Avoiding activities you love?

Do you avoid things you used to enjoy? 

Do you avoid going for runs or long walks? 

Do you avoid getting onto the floor to play with your grandkids? 

A lot of people can’t do what they want with their body, is this you?  

Some people are told to stop doing things by health professionals, and some stopped doing them through pain; both of which make sense. If you see a health professional, and they say you should stop running to protect your knees, or you should stop lifting to protect your back, you would probably listen. Or, every time you crouch down your knees hurt, every time you bend your back hurts, it’s only smart to avoid the things that cause you pain.  

But... 

Pain is normal, it’s part of life. If something hurts, it’s your body telling you to stop doing that. However, it’s not your body telling you to stop doing that, forever. That’s the key really. The reason you can’t go for long walks or get onto the floor anymore is because you stopped for too long. If it hurts to bend, then don’t bend for a while, but when it doesn’t hurt so much, start bending again. Spine are meant to bend, that’s why there are so many separate vertebrae and not one long stiff spine bone. Knees are meant to bend, that’s why we have huge thigh muscles to support them.  

Avoiding things you enjoy is not a good long term plan.  

Even though I don’t know what activities you used to enjoy and can’t do anymore, I can almost guarantee that they’re safe and don’t cause damage to your body.  

Injuries and pain coming from muscles, joints, discs, and nerves will all be better in the long term with movement and strength. These structures may require a period of rest occasionally, if there is pain, but over the long term, be active, be strong.  

Everything in your body is constantly learning and adapting. Sensibly, you learn to avoid things that hurt. But, sometimes these avoidances carry on too long, thankfully, you can unlearn these avoidances.  

The best way to unlearn this is to repeatedly have positive experiences doing the things you were avoiding. So, start small, with an amount of the thing you’ve been avoiding that you know you can tolerate. Then it’s just little steps forward each week.  

The longer you’ve avoided things, the weaker you’ll be, so the lower you’ll have to start. But a starting point is a starting point. Once you start doing more, you’ll start to get stronger in your muscles, joints, disc, tendons, and nerves.   

Over time, you’ll be amazed at what you can actually do.  

If there is something you have been avoiding that you really wish you could do again, find your starting point, and build your way up slowly. If you need help along the way, give us a call 🙂