Have Lifelong Wellbeing Newsletter

October 2024

Welcome to the 121st edition of the Have Lifelong Wellbeing monthly newsletter! 

If you are a new reader, please know it's my life's passion to erase pain from the world and empower lives to age with strength, truth, wisdom, and joy. This newsletter is a cherished labor of love and I thank you for allowing me to enter your inbox each month. I'm humbled by your trust in me to provide content of value and I will continue to strive to that end. 
- Eileen

UPCOMING CLASSES

ALL NEW 3 class series on improving posture with MELT & 3 plane movement.

Begins October 15th at 5 pm Eastern   Recorded if you can't make it live

Taught via zoom through Hudson Valley Community College

This Month's LIVE MELT Class: Whole Body Tune Up

October 8th at 5 pm Eastern   Recorded if you can't make it live

Join us for a new MELT Class each month! Purchase 5 classes and get a class FREE! Special discount for Academy and paid level Private Club members.

On-Demand Virtual Classes

For those with a challenging schedule ~ recorded classes to access 24/7, INCLUDING an effective four class series for Urinary Incontinence done on your feet!

OCTOBER EVENTS FOR HLW ACADEMY STUDENTS

Monthly Reward Event

October 1st at 12 pm Eastern

Specialty Education Topic: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) & Muscle Clocks

Student Choice Workout

October 1st at 11 am Eastern

Student request topic: Caregiver Workout

Office Hours with Eileen

October 2nd  at 12 pm Eastern

This month's teaching: Core Training Facts - What it means and why it matters for lifelong wellbeing. 15-20 minute teaching followed by Q&A on any pain, aging, nutrition, or health topic!

This Month's Article

Stairs or No Stairs

That is the question.

Before I begin, I must thank the nearly 400 people who registered for my Ten Year Anniversary event last month. It was a delight to teach on Pain with information I've not taught publicly before AND to provide 30 giveaways to the LIVE attendees AND to gift each and every one of you who registered with something special, hot off the presses😊. 

I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of your lives each month with this newsletter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the anniversary event such a success.

If you missed the event and you would like to view the special talk I did on pain, please email me and I will provide the link for you to see what you missed.

Now, on to the topic at hand. 

I am excited to announce my next book, Aging Culprits! 12 myths that sabotage your future and steal your joy, is currently in the cover design phase.

So you don’t have to wait until mid-late November (tentative release date), I want to share one of the chapters with you. Since this is so counter to what you may be hearing from others, including healthcare professionals, I think you should have this now.

Of course, mainstream media and social media outlets aren’t reporting this topic accurately either which is why I wrote the book in the first place…

Chapter 7: Stairs or no stairs, that is the question.

I’ll never forget coming across an ad while researching for the Reverse Aging Boot Camp. The ad was aimed at real estate professionals and focused on the need for people literally ‘aging out’ of their homes. Not because they need care, but because they need a living environment without stairs or other areas that require being physically capable of living in them. Wow! Doesn’t that just say it all?!

Reams of online articles speak of how to ‘age in place’ by having a home without stairs.  “For seniors seeking age-friendly housing options or families looking to future-proof their abode against potential mobility issues down the line, zero-entry homes (no stairs, wide doorways, etc.) present an ideal solution.”¹

Another sad statement. “Make sure your home is built for aging in place. A large home with lots of stairs may not be a good fit as you get older. Make it a place that you will live in for the rest of your life”…²

And another.  “Many homeowners today plan to age in place, and having a home without stairs makes that easier.” ³

I’m about to tell you this isn’t a ‘normal’ future. It may be common, but it is NOT a normal aspect of aging. Let’s delve into some of the reasons this occurs and, of course, cover the most important part; what you can do about it!

The main reasons people have trouble navigating stairs include weakness, poor balance, and joint pain. There may be some medical conditions or post-surgical issues, but for the most part, those are the top three reasons. Since I cover balance and strength elsewhere, I’ll focus on joint pain in this chapter. 

Joint Pain

Much of what causes joint pain has next to nothing to do with OA. Yes, many people have joint damage that is confirmed via imaging with an x-ray or MRI. I’m not saying people don’t have OA.

Let me explain by sharing a story.

Marge came into the clinic with a complaint of right knee pain. Her prescription gave a diagnosis of right knee OA. After getting a detailed history and assessing her three-plane whole body function in weight bearing movement, it was obvious her left ankle lacked function in both range of motion and stability. Marge shared that she’d sprained that ankle years ago, but it had seemed to recover ok. She hadn’t ever had any treatment for it. 

Marge was completely unaware there were deficits in her ankle function. This is because our brains are notorious for not telling us when we have an issue with motion or stability somewhere if it doesn’t cause pain. The problem arises when the compensations caused by the deficit begin to annoy and injure structures not designed to do what they’re being asked to do because of the deficit. 

 Marge’s knee was being stressed because it was having to do what it wasn’t designed to do to make up for the deficit in the ankle. She questioned how her left ankle could cause pain in her right knee.

A fair question. Let’s look at how we walk to answer this question.

The complexities of gait are far too numerous to cover in depth here, but I‘ll attempt to share a basic understanding that doesn’t make your eyes glaze over if you’re not a lover of science and biomechanics like me.

When you take a step and land on your heel, your foot reacts with a specific joint motion that causes a flexible, shock absorbing action as your foot begins to take on your body weight.

That specific ankle joint motion, along with physics, creates a reaction from your ankle to your shin, thigh, hip, pelvis and all the way to your trunk.

That reaction then creates a response, the opposite reaction, from your trunk all the way back down to your ankle causing you to push off your toe with a solid, stable foot action to take the next step.

This happens from the time you land on your heel to the time you push off your toes…with EVERY SINGLE step! Amazing, don’t you think?

What happens on one side (foot/leg) intimately impacts what happens on the other side. This is exactly the reason I constantly state everything is connected to everything else in my book, Pain Culprits! This means it was logical Marge’s left ankle deficits were impacting her right knee function whenever she took a step with either foot.

Since this explanation of joint motion made sense to Marge, we worked to restore left ankle motion and stability with whole body exercises and homework in weight bearing that didn’t cause knee pain. Her homework was designed to breed success with no pain and progressed as she improved. The results of her therapy are reported at the end of this chapter but first I want to address something you may be thinking about right now. 

Am I saying if you have severe joint damage, you can magically resolve pain when you walk?

No.

I’m saying it doesn’t cause harm, and just may benefit you, to assess your three-plane function.  See if there’s another body part aside from where you feel the pain that may be the culprit causing your pain. You can access the Movement Performance Assessment in resources.

(the MPA is provided with the free class to all who want access @ mwpPrivateClub.com.)

So often the ‘culprit’ causing the pain is not where the ‘victim’ experiencing the pain lives in your body. This means what shows up in your imaging may not be the cause of your pain.

Before you agree to surgery, if it’s safe to wait a little bit, shouldn’t you see if there’s a ‘culprit’ that can be uncovered and corrected?! The downside to not trying this approach is what if the surgery didn’t fix the pain because it was caused by another body part? Ouch!

I will cover the common causes for pain when you go up and down stairs next month. It’s different depending on the direction you’re going.

Next month: How the 'culprits' of joint pain differ whether you are going UP stairs or DOWN stairs and the rest of Marge's story.😊.

References: 

1.       https://homesqa.com/zero-entry-home-plans.html  

2.       https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/baby-boomers/articles/2018-07-10/retirement-dream-home-mistakes-to-avoid

3.       https://www.newhomesource.com/learn/two-story-or-one-story-home-plans/

Would you like to locate the core issue(s) of your pain, balance deficits, or weaknesses and learn how to address them with powerful (safe) self-care methods so you can move without pain and age without decline? You can work with Eileen one-on-one! Just ask a question or schedule a consultation via Zoom by clicking the button below.

You CAN resolve pain and age independently by training authentically and nourishing well.

This recipe comes from my all-time favorite cookbook, The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook. You can find this recipe online at DrMcDougall.com. The cooler weather is encroaching upon us, unless you are one of the wonderful people I know in Australia😊, and this is one of my favorite go-to meals in cooler weather. You make it all in one pot in a jiffy. It's extremely tasty and satisfying and you can put it over any grains, potatoes, or even bread that you like. OR you may prefer to simply eat it by itself. My favorite is over brown rice. 

Ingredients

• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 Stalk Celery, chopped
• 1 Carrot, chopped
• 1 Tsp Garlic, minced
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 3-15 Ounce Cans White beans
• 1 Cup Vegetable broth
• 1 Tsp Dried basil
• 1 Tsp Dried oregano
• 2 Cups Fresh spinach, chopped
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS 

Place the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic in a large pot with the water. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the beans, broth, soy sauce, basil, oregano, and pepper. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for 3 minutes longer.

Want peace & joy instead of fear & stress?