Would you love to perform your daily activities without
worrying about pain or fatigue?
How about still having energy left over for your favorite
recreational or social activities?
The key to achieving these things is regular exercise and
movement. However, we’ve heard it a million times . . .
“You want me to do what . . . it hurts too bad to move!”
But, our bodies are designed for smooth, pain free movement.
If you are stuck in the viscous cycle of pain and inactivity, this
may seem impossible. Let me help by giving you 7 ways
starting a daily movement practice can improve your pain.
1. Improve Sleep Quality
Good sleep habits start with a healthy dose of movement
during the day. Quality rest improves your bodies ability to
cope with pain. During sleep, your body also releases growth
hormone. This helps heal and repair muscle and connective
tissue damage that can be the cause of pain.
2. Release Muscle Tension
Movement increases blood flow and deepens breathing to
move tension out of the muscles. Work on taking deep
breaths with your luges expanding as you inhale. This
maximizes the amount of oxygen that is transported to
your muscles.
3. Achieve Mental Clarity
Movement and light exercise is a form of moving meditation.
It brings focus to the present moment and reorganizes our
thought processes. A positive mindset is shown to greatly
improve quality of life in individuals with pain.
4. Strengthen Muscles
The more you move, the stronger your muscles that
surround your joints become. This stability takes the
strain off of healing tissue. Muscular strength also helps
prevent repeated injury of a joint.
5. Produce Happy Hormones
Exercise increases endorphin production, your bodies
natural “pain killers”. These neurotransmitters block
the perception of pain and create a general feeling of well
being. In particular, increasing serotonin improves mood,
reduces pain, and regulates sleep cycles.
6. Stabilize Inflammatory Hormones
Persistent inflammation is a main cause of many pain
symptoms. Hormones play a large role in your bodies
inflammatory response. In research studies, movement
reduces multiple inflammatory hormones. In addition,
unstable hormones such as estrogen interfere with
endorphin production.
7. Calms the Nervous System
The stress of pain overwhelms our nervous system causing
our nerves to become over excited. In cases of chronic pain
(often with neck, back, head aches, or pelvic pain) the actual
tissue injury may heal but the nerve pathways remain over
stimulated. Rhythmic movements and breathing, calm these
signals and give the body a feeling of relaxation.
Movement Prescription
In studies, people with pain report an increased quality of
life after increasing their daily movement. Start with just
10 minutes a day and increase as your pain levels improve.
It’s important to choose activities you enjoy so you begin to
look forward to this time. Also, be sure your movement
activities provide a good variety of aerobic, strength, and
flexibility exercises to improve your overall fitness.
Does movement with pain still seem too daunting?
If you are overweight, have joint pain, or are fearful a
physical therapy mobility program is a safe environment to
begin. You will work muscles and joints to gradually build
strength, balance and fitness. You will also restore
confidence in your ability to move without exacerbating
pain or causing re injury.
At Peak Potential Physiotherapy & Wellness, we
address pain and movement through manual therapy
techniques, functional movement screens, and a variety
of therapeutic tools. If you have completed a physical
therapy program and still don’t feel confident in moving
onto an exercise regimen on your own, you may benefit
from medically guided personal training.
In this setting, a physical therapist and personal trainer
work together to identify your movement weakness and
guide you toward optimal fitness. This graded approach
to exercise takes into account any and all medical illness
and past injuries that may hinder your progress. In the
clinic, we are able to consistently monitor and reassess to
trouble shoot problems and prevent re injury.
Click HERE to speak with a physical therapist to see if one
of our programs would help you toward restoring fluid,
pain free movement necessary to live the full, active life
you desire.
However you choose to start. . . Commit to MOVE today!
