Those Aches and Pains that Linger

Those aches and pains that happen occasionally in your body are not to be overlooked and are often warning signs prior to a bigger injury. Understanding if your body is moving well will help you prevent injury (surgery, etc.) for a lifetime.

I once asked a physical therapist about what she thought of Yoga and she replied, “It is a good business”.

So, often the intent of an exercise program is falsely achieved. Exercise is more than a series of repetitive moves! Exercise supports the goal of attaining a desired state of health. If your goal is to go hiking without knee pain, than a Yoga class with not reeducate you on how to walk in a less destructive fashion.

Our ideas of exercise often develop and change as we age. When we are younger we are often just moving around increasing cardio and playing sports because we can and its fun. Right around 30 yr., give or take a few years, our needs around exercise change. We change from wanting to look good and develop a higher priority of feeling better physically; Of course the aesthetics are there but the ability to do the activities we enjoy began to take precedence.

Lifestyle changes are considered eating habits, recreation, and emotional/psychological development all in the name of feeling better. We have a long life to live in our bodies and we realize that our lifestyle choices affect our experience of health.

I have many clients arrive to their session injured. With a confused look on their face they ask “how did this happen to me?” After years performing repetitive forms of exercise such as yoga or running, the aches and pains add up to deeper layers of injury. The fact is we age and everyone has adapted to this modern life with poor movement patterns. Aging slows our ability to recover, adapt to, and tolerate certain repetitive activities. Poor movement patterns set us up for injury down the road. Often the silent warning signals go unrecognized and we continue to move through our life unaware until we are sidelined.

For example, if there is an inability for a person to contracttheir Latissimus Dorsi in correct biomechanical form and they proceed to do twenty downward dogs 2-3 times a week, the lack of stability in the joint is creating micro injury thus eventually creates pain in the shoulder. The average cost of a shoulder surgery is $65,000.

My first Yoga instructor, Swami Vishnu Devananda, exclaimed “health is wealth!” My advice would be to make your exercise program support your personal experience of health. Learn how to move your body well by addressing the cause of pain and injury. You must identify poor movement patterns and create bio mechanically correct movement to have true wealth in your life.

A good beginning is a movement analysis...Not a class.

One of the most important things to understand in beginning a fitness program is your current state of health. Most ‘fad’ fitness programs are very intense. The marketers of these ‘fad’ workouts put a small disclaimer like these exercises are good for “most” people or “not for everyone”. You would be surprised to know how many people that truthfully includes, like 90% of everyone over 30 years old. I would NEVER recommend anyone that has been injured or is currently having low grade pain take a general class of any sort!

The nature of a class is participation oriented, not analysis/progression oriented.

Most gym goers believe they are beyond a simple beginning class and will avoid a more basic beginner level. What they fail to realize is a true beginner level includes learning how to prevent injury, developing self awareness, promote balance and longevity in your movement, not the classes.

Truth be told, most fitness establishments don't offer such classes. You are best suited to be humble, seek help from a trainer well educated in movement analysis, and start out right.

Check out this video to learn more about what a movement analysis looks like.