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Plagued with a bad back...
July 9, 2000 Written By Paul Glaviano It's a great way to get the rust off aching muscles and joints.Plagued with a "bad back," Bentley, now 53, used to arise each morning feeling like someone had taken a blow torch to his joints and muscles. "It was debilitating me," says Bentley, an avid golfer and Carrollwood Village Golf Club senior champion, who regularly shoots in the mid- to upper 70s. "I could barely move when I got out of bed. I was in pain." Then Bentley met Ken Ditzian at a party. "I didn't even know what he did for a living, but I happened to mention how bad my back was feeling," Bentley says. Ditzian, a Tampa exercise specialist, told him he had a regimen, the MedX system, that he thought would help. "I was a little skeptical, but I was desperate," Bentley says. "So I tried it, and everything he said about it was right." One of the more pressing health questions for adult Americans is how much the decline in physical capability can legitimately be ascribed to advancing age and how much to simple neglect. Those who emphasize advancing age are losing the debate. Studies across a broad spectrum of exercise physiology continue to show that people lose the body's remarkable athletic component too soon, primarily because they fail to heed widespread advice to exercise. You must, in fact, use it or lose it. No exceptions. Ditzian, 55, has seen it firsthand. A former chiropractor, he spends his days trying to help clients repair the damage caused by years of sedentary existence. "The joints are like rusty gates," he says. "If you don't oil them, move them, they stay rusty." The problem, Ditzian believes, is that many people either never exercised regularly or have forgotten how great it feels to be in shape. By the time they've lived 50 years or so, decreased joint flexibility and muscular weakness begin to feel "normal." "Then, studies have shown, pain associated with back, shoulder and hip problems start to crop up. It happens to about 80 percent of Americans over age 50." The basic mechanism is this: Repetitive stress on joints compresses and contracts muscles, which restricts motion. That stress is born of our fast-paced but physically undemanding lifestyles. Sitting at a computer all day, for example, stresses joints. Emotional tension can do the same thing. The stress leads to a buildup of lactic acid stemming from muscle fatigue, progressing to chronic soreness and inflexibility. The solution? Ditzian says stretching the muscles and connective tissues through proper exercise can reverse the process. Fresh blood is pumped into muscle cells, whisking away lactic acid and reducing inflammation and pain. Muscles become relaxed and capable of a greater range of motion. Even relatively light resistance exercises build strength, an increasingly important commodity as we age. Ditzian says research shows that strength and flexibility gains can be achieved even into a person's 80s or 90s. For Ditzian, the MedX equipment developed by Arthur Jones - who also invented the mold-breaking Nautilus exercise equipment - is unparalleled at freeing joints and muscles of pain and stiffness. Ocala-based MedX supplies a number of local rehabilitation facilities, including Ditzian's Exerciseworks of Tampa Bay, located in Hyde Park's Xtreme Total Health and Fitness gym. "Our outcomes using this equipment are an average of a 90 percent increase in flexibility and muscular strength," Ditzian says. "It's absolutely great for anyone who wants to improve at golf or tennis. "For golf, we see impressive gains in club-head speed, which is correlated with increased range of motion in the body's joints and increased strength. For each 5 mph increase in club-head speed, a golfer attains 10 more yards per shot. "People tell us they feel stronger, have increased energy, better coordination and fewer injuries sustained in their sport of choice." Butch Harmon, swing coach for golf star Tiger Woods, uses the MedX machines in training his clients. Former US Open golf champion Tom Kite also endorses them. There are three basic devices in the MedX system: a stretching unit, rotary torso unit and lumbar extension unit.
Ditzian makes use of several other exercise devices at the Xtreme gym. His clients use light weights with instructions to "feel the stretch." Progress is generally rapid. The first time Bentley was strapped into the lumbar extension unit and instructed to bend forward as far as possible, he reached only the 60-degree mark. "Ken told me that full range of motion on the lumbar was 72 degrees, and I told him, "Ken, I'll never get to 72.' "Two weeks later, I was at 72." Ditzian recommends a basic course of eight one-hour workouts, two per week, at $40 per session. He charges $75 to evaluate the client's initial flexibility and strength, administering a number of tests and noting areas of particular concern. (A gym membership at Xtreme is not required.) The workouts aren't exhausting, but they're not a walk in the park, either. Joints, muscles and connective tissues that haven't been properly stretched for years don't yield easily. Effort is required, even modest discomfort. The subject works just short of the pain threshold. Bentley was so happy with the results that he continued with twice-weekly sessions for nine months. "I was feeling so good, I just didn't want to stop," he says. "Golf is no longer the chore it was starting to become. I can practice more, make a fuller turn with my swing - and with less effort. I don't start to ache around the 13th hole anymore. I have stamina. It allows me to practice putting for more than 20 minutes because my back isn't aching anymore. "People have to just try it to realize how good those machines are." Bentley has continued to stretch each morning. "I'm out of bed and on the floor every single day of my life stretching. Ken showed me a number of excellent stretches I can do, and I plan to do them for the rest of my life." Copyright © 2000 The Tampa Tribune, reprinted with permission. Services
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