I recently joked in a post on social media that many people, once they get north of 45 years of age, start to wish they worked more on their mobility when they were younger. Visions of six pack abdominals and developed glutes drop in rank to aspirations of squatting deep and the ability to get off the floor without using your hands. When I perform consultations at the studio, “improve mobility” is rarely the top goal, but is included as something they wish to work on. I don’t use that initial meeting as an opportunity to lecture people on the value of movement, but rather as a time to listen to what they want. It’s after a few workouts at the studio that I can start to show how focusing not purely on one’s movement, but the quality of that movement, is the foundation of everything.
Wikipedia defines pathology as the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. Poor movement can lead to pathology. To prove a simple example for context, if you continually move and live with your head in a forward position, shoulders pulled forward and the upper back area rounded, your body will adopt that position as it’s default position. In short, poor posture will become your new normal. This has been a daily struggle for me, as I remind my teenage son to fix his posture.
The nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems will change their alignment and function over time based upon repeated faulty movement patterns. A person with a forward head position will have problems lifting their arm overhead over time. In 2013, the physical therapy world adopted movement as a system.
Reading this and looking at the above diagram may have prompted you to sit upright. It’s not uncommon for me to get buy-in from people when I explain how movement can change your body. The part that frustrates people is when I explain that the error happened over time, and it’s going to take time to fix the issue. It can be problematic when I attempt to explain to someone who has developed chronic back problems, that it’s going to require more than 3 sets of planks to fix their back. Minus the time we sleep (assumed eight hours a night), we have 112 hours a week. It requires more than those 3 hours you spend at the gym to ingrain a true correction in movement. You need to be aware of your posture and alignment when you’re sitting, standing, and walking. The good news is that fixing movement doesn’t have to feel like a HIIT (high, intensity, interval, training) workout or require equipment. Fixing movement demands you to be attentive to how you move throughout the day. I’ve made this mistake myself. I’ve performed farmer carries (walking while holding weights in both hands at my sides) in a workout with perfect posture, to finish and leave the studio walking in the parking lot with bad posture. To use a cliché, to click save on the word document, I need to be aware of my walking pattern all the time, not only during my workout. In the business of Big box gyms, it became an accepted protocol to have a lot of treadmills in your facility. Everyone knows how to walk, and walking is not intimidating to someone new to a gym. As stated by world renowned physical therapist, Dr. Shirley Sahrmann, “Many people don’t know how to walk well.”
It’s during physical therapy that some people feel they are wasting their time. The person rehabbing a knee surgery doesn’t understand how performing circles with their ankles is going to help them, or the person who just had shoulder surgery can’t comprehend why standing and adjusting the alignment of their ribcage is doing anything. Fixing movement isn’t supposed to burn or hurt. Exercises are not done typically to fatigue. It should be subtle. It needs to be re-enforced over and over, all day, and takes time to repair, but it can be repaired. Movement is a system of systems. It’s more than training a muscle in isolation. It includes lifestyle. Everything is interconnected.
In our new world of binge-watching television and staring at our smart phones for hours at a time, remember to move often and focus on the quality of how you move. Your body will be glad you did. If you are interested in getting a Functional Movement Screen (FMS), email me Doug@janddfitness.com to schedule your assessment.