from pre-hab to rehab
Injuries are almost impossible to avoid all the time. Life happens, and we are not infallible as human beings. Everyone is susceptible, from the very sedentary to the elite athlete. Causes can be a whole number of things ranging from accidents to muscle imbalances and postural defects, genetic dispositions and environmental factors.
At best having an injury is annoying, and at worst completely debilitating. As we try to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle and try new things, improve our strength and skill repertoire, suddenly having pain that wasn’t there before can make it really off putting when it comes to exercise.
What will arm us best against becoming injured is of course prevention. Ensuring we are strong and able to cope with the tasks we throw at our bodies as well as keeping ourselves as safe as we can whilst doing so. When this fails and we do end up hurting ourselves; it’s useful to know the best course of action to get us back to a pain free; functional lifestyle, as best we can.
Your best prevention
Whilst many things are unavoidable, we can improve our posture, alignment and strength through correct exercise techniques. We can address areas of tightness or weakness by concentrating on these, with appropriate strengthening and stretching. So if we can look at ourselves as a whole unit, and our individual weaknesses; we can catch them and adjust to prevent them from becoming problems down the line.
For instance, if we can recognise that we have tight hamstrings and a rounded posture, we can work on corrective upper back exercises and hamstring stretches to help prevent lower back pain in the future. It’s never a bad idea to have a session with a Physiotherapist or a Sports Therapist to get an educated pair or eyes on your alignment to give you a better idea of what you need to work on. And there’s always something!
Exercise that specifies alignment and muscular balance like Pilates can be a great help when done correctly.
Knowing when to seek advice
I believe it’s always best to listen to your body, and if a pain or restriction somewhere appears that doesn’t go away in a few days (especially after a few weeks) you should seek advice from a Physio, GP or Sports Therapist. It’s so easy to ignore niggles and just help they go away. But this can oftentimes make things worse, as other muscles compensate for the lack or mobility or strength and other areas can begin to suffer. If you try resting, and find it does go, keep an eye on things and if it returns, then you may want to seek help.
“No pain, no gain” isn’t something that I advocate in the literal sense. Pain is your body saying something is wrong! So many times I see people put up with pain or shrug it off to “just old age”! When it isn’t at all. Pain for the most part can be dealt with and most of the time through correct treatment will go away. Sometimes taking a long time and the effort to do the work and exercises to correct things, but it’s worth the patience.
If you are experiencing any pain, even if it is just a niggle, get it seen to by a professional, get a diagnosis and get it better. It’s not worth the risk of seeing if it will go away on it’s own. We only get one body, and we need it to move, have fun and enjoy life. So take care of yours.
I have plenty of classes that focus on mobility, have a look below. Please consult a physician before starting if you are experiencing pain. Please do not self diagnose.
