now which resume can occur in both men
and women and it gets his nickname from
the hunch at the base year Dec and it
used to be on there this is going to
sound a little bit cliche here but it
used to be the elderly especially
elderly women however today everyone is
vulnerable to this condition hi I'm dr.
Lawrence woods from the spidery and
today I'm gonna examine dowager's hump
what is it exactly what causes it how
can you prevent it some exercises and
later on this video I'm gonna go off the
rails a bit and I'm gonna give you some
of my uncommon advice an actual
treatment that actually works and it
could be interpreted as downright
medieval so the question is the
condition of dowager's hump is it a
genetic mutation hmm okay we can go
there or could it be that we are simply
complacently adapting to modern day
technologies and I don't want to scare
you or worry here because I got the
goods I'm gonna show you how you can
actively and consciously adapt to your
lifestyle seamlessly so you don't have
to worry about aging well before your
time does that sound fair enough and
this condition I hate using shop Talk
but technically they call it Chi Phocis
and results from a chronic leaning
posture meaning that your head leaning
forward here like this and it this is a
posture that's far too common in this
world of computer screens and other what
I call rectangular devices and so
insidiously over a short period of time
habituation of poor posture can develop
an abnormal curve in the upper thoracic
spine this part here the lower cervical
and it creates a massive tissue in the
lower part of your neck does all this
makes sense because it's all breakdown
or here's another way looking at picture
this can you imagine if I was balancing
a bowling ball okay the weight of a
bowling ball which would be similar to
the weight of the head and my elbow was
on a table and so therefore gravity
should have no effect but if I simply
held that bowling ball forward the
weight starts going up exponentially
okay and so every inch you're carrying
your head forward your muscles your
spine your discs your joints they got a
cat or lever that weight instead of
using your hips for all movement all
movement if you read my book on I'm sure
you have all move that comes from the
hips if you're sitting forward or
looking forward to like this and you're
leaning like this and you're not using
your hips not engaging your core muscles
you're gonna create breakdown and it
just looks terrible so let's go through
some simple advice here I don't want you
to just take my advice on this I want
you to take a look around and notice if
you see what I'm talking about
it's easy to notice this when you look
at let's say photographs for example I
recently a couple weeks ago I went to an
all-boys School in Monaghan town and
they had photographs of all the foot of
all the graduating class let's say
throughout the last hundred years and
things look really good meaning that the
spines were pretty erect until you get
to let's say the early 2000s and then
you see the spines starting to bend a
little bit and by the time you get to
the latter days like in the last few
years it looks like a jungle the heads
are all over the place everybody's got a
translation and I'm generalizing here
but you get the point right another
point I'd like to show you is this is
personal I just recently have found a
photograph I don't know if you can see
this this is of my grandparents now
these folks made it to their mid to late
90s and I want you to take a look at
their postures do you think there might
be a connection between posture and
longevity hmm uh-huh
look at the biomarker studies on this
most people think I'm just talking about
posture for just four postures for how
you look or you can look at the eleven
thousand studies linking poor posture to
many chronic diseases today including
heart disease cancer diabetes depression
I'm scaring you like I told you I
wouldn't and so forth okay so sorry
about that
but the point is so having good posture
may be the most important component for
being healthy so we can easily deduce
that poor posture is the most common
cause for dowager's hump but there are
other possibilities that I should
include and one would be osteoporosis
which is generally a compression
fracture which causes an increased curve
it could be a congenital problem and
again these are extremely rare and the
congenital problem could be due to the
spine not forming properly before birth
there's another label not you know how
much I love labels it's called Sherman's
kyphosis and this shows up in teenagers
when the spine develops into a wedge
shape instead of a tangler shape okay
however for most of us is caused from
always being bent forward putting extra
weight pulling on and straining the back
straight up that's most of us okay and
this forward curve is bad for your discs
it increases your risk of this problems
neck fatigue muscular problems and it
could change the curves in your upper
spine but it also can cause low back
pain as well pending on your age and the
severity of this
problem you can often improve or reverse
this situation so relax we will start
today with the per usual exercises but I
want you to get this a dowser hump is
not going to go away overnight
it could take sometimes a long time even
months to correct this the experts
believe that you can achieve this by
strengthening your upper back muscles
increase in tone helps pull the back the
shoulders keeps the head over your
shoulders and your hips and you can
start just by doing chin tucks of the
neck where you pull back the chin
straight back this is good for your
discs of your neck and it also they
believe strengthens your neck muscles
you can perform scapular squeezes where
you squeeze the shoulder blades together
to improve upper back muscles you could
do push-ups in the corner of a room or
my favorite is doing push-ups through a
doorframe where you move the shoulders
past the hands however saying all this
I've never seen these exercises and I
got to be careful here I've never seen
them actually worked persley and so if
you do a cursory search on your your
stupid rectangle I'm being smart here
meaning your media gadget in front of
you you'll find all kinds of experts
give it accolades and all kinds of
positive results for these exercises but
logically do you think that any exercise
will combat the very thing that you're
doing all day long to create this
problem folks this is what we call logic
and it seems to be the void in our
educational systems I'm not gonna go
there okay
but that's not what you're here on my
channel for not this little Channel no
no no you came for some uncommon
information not the usual dummy load so
before we go into any my unusual
treatments for dowager's hump let's
start with the mindset first okay does
that sound fair enough so the best way
to treat dowager's hump is to stop doing
the things that cause dowager's hump in
the first place and so let's look at a
few things that you must do actively and
consciously so you can adapt these to
your everyday lifestyle and think about
this right so as you start doing these
things that I'm gonna mention here if
you do them consciously and slowly in
the beginning eventually you will
develop these you'll develop a muscle
memory and you'll you you won't even
think about these things anymore
and so we're gonna look at how you sleep
we're gonna look at how you sit and how
you stand in my book I dedicated a large
portion of the distinct called ace or
the acronym ace which is active
consciously engaged and and through this
real simple stuff it's like that movie
Karate Kid the more you do repetition
the better you get and becomes memory
and it becomes it just becomes second
nature for you so we're gonna go through
the things you could do right now we're
gonna look at how you stand how you sit
and how you sleep and let's let's start
there can you imagine if you're doing
those things actively and consciously
all the time the ones I'm sleeping
you've want us to get that right you
can't consciously sleep but but once you
get those right you're gonna start
moving into a better position you're
gonna notice all these weird curves and
all this distortions are gonna start
falling by the wayside and you're going
to look better than you know feel better
okay so let's start with San exception
eight if you'd have faced a camera here
okay okay the first thing is if you I'm
always saying this if you're just
walking around you always want to keep
your palms open like this again because
you want to open up this area here it's
great for your breathing increase your
breath vital capacity feels good doesn't
it and if you get used to it look at
listen people nobody's paying attention
anything so don't don't worry about
nobody even notices this the second
thing is when you're standing if you can
just bend your knees just a tiny bit now
you don't want to walk around like a
chimpanzee but if you look at like a
three-year-old well let me let me change
that there with the caveat there and
three-year-old without a gadget or media
device there's or someone from a third
world country it's primal
they're always standing with that just a
slight bending your knees so so when you
stand with a slight bend your knees what
you're doing again is you're engaging
your hips you're engaged into twenty
nine muscle groups and twenty nine
muscle groups between your knee and
shoulders that's record of course not
just your six-pack I mean you hear a lot
of experts talking about that probably
the least important involve them your
hips are the main thing and so when you
stand like that you feel that right yeah
you're engaging your muscles and if you
do this over and over and again all day
long when you brush your teeth when
you're walking to talk Washington dishes
it doesn't matter you want to just keep
a slight bend there and keep at this
this takes literally months to get
doesn't it but once you get it initially
you feel your muscles engaging existed
the point is it's not the exercising
suppose you if you go have a personal
trainer in your exercise an hour day
it's the other 23 hours I'm concerned
about and so it's the non exercise and
hours are the most important so when you
stand keep your knees slightly bent and
keep your hands out like this now
sitting is is a big one and in the
sitting you've got to get this right all
that
time you know and so that's why I like
we develop things that you can
seamlessly incorporate into your
lifestyle so you don't you have to think
about this but but you notice most
people when they sleep in the y-axis
from here to here it's like a pogo stick
it's very straight and that's why you're
loading your disks instead of your
muscles and so what we want to do is
when you're sitting you want to make
sure your hips are always higher than
your knees and so you can you can use
something technical like this that we
developed the they get the exact curve
and the the great attention okay let me
get you up here I'm just going to put
this over here like this and have a seat
on that and so can you see the
difference here so when when she sits
like this what you're doing is you're
setting the foundation right it engages
the core muscles it pulls up on the
pelvic floor muscles brings the
shoulders back and puts the ears over
the shoulders and hips and that takes a
lot of the stress away most people who
get dowager's hump
it's from the heads translating forward
this takes it out of there even if
you're going to use your computer or a
media device you're actually engaged
your muscles and you're actually
exercising right now so that's kind of
cool isn't it so you're actually feels
good doesn't it and so like my
recommendation is if you're gonna move
to something like this you want to do
this maybe an hour to a day for the
first week until you get used to because
you're gonna my god you're gonna feel
your muscles engaging and it's it really
feels it feels great and after a while
you're not gonna be able to go back to
your way where you're sitting 90 degrees
90 degrees 90 degrees so let me take
this out of here and sit back down here
again if you don't have something
technical like this what you can do is
always this the same rule applies
slightly to your table here and get
those knees down below your hips again
again you're engaging two core muscles
now okay you always want them to rule
thumb here is the knees always have to
be below the hips if you want to get
real technicals about 110 degrees from
trunk the thigh that the the angle
should be anywhere between 8 and 12
degrees if you have an iPhone they have
a goniometer but anyway but that's
that's the main rule that's how you
should sit sleeping if you're gonna get
a good night restful night's sleep get a
not a good fellow a fantastic pillow get
a great pillow you know I recommend as
you if you see my videos I'm always
recommended like a molded latex this is
one that I've designed that cuts out
around the shoulders it cuts off an ear
in jaw takes pressure off the cranial
nerves here opens up for breathing it's
it's just you know I just thought about
everything when I put this
so we're gonna do is bring these up here
like this put your head in here at
cradle to shoulder here like that and
can you see how that how lovely that is
it just puts the spine there's no
tossing and turning it just sets the
spine in the perfect alignment and it
relaxes the muscle see when you're
sleeping it's probably one of the most
important time of the day for you
because that's when your cells
replicating you're making a brand new
cell and you don't want to be making
photocopy photocopy a photocopy of cells
if your stress and you're sleeping
you're not you're just not regenerating
in you age much faster I also recommend
getting a secondary poet and we're gonna
put this between your knees made here
like this and that that keeps the spine
perfectly straight how does that feel so
easy it is so weak okay now here's a
real simple thing you can do and I love
this one because you're stretching and
strengthening the same time you're
working not just I don't like the
compartmentalizes spine I like to work
the entire anterior and posterior chain
so we want to strengthen this and and
stretch at the same time so what we're
gonna do in this for this to work you
need a floor or something flat I'm sure
you have that and you're gonna need a
chair or something to put your feet up
now in this particular exercise you want
to make sure your knees are at 90
degrees so you bring your knees back
here a little bit you need like that
right there at 90 degrees if it's if
it's not at 90 degrees you're gonna be
working a different set of muscle groups
and that's not what we're after here now
again we're going to just use packing
foam you know junk right this is good
resilience this is not one of our phones
because gasses but it's a good foam
because it's nice and it's soft but yet
resilient and so what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna put this packing foam right
here I'm gonna lift your head up your
sinead and we're gonna just up a little
further and we're gonna put that right
down across the base of the neck roughly
two one
c17 one okay and how does that feel
feels good doesn't it and again we're
gonna come back to our other packing
foam down here this stuff here and you
can use a pillow cushion a ball anything
just be creative anything and we're
going to do is we're going to put this
between Shay's knees here and what I'm
going to have are two is with your hands
out like this again you want to always
keep your hands whenever you're doing
any of our floor exercise any of our
exercises you want to keep your palms
open because why because you're opening
this up here you're increasing your
vital capacity your breathing better and
you're relaxing your muscles okay in
that position give yourself a minute or
so I let your body just relax once your
body relaxes I want you now to just
Jen leash in a squeeze your knees
together and hold that just hold it
there what I want you to just hold it
there for about 10 seconds okay so now
what we're doing is we're firing off the
proprioceptors mechanoreceptors weari
patterning the spine here and this is
based on a lot of research and if this
works really really well and it feels
feels good doesn't it this is something
you could do first in the morning and
lasting at night
real simple very easy to do so what I'm
going to use here which you need is a
basically industrial packing foam and
what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put this
down behind her she needs shoulder area
and if you want to get technical you're
looking at like between c7 and t2 and
we're lined that up like that make sure
your shoulders are perfectly set like
that and then we're gonna clamp her in
the opposite way so here's where we get
medieval so what I did was I put pads
here I'm gonna have Sinead put our hands
out like this why would you if you
listen if you're just walking around the
street keep your hands out like this
because this opens up this area here and
it stretches out the anterior chain
muscles so we're gonna have her put her
hands down off this I like this I'm
pulling this back in this direction
these are both clamps by the way that
I'm using I was getting them from this
distributor in the States and I I go
through a lot of these and I called her
recently cuz and she said sir what kind
of I think she was in the deep south she
said we're kind of both you had and I
said I said I got real quiet I said I
don't have a boat I actually use it on
people and she there's a long pause
there and then she got back to me she
said sir I just wanna let you know I'm a
Christian I assured her I was doing
God's work so what we're gonna do here
now is I'm gonna just come over here and
just stretch this out like this and this
over here like this and now we're
pulling that back and what I'm gonna do
now is I'm gonna actually get
information aid here like this and we're
gonna the muscles back in here the traps
the rhomboids now have her tuck your
chin down like her and push your head
forward like you're doing like a chicken
like that right and we're just
stretching those muscles out now there's
nine ligaments between each bone we're
stretching those out as well it feels
good that's pretty good yeah just pull
there stretch this out and this way and
this way and this way now we're gonna
turn your head this way incidentally I
did a video on neck stretches I think
it's a really good one and I'm gonna go
through
a little bit that here you turn your
head obliquely and we're just gonna pull
down this way just a little stretch
there and over this way no stretch this
way
and we're coming back this way the
distance also here in the front we're
gonna stretch this way and you if you
could push your head against my hand and
then over here push against my hand so
what we're doing is if you're at home
and you want to do some of these
stretches you want to turn your head
first of all and you want to get in here
turn about 45 degrees if you could put
your hand right here in here and you
what you want to do is tease this area
out so when you're stretching your
you're pulling on the nerve root and the
disk you want to create that intrathecal
pressure and you want to push down on
the muscles here so you're just kind of
teasing this out like here like this and
then the same thing on this side and
we're just going to tease that out this
way like that it doesn't okay the other
one what you could do is that the
muscles back here you want to turn your
head your your let's say your left ear
to your left shoulder down this way and
you want to reach back down here and you
want to and just stretch forward here
like that and then over here right here
at the right shoulder and what you're
gonna do is you're gonna look up to the
left corner or right corner and you just
want to stretch these these things the
falafel I give it the flaw the ligament
is back here right back here feel that
right there okay turn your head this way
and just a little stretch and then
lastly we want to strengthen the
anterior muscles so to tuck your chin
down again chin chin tucks are are
recommended by most doctors for four
hours or something and from this
position I want you to push your head
against my hand push forward good and
back again and push for it yeah we're
gonna take this off like this pick on my
junk out of here now how does that feel
yeah yeah turn on for the cameras sake
see we should we should have done before
doctor but that looks a lot better feels
it actually feels good doesn't it yeah
fantastic hi folks I really hope you
enjoyed that video as much as I liked
making it and I really appreciate she
made for all her help today against her
will listen these are real simple things
you can do you could just just implement
them you don't have to don't overthink
this if you just incorporate these into
your lifestyle you'll make the
correction and all these things such as
Dowager come or whatever they'll fall by
the wayside
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you