me in the right direction.
Abdomnial
Laparotomy x 3 (ovarian cysts & infertility)
C. section – which caused numbness from pubic area to half way to the navel.
Back
Anteroir cervical fusion C6/C7 (20 years ago) which has limited cervical rotation.
February 2009 – Discetomy L5/S1
2 degenerative discs – L5/S1 & L4/L5
March 2009 Right total hip posterior aproach
June 21, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Hi Nikki,
Try getting her to cough, sneeze, “blow out birthday candles”, exhaling as LONG as she can to see if you can get the Transversus Abdominus to fire. You might also consider using the “Stabilizer” (like a blood pressure cuff to monitor lumbar control) It can be ordered online from Amazon.com. It is a Chattanooga product developed by Paul Hodges group. When you receive it, if you decide to order it, I can talk you through how to use it. Also, if you just can’t seem to get things working, you could come with her to Santa Cruz for a session with us all together, that might be a good option if you just can’t get things working. But here is the main point: Can she stabilize her spine as she moves her arms and legs (with your fingers palpating the lumbar spine?) And can she lift both legs up one at a time into tabletop without abdominal bulge?
Sincerely,
Sherri