I hear some version of this in the office all the time:
“I guess this is just what happens when you get older.”
Maybe.
We all change as we get older. But I think we sometimes give age credit for things that have just as much to do with the fact that we’ve slowly stopped doing certain things.
We stop getting on the floor.
We stop reaching as far.
We stop turning our head as much.
We sit more.
And little by little, our world of movement gets smaller.
The body is pretty good at adapting to what we ask it to do. Unfortunately, it’s also pretty good at adapting to what we stop asking it to do.
That’s why I’m a big believer in simply keeping your body doing things.
You don’t need some elaborate exercise routine. You don’t have to become a yoga person. And you certainly don’t need to obsess over whether you’re getting the “perfect” number of steps every day.
Walk.
Move.
Do a little strength work.
Practice your balance.
Get on the floor once in a while if you’re able to—and more importantly, make sure you can get back up.
And change positions. Your body wasn’t designed to find one perfect posture and stay there for eight hours.
What do you actually want your body to do?
This is something I think we sometimes miss in healthcare.
I can measure things. I can look at your posture. I can see how your neck or back is moving.
But what I really want to know is:
What aren’t you doing that you wish you could do?
Maybe you want to walk around the neighborhood without your back bothering you.
Maybe you want to play on the floor with your grandkids.
Maybe you just want to turn your head far enough to comfortably look behind you when you’re backing out of a parking space.
Those are real goals.
And they’re a lot more meaningful than trying to make your body look “perfect” on an X-ray, scan, or computer screen.
Try this for a week
Don’t overhaul your life.
Pick one thing you enjoy doing that gets your body moving and do it for ten minutes, three times this week.
That’s it.
Pay attention to how you feel afterward.
If it feels good, do a little more next week.
Small things done consistently have a funny way of becoming big things.
Something interesting about your spine
Your spine isn’t supposed to be perfectly straight.
It has natural curves, and those curves help your body handle the forces that come with standing, walking and moving.
And despite what many of us were taught growing up, “good posture” doesn’t necessarily mean holding yourself in one rigid position all day.
Sometimes the best posture is simply the next posture.
Move around.
Your spine likes a little variety.
And because we can’t be serious all the time...
I told my chair we needed some space.
It took it sitting down.
I’ll see myself out.
— Dr. Dan
