Are you that person that has gone through PT or previous injury and has an extensive list of exercises that you just can get to it all? This is for you. I will say that the list you may have will include more activities. However, I tend to find that when people have too many things to worry or think about, they tend to avoid them. There are always excuses in life and making the exercise part of it simple will make it more likely that you will stick with it.
The first thing to ask yourself is “what is your typical work activity?” Do you tend to stand, sit, lift, etc. throughout your day? Then the next question to ask is “what is your typical free time activity?” Once you have those “normals” for you figured out, now we can start making a priority list of areas that need to be addressed more during my training. For example, Tahoe has a lot of remote workers that sit a lot for work. This position tends to have the legs up, rounded back, and head going forward. As for activities, a lot of the activities around here include a lot of quad or front of the thigh work and then sitting on our glutes and hamstrings without using them as much. This is just one example, but I would recommend stretching the muscles that are short all day such as the hip flexors, quads, and chest, and then strengthening the muscles you are not using as much like the hamstrings, glutes, and core. With a lot of quad dominant activity, I would not want to put these particular muscles high on that priority list because they are getting stronger with my regular activity. I would want to strengthen the opposite muscles in order to help balance the system.
So reiterating, stretch in the opposite direction that you are in all day and strengthen the muscles that you do not hit in your everyday activity. Balance is the key with all these activities. When we are pulled in certain directions due to weakness and tight muscles, this will likely cause more injury that could be avoided. Then going back to what this is trying to do is make a priority list easy to remember so when that day comes that you only have a couple minutes, you know what to prioritize for yourself. Once you have completed those high priority items, then add in the other movements to build on your foundation and balance your body.
If you need a little guidance on some basic stretching, here is a link as well to help you out.
Feel free to ask any more questions you may have and see you soon.
Tahoe’s Premiere Sports Chiropractor
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