Where does it come from?
Injury and pain don't just appear one day unless you have suffered an impact accident. That mysterious non-contact injury from a simple action is not really a mystery.
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Pain and injury take time to develop with cumulative micro traumas(tears) from poor posture and movement or training mechanics. If the rate of damage can outpace the body's ability to heal (which will vary on multiple health factors) then damage will add up. That injury or pain has been creeping up on you for a while.
If your joints and body do not carry a balanced tension(support), then with every step you take, every twist you make you could be causing micro traumas from sloppy joints, ill timed or dormant muscles and poor positioning.
The small things you barely notice like swelling or stiffness are the beginning symptoms, so pay attention. Your body has been talking to you your whole life. Don't ignore it now or blindly suppress it with pain relievers and anti-inflammatories while you continue on. Not to mention the long term negative effects of NSAIDs on your gut biome and cartilage maintenance.
We can break the cumulative injury cycle with functional and corrective practices that address the most common deficiencies like flat feet, duck feet, bowed/knocked knees, unstable hips, excessive lordosis, spinal compression, compressed ribs, compress shoulders, excessive kyphosis, forward head carriage and so much more.
Each one of these compensations contribute to the micro tears in the connective tissue with each movement you perform daily. Even the most mundane actions like sitting and walking with unbalanced joints equate to a larger sum of damage until an injury. It could be a sneeze or a fall that you blame it on but we now know something lead up to this incident. So now that we are aware of the potential dangers of cumulative micro tears, how do we fix the cause? Can we just cue up a better posture and lift with our knees? That is good advice but far too passive and minimal. The untrained and restricted muscles will fatigue soon then the old habits will just settle back in. A conscious effort would need to be maintained and a simple awareness can make a difference but that will not overwrite the body's neuromuscular program or proprioception when the body is under load or stress. The intrinsic program will always override in those scenarios and the damage can continue. Even with traditional training there is a tendency to only train the load in the sagittal plane and in isolation with push, pull, bend, squat, lunge, twist and the new strategies include gait. There is nothing wrong with this type of training as it serves a purpose. However it is trained outside of real life movement and limits the intrinsic program often overlooking the finer details for sake of throwing weight. This is not true for all trainers however my specialty is not theirs so I approach the body differently. There is a new movement revolution that is stirring things up in the training industry and Biomechanics training is evolving from functional fitness and pilates into a dynamic whole body training system that works deep into the body. Realigning the body to minimize friction and compression during static and dynamic movement. Giving the body a chance to heal.
With this new holistic approach to movement training the intrinsic program can be overwritten but it will need to be programmed under load and in a very specific and intentional movement. Only after the restrictions and dormant muscles have been addressed. This is where it gets fun for us Biomechanics and corrective exercise specialists. We get to build functional strength and not damage the body.
Each new client presents a unique puzzle. A cookie cutter approach will no longer do because each story is different and every compensatory pattern has a different sequence although some commonalities appear. Now, a redundant pattern will only get you so far. This may be acceptable to an insurance adjuster but for those of us that want real health for our clients we need to look a little deeper than just the pain report and not just treat the symptoms as a reaction. We can be preemptive and prevent future injuries. The injuries and traumas are not necessary with this new approach.
With human biomechanics concepts trending into the next course of education we will begin to see fitness practices becoming more holistic and functional towards our physiology and biological needs. I am happy to be on this adventure because I will learn everyday for the rest of my career as I help bring about change with an emerging paradigm of health.
I offer corrective exercise programs for $50 a session. Neck, shoulders, back, hip, legs, knees and ankle pains? BOOK AN ASSESSMENT TODAY.
