Boot camp Melbourne

Do you ever ask yourself why you may suffer from particular aches or pains? Why is it that you get sore knees while running, for example, and yet your running partner doesn’t? Why you always seem to feel pain or tightness in the neck and shoulders despite always trying to rub or exercise it better? The answer is often not as complicated as you may think.

There are a large number of options available to people regarding body pains. You can choose from a large range of different modalities that are currently available, and all are beneficial in their own way. Chiropractic, Myotherapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Pharmaceuticals, Meditation, etc, the list is almost endless. But regardless of which path you decide to take you must ask yourself the question of “Why do I get this pain?” instead of just asking “How do I get rid of this symptom?”

Your postural alignment needs to be understood by you and your practitioner before a long term solution to musculoskeletal pain can be found. In simple terms it means that you need to be able to stand and move in a way that allows your body to mechanically function like it is designed to do. If the mechanics are wrong then various parts of your body are dealing with more stress than they are meant to, thus resulting in overloading and, eventually, pain. Think of driving your car with the wheel alignment not right. You can still drive, but it will never drive well, and parts will wear out faster than they should. The same applies to the joints and muscles of your body. Your spinal bones, and the discs between them, will wear faster if you allow your body to slump. Also, the muscles that support your spine are trying to deal with the slump, resulting in achy back muscles. Poorly aligned knees wear out cartilage inside the joint. Incorrect seating posture at work can result in shoulder problems. And the list goes on…

Ultimately the answer for many musculoskeletal pain complaints is not pharmaceuticals or invasive procedures, but rather education, stretching, and muscle strengthening and conditioning. Too many people find themselves in the office of a healthcare practitioner seeking solutions to preventable problems. Being correctly aligned allows you to be gravity efficient, and this unloads the muscles and the joints of body, preventing problems from occurring. The same theory applies if you are standing, walking, running, lifting weights or even working at your desk. Dealing with body pain by loosening off tight muscles and tightening loose ones allows you to deal with the source of the problem, not just the symptom. If you get your shoulders massaged and do not address why they need to be massaged then the pain will return because nothing has mechanically changed. Any and all physical therapy should work to improve body alignment. You have your body for your entire life and you want it to last. When you are 60 years old you want to feel 40, not 80. In a nutshell, look after your body now by providing the best possible environment for it. Do not wait until pain gets the better of you!

Next time, we discuss neck pain…

Stuart Hicks
Myotherapist (Adv. Dip. of Myotherapy)
stuie_1@hotmail.com