What is Qi (Chi) ?

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For many of us the first time we heard about Qi (pronounced Chi) was probably on a martial arts movie or TV show.  The success of the Bruce Lee films and the rise of counter culture in the 60’s did a lot to popularise Kung Fu, Tai Qi, Qi Gong, Shiatsu, Acupuncture, Buddhism and Taoism in the west.

Qi goes by other names too, in Japan it is called “Ki”, in India it is “Prana”, Willhelm Reich referred to it as Orgone, “Essence” is another word that has been used to describe it.

The word qi has mystical and exotic undertones for many, when I was a student of Chinese medicine it was a half joking short hand way for me and my fellow students of describing anything that was done just right, “He did it with qi”

In martial arts  focussing  qi is believed to enable the smashing of  house bricks with bare hands or even over your head, without harming yourself in the process. Yogis and Tibetan monks use (and conserve) prana to achieve deep levels of meditation that can slow the body’s vital signs  and metabolic rate to an extraordinary degree.

It is perhaps more useful to think of qi (or prana) as a process rather than a thing, a product and process of focused intent involving skilled and disciplined manipulation of breathing and meditation. Eastern health practices  like tai qi and qi gong claim to master qi, they look easy but are very hard to do well.

Coming from a nursing background I understand why the idea of qi is not taken very seriously in medical science, TCM terminology is quite different to Western medicine lexicon. In the context of acupuncture qi (and yang) represents breath, energy, warmth and the transformative processes within the body. Blood (and yin) represents coolness, the fluids and physical mass of the body and the storage of useful substances within.

In TCM there are different types of qi, the qi of your chest  is zong qi, da qi is the qi you inhale from air, gu qi is the goodness absorbed from food, zheng qi is what is found in your acupuncture points and meridians and wei qi is our protective most outer layer of qi. Placed in it’s proper context it isn’t such a vague idea.

Used in it’s proper context it describes the essence within things, used out of it’s proper context it doesn’t really tell us much at all. The most interesting things I read about qi was it’s place in Yin and Yang theory, a binary language that describes the relationship of things to one another. Writers such as Fritjof Capra, Ted Kaptchuk, Leon Hammer and Giovanni Macciocia offer some very interesting insights in what qi is and it’s place in Chinese medicine.

 

 

work out your workout

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If like most people you do not have a huge amount of spare time on your hands making the most of the time you do have is important, this applies to working out too. All the exercises you do should have a clear purpose and part of that purpose should be about minimising harm.

We are all a bit different, the work we do, new and old injuries, joint conditions, congenital deformities and the way stress affects us can make exercises that are easy for others hard for you to do. Sharp pain is a definite warning to back off any particular exercise.

The look you want to achieve and what we specifically need or want to do well is an important consideration, as is your muscle type. Some people get bigger muscles than others using the same exercises and this applies to stretching and cardio too. 

Squats for instance can give you increased thigh strength, if you lift or are naturally a bit week in your thighs squats become more important to your needs. Squats generally help you lift things better, even if is just your own backside getting on or off  chairs which becomes increasingly harder for many as they age or put on weight. Squatting down too far (past 90 degree knee flexion), can damage your knees, the greatest value of squats is supporting postural strength. Squatting with your knees bent more acutely than 90 degrees is a common exercise hazard many fall into.

The pressure inside your knees increases greatly when you fully flex your knees under your own body weight and much more so under extra load (pushing against a weight). Squats are safer if your knees are good.

If you have had a knee replacement full squats simply are not possible. It is fine to do full knee bends when you are not weight bearing as with leg stretches but under load it is a different story.

Another exercise that has a high risk factor is the shoulder press, if you are a footballer needing to reinforce your collarbones for front on tackling, shoulder press (and other exercises with similar actions) can help protect your upper body.

The trouble with shoulder press type exercises is that a)- any history of neck trauma like from a whiplash injury from a road accident can create a weakspot that might give way under stress. b) shoulders do not work efficiently when your hands are supporting weight above the height of your shoulders or behind the centre line of your body and c) Some of the muscles in shoulder press such as your upper trapezius and supraspinatus are always working against gravity anyway and are more likely to need stretching.

It is ok to workout hard but workout smart too.

The Elbow

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Our hands are as useful as they are partly because of the design of the elbow, not only does the elbow bend like a hinge but it can also rotate 180 degrees from the bent position, the screw driver would be quite a useless invention if the elbow was unable to do this!

Two  common conditions of the elbow are Tennis Elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and Golfers Elbow (medial epicondylitis). Tennis Elbow (TE) is mainly a problem brought on by the over use of the muscles on the top side of your forearm (the wrist extensors), tennis is not the only activity that can give you TE but it is a very common cause of it due to the playing backhand strokes repeatedly. This can overuse and inflame the wrist extensor muscles, the main muscles used with this stroke.

Golfers Elbow (GE) on the other hand is chiefly brought on by overuse of the muscles on the underside of your forearm (the wrist flexors). Like tennis causing TE, GE has causes other than playing golf too much, but is commonly caused by playing golf because of how the wrists are cocked forward alot particularly with executing approach shots.

Both of these conditions can be very painful and debilitating and can take some time to recover from. Anti inflammatories and pain killers can mask the symptoms but rest, soft tissue treatment (ie massage) and rehabilatative exercise are usually the most effective ways of remedying the problem, therapies such as acupuncture, massage and osteopathy have given relief to many with these conditions. Improving one’s technique at playing these games can be a good way of avoiding these injuries too.

Any activity that emphasises the repeated use of your wrist muscles can give you TE or GE, playing musical instruments, typing, using hand tools, riding motorbikes and jet skis, gardening and massaging can cause elbow stiffness. You can also develop other wrist conditions such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome through the repeated strenuous use of forearm muscles.

As the old saying goes “An ounce of  prevention is worth a pound of cure”, Regular stretching and  massage can help you avoid avoid getting TE and GE, it is worth a try.  Consulting an occupational therapist can help you find ways of modifying the way you do things at work to lessen stressful  impacts on your elbow joints. The longer muscular problems are ignored the more likely they will eventually lead to cartilage, tendon or ligament problems which are much harder to fix.

Exercising with free weights, whether they are specifically arm exercises or not can really tighten your elbows, which are not only constantly bending under load but also supinating (palm up) and pronating (palm down) under load too which can strain the ligament sheet between the bones of your forearm. If you like using free weights you should become very diligent about Self Massaging the muscles of your forearm and your triceps.

Exercise and Weights

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Resistance Training (weights) can be a very useful path to better strength fitness if you do it right. Firstly, Form (correct posture) is paramount, doing any activity with poor posture is bad for your circulation, makes you more  prone to injury, wastes energy and it just looks all wrong. Exercising with weights using poor form  magnifies the consequences of bad posture greatly.

Resistance exercise should be performed with a straight back, if the weight cannot be lifted evenly (with right and left hands) it is too heavy for you and if you have to change your posture during your lifting  you may injure yourself. Be clear about what you are trying to achieve how you should look when lifting, exercising in front of a mirror may help you.

Even if you think you know what you are doing remain open to criticism and different ideas, it is possible that there are better ways to exercise than what you are accustomed to. A major warning sign with resistance training is sharp and restrictive pain, you may be lucky enough to “work through it” for a while and not injure yourself  but not all exercises work for all people.

Always work the agonist and antagonist muscles evenly, this means that it is best for you to have muscles of equilavalent strength opposing each other, eg.- your bicep bends your elbow and your tricep straightens it, exercise both. Acquaint yourself with muscle anatomy it is  interesting and easy to understand once you learn what the individual syllables of the words mean.

The best evidence of good strength condition is not huge muscles, it is a symmetrical upright posture, an even upright posture shows a good strength and flexability balance between your agonists and antagonists and the right and left sides of your body. People move with more ease, grace and coordination with good strength balance.

While it can be useful to watch yourself  in the mirror to ensure good form be mindful not to fall into the trap of exercising only those muscles you can see in the mirror, on the way to getting big pecs (chest muscles) you may totally neglect the muscles of the upper back and get a very unattractive and unhealthy round shouldered look about you.

If you decide to play it safe and get a personal trainer you will usually achieve better results if you choose one of about your own age because they may be in a better position to know what may be realistically achievable for you. A much younger trainer may be more attractive but will usually have less knowledge and experience than an older one will and not be as aware of age related body changes.

Always check the fasteners before you lift, it is easy (and embarrassing) for a weight slide off the bar and break your foot as you lift.

Allow yourself at least 2 minutes between sets and try to work with your weights at least once in every 3 days. If you have no weights with you rather than miss out use your own body weight for resistance training like push ups and chin ups.

Feet and Footwear

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Your feet do a lot of hard work and they need all the help they can get if you want them to still be serving you well when you are old and grey. Shoes that look good such as women’s high heels or shoes that have a high convenience factor such as thongs (flip flops) can be injurous to our feet. In the case of high heels the balls of your feet get over-worked, you can get achilles tendon shortening and lower back pain too because the pelvis gets tipped forward too far in order to stand straight in them.

In thongs (and high heels) you have no arch support, this applies to most sandals too. You can also get hammer toes and plantar fasceitis from shoes with no heel support.

In footwear with insufficient arch support the arches are more likely to collapse (pronate) which is hard on your knees and will even adversely affect your spine, if your main arch has already collapsed it is even more important.

Orthotic inserts tailor made for you by an Orthotist can be of great benefit to you, so long as you renew them when they wear out and they are used in shoes they are suited to they can be of  assistance for not only your feet but for the overall  structure of your whole body. A flat foot can give you knee pain on the other leg.

Bare foot running on grass can help you run faster but more importantly you can change direction quicker without twisting your ankle. There is actually an association of bare foot running enthusiasts. Thick soled runners may look comfortable and absorb shock well but the soft edges of the soles make your ankles more susceptible to rolling.

Walking on dry sand helps stretch and strengthen your toes and bush walking can strengthen the muscles in your soles and help your balance. Even the fittest amongst us can have weak foot muscles because we are accustomed to walking on flat level surfaces all the time, walking over twigs and rocks helps strengthen the muscles that correct your foots position.

Above everything please regularly massage your feet, even 5 minutes will help. Your feet work very hard, if you allow them to stiffen your foot won’t roll and spread as you step, this affects your stride and balance, this is a safety issue as well as a fitness one.

As we age the circulation in our feet deteriorates which can cause swelling at the day’s end, this is worsened by socks that have tight top bands. Raise your feet when you are relaxing and lie down, it will help relieve any pooling of fluid.

The act of massaging your own feet can in itself be a good stretching exercise for your legs and hips, when you lean forward to reach them.

If you have any issues with ingrown toenails, act early and learn how to trim your nails properly, do not trim the corners back of your big toe nail, trim straight across or the nail will dig into the skin at the side of the nail as it grows through. If your toe joints get stiff stretch the joint and move it around, if you allow your toes to stiffen it diminishes your ability to enjoy a good walk. This simple action can save you from having a painful nail removal later on and make walking and running generally much easier.