Gyrotonics combines yoga and weight training to reach goals

Kate DeBevois, TherapyTimes.com, May 15, 2007

Two years ago, Corinne Furnari, RPA, CCN, of New York, began to lose the mobility in her hip joints, rendering her barely able to walk or to play with her grandchildren without agonizing pain.

A clinical nutritionist and physician assistant, Funari regularly took "rivers of glucosamine and all the correlating nutrients, but [the] pain and cramping wouldn't stop. I knew I could benefit from yoga, but I couldn't bend enough to get into the starting positions. In a yoga class, I would become embarrassed and frustrated and felt no benefit," she says.

After several years of pain, taking supplements and attempting yoga with no results, Funari says she gave herself six months for the pain and mobility in her hip joints to improve before she "knew there was no choice but to get a hip replacement."

An active health professional, Funari was devastated by her loss of mobility and unsure where to turn for an answer. She says, "my life and mobility had constricted to wearing slip-on shoes with my husband taking on and off my socks. Playing with my grandchildren was physical agony and walking to the subway was out of the question. My husband didn't want me walking alone since I had fallen four times in recent months."

One day, while slowly walking down the street, Funari saw a gyrotonics video clip in the window of Jennifer Daly's exercise studio. The clip showed an older woman with obvious swollen joints exercising on a machine. Funari says, "her range of motion was broader than I was capable of achieving." She and her husband "walked in and Funari did a trial session. "Since that day, I have taken gyrotonics sessions weekly," She says.

Gyrotonics, Funari says, "is a unique form of training." It is a three-dimensional exercise taught on weight- and pulley-based equipment. Her first session began with Daly putting her into traction and "gently stretching the relentless muscle spasm out of my hip and lower back. I knew I was in the right place," she says. "In the beginning, I was unable to move, so the trainer would gently move my legs for me, starting a process of increasing my range of motion."

After several months of practice, Funari no longer needed a hip replacement and is now able to walk easily and without pain. "Gyrotonics has and is in the process of changing my life," she says. "My pain is reduced and my range of motion continues to improve. I am still taking the rivers of glucosamine, boswella, ginger, omega-3 fatty acids, etc., but now they feel like they are working. I walk daily and do simple things like taking subways and enjoy playing with my grandchildren."

According to Daly, Funari's progress is nothing short of amazing. "She is 100 percent different then when I first met her; she could barely walk in the door. Now, she can walk pretty easily and she has a lot more range of motion in her joints."

Daly says gryotonics helps to improve patients' range of motion because the system works the whole body three-dimensionally. Funari now has more range of motion, not only in her hips but also in her whole body because the gyrotonic exercises alleviated stress from her hips, shoulders, neck and abdominals. Daly says, "now she has a better sense of how to work with her injury, how to walk, how to go up stairs . it's pretty amazing to see her walk now."

Collaboration and Motivation
Daly, who has an MA in dance education, works with clients recovering from injuries and chronic health problems, people working to losing weight and patients recovering from surgery. Daly says, "It is profoundly successful and is often used by physical therapists, in hospitals and other medical environments throughout the world. I work with acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors, physical therapists and surgeons in a collaborative way to heal our mutual clients."

One of the most important aspects of recovery for any workout or therapy regime is "creating physical workout regimes to ensure clients know the exercise they are given," Daly says. Workout regimes should be "simple and fun so clients have confidence they can do them correctly."

She spends a lot of time repeating exercises in the studio before sending clients home with a workout regime. Daly works with clients on proper postures for activities of daily living, such as climbing stairs or getting in and out of a car.

"It is important for me to be very clear with them and do a lot of repetition," Daly says.

Physical Fitness for Chronic Pain
Anyone who has experienced a herniated disc, joint pain or other form of chronic pain knows relief from painkillers is limited. For patients who attend therapy sessions but don't have an at-home fitness regime, Daly recommends starting simple to help reduce pain and increase mobility.

She emphasizes the important of exercise for therapy patients in particular. "In general, if a client is in practice with physical activity, they notice they feel better." However, she says patients often have to experience feeling better before they are motivated to continue.

A fitness regime is an essential part of the formula when working with patients who have chronic pain. "If they are not staying fit and keeping up their circulation and muscle tone and flexibility, the chronic pain will just get worse," Daly says. "Because they have a specific injury does not mean they can't work out, it is probably the best thing for them in order to deal with chronic pain."

According to Daly, the following tips may be helpful for specific injuries, "all of these movements should be performed in a comfort zone and with deep exhalations," she says.

• Hand Injuries. Clasp the hands together in a fist and make figure eight circles with the wrists. Next, place the fingertips together and spread the fingers so the heels of the hands reach toward each other. Then, pull and twist each finger as it lengthens away from the hand, creating space in each joint.
• Foot Injuries. In a seated position, take shoes (and socks, if possible) off. Keeping the balls of the foot on the floor, circle the ankles in both directions. Then, walk the feet forward - reaching the heels, the balls and then the toes to the floor - inching forward. And then reverse making sure to fan the toes apart.
• Herniated Disc. In a seated position, look over one shoulder and gently spiral the spine to one side - moving from the sacrum all the way to the top of the head. Repeat on both sides, making sure to stay in an upright position with abdominals engaged. Then, softly bend the spine to one side in a sideways arch, repeating to the other side. Next, arch the spine by reaching the chest upwards and then curl the spine by looking downward.

Too Much of a Good Thing
In some cases, too much, or the wrong kind of movement or activity could be detrimental to patients. "That is the gyrotonic benefit over other types of exercises," Daly says. "It is quite different because it is really treating the whole body. When there is an injury in a knee, we don't just focus on knees, we focus on what is going on in the hip and knee and spine," she says.

Daly emphasizes the body is three-dimensional and most fitness equipment is linear. The gyrotonics weight and pulley based system that allows patients to move three-dimensionally. According to Daly, anyone from the elderly to people in wheelchairs and athletes can use this type of equipment.

By treating the whole body, therapists can help prevent joint deterioration by strengthening the entire joint from all sides, not just one side. "If you only do linear movements, it strains the other areas," Daly says. "Three-dimensional movements are a great way to get more freedom and strength in the joint. It's more like swimming compared to running because it allows the body to move the whole time and it works circularly."

Working with gyrotonics or other yoga-like activities, "you are going to build a lot of strength and a lot of flexibility, as well as body awareness," Daly says. "With this method, people have some of the same benefits as yoga where you are getting longer, stronger muscles and improving balance and coordination."

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