By: Dr Holly Middleton- Movement Coach
Clients come to me after months or years of frustrating and distracting body pain. They’ve had to give up on activities they love like hiking, running, and gardening. Their pain is ever-present and it takes away from their ability to focus on what they’re doing.
For other clients, they keep getting the same injury over and over again. They pull the same muscles doing seemingly minor things like putting on socks or reaching for something overhead. Or their body suddenly betrays them with a twisted ankle or a knee giving out.
For all of these clients they have the same question. Why does my injury never fully get better or keep coming back? My answer is that your body has been super clever coming up with 'work arounds' to help you get around after all your life experiences. Now they are catching up with you.
When we get injured we avoid moving the part that hurts. We limp or avoid moving an injured shoulder or protect a strained back by standing differently. But once we heal, our bodies remember the movement that used to hurt and they retain the new ‘limping’ or ‘avoiding’ or ‘protecting’ movement patterns. We don’t go back to the way we used to move unless we put in focused effort to restore how we were before the injury.
What if we taught our body the movements it is missing that are the root cause of the aches and pains or frequent injuries? Learning to move better can prevent those injuries from happening and can alleviate the aches and pains that linger even after we’ve healed. Your body is craving the movements it is missing so it can be versatile to take on all the activities you ask of it every day.
After each visit with a physiotherapist, massage therapist, chiropractor or other health professional we are given exercises to help us unravel the cause of why we came in for our therapy. Those pieces of homework are an integral part of getting us reset back to our old selves. As much as we love seeing our therapists, many of whom we’ve built a strong connection with over the years, what would your life be like if you could keep yourself well by learning to move in a way that prevents the pain to begin with? I know your therapists would love that for you to; they’ve told me so.
Working with a movement coach gives your body the opportunity to stay well and avoid re-injuring yourself. A movement coach is trained to see where your body has cleverly chosen a new way of moving to avoid what used to hurt. We can work with you to help you move in a way that both alleviates your pain and prevents you from re-injuring yourself down the road.
What would you do with your life if pain or the fear of reinjury didn’t hold you back?