Treating Connective Tissues
Hello!
Recently I had the privilege of watching a series of lectures by Thomas Myers, and while you most likely have never heard of him, his research and dedication to treating connective tissue dysfunctions over the past 40 years are indeed admirable!
I’m not going to bore you with a number of facts and $25 words, but he is saying exactly what everyone who is in the field of movement medicine is saying… motion is the lotion that hydrates and lubricates the joints and connective tissues of your body.
Yes, a person needs to drink water, but this does not hydrate the joints of your body… motion does.
And guess what? A lack of motion “dehydrates” those very same tissues that lead to a number of debilitating diseases and disorders over time.
When a person is young, those tissues tend to be more elastic and are able to stretch and return to their original shape and form.
As a person holds himself in exaggerated postures (like staring at a computer or cell phone) these forces overstretch the tissues, they tear, scar, and become more and more plastic over time.
Take a rubber band and stretch it. It snaps back into shape. It’s elastic.
Take an old plastic pen and bend it. It stays in that shape. It’s plastic.
Which one are you?
This is the scenario that typically presents to Paragon Chiropractic- tissues that have been stretched beyond their capacity to return to their normal length, and those tissues on the opposite side shortening. Think of a bow and a bowstring. Overstretched and deranged on one side-the bow, and very short and tight on the bowstring side. Have someone take a profile photo of you with their cell phone. See what I mean? You have a lot of areas that look like that.
So how does a person mobilize something that has started to become immobile from, well… immobility?
Back in the Steel Mill, we had a solution, “Get a bigger hammer!”
But this is exactly what people do when they sit all day, deranging the joints and tissues of their bodies, and go to the gym or yoga or tennis or jogging or whatever and over tax these deranged tissues beyond any capacity to heal, recover and adapt. OUCH!!!!!
This can be done to the point where even simple activities like getting up from a chair and walking a short distance IS TOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! And it causes pain.
The solution? Find some other torturous exercise. Maybe Crossfit will finally strengthen the core! NONSENSE!!!!!! This person can’t even get out of a chair and walk! Yet there they are!
Still not sure what I’m talking about?
Tomorrow morning, spring out of bed and run down stairs with reckless abandon, run outside, and start lifting patio furniture!
DON’T DO IT!!!!! Just imagine it. I bet even in your imagination you feel like you need to call Jen for an appointment!
But this is basically what a person does when he sits at his desk all day and then goes to the gym and, as Austin says, tries to be a “hardo!”
The Importance of Walking
Instead, here’s something you can try. Start a walking program. I know… boring! But walk with purpose and meaningfulness. Let your arms swing, and move through your hips and stride. Feel your glutes contract. Pay attention to your motion. Which hip doesn’t flow fully? Which shoulder is sticky? Which foot doesn’t bend freely?
Now continue to walk with purpose and make those sticky joints move through the stickiness or even discomfort/pain. You should feel them loosen and lessen in discomfort. Walk a little bit further and then go home. This is not speed walking or a 2 mile trek with the dogs or 10,000 steps. It’s just walking and priming the pump.
You will have to do this a few times each day, and once the pump is primed you have to keep it moving, but then that’s what you want to do anyway, right? Keep moving? If so, Paragon Chiropractic is here to help!
Keep on Trucking!
Dr. Dave