Biomechanist Katy Bowman and her occasional co-host, Dani Alexander (an occupational therapist), explore the importance of grip strength for people of all ages. They discuss therapeutic interventions, such as weighted pencils and play-dough, to improve hand strength and sensory input. They also touch on the impact of weak grip strength on daily tasks and emphasize the need to incorporate grip-strengthening activities into everyday routines. Join Katy and Dani as they delve into the connection between grip strength, overall well-being, and maximizing our physical abilities.Episode Overview:0:00:01 Introduction and mention of previous New York Times features0:03:31 Recap of a previous podcast episode on grip strength0:06:18 Concerns about grip strength from a professional perspective0:08:26 Therapeutic Interventions for Children0:10:40 Play-Doh for Increasing Intrinsic Hand Strength0:13:20 Thera Putty as a Therapy Tool for Adults0:16:04 Importance of Hand Strength in Everyday Life0:24:05 Creating Playgrounds with Obstacle Courses for Kids0:27:04 Importance of diversity in hand use and overuse injuries.0:29:30 The technicality of different hand grips and their importance.0:30:39 Nourishing the Hands and Feet0:32:08 Wondering about the absence of someone in the bathroom0:34:30 Exploring the use of Therapuddy for hand strengthening0:36:54 Multiple approaches to hand training and arm strength development0:39:05 Assessing daily hand movements and seeking inspiration from others0:41:09 Grip Translates to All Finger and Hand Movement0:42:10 The Importance of Grip Strength in Daily Tasks0:44:16 Decline in Strength and Its Impact on Therapy Norms0:45:40 Lowering the Norms: A Frightening Shift in Fitness0:48:51 The Transcendence of Movement: Beyond Individual Body Parts0:49:41 A Salute to an Amazing Friendship

Podcast discusses foot injuries as a natural part of life, emphasizing the need for adjustments in movement patterns. Stresses the importance of staying active as we age. Talks about psychological aspects of injury and strategies for avoiding future ones. Reflects on minimal shoes after foot injury and their impact on healing and foot strength.

In this episode, Katy is talking about technology. Specifically where technology meets your head. No, not how technology affects mental health or how you think, but how it could be affecting the actual structure of your skull. Katy and her guests get into headphone dents, tech neck, and bone horns. Episode Overview:0:00:01 Welcome to the Move Your DNA podcast!0:00:31 Tech and Mental Health: How It Affects Your Head0:07:58 Discussing Head Dents0:11:56 The Dent Mystery: Seeking the Truth0:21:12 Importance of varied positioning for babies' development0:31:52 Strengthening tissues to handle increased load and shape changes0:32:33 The Horns Phenomenon and Click-Bait Headlines0:43:01 Natural selection and the success of sickle-shaped cells0:53:15 Navigating the Challenges of Screens in Schools0:57:56 Skeletal Development and Surgical Solutions0:59:20 The Addictive Nature of Handheld Devices1:00:40 Introduction and Background of the Conversation1:03:36 The Nuance of Phone Use and Posture1:09:20 Introduction and Greetings from Lynn Dung, Melbourne, Australia

Katy Bowman talks with Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett about their paths to becoming leaders in physical health to share their ideas on how to make movement more joyful and relevant to you, the mover. Not just in the distant future but here and now.

Katy reveals another group of very important muscles that probably are not on your list of body parts which need movement - the muscles in your face. Just like any other parts of your body, when these muscles don’t get movement, it causes problems now and later in life. In this episode, Katy explains why this matters and gives you some fun exercises that you can do at home. 

There is an old (and hopefully becoming obsolete) idea that getting your body “vacation ready” means you need to exercise ahead of time to get your body looking "fit" so you can enjoy your vacation. In this episode, Katy flips this idea on its head and invites you to take a different approach. An approach that involves getting your body “vacation ready” by making sure it is moving well enough to enjoy the things you want to do on your vacation. 

It will surprise nobody that Katy spends a lot of time considering the mechanics of breathing movement—the way the levers and pulleys work throughout your breathing anatomy—to facilitate breath. But there are also other things to consider when it comes to breath and breathing. So, Katy invited her friend and author of the new book, Body by Breath, Jill Miller to talk about how the way we breathe can be showing up and affecting our bodies in ways we might not be aware of.

In this episode, Katy explores the way all the “move more” messages we hear and read are framed and how they could be a lot more helpful and effective. It turns out that simply telling people to “exercise now to not die later” isn't working the way we might want it to. 

In this episode, Katy and Dr. Barbara L Reiss are talking about Myopia (the medical term for nearsightedness), which is being able to see up close but not far away. This is important because your muscles are not only for moving, but they are also creating physiological states in the body - which includes your eyesight. 

At the very beginning of this year, Katy wrote an article: Focus Your Movement Resolution. She did that because she thinks a lot of people gravitate toward resolutions at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year. So, let Katy share with you how to make those resolutions more focused - and therefore more helpful and effective.