YOU can be a body mechanic!

I’m going to sound like a broken record (if you are old enough to know what that is) as I’m sure this is something you have all heard but I am going to say it again.  You need to get involved in your own self management because when people don’t do anything they rust!

Not literally, but in effect we often suffer from the little bits of stiffness/weakness and incoordination that we pick up in our daily lives. Knee patients often have a poor walking pattern due to stiffness in their hips or ankles. Forefoot pain, such as metatarsalgia or Morton’s neuroma, develop after a person starts to walk with their foot in over-pronation to again reduce strain produced by tightness higher up the limb. Wrist pain may occur when there has been an elbow injury that has healed but the person has not fully recovered their strength and mobility forcing the wrist to work at an odd angle. We often seem to be too busy to take the time to stretch out tight tissues, reduce tension and recover strength when we have had an incident that has set us back.

Some cultures, such as in India or China, developed methods of dealing with this sort of problem and came up with yoga and tai chi. In the west we had a history of physical culture exercises and callisthenics that were once performed by a variety of people to keep themselves relatively fit and flexible. These days many of those practices have fallen out of favour although yoga, tai ch and more recently pilates have been taken up as attempts to keep ourselves going.

Whatever the method that suits you, I think it would be a good investment. Physically anything that keeps you moving and tries to maintain normal strength and flexibility will help to limit how easily you get injured from just being inactive. Financially you will save yourself all sorts of money being less likely to need treatment from any type of therapist or physician. Your body is no less in need of regular maintenance than your car and deserves , at the very least, regular attention to make sure it is functioning normally. I am sure there are lots of methods others could suggest and I would be happy to hear them. The most important thing is to start now and don’t wait until something breaks down and you end up needing treatment. One oil company has an advertising slogan that amounts to you can pay a little bit now (be active) or you can pay a lot later (to whatever type of practitioner). Not a bad concept to keep in mind.

Regards, Ross