Yoga at bedtime can help you fall asleep faster and sleep better. Trudy, a registered yoga teacher and fellow Physical Therapist, stops by to show me a therapeutic yoga bedtime routine.
Therapeutic yoga focuses on gentle yoga or modification poses with breathing techniques. Trudy is not only a friend and mentor, but she is also from Canada! So if you are a Canadian viewer, make sure to give her a shout-out in the comments. And Canadian or not, make sure you visit Trudy’s website!
When trying to get a good night’s sleep, you want to do stretches and exercises that don’t wake up your spine, so try not to extend your back or open up your chest area before going to sleep.
A piriformis stretch is a great way to help relax the glute area and relax the lower body.
Next, is a double knee to chest stretch. Make sure everything is in alignment, and that you are not getting any pinching in the front of your hips.
Finally, legs up the wall helps with lymphatic drainage. This is a great way to relax the whole body and help with sleep.
This real-time isometrics routine for the upper body features easy exercises that can help strengthen the upper body & relieve pain. It can also help decrease tightness and improve overall flexibility.
Massage guns, or percussion guns, usually come with several heads or attachments. Here’s a general overview of what each one can be used for, and what area of the body it works on best.
A TENS Unit helps reduce pain and increase circulation. Basically the vibration of the TENS follows the same pathway as the pain pathway to the brain and helps cancel it out. Learn more about TENS in this video.
When the pectoralis (pec) muscles are strained, overused, or even tightened due to bad posture, it can cause chest pain and tightness. These easy chest pain relief techniques should help, but it’s always important to check in with your doctor if you are having chest pain to rule out any serious conditions.
Bodyweight exercises are great (especially for beginners) because they can be done without any equipment or an expensive gym membership. Many simple and effective exercises can be done with just our bodyweight. The bodyweight exercises in this video are great for helping to improving strength, balance, and overall health.
Vagus nerve stimulation uses gentle electrical impulses to stimulate the vagus nerve. The Vagus Nerve plays a key role in the parasympathetic nervous system, helping regulate rest, digestion, heart rate, and more.
Tension headaches are very common, and they can really shut you down. Stress is the number one cause of tension headaches. These simple stretches and exercises can help relax the muscles that are causing the pain.
When it’s hard to take a deep breath, it can often be from tight chest and pec muscles from poor posture. These simple breathing exercises should help open up the chest area to help you breathe better.
People often have bad posture when they are working at a desk or gaming all day. This video will show you some great tips on what to look for in a chair to give you the best sitting posture to help reduce neck and back pain.
