Winter Self Wellness Check- How Is Your Body Moving and What Can You Do To Help It Stay Injury Free?

If you could increase your ability to ward off future injury and maintain health by doing 3-5 exercises per week would you? If you could minimize your risk of giving up activities that you love in the future would you? ​

To most of us wellness means trying to eat well and exercise when we can. Many of us put our own health on hold to care for kids, work and tend to others in our lives.  To be honest, there are times when our own self care needs must take a back seat for other priorities. However, it should not be the norm.  All too often, if we have an ache or pain we wait for it to disappear. We hope that it goes away. If we have old injuries or have always had one leg that was much stronger than the other, we write them off as battle wounds or just the way we were born without giving thought to how these injuries and asymmetries may impact our future health.

There are some aches and pains that just are minor glitches in the system. Some are warning signs that something needs attention. This is particularly true with aches and pains that make a repeat appearance every so often.  It is also the same for a chronic discomfort that isn’t quite bad enough to disrupt your day to day function. You may even avoid things because you know it causes pain. Doctors will even say it- “If it hurts, don’t do it.” But, where is the question, “Why?” Why should you give up something you love? And, if you can’t do one thing now, will it lead to being unable to do more things in the future? 
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Many of these injuries that lay far off in the future can be predicted by careful assessment. At Newburyport Wellness, LLC it is my mission to help individuals fully realize the power of understanding how their body works in order to harness the best of it for life. The goal is to understand your body’s strengths and weaknesses and to learn to listen to the signals it is giving you in order to optimize long term health! This fall I invite everyone to look at health and fitness in a new light.

Self Body Scan-

• When you squat is the weight equal between both legs? (if not, the question is why?)
• Can you balance 30” on each leg? Does one leg work much harder to keep your balance?
• Can you lay on the floor with legs out straight and raise your arms overhead without your ribs lifting off of the floor? (If not you are likely missing some shoulder range of motion
• In standing, can you raise your arms overhead without your shoulders rising up?
• Can you sneeze or do 25 jumping jacks without fear of leaking?
• If you sit in a firm chair and sit tall, can you rotate your torso (don't move hips) equally to the left and right? 

What to Do? 
If you notice any asymmetries from the above list or you have a history of injuries, it would be great to make a call to Newburyport Wellness and talk things over.  Immediately start to consider the following: how does your finding affect your day to day function? Do you always stand with you weight on one side?  Try to become more aware of how your body is working around any of the issues you found. Now, you have to decide if these movement choices are out of habit or necessity?  Does changing your posture change your pain?  Can you change anything so that you are moving more symmetrically?  The bottom line is awareness is key! If you take a moment to really think about how your body is moving and really tune in to how it feels you will be better able to identify when you need to seek help, before the symptoms are raging and function limiting.  You are worth the few minutes of your day to tune into your body in a new way!