Newbie-Shoulder Pain and more

[TappDancer]

Hi-I'm new to T-Tapp, I saw a PBS special and I tried the exercises right along with the audience. I was so excited that I purchased the little Intro to T-Tapp seminar dvd. I had been doing just the exercises the on this dvd for about a week-(want to get rid of backfat). Well I have the most excruciating pain in both shoulders and getting the leg stuff right has activated sciatic pain on the right side. I'm not sure what to do except stop doing thumbs away and everything else. I'm hoping that some healing will happen and at some point I could start again. Any suggestions for relieving the pain would be most appreciated. Right now alternating warmth and cold on the shoulders is all that I'm doing. Sciatic pain seems to respond to the heating pad at the end of the day. Should I take something OTC?? It would be soooo sad if this was an exercise that I couldn't do. I'm hopeful that someone can suggest something. Thanks for listening.

DeeDee

[JoyfulMomof6]

Hi DeeDee...welcome. There will be a trainer along to help with your questions.

TTapp is for everyone! There is a big learning curve in that the moves can look deceptively simple, but they are complex when you are in proper alignment.

The only things I can suggest are Peppermint Essential Oil (mix with some carrier oil like Olive if you don't want to put directly on your skin). It is good for so many things, muscle tension being one of them. It feels good and tingly, too.
Or you can try homeopathic arnica montana. It will help with swelling.
HTH! Those are what I use

[BlessedMama]

Welcome DeeDee!

I'm so sorry about your shoulder and sciatica pain!

Shoulder, my guess is you may have dropped your ribs. OR when Teresa says shoulders back, you may be using your traps to "push" the shoulders back more than the lats (muscles around your br*a band). Many of us are trap dominant (well, just about every woman I ever met!) so it's easy to do!

Trainer Kayla Howard's video here really helps you feel what "ribs up" should feel like:

http://kaylahoward.com/hmmare-slouching

I know when my traps get too strong in there, I will have shoulder issues. Do you have any dvds that have the Butterflies move on them? If you keep ribs up (not a military shoulders back, but think graceful model's squared shoulders), and make sure your arms are not too far forward, that move really helps shoulder issues. It's also on the Try Before You Buy section on the t-tapp website.

Losing your core and shoulder hip alignment affects things all the way down. Here are Michelle's great tips on Curling Your Core:

http://forum.t-tapp.com/showthread.p...889#post740889


On the sciatic pain....hmm....are you pushing the knees out towards little toe (to your best ability)? I know other trainers will have more input, and I know there are threads about sciatica, but my bookmarks are on my other computer! I'm trying searching, so I'll post here when I find them! (Unless someone beats me to it!

[TappDancer]

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I reveiwed Kayla's video and it is excellent. I do have a clearer idea on how to activate the lats. But that is not a problem for me. My problem is the shoulder and what I think it is, is the apparent rotation of the shoulder that's needed to turn your thumbs backward. At least I cannot stretch my arms away, then turn my thumbs backward without rotating my shoulder in it's socket. I hope I'm making sense.
I was following the instructions exactly but I think it's not so easy to get it right or self correct after you have this kind of thing happen. I'm not going to try and correct anything without some personal attention. Unfortunately customer service tells me that the nearest trainer is in Spokane Washington and somewhere in Idaho. That's 500miles due east of Seattle (Spokane) and beyond in Idaho!! Que lastima! No hope for me until there is a trainer much closer I think. Many Blessings DeeDee

[BlessedMama]

DeeDee, most trainers will do a video review, and Kayla, Michelle and I think Kirsten all can do Skype webcam live sessions. So you can still "get with" a trainer!

Actually the lats help equalize the muscles around the shoulder. But I understand what you're saying! Another "trick" Teresa taught me for my dh (who has rotator cuff issues) is to have thumbs up. In other words, you don't have thumbs go to the back wall but toward the ceiling. Not sure which moves you are doing (I don't have the PBS dvd). On the website is a Try Before You Buy section, and there is one move called Butterflies. Normally we have you with your thumbs to the back wall. But that is the move Teresa showed me how to have dh do it with thumbs up. Still controlled movements, still ribs up/shoulders back, but not rotated back quite as far.

HTH!

[JoyfulMomof6]

Dee Dee- are you in the Seattle area? Me too.
Trainers Kayla Howard (from Idaho) and Elizabeth Platt (from CA) are coming to Puyallup/South Hill for a clinic April 28 http://kaylahoward.com/ttapp-seattle

[BlessedMama]

I knew someone was coming that way, Nanci! Thanks for posting that!

[TappDancer]

Oh I can't believe it where are you? Can we get together and maybe I can get a few pointers?

[TappDancer]

That really HELPS! Because that thumbs back is wow! It's a powerhouse move but I gotta heal then slowly build up to that. It was the butterflies that I was doing, and I really was trying to stick with it cause I love the idea that I can get rid of this backfat but the pain was excruciating. I wanted to cry. But I didn't I got on this forum instead<gr>

[ayj67]

There is a T-Tapp event happening, hosting by Kristin Tucker and Elizabeth Platt in March, at Portland or Seattle area. It is always better to have a real person watch you close up on forms, alignment and activation, especially for injuries you sustained. You can email either of them, sometimes, they do a side trip for personal session if time and distance is possible. You can also do a personal session before and after their scheduled clinics if they have the time and you arrange that in advance.

I think Nanci (Joyfulmomof6) was organizing one in Seattle area, you can contact her if she does not drop back in today.

I think it is better that you do a whole exercise from a workout DVD that you actually have the proper warm up and stretching before you do the real activation. Just doing the demonstration move during a seminar does not prepare your cold muscles. I think seminar is a demo for what you can feel with minimal time, but it is not meant for you to use as a serious repetitive workout without the warmup and cool down.

More will be the DVD for you. Definitely will balance the muscle activation from lats to the traps equally all the time.