One of the most common questions I am asked during treatment sessions as a physical therapist is “Why are we doing this?” Or “What is this doing for me?”
As the therapy provided at the Wellness Station is movement-based, it is important to understand why movement is so critical for our health, quality of life, and physical function. The movement lessons facilitated are typically targeted directly or indirectly at a biomechanical or neuromuscular issue. The specific movements may establish a refined sense of clarity and improved efficiency for someone experiencing difficulty with a daily activity, such as bending and lifting, going up or down stairs, reaching overhead, sitting for a prolonged time, and much, much more. While the rationale behind specific movement lessons may address specific individual factors (e.g. lack of muscular strength, excessive tension in certain areas, less than optimal form or alignment), sometimes overly focusing on the mechanics and the specific “benefits” of performing a movement can take away from the experience. When clients ask me those questions (e.g. “What is this doing for me?”), I often turn the question back around to them, and may ask something like “What are you feeling and sensing in your body as you do this movement? How might this relate to the issue in your daily life that you described?” For example, a lesson that involves torso side bending might make reaching overhead easier and possibly replace a prior inefficient overhead reaching movement that was a factor contributing to the discomfort.
It might be helpful to understand a little about why we have a nervous system. While this is an extremely broad and complex topic that is the subject of many books, the nervous system can be simplified as the “control center” of ourselves as organisms. Control is necessary to achieve a preferred mode of function, and our nervous system can help correct and adapt when the preferred mode is not present (similar to the concept of homeostasis, or seeking balance). Our nervous systems allow us to react to and adjust to our environments in order to manipulate them.1 The structures of our nervous system look for order in the random, and create order when it is not present. As we move around and manipulate the outside world, our nervous system allows our muscles to move our bones, reacting to our environment to maintain order within our tissues. Our nervous systems likely evolved in the first place to allow us to move as the conditions of life required it, perhaps to move away from danger or incompatible conditions and towards resources and safety. In other words, we have a brain so we can move. Movement is a necessary condition for our life as a complex organism. If we can move more optimally, we can live more optimally.
As the modern world is an environment in which it is less of a short term requirement to move, many of us simply move less, or become sedentary. Our food? Delivered. Going somewhere? The car does it for us. Going up a level? Elevator. The cleverness of the human mind has contributed to extremely useful innovations in technology that can make our daily lives a whole lot easier, but these modern conveniences actually can rob us in the long term. If we were built to move but our environment no longer requires us to move as much, how do our bodies respond? Over the long term, not favorably! For this reason, we need to intentionally move our bodies, move for the sake of moving, and hopefully enjoy doing it!
Finding Joy
On a fundamental level, all of us can find joy in movement. Think about the sheer joy of babies, first discovering how to roll over, bring their foot into their mouth, pick up a toy, and stand up. Movement can be a richly rewarding experience. Rather than seeing exercise as a chore that we must do to strengthen certain muscles, improve fitness, etc., can we tap into the joy of movement? This enjoyment will serve as a motivating factor that will encourage us to move more often in a variety of ways, which will ultimately be more beneficial in our lives than trudging through exercises we find to be boring or uncomfortable. This might be dancing, Feldenkrais lessons, yoga, swimming, walking, lifting weights, or simply rolling around on the floor! Find something you enjoy, and do it very often.
Regulating Nervous System
As we learned, we move because we have a nervous system. Our nervous system allows us to move. Thereby, engaging in movement is an excellent way to regulate our nervous systems. Mindful movement helps us focus our attention on the present moment, increase the release of neurotransmitters and hormones that support our mood and mental health, and can help to downregulate excessive tension that we hold in our muscles. This regulation of the nervous system through movement can help bring us from a sympathetic state (fight or flight) to a more calm and pleasant parasympathetic state (rest and digest). This can positively impact our experience of pain, mental health, and the function of our organs.
Learning To Learn
Engaging in new movements is an excellent way to learn. Participating in Feldenkrais lessons is essentially learning about learning! It can be an eye-opening experience to become aware of how we react to new challenges. When we are attempting to learn something physical, are we able to maintain an open mind? An ability to be kind and patient with ourselves? Or do we have more of a tendency to push, strain, over-effort, or give up? Practicing “learning” movements can help expand our brains, which can be helpful whenever we have to learn something new whether that be a new movement, a musical instrument, a language, or something we encounter at our jobs or in school.
Nourishing Tissues
The tissues of our body are deeply dependent on movement in order to be healthy. Our joints require frequent movement in order to circulate lubricating fluid (synovium) to keep healthy, gliding surfaces with minimal friction. Our bones require weight-bearing movement in order to maintain their density. Our muscles require challenges in order to get stronger instead of weaker. Almost all tissues in our body require blood flow in order to receive oxygen and other nutrients to stay alive, healthy, and comfortable. Movement fills our muscles with fresh blood, and cardiovascular activity helps to circulate blood with more gusto throughout our entire systems.
There are many, many reasons to move your body. It might be helpful and more rewarding to consider movement as a gift or a privilege that we get to do. Moving away from the “how is this helping me” mindset and tapping into appreciation of the miracles of movement may motivate us to move more, allow us to feel more human, and keep us healthy and mobile as we age.
References:
Feldenkrais Moshé. (1981). The Elusive Obvious. Meta Publications.
Written by Jacob Tyson, DPT - Physical Therapist, Yoga Instructor and The Wellness Station Team