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Injuries suck. Chronic pain sucks. Living an active, pain-free life is the ULTIMATE freedom. It’s why we go to the gym! We want to stay healthy, fit, and active for as long as possible. But lifting weights and maintaining good cardiovascular health is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to living pain-free. Maintaining a good range of motion in our muscles and joints is crucial.
Sure, lifting weights and moving your body through a WOD can help stay you limber. But sometimes we have mobility issues that stem from imbalances in our musculature (or as a natural result of aging) that require a little extra attention. Neglecting these mobility ‘hot-spots’ can result in chronic pain or even injury.
According to Dr. Grayson Wickham, PT, DPT, CSCS, “90% of pain and injuries occur due to having tight muscles and joints. These tight muscles and tight joints then cause compensations in other joints in your body. A compensation is when another joint has to move in ways it was not designed to move in order to help out a tight and restricted joint. This compensation then causes wear and tear in these compensating muscles and joints. This wear and tear will then eventually lead to pain and injury. It is a vicious cycle.”
Dr. Wickham gives low back pain as an example. I’m sure we all know someone who has struggled with low back pain – it can be debilitating. Dr. Wickham continues, “low back pain is the number one reason you will schedule an appointment to see your doctor. I am not talking about a little low back ache that lasts a day or two. I am talking about low back pain that is severe enough that you take the time out of your day to go in to see your doctor to figure out what is going on. This is very sad as almost 100% of low back pain can be prevented.
So is having tight muscles and tight joints the root cause of most low back pain? Yes it is. The most common tight muscles and tight joints that eventually contribute to the compensation that causes low back are tight hips, specifically your hamstring muscles and fascia. Your hamstring muscles are located on the back of your upper leg.
When your hamstrings are tight you will not be able to bend over and touch your toes. When you are not able to bend down to touch your toes, your low back has to round and flex a significant amount more in order to compensate for your tight hamstrings. Joint wear and tear, spinal disc compression, and sciatic nerve compression can then occur when your low back has to flex more than it should have to. This typically happens while repetitively picking things up off of the ground. These low back injuries can get even more severe when you are lifting something heavier off the ground.
If your hamstrings were not tight, you would be able to achieve a better lifting position to pick up that box, or big bag of dog food, or your child up off of the ground without an extremely flexed and compensating low back.”
Aside from relieving pain and preventing injuries, improving your mobility can help improve your athletic performance. It’s really a no-brainer!
If you haven’t thought about adding mobility to your routine a few days per week, it’s not too late to start! Make a small investment in your health that will pay massive dividends in the future – in a more independent, active, and happy life, well into your golden years. It’s the best investment that you can make!
Join us on Saturday, January 14th at 9:30 am for a Mobility Clinic hosted by Dr. Grayson Wickham, founder of Movement Vault. Space is limited – Click here to reserve your spot today!!
Read Dr. Wickham’s full article about Preventing Injuries and Pain and earn more about what Dr. Wickham and his team at Movement Vault are all about at movementvault.com
