Reflections: Treating Neck Pain, Hydration Supplements, Freedom & Responsibility

Here's what I've been doing for Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Body

Neck pain and shoulder mobility

We continue this month with mobility for the shoulder, even when that may not be the location of pain. This is a good reminder for how all things are connected. From the book Built to Move - the 10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully: Neck pain can have many causes. There are the aforementioned tech driven positions. Your neck could hurt because you're not breathing efficiently, or because you're worried about your kid getting into college...But shoulder dysfunction often plays a role in or exacerbates neck pain...everything is connected - the body is a system of interlocking pieces - and the neck and shoulders in particular are a couplet. So, when someone comes to us with neck pain, we automatically look into their shoulder range of motion, both as the potential cause of the pain and as the solution.

Challenge for you:

Commit to doing a daily shoulder physical practice. I guarantee you will feel so much better. It's amazing how we don't realize how tight we are until we place attention to our tissue.

Physical practice

Here is one of the mobilization exercises recommended in the Built to Move book that can help with mobility.

T-Spine Mobilization - This one I just completed and my shoulders and back feel great. Using a ball, it helps to mobilize the vertebrae and soft tissue in the upper back. It also lets your arms spend time in the important overhead position.

Instructions from book: Lie face-up on the floor knees bent. Place a ball on the right side at the base of your neck, just at the top of the scapula. Raise your right arm overhead and, with the thumb pointed down, drop your hand down to the floor. Keep your elbow close to your head. Raise and lower your arm at a comfortable speed, breathing as you go, ten times. Now roll back a little so the ball is farther down your back, at about the middle of your scapula. Repeat the arm raising and lowering ten times. Finally, roll back again, moving the ball to the bottom of your scapula. Repeat the arm raising and lowering ten times. Switch sides.

Mind

Summer is in full swing as is my golf game! I enjoy walking the 18 holes and when it's hot and humid I need to replace my electrolytes lost through sweating. Electrolytes are essential minerals the body needs to function properly. When it comes to hydration, two of the big electrolytes are sodium and potassium both of which are found in certain foods but on the course I have been using a supplement.

The electrolyte supplement I've been using is LMNT (pronounced like "element"). It contains sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

Drinking plenty of water is essential and on hot days with lots of activity even more important to stay hydrated. Using a portion of the LMNT packet keeps me functioning well (it contains a lot of sodium so I only use some of it at a time).

I have noticed that towards the end of a round of golf, I'm still cognitively sharp. When I haven't used the supplement on a very hot day, I have noticed not being as focused and felt really drained post-round. Keep in mind it's important to get plenty of water and to get proper nutrition from real foods that contain things like potassium and magnesium.

Challenge for you:

Pay attention to how much water you consume daily, especially on hot days. Here are some good food sources of potassium. To get enough magnesium, eat dark leafy greens. Along with magnesium, you’ll get vitamin K, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and potassium in your system.

Spirit

Tuesday we celebrated our nation's independence. Our foreparents fought for freedom we now enjoy. Like the haze that is left after the last firework has been lit, our country appears to be in a place where we have lost sight of the fact that with freedom comes responsibility and virtue. As we pay tribute to those men and women who have served our country, let us honor them by having the courage to live with self-control, honor, selflessness and responsibility.

Challenge for all:

Let us all strive to be something better, to be something more. Our country deserves it.

Quote I'm pondering