The weather is hot, the gym is closed, and you’ve been relaxing – enjoying the lazy, hazy days of summer. Taking a day off here and there is no problem. However, if you’ve been consistently missing your regular run, bike ride, or gym session, you might notice some aches and pains showing up. As a result, you could have the beginnings of deconditioning.

Deconditioning explained

Exercise creates many changes in your body. For instance, the heart begins to pump blood more efficiently. Your muscles use oxygen more efficiently, and they contract in a more coordinated manner. Your body gets more efficient turning food into fuel, just to name a few. Deconditioning is the reversing of these changes. Exercise is a “use it or lose it” kind of thing. Deconditioning is the process by which we “lose it.”

How long does it take to decondition?

As with most things related to a system as complex as the human body, it depends. According to the ACSM, two weeks without exercise can lead to significant loss of cardiovascular fitness. Two to eight months of detraining can erase virtually all of your gains. As you detrain, cardiovascular fitness tends to decline first, with muscle strength declining later.

Other factors are your age and your exercise history. If you’re younger, you’ll probably lose fitness at a slower rate than someone older. If you’ve been consistently exercising for a long time, or at a high intensity, your losses will probably be slower than for someone who just started.

Reversing the losses

If you’re just undergoing a period of increased time commitments at work or with family, using a shortened exercise routine can help minimize your losses. Even one session a week will help you keep most of what you’ve gained. Other options are to use shorter but more intense interval training sessions, or breaking up your activity into multiple short chunks during the day. If your layoff was longer, it may take just as long to retrain as it did to make the gains initially.

If you’re having those aches and pains due to inactivity or need help designing a safe program to either maintain your fitness or gain it back after a layoff, your physical therapist can help. Injury and illness are other common reasons for detraining. Your PT can help you recover faster. And, they can also find activities to maintain your fitness while safely working around an injury or illness. To learn a little more about deconditioning and dysfunction during these crazy times, check out this article here.

Return to school? Ready to return to school?? I myself am nervous and troubled!!! I am concerned that my son’s education is not being treated as a priority, and I will not be enough in supporting him. At the onset of COVID-19 I, like so many, got a taste of what my child’s learning looked like. For him, his poor behavioral control (due to online context and being at home) kept us from getting work done. Tears, shouting, and frustration was my daily life, and we were both at a tipping point. Thankfully, we made it to summer and welcomed the break but now here we are with more uncertainty. I don’t know that I am looking forward to the fall. But I can say that I am grateful for my profession. Because of it, I have been able to make some changes for my son for the better.

What is Your Role?

I realized a few things through the meltdowns. My role in my child’s education is being his cheerleader; supporting his efforts and also being his “sounding board” by supporting his social-emotional skills. Therefore, I began drawing on my OT training. I started implementing “interventions” that I knew would support his behavior in order to support the education challenges. I am happy to see his emotions becoming more mature even when given
challenges. I encourage all of us parents to figure out what “role” we want to play in our children’s experiences.

How Can MOSAIC Help with Return to School?

In addition, I want parents to know that we are here for you. If you find you have questions or concerns about behaviors or learning challenges, or you recognized that your child needed more support during this time, we might be the help you are looking for. Your first thought might be how would physical, speech, and occupational therapy help in my child’s learning and with the current gaps in education provision? I am here to tell you that each of these therapies address learning and support education efforts; from help in PE participation to spelling/reading issues or simple management of time and organization. Additionally, we have specialized training in learning disabilities, learning challenges, dyslexia, ADHD, and emotional skill development (social skills and behaviors).

If you have found yourself following links on Facebook, looking up things on the internet, and trying to take on more by creating activities by yourself, please reach out to our clinic. We would love to answer any questions and be of more help to our community. As one member of our Mosaic community told me recently; having a weekly therapy session was the most helpful thing in creating reassurance that the child was continuing to make progress even when school wasn’t fully in session.

Here are some common issues that you might be concerned about:

• Firstly – Learning barriers may include inattention, lack of confidence, unable to self-initiate work
• Secondly – Executive function difficulties include attention, emotional control, working memory, planning, organization, self-monitoring, and time-management
• Thirdly – Emotional challenges may include increased reactivity, depressed behaviors, reduced social skills, reduced motivation

In addition, if you are looking for activities to work on with your kids, here are some great science experiments you can do at home.

I remember growing up Montana style. I would ride my bike on the dirt hills, bring garter snakes home in my water bottle, catch butterflies, and try to hatch fish eggs in my swimming pool. To my parents’ chagrin, the garage resembled a small zoo of bugs, arachnids, reptiles, and all kinds of science experiments. I did what every other boy in the neighborhood was doing, but I was even cooler being a girl. I was the classic definition of a “tomboy” and I loved every minute of it.

Fast Forward 30+ Years (gulp)

Today I am raising two spunky and rambunctious boys in one of my favorite places in the world, where I can indulge my childhood memories and make new ones with them. My oldest is nine and is an incredible cross country and downhill biker, skier and snowboarder, and can play the piano with little effort. My youngest is six and loves music, is crazy laid back, and swims like a fish.

Outside and Screens

Both boys are at home in the outdoors, though I have somewhat forced it on them to encourage interest in things other than technology, since this is what they seem to be wired for. It is like an addiction, I’ve decided, as they often ask for it as soon as they wake up in the morning. I try to push them out the door on nice days and set limits on screen time, yet an argument or even bargaining often ensues. Technology, I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times, is wonderful yet the bane of my existence, especially since COVID-19 took hold. Never have my children yelled, stomped their feet, and slammed doors because I haven’t let them go outside. But, limit time on the iPad or not allow them to watch some YouTuber explain how to play Minecraft, and they think the world is going to end.

Finally, Montana Style Summer

June 11^th was one of the happiest days this year. It meant the “home school” year was over and technology induced learning could finally end! Now that summer can commence, all that screen time is tucked neatly away in a closet for a rainy day. I know there will be arguments, mean words spat at me, and possibly even tears with my refusal of screen time, but they need to play. I mean it, really learn to play, problem solve, discover that “boring” is a mindset, and enjoy just being kids. Maybe they will thank me some day and fondly recall the things they got to experience as boys being raised in Montana.

Growing Up Montana Style Activity Ideas

As most of us are doing staycations or exploring where we live due to COVID-19, here are some things I have enjoyed doing with my kids:

• Camp in the back yard
• Explore a new trail
• Create a bug collection
• Find paw prints and create plaster molds
• Catch frogs or anything in a creek, river, or lake
• Learn to fly fish
• Hunt for shells or fossils
• Visit a ghost town
• Make your own ice cream
• Plant a vegetable garden
• Create science experiments out of household items (with parent supervision, of course)
• Visit a town in Montana you have never been before
• Make a picnic
• Walk around your neighborhood
• Plant flowers
• Run through the sprinklers
• Have a water balloon battle
• Sleep on the trampoline

In addition, check out Run Wild My Child and MOSAIC’s Science Experiment page for more great ideas!

There is a common myth going around in regard to pelvic floor dysfunction: “Isn’t it all about Kegels?”

First, let’s start with defining the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor refers to layers of muscle that span the bottom of the pelvis. The pelvic floor’s job is to:

1. Support pelvic organs
2. Help with urinary and fecal continence
3. Help with sexual performance
4. Stabilize the pelvis
5. Aid with lymphatic and venous flow

Our pelvic floor is just like any other muscle in the body. It can contract, relax, get tight, or get weak!

What are Kegels?

Kegels are another term for a pelvic floor contraction. They are common to do when your pelvic floor muscles are weak. They have been prescribed frequently for those who have incontinence (accidental leaking of urinary or bowel movements) or pelvic organ prolapse (when one or more pelvic organs drop or press into the vagina), but they are not actually the answer for all incontinence or prolapse issues. Here’s why: when muscles are weak, we strengthen them, but not all muscle dysfunction and pain is a caused by weakness! It wouldn’t be effective to strengthen the whole muscle, especially if it’s tight! Just think: if you held your arm up all day, you wouldn’t be strengthening your shoulder muscles but rather making those muscles tired.

It’s Not Just About Strength

In addition, our pelvic floor is a part of our core which is also made up of our diaphragm, transverse abdominus (deep abdomen muscles), and our multifidi (deep back muscles). All these muscles need to work together to function at their best. Think about a can of soda (or pop or cola, whatever you call it!): before you open it, it has the perfect amount of pressure where it is not vulnerable to be crushed, but when it is opened it becomes vulnerable for injury.

This can be the same for our core. If there is an imbalance of weakness or muscles not working properly, our muscles are vulnerable. They can be overworked, become weak, or get tight. If you have an imbalance, it could mean that your pelvic floor could be affected, overworked, or weak! Making an appointment with a women’s health physical therapist at MOSAIC can help find any imbalances that you may have contributing to your pelvic symptoms.

Research shows that only 60% of participants correctly performed a Kegel when asked. Forty percent did not perform a correct Kegel, and of those, 25% displayed a urinary incontinence promoting technique. With these numbers, you have another good reason to make an appointment with a physical therapist trained to address women’s issues. Check out another MOSAIC article to learn more about the pelvic floor and “peezing”.

Kegels aren’t just for women. If you are a man and having similar issues, read this article from the Mayo Clinic to learn more.