I’m Dr. Darin Haworth talking to you today at the top of Armstrong Pass on a bike ride. I wanted to explain some of the reason for the saying that “exercise is the best medicine.” You may have also heard the phrase “motion is lotion”. There are so many benefits with exercise on the body, but not near the time to discuss them all and I will just focus on the musculoskeletal side of exercise on the body. This would include things like sprains, strains, joint dysfunctions, etc. So again, I’m not going to address the benefits exercise has on systemic conditions like diabetes, although I will say it helps there too. For most injuries, exercise is something that you will want to do right away, with some surgeries and fracture being an exception that to that rule. For instance, if you sprain your ankle or hurt your back and sit on the couch and do nothing for a month, this is probably the worst thing that you can do. A few reasons for this include inflammation will aggregate to the area and stop movement of fluid in and out of the area and get really stiff and tight. Exercise of any sort, simple range of motion type movement, would be recommended for someone early in their injury and recovery phase. To show how your body benefits think of your knee joint. Every joint in your body is composed of a capsule, much like your knee. These capsules are enclosed with fluid inside. The fluid inside gets thicker and thicker without movement, think of water compared to molasses. As you move the fluid is then recycled out with new fluid and nutrients and gets blood flowing to the area, which is a good thing. This is just using our body the way it was meant to be used and moving it soon after injury so that it can get back to bigger and stronger movements sooner. On the other side of things, if I sit on the couch and do nothing, the joint will continue to get stiffer without movement and not get a good flow of new nutrients to the area to help with healing. Plus, atrophy (muscle wasting) is a big concern with injury. If you aren’t moving, you are losing your muscles around the area and it will take more time to get those muscles back after the healing process. Our muscle, unfortunately, become weaker much faster than we would hope for. A little movement with decrease the rate of atrophy that occurs during that injury, which means less of a recovery time.
At Summit to Shore Chiropractic, we focus on giving you the tools you need to be able to get or keep moving and to do it longer in life. Remember, big or small exercise after an injury is extremely important in recovery better and faster. We promise to offer you those tools at the time you need them to reach your health goals. Exercise is great. Get outside and enjoy what Tahoe has to offer. Hope to see you out on the trails and have a great day.
Call us to schedule your appointment today at 530-544-8495.
Harvard agrees, “The endpoint is not to make your muscles bigger, but to really change the way your body functions.”
Tahoe’s Premiere Sports Chiropractor
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