I challenge you to perform the following test. Go to a mall or a busy shopping center. Take a seat and people-watch for 10 minutes. Pay very close attention to people older than you, particularly senior citizens. Watch how many of them move, how they walk, how they bend, how they sit down, how they get up, how they turn their head, how some shuffle, how some use a cane, etc. When you are done processing everything you have seen ask yourself this question, “Do I want to be like them when I’m that age?” If you are like me the answer will be a vigorous NO. Regardless of your age it’s really not that far from now. A lot happens in life but it is none-the-less a very short thing. And at the end of the day our physical life is about two things, health and mobility. And I would argue if I had the room on this page that much of health stems from mobility. So really, our physical life is all about how well we move. Move it or lose it…
In your body you have one joint wherever any two bones come together. Each end of those two bones are capped by cartilage, kind of like snow on Mount Baldy. In the case of the spine, the bones are separated by a special kind of cartilage called discs. The joint is held together by a joint capsule ligament which keeps in the joint lubricant, called synovium. And then TIME, LIFE, AND GRAVITY HAPPEN!
Time will cause your joints to get stiffer as capsules get tighter and the synovium dries up. Life’s antics/accidents/injuries/activities/repetitive stresses will cause inflammation in your joints, and inflammation ALWAYS leads to scar tissue (more on scar tissue later). Finally, gravity beats down on you day after day causing more inflammation and more scar tissue. Regarding that scar tissue; scar tissue is a protein called collagen that is very sticky and non-elastic…it does not stretch. So think of scar tissue as duct tape, very sticky and not at all stretchy. After years of time, life, and gravity you will have duct tape all over your body in nearly every joint to a greater or lesser degree. Your hips will get stiff. Your knees will get sore. You’ll get a bad back. You won’t be able to lift your arms above your shoulders any more. You will look just like all those senior citizens you saw in the mall. Move it or lose it…
Once you lose your mobility you will never get it back. Your only hope is to keep it, never lose it. Inflammation and scar tissue (duct tape) are the keys. What can you do to reduce inflammation and duct tape while you are young to have less of it when you get old? What tools are available and affordable? What has been clinically tested? It is very simple. Move it! There are three “move it” tools that you must do.
Move It #1 - Take a fast walk for an hour, 3 times a week.
Move It #2 - Stretch your spine every day using my disc pump stretching program.
Move It #3 - Get the joints that are bound up with duct tape adjusted regularly.
Can you do more? Sure, there are many recommended and optional tools beyond the above, and once you are doing the “musts” we can talk about the “shoulds.” Will you change your future? Or will you give in to it? Time will tell. I’m working to change mine.
In your body you have one joint wherever any two bones come together. Each end of those two bones are capped by cartilage, kind of like snow on Mount Baldy. In the case of the spine, the bones are separated by a special kind of cartilage called discs. The joint is held together by a joint capsule ligament which keeps in the joint lubricant, called synovium. And then TIME, LIFE, AND GRAVITY HAPPEN!
Time will cause your joints to get stiffer as capsules get tighter and the synovium dries up. Life’s antics/accidents/injuries/activities/repetitive stresses will cause inflammation in your joints, and inflammation ALWAYS leads to scar tissue (more on scar tissue later). Finally, gravity beats down on you day after day causing more inflammation and more scar tissue. Regarding that scar tissue; scar tissue is a protein called collagen that is very sticky and non-elastic…it does not stretch. So think of scar tissue as duct tape, very sticky and not at all stretchy. After years of time, life, and gravity you will have duct tape all over your body in nearly every joint to a greater or lesser degree. Your hips will get stiff. Your knees will get sore. You’ll get a bad back. You won’t be able to lift your arms above your shoulders any more. You will look just like all those senior citizens you saw in the mall. Move it or lose it…
Once you lose your mobility you will never get it back. Your only hope is to keep it, never lose it. Inflammation and scar tissue (duct tape) are the keys. What can you do to reduce inflammation and duct tape while you are young to have less of it when you get old? What tools are available and affordable? What has been clinically tested? It is very simple. Move it! There are three “move it” tools that you must do.
Move It #1 - Take a fast walk for an hour, 3 times a week.
Move It #2 - Stretch your spine every day using my disc pump stretching program.
Move It #3 - Get the joints that are bound up with duct tape adjusted regularly.
Can you do more? Sure, there are many recommended and optional tools beyond the above, and once you are doing the “musts” we can talk about the “shoulds.” Will you change your future? Or will you give in to it? Time will tell. I’m working to change mine.