Insights from Ruth Ann Penny

Clients often ask me, “How many reps should I do [of that movement]? My answer: “No idea.” I get the quizzical look.  No, I mean it, I say.  Here’s why.  I am not inside your body, so I don’t know when you start to tire, when and where the pain shows up, what your...

One of my clients - let's call her Paula - is an expert on falling AND on rising again.  She has two fake hips, has broken a wrist and an elbow and  shattered a kneecap.  In addition she's had the other knee partially replaced.  Let's just say she is HIGHLY...

Most of us have had a couple of really bad falls in our lives.  I have.  Just had one in fact, resulting in bruised sit bones and sprained butt muscles - yes, you can actually sprain your butt.  Big, unpleasant ouch.  Humbling. As I slowly heal, I have been...

I spend a lot of time helping people move their spines better.  A lot. People come to see me with cranky backs, malformations, tightness, disc problems, arthritis, you name it.  So, since spines are literally central to our well-being, I though I'd open the kit and...

Happy Lunar New Year! I am a Rabbit.  Apparently I am elegant, a little skittish, bright, cute, loveable, able to respond quickly, strategic, family oriented and many other wonderful things. By the next time my Year rolls around, I will be 83 years old.  And I...

If you want to move better, here's the magic bullet:  move any way you can. Most (not all) of our joints move in two or three ways, and we want to be sure we can move them in all the ways they are supposed to move.  But let's say you just can't move a joint, or a...

My mother is still alive and cooking along at age 95.  And a half. She is wee and fragile now, but she is good humoured and engaged.  She loves natural beauty, her friends, Bridge, good wine and – her grand passion – music.  Not that she would use these words, but...

When your shoulders LONG for a massage, where do you like the pressure of the massage to be applied?  I'm going to bet that you'd point to the back of your neck and top of your shoulders.  But what if a massage therapist or groovy massage machine isn't around?  How...

Can you move your body?  Of course you can!  You are therefore MOBILE. Because you are mobile, does that mean you are also flexible?  Maybe. But here's the thing.   Mobility is very important.  Flexibility is what helps with mobility, but each body requires...

Almost all my students and clients come to me with discomfort in the low back and hip joints.  Many think stiffening up in this region of the body is just a bi-product of aging. Wrong. Stiffening up happens, almost always, as a result of lack of movement.  Yup,...

I have loved Audrey Hepburn all my life. There are many reasons to love this beautiful human - as an actor, a humanitarian and philanthropist, a survivor of wartime hardship. But I also love her exquisite neck. It is the neck of my dreams, long, supple as a swan,...

  I just got back from a trip to Portugal - it was terrific to travel and explore again.  We walked a great deal, on the tiled streets and sidewalks so typical of Portugese cities and towns, on beaches, on dirt roads and woodland paths and on good old...

Sit Up Straight! When I was young, I heard those words hundreds of times.  I was a bit long-limbed and gangly, at times awkward, not very sporty, a little shy.  I was happy curled up with a book. I sometimes slumped. My mother was a classical singer and performed...

I am an anatomy nerd. This post may feel like it’s aimed at my anatomy nerd friends only, but it’s not.  So please stick with me for a moment. There’s this very cool muscle deep inside the very centre of your body called the Ilio-Psoas (silent ‘p’) muscle.  As all...

Definitions like the one below, out of medical journals, are a little disheartening, don't you think?: Sarcopenia is a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder involving the accelerated loss of muscle mass and function that is associated with increased...

What does that actually mean?  Of course I breathe. (I admit I can find advice to “just breathe” a little condescending.) But breathing is a miracle. The body just breathes. Even more miraculous is the fact that we can feel and change the way we breathe.  And we...

In my joints, is where. Most days are good days, but every so often - zap! - the fire in the joints starts heating up.  I know now, as many of you do, the true meaning of the word INFLAMED. One of life’s greatest lessons is the arrival of something unpleasant that...

What is the most stable structure? (Pssst….we learned this in high school…..) A triangle.  Or three-dimensionally, a tripod or a triangular pyramid.   And that’s how I see the structure of the human foot.  A good thing, since we need stability as we stand. Try...

I think flexibility is way over-rated.  Especially in us oldsters. Our youth-obsessed culture tells us the long-legged, supple body is ideal.  Yoga classes seem to be over-populated with young women who are lean and bendy. It’s hard to walk into a studio if you...

So, your joints hurt (tell me about it). Not good. The discomfort starts limiting your mobility. Worse. You start feeling tense, perhaps even scared of moving one way or another.  Even worse! Then one day you decide you’ll no longer shovel snow, or open a jar of...

First of all…. Welcome! These posts from me will come to you every two weeks. They have two purposes: to be helpful in very practical ways and to be enjoyable.   Second of all…. Have you checked out my website yet? If not, please go to www.movebetternow.ca....