Should You Change Your Body - Y/N?

I often get asked by class members how can they change their body or movement to find relief from pain or recover quicker from an injury.

In every case my answer is based on talking to the person, understanding why they desire change, where they are right now and where they hope to get to. My reply may surprise them!

I also believe that it's vital to remember how resilient and endlessly adaptable the human body is. 

Have you heard of The Serenity Prayer?

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.

Just because it's possible to change something doesn't necessarily mean we should make that change.

I spoke to 3 very different people recently who asked me about their body, and what they could change to either reduce pain or move better.  For at least 1 of them, it wasn't the answer they were expecting to hear!

I wonder what you would have chosen to change in each case, and whether you agree with my suggestions?

1) Person 1 - How can I balance my pelvis and improve the way I walk so I don't get pain or an injury in the future?

Person 1 has a structural leg length discrepancy ie. she has 2 legs that are different lengths from childhood. As a result, she has a rolling walking gait. Her daughter was concerned that this would lead to future pain or injury.

I watched her walk, and this rolling gait was actually keeping her pelvis fairly level, despite her different leg lengths!

I asked her if she was currently in pain, and she said no. She mentioned that she regularly walked for 1 to 2 hours with no pain. She also swam and enjoyed Aqua classes.

What did bother her was her hips feeling stiff and her knees hurting when she did squats, so she avoided classes like LBT and strength & conditioning. As we chatted she also brought up the risk of osteoporosis, and the worry that not doing squats would make her bones weak.

Did I suggest changing her pelvis or her walk?

NO!

Even though her pelvis looked crooked when she was standing still, her body had adapted successfully to keep her pelvis level when she moved. That she could walk for a couple of hours without pain confirms that her rolling gait is a helpful compensatory movement pattern.

I didn't see any advantage in interfering with an adaptation that's working for her and her lifestyle.

What did I suggest instead?

Instead of meddling with her pelvis or walk, I decided to focus on ways to strengthen her bones, taking into account her movement limitations and pain when squatting. Some ideas for her to follow up with were:

• Continue walking regularly - this is an excellent, low impact, weight bearing activity that will increase bone density and strength
• Book a session with a PT to learn how to use various gym machines and alternative exercises to increase muscular strength without doing 100's of squats. Stronger muscles exert more force on the bones they're attached to, which will increase strength over time. 

2) Person 2 - What can I do with my foot after toe surgery?

Person 2 approached me and asked me how to make their foot stronger and more balanced after a surgery to repair their 4th toe (for reference, toe 1 = the big toe and toe 5 = the little toe). The surgery had left them with a floppy toe that tended to curl up off the ground.

Now we could go into reorganising the toe lines to address foot balance and function. This is important as each toe line is responsible for supporting a specific part of the thigh bone, hip and pelvis. This then feeds into pelvic floor function. You may know that the pelvic floor stops the internal organs from dropping out of position, and maintains bladder / bowel function. Fewer people are aware that the pelvic floor is vital for helping to organise the pelvis when walking or running.

Toe lines 4 and 5 (the outside of the foot) form the support arch, and fully bear the weight of the body when standing. Toe lines 1, 2 and 3 work as the movement arch. That lift of toe lines 1, 2 and 3 which forms the inside arch of the foot allows these toe lines to rest on toe lines 4 and 5.

Therefore, if toe line 4 is compromised or doesn't meet the ground as nature designed the body and joints won't be optimally supported, which could lead to pain and injury in the future.

Did I suggest changing her foot and toe lines?

NO!

When I saw this person's foot, it was apparent that toe 3 had started to compensate for the surgically altered toe 4.

I didn't see any added benefit in trying to undo or change the very clever adaptation by the body.

What did I suggest instead?

• Focus on balancing the pelvis so the muscles at the front and back of the body, like abdominals, hip flexors, spinal extensors, glutes, can work as optimally as possible
• Work on the communication between the foot, ankle, knee and hip so these joints align and work well as a system for efficient movement and reduce the risk of injury or 'wear and tear'.
• Strengthen the muscles around the hip to provide stability and control of this joint even if the toe lines are compromised

3) Person 3 - Recovering after a major trauma

This person was a new member to my Stretch class. He'd been in a road accident last year and fractured a lot of bones. His doctor had recently cleared him to exercise again so he was tentatively exploring classes again to see what might work for him.

This guy's body has been forever changed by the accident. His whole structure is now different from the body he was born with, with pins, plates and wires stabilising his skeleton and joints. 

These repairs will alter how his brain now perceives and organises his body. His nervous system will remember the trauma of the accident and the surgeries.

Obviously these structural changes can't be reversed. So the way forward for him now is to:

1. help his brain learn how to organise and move his body as it is now after the accident and surgeries so he can get back to being active
2. restore safety back to his nervous system to reduce muscle tension, stiffness and pain

One area that we explored at the beginning of the class, and he brought up afterwards, was his jaw.

His jaw had been wired and he had nerve damage down one side, leaving him with little to no sensation. During the jaw movement exploration, he realised that he was clamping his teeth together tightly, and this was causing him tension along his jaw and neck.

We discussed how this is a natural and subconscious stress response. In his case, the wire was causing his jaw to clamp tightly, but his brain and nervous system will sense this increased muscle tension and perceive it as potential danger. A physiological stress response is initiated, further increasing tension and stress in the body and muscles.

He decided to take this new awareness and use it to work on relaxing his jaw to release general muscle tension from his body.

I see this as a great example of someone coming to class, making a breakthrough in awareness of their body, and taking 1 thing away with them to work on at home that they believe will be the biggest help to them.

Takeaway

I hope these 3x examples illustrate that it's important to understand if change is actually necessary, and if so, what to focus on. 

We get very conditioned to zone in on the pain or symptom, and then try to fix it so it doesn't hurt more. This is the conventional linear, or what I call 'tick box'' method of treating pain and injury.

It often works to some degree - many people will experience some relief but perhaps not a full recovery, or they get injured again some time on the future.

Rather than zoning in, take a step back and look at the bogger picture. Instead of concentrating on individual body parts, say trying to fix a painful knee or hip, consider how the whole body works together.

Above all, remember the human body is wonderfully adaptable and resilient. Not all compensations are damaging. Some can be helpful.

It all depends on your life history, lifestyle and how you wish to live. 

NEXT STEPS

** COMING SOON **

A monthly small group mindful movement class for pain management and relaxation, with a sound bath and opportunity for 1:1 support with a specific pain or injury before the class. 

Other ways you can find help with managing chronic pain or an injury are:

• Book into a Stretch or Pilates class with me - these are a good introduction to The Befriend Your Body (BYB) Method (mindful movement) for pain management.
• Get your copy of my free E-guide "How to Get Relief From Back Pain and Muscle Tension in just 10 mins a Day". This introduces the 3x universal stress responses that can keep you stuck in pain, and explains the 4x pillars of The BYB Method. There's also 2x video tutorials showing you how to release muscle tension from the front and back of your body in the comfort of your without expensive equipment. Download HERE
• Subscribe HERE to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a weekly e-newsletter delivering mobility and pain reduction tips directly into your inbox every Monday morning,

You can connect with me through any of these channels:

• Email at norma@unicornhealthandfitness.com
• DM me on Facebook Messenger https://www.facebook.com/norma.pearsonfitness
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.