Matt Metzgar

Why Bodywork May Not Always Work

I have been reading more on earthing today and found another interesting article.  The author links all types of bodywork into a common thread, effectively saying that all these therapies have some effect because you have one person touching another.  During this touch, there is a transfer of electrons into the inflamed area which promotes healing.  This is the same process used in barefoot contact with the earth, where electrical charges are received by the body.

Therefore, any type of touching may work for acute injuries.  There may not be any magic in one type of bodywork versus another.  Putting science to the side, I would just take on faith that touching leads to healing.  It is a natural human reaction to touch someone we care about when they are injured.

This may show why the changes from bodywork may not "stick" for long-term or chronic conditions.  If you have a chronic injury, then you get some bodywork and feel better temporarily due to the energy transfer.  Then this transferred energy dissipates and the problem returns.

From the author's point of view, the long-term solution would be to use grounding on a daily basis to provide a constant flow of energy.  This can be done by barefoot contact with the ground or the use of things like a "grounding mattress pad" (that effectively grounds a bed to the earth).

I hope this post doesn't read like science fiction.  I am as skeptical as anyone, but this theory is really just another aspect of Paleolithic health. 

Earthing

I just came across a whole slew of information on "earthing".  This is simply having direct skin contact with the earth, as in barefoot walking.  Apparently, there is substantial benefits just from this type of contact (or recreation of this through modern technology).

I was skeptical of all this until I started looking at things like this website.  The American team at the Tour De France uses earthing products.  So do some pro and college athletes.  Also, there have been scientific studies done to back things up.

It makes perfect sense - humans had direct skin contact with the earth for millions of years.  Now we have shoes, carpets, beds, etc, to block this contact.  The science behind all this seems to based on electrical energy - the transfer from the earth to the person.  Of course, electrical therapy has been used to treat injuries for decades.  Now there appears to be an evolutionary reason why this is successful.

More information on this to come...

Shoes and Posture

I came across this interesting article in the New York Times.  It discusses how vibrating insoles help elderly people keep their balance better and improve their posture.  The insoles provided electrical impulses, too light to be consciously felt, but powerful enough to stimulate the nerves on the bottom of the feet.

The goal of the study was to amplify the signals that the brain receives from the foot.  I would think you could achieve this in another way, and that is by reducing the barrier between the feet and the ground (by going barefoot).  Natural surfaces have undulations, and this would lead to new information being sent to the brain when walking barefoot on such surfaces.

I am starting to wonder if the majority of postural problems don't start with the feet.  If posture depends on receiving information from the nerves in the feet, then any type of heavy footwear will weaken this feedback loop.

Killer Shoes

Most of the summer I have gone barefoot or wore minimal shoes, like Vibrams or Pumas.  Today was the first day of the school year where I had to spend many consecutive hours on my feet teaching.  Even though I have somewhat flat dress shoes, it apparently isn't helping.  By the time the day ended, my back hurt, my feet hurt, and even my thighs hurt!  All this after having zero pain when I wear no or minimal shoes.

I was so desparate to get out of shoes when I left that I drove home barefoot (I read somewhere that this is legal).  Next, I just ordered a pair of Vivo Barefoot shoes for work.  The sole is supposed to be only 3 mm thick, so hopefully that will do the trick.

It's funny how the more you go barefoot the less comfortable and tolerable shoes seem.  I wonder if going barefoot will ever become more acceptable in modern society.  It's a shame you don't see hardly any doctors or even podiatrists promoting barefoot activity.  I think that's starting to change, but so far it seems to be a very minor change.

Disc Degeneration

The above graph is from this paper that looks at spines in primitive versus civilized populations.  You can clearly see that there is little disc degeneration in the primitive population.  The authors hypthesize that this is due to the frequent squatting by primitive groups.

The authors state that "the posture of humans can be divided into squatters and non-squatters".  Interestingly, they also found that more load-bearing via heavy physical work in modern populations did not slow the rate of disc degeneration.

The full-text of the paper can be downloaded.  It's worth a read.

Book Review: Healing Back Pain

John Sarno's book, "Healing Back Pain", has been around since the early 90s.  A number of people have written things along similar lines.  Chris over at Conditioning Research has done some related posts.  The basic idea is that mental stress can manifest itself as back pain.  In the book, it is called "Tension Myositis Syndrome".

First, I do believe it's possible that mental stress can lead to back pain.  However, Sarno's program is not a reliable way to test this hypothesis.  In his program, he recommends trying to limit mental stress and continuing with regular physical activity in the presence of back pain.  Now we have two variables that may lead to an improvement in back pain, and you can't tell which variable is leading to the improvement.

Let's say you have some micro-injury that leads to lower back pain.  After the initial inflammation, your body may try to protect against future injury by limiting motion that stresses the back.  In other words, an acute response designed to protect the body may become a dysfunctional chronic pattern.  If you ignore this muscle discomfort and become active again, you may slowly heal - the tissue receives oxygen and stimulation, and then healing takes place.  If you would have stayed inactive, then the pain and immobility in the lower back may have continued.

Sarno recommends to "think psychological" and to continue with normal activity.  With this combination, you can't tell what component is helpful.  Certainly, reducing stress is healthy, but physical activity can release tension.  In terms of my own personal preference, I would just stick with being active and forget the psychological stuff.  Like the lyric in the old Edie Brickell song says, "don't let me get too deep."

Book Review: Spark

I read the book, "Spark", by John Ratey a few months ago.  I thought it was a pretty solid book, though not ground-breaking.  Each chapter highlights some type of disease/condition and ends with the same conclusion: exercise will help.  Usually, he recommends moderate aerobic exercise, like walking.  In the last chapter, he talks about interval training.  He added some 20 to 30 second sprints to his workout and lost some weight.

That's about all I got out of the book.

It Was A Great Summer

The school year is about to start, and so I'm busy getting everything ready.  I have to say, this was one of the best summers I've had in years.  I thoroughly enjoyed the time off to spend time with the family and catch up on many things.

I didn't really progress with my running as I had hoped, but that's okay.  Life goes on.  I have taken a detour into alignment issues, and it's something I think will pay dividends in the long run.  I am rested and healthy, and that's really the most important thing.

The blogging might be light the next week or so until I get back in the flow of work.  I hope everyone out there is enjoying the summer as well!

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

Sets And Reps No More

I did another workout yesterday with no counting of sets or reps.  It was mostly a bunch of single reps with the deadlift and a couple other movements.  I am slowly moving to the conclusion that counting sets and reps are unnecessary for general training purposes.

I think what's happened over the years is that methods for bodybuilding have prescribed for the general non-bodybuilding public.  If you look at the two types of muscle hypertrophy, myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic, both types are needed by bodybuilders.  The myofibrillar comes from heavy weights and the sarcoplasmic comes from high volume.  The sarcoplasmic is done more for appearances sake to "pump up" the size of the muscle.  Of course, many people train for appearance as well as function, but the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy doesn't produce much in terms of functional ability.

If you take away the need for the pump up, training can become much simpler.  Instead of wondering about 3 sets of 10 versus 5 sets of 5, you have questions like: can I lift this weight or not?  Can I control and do something with this weight?

I think a series of single reps is probably a more natural method of lifting.  This is called different names - rest-pause training, alactic training, etc.  It seems more representative of what hunter-gatherers would do.  For example, outside of a gym when would a person have to lift something heavy 10 times in a row without stopping?  Instead, think of moving a pile of heavy rocks.  You would pick up the rock, carry it, and then put it down.  Then you would take a second to recover and repeat.

This type of training is also easier to quantify.  If you can do a few single lifts and control the weight, you've effectively mastered it and then in the future you can experiment with a heavier weight.  With regular sets and reps, you may move up in weight but drop in reps.  Is this an improvement?  It's difficult to tell.  I also think the number of reps on a given day is heavily influenced by outside factors - sleep, diet, stress, etc. 

In contrast, I think basic strength levels as demonstrated by single lifts is fairly stable.  If you can pick up and control a certain weight this week, you should be able to do it next week as well.

With this type of training, you work by intuition rather than by accounting.  When you get tired after one movement, switch to a different one.  When overall you feel you have given your body a sufficient stimulus, quit.  That's all there is to it.

The One Thing

I have been thinking a little more about muscle and aging.  In Chris's interview with Doug McGuff, McGuff states that muscles are the storehouse for the "active genotype".  In essence, they are the fountainhead of all other physical activity in his view.

Lately, I have noticed that resistance training has a distinct effect compared to the other activity I do.  It seems that occasional resistance training is the one thing that almost always boosts my mood and energy levels. 

I feel a lot of this is connected to aging.  In your teens and 20s, you can do a lot of different activity that makes you feel good.  For example, I walk by a basketball court almost every night and see kids playing.  I have never, not once, see anyone over 30 playing there during the entire summer.  When you are young and naturally anabolic, different activities may be fun because they don't push you over the edge into catabolism.  But after a certain age, it feels that the body becomes more catabolic than anabolic, and then these activities just put you further into catabolism.

Does diet affect this balance?  Sure.  But in my own case, whether I eat perfect (Paleo) or not really doesn't have that much of an effect on my energy levels.  The factor with the greatest impact has been resistance training - not sprinting, running, or other activites.  When the lifting goes well, I feel like I've turned back the clock.  And that's a good thing!