美国国家公共电台 NPR--Life Kit: How to 'futureproof' your body and relieve pain

Life Kit¹: How to 'futureproof' your body and relieve pain

Transcript²

Bad posture³ can be at the root of some of our aches and pains. The Life Kit team has tips on improving our posture, with stretches from a physical therapist. (Story aired on ATC on Sept. 3, 2022.)

FITNESS & NUTRITION

Life Kit: How to 'futureproof' your body and relieve pain

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Are you sitting right now, sitting up straight, slumping⁴? It’s true that bad posture can be at the root of some of our aches and pains. But the good news is you can get ahead of some of that discomfort⁵. That’s what future-proofing your body is all about. Frank Festa with NPR's Life Kit is here to walk us through how we can start doing that today.

FRANK FESTA, BYLINE⁶: I used to try to find every excuse I could to skip getting a stretch in. And for a long time, I couldn't really understand what exactly makes it so important. Isn't stretching kind of like a reactive thing? You know, like you're supposed to do it when you get hurt or when you feel a little tightness or something.

VINH PHAM: Being proactive will ensure that you can have a long and healthy life, ensure that you can play with your grandchildren, ensure that you can do things and move well, well, well into the golden age.

FESTA: That's Vinh Pham, a licensed⁷ physical therapist with over a decade of experience and the author of the recently released "Sit Up Straight: Futureproof Your Body Against Chronic⁸ Pain With 12 Simple Movements." Pham compares how we take care of our bodies to how we take care of our cars.

PHAM: When the hazard light goes on, you're kind of like, oh, I'll keep driving until it really starts to - yeah, until there's, like, a sound or the motor sounds weird⁹, or, like, things just literally¹⁰ just stop working, you know? And even worse, with our body, it's the same thing. A lot of people will walk through pain or, you know, just move on until they literally are debilitated¹¹.

FESTA: Pham believes that adopting a daily routine, which he calls a posture hygiene¹² plan, can help prepare our bodies for the natural wear and tear they accumulate throughout a lifetime.

PHAM: Every morning you wake up. You brush your teeth. When it comes to your hair, shampoo, conditioner. But when it comes to our ankle, our knee, our hip¹⁴, our back, what do we do on a regular basis to maintain it?

FESTA: You wouldn't wait for cavities and plaque¹⁵ to tell you it's time to start brushing your teeth, right? A patient's posture is the north star of how Pham goes about treating them. And he says that good posture...

PHAM: ...Should be effortless. The second part is it should be aligned¹⁶ and well balanced. So when you're standing¹⁷, you should feel like you're not leaning more on one leg versus¹⁸ the other.

FESTA: And for when you're sitting, you want to keep your feet flat on the floor, both your knees and your hips¹⁹ in 90-degree angles, all in line with your lumbar spine²⁰ and shoulders. Beginning a posture hygiene plan starts with understanding where we stand, and we mean that literally here. Pham's got a trick for that.

PHAM: You basically want to take your phone, put it in selfie mode, set up on the desk. And essentially²¹ you can put a self-timer.

FESTA: Take a couple steps back, and snap a few pictures, one facing the camera, another away from it and one to your left and to your right so you can get a quick overview²² of your posture. Try to notice, looking at those pictures, where you might be slouching or if you might be favoring one side over the other. This will give you a sense of which exercises are the highest priority for you. Here's one to get you started.

PHAM: All you want to do is you're going to take your arms outstretched - right? - out to the side like a cross symbol. You're going to turn your palms up. And you're basically going to try to make your palms face the wall behind you.

FESTA: Reverse that position with your arms outstretched as far in front of you as you can bring them with your palms facing out. Hold these positions for a few seconds each. And flow between them at least 10 times. And remember, perfection isn't the goal here.

PHAM: The more you go towards spending 80% of your time with good habits and good posture, you know, you can get away with 20% of the time having a cheat position here and there.

FESTA: Adopting a proactive mindset is what we're after here. And investing in some basic, easy-to-implement maintenance like Pham suggests will give you a better chance at a pain-free life. Future you will thank you. For NPR News, I'm Frank Festa.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAS LUCES PRIMERAS' "CABALLO CON¹³ ALAS")

FADEL: If you want more ideas for exercises and stretches Life Kit has you covered. Just go to npr.org/lifekit.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAS LUCES PRIMERAS' "CABALLO CON ALAS")

1 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

4 slumping   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的现在分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Hong Kong's slumping economy also caused a rise in bankruptcy applications. 香港经济低迷，破产申请个案随之上升。
• And as with slumping, over-arching can also be a simple postural habit. 就像弯腰驼背，过度挺直也可能只是一种习惯性姿势。

5 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

8 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

9 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 debilitated   

adj.疲惫不堪的，操劳过度的v.使（人或人的身体）非常虚弱( debilitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Prolonged strike action debilitated the industry. 长时间的罢工削弱了这个行业的活力。
• This is especially important when dealing with the geriatric or debilitated patient. 这对老年和虚弱病人尤其重要。 来自互联网

12 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

13 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

14 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

15 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

16 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

17 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

18 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

19 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

21 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

22 overview   

n.概观，概述

参考例句：

• The opening chapter gives a brief historical overview of transport.第一章是运输史的简要回顾。
• The seminar aims to provide an overview on new media publishing.研讨会旨在综览新兴的媒体出版。