First off, what we mean by corrective exercise is a short (10-15 minute) movement routine tailored to your body, posture, and daily living activities that will help you maintain the positive results from your treatment plan.
There are often both stretching (adding flexibility and mobility to a joint space) and strengthening (adding stability and strength to a joint space) moves involved.
Ideally, the major joints in our bodies would be in a balance of flexibility and stability.
We can think of flexibility as having a functional range of movement available to us. You can reach that top shelf, tie your shoes, and maybe even do a summersault if the fancy takes you.
Stability, or strength, is being able to lift the heavy dish down from the high shelf, pick up the dog off the floor if it’s hurt, and help your neighbor move a bathtub.
If all we had was flexibility, we would be a puddle splayed out on the floor. If all we had was strength, we would be clenched in a fetal position, because our joints would all be fully flexed.
A few truths to keep in mind:
- Your body is an animal body made of natural tissues
- Those tissues respond to forces put upon them, or not (a riff of Wolff’s Law)
- When we live in a limited range of motion, our body literally solidifies in that range.
This means that all of us hunched over our keyboards and looking at our phones are literally remodeling our spine and associated softer tissues to be bent forward. This would all be fine if we never wanted to look up again- but we do, and when we do, it’s uncomfortable because we have patterned our bodies to support a different posture. Oops!
Don’t despair! There is hope for us all because, remember, if we put different stresses on our body, it will adapt.
That’s where corrective exercise comes in. We know you’re busy, and that your time matters. That’s why we tailor each routine to your personal needs, taking into account your life, your body, and your subjective experience. A movement that feels great to one person kay feel uncomfortable to someone else. That’s completely normal.
The clients we see fall into two general categories- those who do not move enough, and those who push themselves too hard.
Oddly enough, in both of these cases, we find the same connective tissue response, It’s commonly called splinting, and it’s just what it sounds like- the muscles and fascia in an area of over-or-under use becomes stiff and inhibits mobility. This is our body’s way of trying to keep us safe.
What this feels like is stiffness and discomfort, usually in your neck, upper back, or lower back.
A corrective exercise routine includes stretching movements, strengthening movements, guided breathing, and body awareness exercises.
We draw from all of these modalities to help you bring yourself back into a healthy relationship with gravity. What does that mean? It means that your musculature is more balanced and comfortable, and you feel stable and able to do your daily activities with ease.
When our clients do their corrective movement routines faithfully, we see then less often. This is a good thing, because one of our goals is to help you learn how to take better care of yourself.
Interested in learning more?
Call today 208-616-1040
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