Are you Moving toward balance?-Longevity and Micro Trauma

The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Wallden explains that the average person takes around 10,000 steps a day. With each step a person received a compressive force of about 1 to 3 times their body weight. If we take an average person who sits at a desk for many hours with a flat- backed (hypolordotic) posture and look at how this, plus compressive forces effect his/her potential for micro trauma, we use this formula.

The equation is 10,000(steps a day) x 145 lbs. (average weight) x 3 (return ground force)= 4,350,000 lbs.(The maximum amount of weight that the spine receives daily!). This is 4,350,000 lbs. a day on a spine that does not have a balanced tension in the muscles that causes a misalignment of bones.

Not having a balance of pressure on the bones result in micro traumas. Walden, goes on to explain that the integrity of the spine is severely compromised with this combination of a flat- backed position coupled with activities like walking,exercise and all the varieties of other movements we do daily . The body looses it ability to reset to a neutral position, the longer it is in a non-neutral position. (p.354, vol. 13, 2009) 4 Ways to better understand balance in your body. - Get a postural analysis from a fitness professional. - Become aware of opposites. When something goes up something else has to ground down. - Work with speed, how fast can you go or how slow. - Practice balancing on a unstable surfaces, to understand dynamic tension. Not too tight, not too loose.

Exercise and Extreme Sports As A Form of Self Harm

Exercise is a great activity that can improve your sense of well being, but can exercise become a form of self abuse. The Edinburgh Psychology Centre in Scotland believes it is possible that your mind set when you workout could be contributing to form of self abuse.

Here are some tips to help you boost the positive effects of your workout:
1- Set an positive intention at the beginning of your workout that creates a loving feeling for yourself.

2- Keep that feeling during the whole workout and let negative thoughts sail by.

3- Check-in, are you working yourself to exhaustion because you are your own worst critic.

Extreme workouts/sports could be an indicator that you are pushing yourself too hard.

Remember that working out should help you feel better inside and out. Self harm can be subtle. The Edinburgh Psychology Centre states, "Self harm describes a wide range of things that people do to themselves in a deliberate and usually hidden way. In the vast majority of cases self harm remains a secretive behavior that can go on for a long time without being discovered."

Enjoy the full article.