Fitness with a side of dysfunction?
Here at Orthocare Physical Therapy Center, we believe that it is worth taking a look at what fitness and what Fitness Dysfunction really means.
This time of year, many people are focused on fitness!
What is Fitness?
We believe that Fitness is being
Physically and Mentally Healthy
Using this definition, many “fitness” routines fall short of the goal!
If you do not enjoy running and dread every workout, you’re probably falling short of the “sound mentally” portion.
Exercise should be enjoyable, reduce stress, and leave you feeling better, not worse.
- Exercise should also leave you feeling better physically.
- If you can run a good time in a 5k, but have aches and pains for days after, you’re not “sound physically.”
- If you are increasing your Personal Record (PR) in the squat rack, but your joint pain is increasing right along with it, you’re not “sound physically” either.
Sure, some muscle soreness and fatigue after a hard workout is normal. But if you’re having pain that does not go away, sore joints, or trouble moving after exercise, you’re probably developing movement fitness dysfunction along with your fitness.
Fitness Dysfunction
Let us talk now about Fitness Dysfunction!
Dysfunction is impaired or abnormal functioning
So movement dysfunction is impaired or abnormal movement.
When someone has a movement problem like a sore joint, limited range of motion, or strength loss the brain finds a way to get the body to do what it wants.
That usually means moving in a way that is less than optimal. For a while, it works. But eventually it leads to injury.
Patterns of Dysfunction
As an example, think of someone who has trouble bending one knee doing squats: The pattern of dysfunction may go something like this:
- When one knee bends further than the other, it will cause one side of the pelvis to drop lower than the other.
- Now that the pelvis isn’t level, the spine bends towards the high side to stay balanced.
- When that one side of the pelvis drops lower than the other one, it also usually rotates.
- Now the spine has to bend to the side and twist to keep you upright. This works for a while, but as weight gets added to the squat, and the repetitions add up so does the risk for a back injury.
Preventative Medicine for Fitness Dysfunction
Pain during workouts, or pain and soreness that don’t go away after can be warning signs of a movement dysfunction.
If you are experiencing any of these, your Physical Therapist (PT) is a movement expert who can help. PTs are trained to analyze movement, and figure out the root cause of problems. They can then design a program to treat the cause and correct the abnormal pattern.
There is no need to wait until you are injured to see your physical therapist. In fact, we prefer you proactively seek and meet us!.
Getting minor problems fixed early means fewer visits to the PT, less pain, and not having your workouts put on hold by injury.
So, if you want to reduce your movement fitness dysfunction, contact us!
We will help you with your shoulder, back, hip, knee, ankle pain or other issues.
