
You need to be able to bend over to work in your garden, pick up your grandchild, or do yoga.
You need to be able to squat to give a child a hug at their level, to do home renovation projects, or tie your shoelace on the side of the trail while you are out running.
You need to have foot flexibility to walk so you can go hiking with your friends, take the dog out for a potty walk, or keep up with the kids while they are riding their bikes.
You need to have shoulder motion to play basketball, do Pilates, or paint a wall in your house.
You need to have neck motion so you can check your blind spot while you are driving, lay on your stomach while you are sun bathing, or use your “third eye” to watch the children.
Movement is required for life. Movement is required to be able to do the things we want to do every day. They may not feel like amazing things but they are the things that you want to do. The activities that make up your life.
Perhaps you are a stay at home mom who spends your day reaching down for little ones, picking up their toys, standing while preparing meals, or hauling all of their stuff everywhere. Those are all movements and they are required for your life.
You may work in an office which requires you to drive to work where you are walking between meetings, standing for discussions, typing to communicate with your team. Those are all movements and they are required for your life.
Retirement brings a whole new set of movements depending on what that looks like for you. It may be renovating your forever home, outfitting a boat for sailing around the world, or loading up the fifth wheeler to travel the US. Those are all movements and they are required for your life.
The tissues in our body need movement to get stronger, to become more flexible, and also to heal. Muscles need heavy weight applied in order to grow and become stronger. Bones need the muscles pulling on them to regenerate and avoid osteoporosis. Spinal discs require rotation to bring in fresh nutrients to remain healthy.
Just as you need motion to live your life, your body needs motion to maintain your life. If you stop moving then you stop living. Your body has a harder time healing itself as it becomes more difficult to get the proper nutrition to the proper locations.
Movement is life. Movement allows you to live the life you love. Movement teaches your body to adapt thereby allowing you to do the things you love.
If you are not moving, you are not living your life to the fullest. If you are not moving, you are not helping your body to heal itself.
When a muscle is tight it holds on to all the extra stuff that is meant to be pumped out on a regular basis. This makes it harder to bring in fresh nutrition for the muscle to feed on. As you challenge that muscle with your daily activities, it starts to hold on for dear life. No amount of ice or heat will cause it to release. It simply can’t because it has gotten into this holding pattern.
That muscle may be compressing a joint. The joint needs movement in order for the cartilage to get its nutrition. When cartilage becomes dry it leads to arthritis. Arthritis leads to pain and decreased movement.
Or that muscle may be compressing a disc. Spinal discs are like sponges that absorb nutrition when the pressure is released. If they are constantly compressed they cannot receive the needed nutrition. This causes degenerative disc disease. It comes down to a lack of movement.
Movement is life. Movement allows the tissues in our body to heal. Movement allows us to do all the things we value doing in life.
How is your movement? How is your life?
If you are having difficulty with movement please reach out to us. We are movement experts that love seeing you achieve the movement you need for your best life.