My Workout
By Nancy Dow – The Oregonian
Who: Jill LaTray, 43, Aloha; 5 feet 4 inches, 110 pounds
Workout: LaTray is a mother of five children ranging in age from 7 to 18. A car accident in mid-2008 left her with chronic pain in her shoulders, back and neck. She couldn’t stand, sit or walk for long, or lift much of anything. She coundn’t take walks or work in her garden. Her life became very limited, but her kids, she says, did an admirable job of taking up the slack.
She had tried various methods of obtaining relief when, last March, her chiropractor recommended the BStrong4Life program. It’s designed to increase the core strength, bone density and muscle tone, and strengthen the spine using (deep-breath) BioDensity Neuro-Musculoskeletal Stimulation and Measurement Technology. Total treatment time is 10-15 minutes a week. The program is approved for ages 12 and up.
LaTray begins with a two to five minute warm-up on platforms that vibrate quickly, causing muscles to contract. She moves to four isometric exercises. The core pull, chest press, vertical lift and leg press. Each exercise lasts five seconds.
Feedback: LaTray says, “Before starting the program I didn’t have any pain-free moments; now it’s the opposite. It’s just little bits of instead of little bits of no pain. It’s very exciting.” She says improvement was immediate; by the second week of treatment she was able to garden for two or three hours without much pain. She also could walk pain free for an hour three or four times a week. She feels stronger and notices muscle definition in her arms, legs and abdomen.
As the weather makes walking less feasible, she’ll sometimes walk in a mall, but she loves nature trails. She’d like to get back to biking and cross-country skiing but is taking it slowly and carefully. In the meantime, her daily routine is much easier.
Nutrition: She and her family eat mainly gluten- and dairy-free and low -sugar because of her children’s food sensitivities. They eat a lot of produce, and she makes a lot of soup. They avoid processed food in favor of beans, rice noodles, grass-fed free-range beef, chicken and turkey. She uses brown rice syrup and applesauce as sugar substitutes. Dessert might be a fruit crisp or crustless pumpkin pie. “You just have to more creative.” She makes her own flour blends and is grateful for the Bob’s Red Mill store. The family tends a garden and orders food monthly from a co-op. LaTray orders fish when eating out. She drinks tea and water, but no coffee. Her kids like to cook, and the whole experience has taught them how to fend for themselves.
May 19, 2011 at 10:45 pm
What a great article. The BStrong4Life program sounds interesting. It’s good to see another WBV success story.