Howe To Improve Your Posture (and Your Health)
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Howe To Improve Your Posture (and Your Health) w/ Dr. Liza Egbogah
SUMMARY
In this episode, we discuss the significance of good posture with Dr. Liza Egbogah, a leading body and posture expert in North America. The conversation covers the impact of posture on overall health, the misconceptions about ergonomic environments, and the effects of the shift to remote work. Dr. Liza explains the differences between chiropractic and manual osteopathy practices and the importance of addressing the root causes of pain. Practical tips are provided for setting up an ergonomic workspace at home, exercises to combat poor posture, and the influence of footwear on body alignment. Dr. Liza also shares insights from her personal journey and emphasizes the importance of kindness to oneself and others.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Liza - How to Improve Your Posture, from Daily Habits to Ergonomic Workspaces
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[00:00:00] Lauren: Today's conversation is with Dr. Liza Egbogah.
[00:00:03] Lauren: Now, while it's titled, How to Improve Your Posture, it is more broadly about why it's important to have good posture in the first place, not just for vanity reasons, but how that impacts other aspects of our health. Whether we work at a desk or we're on our feet all day, we get into some practical solutions of how we can ensure that we're supporting our back and our overall health. Why are we having this conversation? Following the pandemic, we saw a major shift towards remote work and with that came the need to set up home offices. While it's fun to work from your couch, is that really what's best for my back?
[00:00:35] Lauren: That also prompted the question, what exactly is an ergonomic environment? Does it mean having one of those lumbar support backings on the chair, which, funny enough, Dr. Liza advises against in this conversation.
[00:00:46] Lauren: Admittedly, I am an absolute hypocrite because I'm recording this introduction after we had the conversation and I am still sitting with my left leg tucked underneath me, leaning into my developing double scoliosis, and my right leg is hanging down versus being flat on the ground. Self awareness is the first step. A little bit about Dr. Liza. Dr. Liza Egbogah is one of North America's leading body and posture experts. She's a manual osteopath, a chiropractor, myofascial release therapist, clinic director at The Fix, designer of Dr. Liza's shoes and bags, and guest lecturer at OCAD University.
Dr. Liza is an award winning manual therapy expert, media contributor, speaker, human centered designer, and a member of Harvard's Postgraduate Association.
[00:01:28] Lauren: Dr. Liza has extensive experience consulting with senior executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and political leaders on health matters, injury treatments, and prevention and stress reduction strategies.
[00:01:39] Lauren: and we also dive deep in the whole barefoot versus laced up fitness. You know, those little shoes with the toes that mimic barefoot running. I've always wondered, are they actually good for you or not? This is how to improve your posture with Dr. Liza.
[00:01:56] Lauren: . Welcome.
[00:01:57] Dr. Liza: Hi, thank you for having me.
[00:02:00] Lauren: Thanks for coming on from, our work from home setups.
What is the difference between an Osteopath vs. Chiropractor?
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[00:02:03] Lauren: I think it is so badass for lack of better terms. You are not just a manual osteopath. You're not just a chiropractic doctor, but you're both.
[00:02:10] Lauren: So could you share a little bit more about what each one of those practices mean for people
[00:02:16] Dr. Liza: so when it comes to looking at different health professions, each provider is an individual and has their own unique set of treatments. But looking at the broad spectrum of what those two professions are, a chiropractor typically focuses on spinal adjustment. And specializes in adjustments along the spine versus a manual osteopath focuses on the entire body and instead of just manipulating joint manipulates all tissues that includes muscles, fascia, which is a connective tissue throughout your body, and even viscera.
[00:02:57] Dr. Liza: And by manipulating all of these components and creating alignment and balance in the entire body, if your body functions better, it should feel better. And I'm a chiropractor and a manual osteopath, but there are some chiropractors who also practice like that and don't just focus on spinal manipulation, but also focus on the same things an osteopath does.
[00:03:18] Dr. Liza: So there's actually quite a bit of overlap depending on the person.
[00:03:22] Lauren: Is this a safe assumption to say manual osteopaths look at it the more holistic approach and chiropractic doctors are focused on the spine and then, works out even better when you're both
[00:03:33] Dr. Liza: Yeah, exactly. When you're in chiropractic school, really, what you learn about as your treatment approach is really focused on spinal manipulation. Versus when you're in osteopathy school, you learn all of that. As a chiropractor, if you want to manipulate muscles and fascia, you have to take courses outside of school.
[00:03:53] Dr. Liza: I
Dr. Liza's Journey to Becoming a Chiropractor
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[00:03:53] Dr. Liza: started off as a chiropractor and I became a manual osteopath as well because I had taken so many courses regarding muscles and fascia and myofascial release. And thought that it was such an important part of my practice that I really should have a title that reflects more of what I'm doing because 90 percent of one of my visits with a patient is focused on myofascial release versus only 10 percent would be considered chiropractic with spinal adjustments.
[00:04:23] Lauren: And how did you find your way To, where you are today and saying this is the practice. This is what you are passionate about and want to pursue.
[00:04:31] Dr. Liza: From the time I was six years old, I knew that I wanted to help people feel better. So I was like, yes, that's what I want to be. I want to be a doctor. I want to fix people. I don't want people to be in pain. I want people to lead a more comfortable life.
[00:04:47] Dr. Liza: When I was in university, I'm like, okay, great. I'm going to become a medical doctor and I'm going to help people. So the first year I started off in pharmacology and pharmacologists are the people who. Study the effect of drugs on the body and essentially create them by learning physiology.
[00:05:06] Dr. Liza: So I also volunteered at the hospital. I need to get experience in my field and, make sure this is the right fit for me and see, what kind of specialty do I want to do medicine? I hated the hospital so much that after my first couple shifts of volunteering, I said, this is not what I want to do.
[00:05:29] Dr. Liza: I always looked at health as a comprehensive approach where, the environment makes you feel better. People are smiling, people are laughing, people are happy, and they're getting better, not just from a physical standpoint, but from a mental standpoint. And nothing in the hospital reflected that to me.
[00:05:51] Dr. Liza: It just seemed okay, here, the only goal is to stop people from dying. Thank you.
[00:05:56] Dr. Liza: There's nothing else. No lasting impact. And I wanted to do something more hands on, where people come into my environment, and, it feels like a healing environment. So I'm like, okay, so medical doctor is not for me.
[00:06:11] Dr. Liza: What else is there where I can actually help people the way I see myself helping them? So I started researching all these different professions, I looked at natural paths, I looked at physiotherapy, and then I found out about chiropractic. And until that point I had never heard about chiropractic.
[00:06:31] Dr. Liza: I thought, okay, that's interesting. It's a hands on approach where, we're figuring out what the problem is and then we use our own Hands and knowledge in order to help that person right there, but that's very interesting So one summer I decided, let me work at a chiropractor's office.
[00:06:48] Dr. Liza: So I went around the neighborhood With my resume being like, I'd like to work
[00:06:52] Lauren: Just literally knocking on doors.
[00:06:53] Dr. Liza: yeah,
[00:06:54] Lauren: I
[00:06:55] Lauren: love it.
[00:06:56] Dr. Liza: I just made a list of all the chiropractors. I'm like, I'm going to go to all their offices and see who will hire me for the summer. So I find a chiropractor to work with this summer.
[00:07:04] Dr. Liza: And I was like, okay, this is great. Let me see what goes on here. And people would come into the office, not necessarily in the best of moods, but by the time they left the treatment room, they were laughing. They're joking around with the chiropractor. And I was like, This is good. People would bring him in like vegetables from their garden and like cookies.
[00:07:24] Dr. Liza: And I was like, wow, like we should just bring you in all that stuff. That's amazing. So what are you doing in there? I've never had chiropractic treatment before. I'd like to learn more about it. And he said do you have any issues or anything that you want to work with? I was like I have bad news because I.
[00:07:44] Dr. Liza: Ran hurdles and sprinters and my doctor said that, it's just growing pain. So I thought there's not much you can do about that. He's Oh no. He's come on in. He assessed the way that I walked and moved and said, Oh, you're an overpronator. You roll in too much. And that's why there's so much pressure on your knees.
[00:08:01] Dr. Liza: And all you need are some orthotics and that will be fine. I was like, okay. I'm like, I'm pretty sure there's nothing that can be done about it. But he got me the orthotics. I wore them. And that was the solution. And I thought that's exactly what I want to do. Someone comes in with a problem and I find what the cause of that problem is, and then it's the actual cause, not just covering up the symptoms or.
[00:08:25] Dr. Liza: Saying, okay, just take some painkillers or just ice it. It's what caused the problem? Let's fix the cost that you don't have that problem in the future. And therefore you get more out of life. Now you can run again. You can do all the sports you want. You can be as active as you want because now we found the solution to the problem.
[00:08:43] Dr. Liza: And after that, I was like, I'm sold. I'm going to become a chiropractor. Yeah,
[00:08:51] Lauren: it comes to solutions to that are lasting. And of course, many things in our bodies, like we do need regular treatment on, but to not feel like someone says, rehab can be a pain, no pun intended in that, where
[00:09:04] Lauren: I swear, I have subconscious puns that always creep in.
[00:09:08] Lauren: , Not only is it a pain in the ass to have these regular appointments, but if there's something you can be doing on a day to day basis that affects your body. Orthotics could be something that would, and by the way, you describing pain with your knees sounds like my miracle cure of whoever can fix my knee issues.
[00:09:25] Lauren: Because , we chalk up things saying, Okay it's because I can't run on pavement anymore. I better stop running on pavement. But that's not getting to the root issue.
[00:09:32] Dr. Liza: exactly. Why do you have that problem? What is a solution for that problem? During an appointment you have, they tend to be longer than a regular medical appointment, so you have time to talk with your provider so that they know more about your life, your history, what went into you developing this problem, and therefore you can backtrack and say, okay, This is the solution.
[00:09:52] Lauren: I want to go back to something you said there earlier about the mood in hospitals, because I feel people don't realize, there's another human on the other side. When you're a patient and you're having an emergency, it's so easy to feel down. And just to think about our healthcare workers, but, be kind whenever you're in a hospital.
[00:10:09] Lauren: Remember the doctors that work with you. And it's not the same as having a clinic and those personal interactions where you see your chiropractor on a regular basis.
[00:10:18] Lauren: I like to remind people of that, where it can be very emotionally draining for people who are working in hospital settings.
[00:10:25] Dr. Liza: absolutely. Because the whole environment you have people who are dying and you have this stress of it is up to me and my team to keep them alive. The same kind of thank yous and that same kind of laughing and hugging that you do with your chiropractor, you might want to extend that to healthcare workers in the hospital as well, because they're under a huge amount of stress and they don't really get to control their environment versus me and my clinic.
[00:10:53] Dr. Liza: I can have lavender and peppermint aromatherapy. It's designed the way so that it's welcoming with big, nice windows. It's very different in a hospital. You don't get to.
[00:11:02] Lauren: Completely.
The Importance of Ergonomics and How Poor Posture Impacts Your Health
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[00:11:03] Lauren: And so that said, work from home.
[00:11:06] Lauren: I do not have an ergonomic setup. I sit at my desk perched and in weird positions and hunched over. It took me six months to get a proper office chair, like actually set up at this desk. People don't often realize that, quote, workplace injuries and workplace accidents often come from long term, repeated, small movements. Instead of just a large accident. , before we talk about what people can do, why is it so important
[00:11:34] Lauren: For people to have a work from home, ergonomic setup,
[00:11:38] Dr. Liza: Yes. So like you said, many of the problems that we develop, especially when it comes to musculoskeletal problems with, your muscles, your joints, arthritis, degeneration, strains, sprains comes from repeated activity and holding prolonged postures. So You know, it's more rare for someone to, fall down and hurt themselves than it is for people to have chronic injuries simply from the things that they do every day.
[00:12:08] Dr. Liza: Now, your body likes to be in alignment. It has certain ways where muscles are a certain length. Joints have a certain amount of offload. When you are in a poor work setup and in poor posture, you've now offset that balance and you are no longer aligned and your body does not like that. So if you are hunched in sitting too much leaning forward and your body's saying, wait, no, that's not the way that I want to be.
[00:12:39] Dr. Liza: So now the muscles are overworked. They're strained. The joints are like this position. We have too much pressure on us. So now there's inflammation in those joints. You have degeneration and you do that day in and day out. And then. It doesn't take long for you to start to develop things like headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, hip pain, feet pain, your whole body screams.
[00:13:04] Dr. Liza: And it's not just the physical effects, but mentally your body will feel more fatigued because it is using all this extra energy to keep you in these poor postures and try to make up for it. And that can leave you extremely tired. It can actually affect your mental health.
[00:13:28] Dr. Liza: So when you are in poor posture, we would say that's when your shoulders are rolled in, you're slouched or curled
[00:13:37] Lauren: what I'm currently
[00:13:38] Dr. Liza: you're bent forward, yes. Your body actually produces More of a hormone called cortisol and cortisol is the hormone associated with stress. So that's one of the reasons why after you've had a long day of all curling in slouch forward, your body doesn't feel good and you don't feel good.
[00:13:59] Dr. Liza: You might feel more anxious because not only Is there more cortisol produced, but also think about that cave in position and think about your lungs that sit underneath, how are they supposed to fully expand and get you the oxygen you need and let you breathe properly, let your diaphragm rise if you're all scrunched in.
[00:14:23] Dr. Liza: So now you're not breathing properly. If you're not breathing properly, your body says. What is going on? And then when you're doing that, you also have different muscles that are working. So instead of using the muscle that you're supposed to be using for breathing, you might be engaging your shoulder and neck muscles that are not meant for that, and then they get strained.
[00:14:43] Dr. Liza: And that's why studies have shown that anyone who has chronic neck pain has breathing problems. Anyone who has breathing problems has chronic neck pain. So the two are so interlinked. That your breathing and your posture go together, and that affects your mood. It affects how you feel physically, and it affects how your organs actually function.
[00:15:06] Lauren: I love that You mentioned organs because it's Not, Hey, Oh, my posture. I'm going to be slouched or how it does affect my hormone levels and how I'm feeling that day.
[00:15:15] Dr. Liza: Exactly. Because when you think of your intestines, they are like a snake that's, going throughout your body, and things are meant to move through. Or we could say it's like a hose. Now, when you are sitting, you're actually putting compression on that hose.
[00:15:32] Dr. Liza: So when there's no compression on the hose, the water just flows through all nicely. But now when you step on that hose, all of a sudden the water stops. It's all sluggish things back up. And that's the same thing with sitting is like stepping on the hose. And that's why I've noticed with working from home, more people are experiencing constipation because they're sitting more and they're not just sitting more like working at their computers.
[00:15:59] Dr. Liza: They're sitting more on the couch. They're just. Not moving as much and therefore things are not moving. So now you're constipated. If you're constipated, your skin's not doing great. You have lower back pain, your shoulders hurt, your mood is depressed. All because you have this posture.
[00:16:18] Dr. Liza: Like what kind of life is that?
[00:16:19] Lauren: it's, who wants that? Come on, guys.
[00:16:23] Dr. Liza: Nobody wants that.
[00:16:25] Lauren: and you know what? I think the importance of that too is driving home. This is not about vanity, having good posture. Like, you work with celebrities on their posture. when we spoke earlier, you shared a little bit about how, it's not about standing up tall and holding certain muscles, right?
[00:16:45] Lauren: If you could share a little bit more about that experience of what you've realized with your clients from when they actually treat these things in their body.
[00:16:51] Dr. Liza: You said it's not just about vanity, but part of it is about vanity. We can't deny the fact that we want to look better. And when you have poor posture, not only do you not feel as good, but you don't look as good. But one of the things we don't want to do is think about posture as something conscious where we have to force ourselves into a posture where I'm going to hold my shoulders back.
[00:17:13] Dr. Liza: It's more about creating actual balance in your body. So that is the way that your body is naturally. So if your peck muscles are tight. And you're forcing them back. You're going to get tired and you might end up in more pain because now you're forcing them into a position that they're not ready for.
[00:17:32] Dr. Liza: First, you want to loosen them. Then you want to strengthen the muscles in your middle back so that they can naturally pull your shoulders back. You want to have a stronger core so that can naturally support your spine. Because if your posture is curled and you're used to slouching all day and you force yourself to sit up, you're going to notice that after 20 minutes or even before that you're going to fatigue and fail, and you're going to be in more pain. So the key when it comes to posture is setting up our body correctly, where the right muscles are at the right length, we have the right joints offloaded, and we have our flash shaft, which is the connective tissue, as I mentioned, supporting us in the way that it should.
[00:18:14] Dr. Liza: It's not about forcing yourself into good posture. Developing daily habits that will lead to good posture. So subconsciously you just have good posture.
[00:18:23] Lauren: I know there are going to be some incredible exercises that we'll dive into. I had an interesting experience this instance happen once in an acting class. Like I would consciously use my muscles to keep a strong posture
, that was my normal sitting position and in this class the coach was, speaking about X topic and looks around the room, stops halfway through his sentence, looks right at me and goes, you stop doing that. What? Sorry, stop doing what? , And he gave this lesson on body language to say when you're holding your like a strong posture, you're intimidating.
[00:18:57] Lauren: And in order to make other people feel comfortable, which is a very valid point, I think in the realm of acting to say you have to be so mindful of body language that when you want to engage deeply with someone, lean in, roll your shoulders forward. It was everything you're saying not To do in order to make someone else feel more comfortable. And there's a time and a place I'm sure, where that works, But how can people find that compromise between the two?
[00:19:23] Dr. Liza: so a lot of times you do find that people say that you you have to curl in and women do this a lot in order to make others feel more comfortable.
[00:19:33] Dr. Liza: And the reason is, when your shoulders are back and you're in that power posture, it produces more testosterone, which is the hormone associated with confidence.
[00:19:44] Dr. Liza: So when women have, this really. Strong posture, they see it as more masculine because it is associated with testosterone, which they say is a male hormone, but of course we all have it and it's part of confidence. But if you are curling in and slouching into someone, That is very different than leaning into them.
[00:20:08] Dr. Liza: When you think of someone curling in, we think of shoulders forward, head forward. We think of Steve Urkel, if you remember Steve Urkel, right? it's not the most attractive posture. And we're curling in and it's not attractive because we know instinctively that it's not good for our body.
[00:20:27] Dr. Liza: But we want to get close to people, and the best way to do that is to lean into them with good posture. So you don't curl into them. You just want to lean. So you can still have your shoulders back, your head up straight and lean in closer to them.
[00:20:43] Dr. Liza: And that gives you. same effect without closing yourself in because if you curl into someone, it's not actually that comforting when you whole self into someone. It's more comforting when you lead it and you have that good posture and they see you as you're still open, but still because you're getting close to them.
[00:20:58] Lauren: You're engaged and open instead of closing off,
[00:21:01] Lauren: essentially.
[00:21:02] Dr. Liza: Because when you
[00:21:03] Dr. Liza: are closed off, you are sending a message to the person that, okay, It's a mind game because it's like you're closed off and you're saying don't come close to me But then you're also curling into me Versus when you're open you're like I'm open to this I'm receiving this and That is more comforting for people and they're more talking to that because it's look mate I'm open to you and I'm leaning into you.
[00:21:25] Dr. Liza: There's no mixed messages versus pulling into someone mixed messaging
[00:21:30] Lauren: Lean don't "C".
[00:21:31] Dr. Liza: Yes
[00:21:33] Lauren: I won't be able to unsee Steve Urkel, every time I hunch over or curl now or feel poor posture and I'm just gonna have to Figure out how to do the voice.
[00:21:41] Lauren: Yeah,
[00:21:44] Dr. Liza: to learn, because outside of Steve Urkel the actor is very different, and when you see him in this posture, the two are barely recognizable, and the biggest thing that gave his character, That nerd or geek character is what's changing his posture.
[00:22:00] Lauren: . Posture
[00:22:01] Lauren: says so much about a person, and this is in part why we're having this conversation.
Howe To Have Better Posture
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[00:22:06] Lauren: What can we do?
What can people do, whether it's exercises that would help on a regular basis to incorporate in their workouts or day to day with work from home.
[00:22:17] Dr. Liza: Basis can affect your posture. So that's the first thing that you want to look at. If you are working from home. And you have to do that, then look at the environment that you're working on. You want to make sure you have an ergonomic setup.
[00:22:32] Dr. Liza: if you are using a computer screen, you want to make sure that you are able to look straight ahead into the center of the screen, instead of looking down, if you're using a laptop, despite the name, do not have your laptop on your lap, because you are going to be looking down.
[00:22:48] Dr. Liza: So you can have it propped up and then use an external keyboard and you need a good chair. You're spending so much time on that chair that you want to make sure that you're using a chair where you're well supported and that moves so that you can adjust yourself throughout the day. Because as we get more fatigued and our eyes get more fatigued throughout the day, we want a chair that we can slowly slide forward instead of curling our whole body closer into the screen.
[00:23:14] Dr. Liza: And to help with that kind of eye fatigue that makes you lean into the screen, you want to be near a light source or have a well lit room because when you have a dimmer room you tend to actually slouch into your posture more because our eyesight and our neck are directly related to how our body controls our postural reflex.
[00:23:37] Dr. Liza: So a well lit area, supported station, and then You need to get up and get moving. So no matter what kind of ergonomic workstation you have, our bodies were not designed to sit for eight hours a day. In fact, we weren't even designed to really sit the way that we're sitting, we're meant to, not be sitting in chairs, we're meant to be sitting in a squatted position where we're actually using our glutes, but with modern day society, that doesn't really work.
[00:24:06] Dr. Liza: So one of the things I recommend.
The Dog Tail Technique for Better Sitting
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[00:24:09] Dr. Liza: Is every time you get into your chair, be conscious of the way that you're sitting because that makes a huge difference. It's something that I call the dog tail technique. Imagining that you have a dog tail and that you don't want to sit on it. Because we have, if you think of our coccyx are a tailbone.
[00:24:29] Dr. Liza: We no longer have a tail there. But we're still not supposed to sit on that area. So when you are going into a seated position, you want to start in a squat, stick your butt out and then sit. When you sit in that position, then it's much harder for you to slouch and you have lower, less pressure on your spine.
[00:24:52] Dr. Liza: But we have many areas around the world where you have people who are loomers or working weaving all day, and they don't have any back pain, even though they're sitting all day. And it's because of the way they're sitting.
[00:25:06] Dr. Liza: So they're almost sitting, They're still sitting on a bench, but they go into that spot and sit like that. And that makes a huge difference in how your back feels. And it makes a huge difference in your posture.
[00:25:17] Lauren: would something
[00:25:18] Lauren: like an extension for lumbar support that you add to your chair also mentally keep you in that position?
[00:25:25] Dr. Liza: It will, but then you become reliant on it when really we want our body to do the work. So when we say we're sitting like this, it also tells our core muscles and our back muscles, you engage and you support me, right?
[00:25:41] Dr. Liza: So when you go,
[00:25:42] Lauren: your job.
[00:25:43] Dr. Liza: yeah, exactly. So we, we want to rely on our own body for support and that's how we create good posture.
[00:25:50] Dr. Liza: If you're putting all these gizmos to do that job for you, then you're more likely to get injured because now you haven't built up the strength for the posture that you want. So yes, you should also try focusing on learning how to sit properly first
[00:26:06] Dr. Liza: before you start, you know, putting A's into your chair.
[00:26:10] Lauren: And then the other thing when it comes to your chair , I personally really struggle with this.
Importance of Feet Position and Stability
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[00:26:15] Lauren: Keeping your feet on the ground and why that's so important.
[00:26:19] Dr. Liza: Yes, ideally want your Knee area to be at about 90 degrees with your feet flat on the floor Say your chair is too low. You actually end up crunching in more if your feet are not touching the ground Then you don't have the stability or the contact of your feet on your floor to let your body know that you're stable
[00:26:42] Dr. Liza: So
[00:26:42] Dr. Liza: now you end up Overusing muscles in your back in order to create that stability because you don't have that full contact with the ground that's why that Feet on the floor or feet on the footrest is so important if you are too low where your feet aren't flat on the floor you're at 90 degrees then you're going to scrunch up more and if you're too high where your feet are not flat on the floor you are going to be jostling around you're not going to have that stability you're going to overuse The wrong muscles, you're gonna, end up doing weird things with your legs, like you're gonna one knee under and sit on that leg, cross it in a weird way, twist your body.
[00:27:20] Dr. Liza: The contorted positions I've seen people sit in because they have the right setup.
[00:27:25] Lauren: I think I'd give you an aneurysm.
[00:27:26] Dr. Liza: That,
[00:27:26] Lauren: up, yeah,
[00:27:27] Dr. Liza: yeah, that's how most people are.
We're Not Designed to Sit as Often as We Do
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[00:27:29] Dr. Liza: And that's why I say, we're not designed to sit that much. I can't fault people for that. Whatever you can do where you don't have to be sitting, you should. If you're on a phone call that doesn't require you to be on Zoom, put on your headsets or and paste while you're doing that.
[00:27:45] Dr. Liza: Only sit when you absolutely have to sit. If you're reading email or something on your phone, why do you have to sit to do that? Stand, paste, and read it.
[00:27:54] Lauren: Normalize turning off video on unnecessary Zoom calls.
[00:27:59] Dr. Liza: Exactly, because if you have the video on, then you're sitting and you're trying to force yourself in this position versus when the camera's off, you can be pacing, you can be doing squats, you can be stretching. So
[00:28:10] Dr. Liza: if
[00:28:10] Dr. Liza: you don't need your camera to be on, and most of the time they don't need your camera to be on, turn it off.
[00:28:15] Dr. Liza: It's not necessary. They
[00:28:17] Lauren: not at all. It's so true. Like I miss phone calls. I miss having the ability which you can do now, obviously. But I think zoom has normalized that idea of where you're sitting at the computer, you're facing someone. Cause it's nice to have face to face time, but you're so many less phone calls where I used to take advantage of that moment to go for a walk outside.
[00:28:34] Lauren: And you're almost more focused. I find because you don't have emails popping up in the corner. Like I'm listening and I'm dialed into a conversation.
[00:28:41] Lauren: Yeah.
[00:28:41] Dr. Liza: Oh, it's so much better to be on phone. So normalize just having the camera off. It's not necessary. Most things can just be a phone call. It does not need to be a video. You don't need to see me.
[00:28:54] Lauren: It's like the new hour long meetings, the memes and everything where it's
[00:28:58] Lauren: This meeting didn't need to be an hour.
[00:29:00] Dr. Liza: It needed to be an email, actually. It didn't need to be a meeting at all. We need to really cut back on this whole everything has to be a video. It's okay to just be a call without a video. Then you're right, you can go for a walk, you can get outside, you can stretch, you can move.
[00:29:14] Dr. Liza: Things that we're supposed to do.
[00:29:15] Lauren: completely.
Effective Exercises for Neglected Muscles
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[00:29:16] Lauren: Now, you mentioned squats, what other exercises, should you incorporate on your workouts for muscles that we are neglecting a little bit more these days?
[00:29:25] Dr. Liza: Okay, so one of the big things we want to do is focus on exercises that strengthen our stabilizer muscles while stretching at the same time. So that's why I'm a big fan of yoga postures because in most yoga postures you're doing strengthening and stretching at the same time and you're creating a balance between flexibility and strength.
[00:29:49] Dr. Liza: one of my favorite exercises to do throughout the day and this is really to combat our use of phones and devices because We spend so much time on it that we need to have an exercise just to combat that. So this is the thoracic extension. to do that exercise, you interlock your fingers behind your head.
[00:30:11] Dr. Liza: And then with that, you should already feel an opening in your chest.
[00:30:15] Dr. Liza: then you want to squeeze your shoulder blades together. like you have a pen in between your shoulder blades,
[00:30:21] Dr. Liza: and you want to hold that pen in place for five seconds. So while you're doing each one of these, you want to be really conscious about the breath you're taking.
[00:30:30] Dr. Liza: I like to take in a breath for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, and then exhale for four seconds with each stretch. And this is such a good position to do that. And when I was talking about neck pain and its relation to breathing, the breathing is so important when it comes to our postures.
[00:30:48] Dr. Liza: So when we are doing any exercise that is working on our posture, we really need to be cognizant of the breathing in order to get the effect from that. So when you're doing squats, make sure you're breathing with the squats when A great exercise that everyone should be doing every day is the good old plank.
[00:31:07] Dr. Liza: so with the plank you can either have your elbows on the floor or you can have your palms on the floor And your feet outstretched that you're on the balls of your feet Like you're actually a plank or a board you might start and only be able to hold it for 10 seconds, and then you might work up to 30 seconds, and then you might work it up to a minute If you can do it for five minutes, go right on ahead and being conscious of doing. a plank every day or a couple of planks every day, that's going to help strengthen your core. And strengthening our core is so important because that's what's supporting us when we're sitting. So if we have a stronger core, it helps counteract some of the effects of sitting and it gives us a good base.
[00:31:49] Dr. Liza: So if you can do your thoracic extension, do your squats every day. I like to say do up to 50 squats a day, but again, work up to it. And then also do planks every day. you're a lot better at counteracting what I call our modern societal lifestyle.
[00:32:04] Lauren: Definitely. And something I love for planks, I'll pull up, Tick tock and do a plank or anything that requires like a hold position because I know I'm distracted I'll watch a video for a minute It'll fly by and then you've already held like one plank swipe up you've got two minutes
[00:32:20] Dr. Liza: and the thing is, if you're a phone addict, like most of us are, you can do these exercises while you use your phone. I'm not going to lie, sometimes when I'm in a plank, I'll take one arm, swipe up on Instagram, and do alternating arms. if that's what you have to do, or you can use your phone while squatting, you hold your phone in front of you and get into your squat.
[00:32:38] Dr. Liza: So if you have to use your phone, you can still do these exercises with your phone.
[00:32:43] Lauren: It doesn't have to be now's the time for a workout. No, it's a cool episode. You want to watch? Okay, just do these things at the same time.
Footwar vs Barefoot Workouts - What's Better?
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[00:32:49] Dr. Liza: Absolutely.
[00:32:50] Dr. Liza: So that's, those are exercises you can do. But also another big thing, especially when you're spending so much time at home, is to think about what you're wearing on your feet.
[00:33:00] Lauren: Yes.
[00:33:01] Dr. Liza: Yeah, so if before the pandemic, you were used to going into work, you wore supportive shoes, and then all of a sudden, now you're just going barefoot on hard marble, wood, tiles, You might notice that you're suffering from foot pain, ankle pain, knee pain, and back pain, which a lot of my patients were, because they were going bare feet,
[00:33:25] Lauren: Yes, like those shoes with the little toe fingers that you like blew up.
[00:33:28] Dr. Liza: oh, I know, but it was great, I was very busy in my clinic because of those shoes, but the issue with that is With the amount of time that we're spending sitting, it actually causes our hip flexor muscles to shorten and tighten up. Now, when those muscles tighten up, it actually causes us to over pronate more, which is rolling in.
[00:33:50] Dr. Liza: And that tension on our plantar fascia and that tension on our feet and ankles and knees, Can lead to so many problems because when we think of posture, it's not just upper body posture. We have lower body posture as well And if you're misaligned and you're rolling in too much Then you should not be going barefoot at home.
[00:34:09] Dr. Liza: You should be wearing your shoes Right? Or to wear your runners, wear supportive slippers, something that is going to help with that. And also, you cannot be doing hardcore
[00:34:23] Dr. Liza: plyometrics, jumping, jumping jacks, and all that stuff that you would do if you already have a foot problem, barefoot at home.
[00:34:30] Dr. Liza: You still need to put on your running shoes. If you're going to wear your running shoes for a workout at the gym, then at home you should still be wearing your running shoes.
[00:34:38] Dr. Liza: If you're into,
[00:34:39] Lauren: soul with this right now.
[00:34:41] Dr. Liza: I have so many patients where they're like, I don't know how this started. I just
[00:34:46] Dr. Liza: have
[00:34:46] Dr. Liza: this foot
[00:34:47] Dr. Liza: And I'm like, let's think about what you're doing. It's I've just been doing this exercise program. And what kind of shoes are you wearing? Oh, no, I don't wear shoes. I'm at home. like there's your problem. You're pounding on your feet. You're an overpronator. Now you're accentuating everything you do. When you went to the gym before, did you wear runners? Yeah, of course, I need to. I'm like, yes,
[00:35:03] Dr. Liza: and at home you need to as well.
[00:35:05] Lauren: And to clarify, that doesn't mean like yoga and Pilates. Those are routines that are typically Matt based, so you don't
[00:35:11] Lauren: need shoes for that. But this is like the hit plyometrics.
[00:35:15] Dr. Liza: exactly where you're jumping. And if you already are in a training mode where you're training for barefoot work, so you're doing barefoot weight training and you're doing barefoot exercising, because you put that time into developing that alignment, then this is not for you. This is for the general population or majority of people. if you're jumping, if you're running, if you're, doing anything with a lot of impact, then yes, you need to wear supportive shoes. But of course, if you're doing balancing exercises, yoga poses, then go barefoot.
[00:35:48] Dr. Liza: Cause it's really good to have barefoot training to strengthen the muscles in our feet. So we want to do some exercises barefoot, but when it comes to really high impact stuff, we want to wear our shoes.
Importance of Wearing Footwear at Home
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[00:35:58] Lauren: And you blew my mind with this, by the way, when we first talked about especially your slippers,
[00:36:04] Lauren: because I felt called out for being a bare footer at home and whatever, wear socks if people are weirded out with this conversation about feet, but like they are the roots to your body. They're what keep us grounded. Can you share a little bit more about these slippers and, do you get orthotics built into them, to accommodate what type of stance you are, if you're an overpronator or not?
[00:36:26] Dr. Liza: In general, most people are overpronators because of the sitting and then they have fallen arches because it's a total collapse and that's
[00:36:35] Dr. Liza: probably 90 percent of people. So the support in the slippers has a great orthotic support so that you are not rolling in as much. And that your whole foot is supported in its natural position.
[00:36:49] Dr. Liza: So now when you're walking around your house, you're not rolling in, you're not aggravating bunions, you're not causing more knee pain, and then your hip flexors
[00:36:58] Dr. Liza: don't have to work as hard and tighten up as much. Because when they tighten up as much, that's why, and they attach to your lower back, it can lead to lower back pain.
[00:37:08] Dr. Liza: So what you wear on your feet, that's really the base of your support because our arches provide the support for our whole body. They're the natural shock absorbers. And so in the slippers, we also have that same kind of shock absorption as well. We have all the support. So now when you're walking around your house, standing, cooking, anything where you're on your feet for a long time, You have that support and the support starts from the bottom up, which is why I'm so big on shoes and proper footwear.
[00:37:39] Dr. Liza: And of the reasons I'm doing what I'm doing now is because orthotics or putting something in my shoe is literally what fixed my problem.
[00:37:46] Lauren: I love that And, also they're very cute by the way.
[00:37:48] Dr. Liza: Thank you.
[00:37:50] Lauren: I
[00:37:51] Lauren: feel by wearing them?
[00:37:52] Dr. Liza: Yeah
[00:37:56] Lauren: if I feel if I'm wearing slippers even at my desk, like of course there's so many things standing and cooking, but even at my desk that'll prevent me, or at least make me hesitate and think twice about whether or not I'm going to Creep up into my perch position because now suddenly you have that extra step to get there
[00:38:12] Lauren: Is there anything else we didn't cover in this conversation that you would love people to know?
Final Thoughts
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[00:38:15] Dr. Liza: We, talked about posture. We talked about work from home PPE, but also just a reminder to be kind. As you mentioned, we talked about being kind to healthcare workers, but really if you can be kind to everyone that, you know. We'll all feel better too. So I think just a reminder to be kind to people.
[00:38:36] Dr. Liza: Everyone's going through something.
[00:38:37] Lauren: Completely.
[00:38:38] Dr. Liza: Very kind to yourself. I'm a big proponent of that.
[00:38:41] Dr. Liza: I treat myself. I order myself gifts, like I stretch and do self care every day. In order for you to be kind to others, you really do have to be kind to yourself first and be so kind that it overflows that you have so much extra kindness to give.
[00:38:58] Lauren: and it's little things. Doesn't mean you have to do stuff that's crazy, but little things. Hold the elevator, smile
[00:39:05] Dr. Liza: or just say hi
[00:39:06] Lauren: Yeah,
[00:39:07] Dr. Liza: just a little wave.
[00:39:08] Dr. Liza: little thing.
[00:39:09] Lauren: Thank you so much for coming on and sharing all this.
[00:39:12] Dr. Liza: Thank you for having me.
[00:39:13] Speaker: Thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to follow along with Dr. Lizza, she is at Dr. Liza Lizza, LIZA, or you can check out her footwear and bag company at Dr. Lizza Shoes.
[00:39:25] Speaker: Also at DrLizaShoes. com where she has launched her latest collection called Love. Howe To episodes release weekly on Wednesdays If you could kindly take a moment to review the show, share it with a friend, or subscribe, that goes a long way.
[00:39:41] Speaker: Lastly, if there's an episode that you would like us to explore the how to of, please don't hesitate to reach out. Hope you have a beautiful day.
