REHABILITATION & EXERCISE
THE POLY-PILL
Exercise rehabilitation is one of the most effective ways to treat and prevent pain, chronic illness, and many other health complaints. It also positively impacts on an individual’s balance, bone health, immune system, cardiovascular system and mental health. That’s why it is currently referred to as the ‘poly-pill’ – it has so many benefits and no serious side effects if it is dosed just right.
With that said, too much exercise, or the ‘wrong”‘ exercise for YOU has also proven to worsen some physical and mental health conditions. With so many fitness “influencers” around these days, exercise is bound to become confusing and discouraging. It may even feel downright hopeless, as we try to keep up with workouts that are too long, too difficult, or simply just not very fun.
The bottom line is to ensure that you move in a way that feels good and that replenishes your energy and functional ability. If not, help is definitely recommended.
Pain can be a huge obstacle to exercise and can impact our ability to do the things in life that we love. Therefore, exercise needs to be personalised to each individual’s needs and goals in order to build confidence to get back to doing the things we hold most dear.
My approach evaluates what you need to move and feel better. Often, rehabilitation starts with building awareness of what you feel, how you move, and habitual patterns that we may need to change. Once, you feel more familiar with how your body moves, we focus on improving mobility. This will likely also include learning how to decrease tension or “tightness” to allow for smoother, easier movement. With more free movement, we then work to improve muscles that are weak, or more commonly, inhibited due to the habitual patterns.
Balancing these activities, and ensuring variety and progression is key to ongoing improvement and maintenance.