As we get older, the complaints get louder. Oh, my back hurts or my knees are stiff. Prevention and maintenance are how we can reduce or eliminate these issues. Life creates a vicious circle, get up, go to work, life after work and then sleep, then repeat. This would be great if our work was 8 hours, sleep was 8 hours and time for our life was 8 hours. However, that is not the case. A few things dramatically affect this cycle … 1) Work is never just 8 hours, 2) We take on too many commitments in life, and 3) Those electronic timesavers (your phone, TV, internet) are actually time wasters. Therefore, when we talk about time for prevention and maintenance activities, many things can take away from that time and it is always the first to disappear from our schedule.
Stretching and exercise should involve your entire body. You can incorporate it in your morning trip to work, walk up some stairs, extend your walk from the car or ride your bike to work. During work, stretch various parts of your body like your arms, neck and back. Avoid spending your breaks on your computer or your phone. After work, you can also take a short walk when you drop your child off at their activities (just don’t answer work e-mails or watch a video on your phone). Targeting your entire body is the best, because your sore back may be the result of compensating for an inflexible shoulder. So taking care of all the moving parts may elevate larger problems.
Care About Your Foot
Another area for concern is that the majority of the population have foot problems. Neglecting foot problems can result in neck, back, hip and knee problems. So take a look at your footwear, are they worn out, torn, misshapen, have parts of the outer sole worn off, are you experiencing foot pain or are calluses developing? All these issues can affect your ability to stabilize yourself and to sense your environment. With your primary contact (the foot) with the environment being unstable this will be problematic for all the other joints in your body.
If you are at all concerned about your feet, or want expert advice, book an appointment with a Resonance Podiatrist.
Call today and book and appointment.
0800 473 776
www.respod.co.nz