When Did We Get So Afraid to Move?
older man running
Your Back Isn’t Made of Glass
I’ve noticed something over the years.
People are becoming afraid of their own bodies.
They’re afraid to bend over.
Afraid to lift something.
Afraid to twist.
Afraid to exercise.
Afraid to play golf.
Afraid to work in the yard.
Sometimes they’re even afraid to pick up their grandchildren.
And often, somewhere along the way, somebody gave them a reason to be afraid.
Maybe they had an MRI.
Maybe an X-ray.
Maybe they were told they had arthritis, degeneration, a bulging disc, a herniated disc, stenosis, bone spurs, or “wear and tear.”
Those words can sound frightening.
So people start protecting their backs.
Then protecting them a little more.
And before long, they’ve stopped doing many of the things their bodies were designed to do.
Which makes me wonder:
When did we get so afraid to move?
Your Body Is Not a Machine You Have to Keep in the Box
Imagine buying a new car and deciding you’re going to preserve it by never driving it.
You park it in the garage.
Don’t put miles on it.
Don’t take it out in the rain.
Don’t risk scratching it.
Twenty years later, maybe the odometer looks great.
But you missed the entire point of owning the car.
Our bodies aren’t exactly the same, of course.
But sometimes we treat them that way.
We become so concerned about wearing ourselves out that we forget something important:
The human body was built to move.
Muscles need to work.
Joints need movement.
Bones respond to loading.
Balance needs to be challenged.
Our cardiovascular system needs activity.
And our nervous system needs continual practice coordinating all of it.
We aren’t preserving ourselves by avoiding all physical stress.
Sometimes we’re doing exactly the opposite.
Then Somebody Shows You the Picture
This is where things can get complicated.
A patient has back pain and gets an X-ray or MRI.
Then they see the report.
Degenerative changes.
Suddenly they’re looking at their spine differently.
Before the MRI, they had a sore back.
After the MRI, they have a “bad back.”
That’s a big psychological difference.
Imaging can be extremely useful when it’s needed. I use X-rays in my own office when I believe they will help answer a clinical question. MRIs and other studies can provide important information in the right circumstances.
But a picture is still only part of the story.
Changes such as disc degeneration and disc bulges can be found in people who have back pain and in people who don’t have any back pain at all.
That’s why an imaging report has to be interpreted alongside the person standing in front of us.
We treat people—not pictures.
Arthritis Doesn’t Mean Stop Moving
The word arthritis frightens people too.
They hear arthritis and imagine a joint slowly crumbling away.
Then the natural reaction is:
“I better not use it too much.”
But movement is generally an important part of maintaining function.
That doesn’t mean you should ignore significant pain or force an injured joint through something it can’t tolerate.
It means the answer to most ordinary aches and stiffness isn’t to stop moving forever.
Often, we need to find movement the body tolerates and gradually build from there.
Walking.
Strength training.
Swimming.
Cycling.
Stretching.
Gardening.
Golf.
Yoga.
Playing with the grandchildren.
It doesn’t have to be extreme.
You don’t have to punish your body to improve it.
You just have to use it.
Pain Doesn’t Always Mean Damage
This one can be difficult to understand.
If something hurts, our instinct is to assume we’re damaging it.
Touch a hot stove and pain means:
Get your hand away from there.
That’s a pretty useful system.
But musculoskeletal pain isn’t always that simple.
A stiff joint can hurt.
A strained muscle can hurt.
An irritated nerve can hurt.
An arthritic joint can hurt.
Something that hasn’t moved much in months can hurt when you start asking it to work again.
And sometimes pain persists even after the original tissue injury has healed.
Pain is important information.
It deserves our attention.
But:
Pain does not automatically equal damage.
Understanding that distinction can be incredibly freeing for someone who has spent years being afraid to move.
Rest Has a Purpose
There are certainly times when rest is appropriate.
If you sprain an ankle, strain your back, injure your shoulder, or aggravate something, your body may need a little time.
You might have to temporarily stop doing the activity that caused the problem.
That’s common sense.
But there’s a difference between:
“I need to give this a couple of days and gradually get moving again.”
and:
“My back went out, so I shouldn’t do anything anymore.”
Those are very different approaches.
For many common episodes of back pain, prolonged bed rest isn’t generally recommended. Staying reasonably active, within what you can tolerate, is usually preferable.
Maybe you don’t mow the lawn today.
But perhaps you can take a short walk.
Maybe you’re not ready for 18 holes of golf.
But you might be ready to hit a small bucket of balls.
Maybe you don’t deadlift 200 pounds.
But you start rebuilding strength with something considerably lighter.
Recovery doesn’t always mean doing nothing.
Often it means doing the right amount of something.
The Body Adapts to What We Ask of It
This is one of the most remarkable things about the human body.
Ask your muscles to work regularly and they get stronger.
Challenge your balance and it can improve.
Walk regularly and walking becomes easier.
Gradually increase activity and your endurance improves.
But the opposite is also true.
Your body adapts to what you don’t ask of it.
Stop using your muscles and they become weaker.
Stop challenging your balance and it can decline.
Stop bending because you’re afraid of your back and eventually bending becomes more difficult.
Stop getting down on the floor and eventually you may discover you can’t get back up.
Sometimes what we call “getting old” is partly the result of slowly removing activities from our lives.
We stop running.
Then we stop lifting.
Then we stop getting on the floor.
Then the stairs become something we avoid.
Then we start looking for the closest parking spot.
The world gradually gets smaller.
I don’t think that’s what most people want.
There’s a Difference Between Being Careful and Being Afraid
I’m not suggesting that a 70-year-old should exercise exactly the way he did at 25.
That doesn’t make sense either.
We accumulate injuries.
Our joints change.
Our recovery time changes.
Our strength changes unless we work to maintain it.
We have to become smarter about how we use our bodies.
Warm up.
Take breaks.
Build strength gradually.
Use reasonable technique.
Give yourself recovery time.
Modify activities when necessary.
If something repeatedly causes pain, figure out why.
That’s being smart.
But there’s a big difference between respecting your body and becoming afraid of it.
The goal isn’t reckless movement.
The goal is confident movement.
Sometimes You Need Help Getting Moving Again
This is where I think good healthcare can make an enormous difference.
When someone comes into O’Hara Family Chiropractic with back or neck pain, I’m not simply interested in where it hurts.
I want to know:
What can you do?
What can’t you do?
What movement causes the problem?
What makes it better?
Is the joint moving normally?
Is there muscle weakness?
Is a nerve involved?
Is there evidence of a disc problem?
Is this something chiropractic care may reasonably help?
And occasionally the most important question is:
What are you afraid to do?
Because the goal isn’t simply getting someone off the treatment table with less pain.
The goal is getting them back to their life.
Depending on the problem, chiropractic adjustments may help improve joint movement and reduce mechanical irritation.
For certain disc problems, sciatica, or spinal stenosis, Cox® Technic flexion-distraction may be appropriate.
Exercise may be important.
Strengthening may be important.
Sometimes another healthcare provider needs to be involved.
And sometimes a patient simply needs reassurance that it’s okay to start moving again.
Your MRI Doesn’t Get the Final Vote
If you’ve been told you have degeneration, arthritis, a disc bulge, or some other structural change, don’t ignore it.
Understand it.
Ask questions.
Find out whether the finding actually fits your symptoms.
Then ask the question that matters:
What can I safely do?
Not:
What do I have to stop doing forever?
Those are two very different ways of looking at your health.
A scan can provide useful information about your body.
It doesn’t get to decide what kind of life you’re going to have.
Keep Your World Big
This may be the part I care about most.
Movement isn’t really about exercise.
It’s about life.
Strength means carrying your own groceries.
Balance means walking confidently on uneven ground.
Mobility means getting down on the floor.
Endurance means walking through an airport without worrying about how far the gate is.
A healthy back means working in your garden.
Playing golf.
Traveling.
Walking the dog.
Picking up a grandchild.
Living independently.
Those are the things we’re actually trying to preserve.
So yes, listen to your body.
Respect pain.
Have injuries evaluated when they need to be evaluated.
Modify things when necessary.
But don’t spend your life protecting your body so carefully that you stop using it.
Your back isn’t made of glass.
Neither are you.
Move intelligently.
Stay strong.
Keep doing things.
And when something prevents you from doing them, find out why.
That’s always been our philosophy at O’Hara Family Chiropractic:
Find it. Fix it. Leave it alone.
Then get back to living.