Developing healthy movement habits is crucial for both the musculoskeletal system and overall health. Let's consider together: what causes scoliosis, osteochondrosis, arthrosis, osteoporosis, and radiculitis? What causes neck pain, headaches, and dizziness? And what about chronic fatigue? Both it and hypertension with angina are relevant to the subject of our discussion.
We don't make many movements in our daily lives. And we strive to do them with minimal muscular effort… And while we can still move our torso, our necks are in a terrible state. We can thank computers and cars for this! As a result, our health, posture, and gait suffer, and pain appears. If anyone tries to argue that this doesn't affect confidence, attractiveness, and many other important things, throw a stone at me…
I'll also let you in on a little secret: we perform most movements incorrectly at home and at work! This is due to weakness in some muscle groups and tension in others. Underdeveloped muscles prevent us from performing a certain movement correctly, while tense muscles hinder it. The spine adapts to the state of the muscles. Furthermore, with poor muscle control, we don't know how to relax them. This forces the spine to curve, leading to osteochondrosis—at best. This developmental scenario is determined by nature…
I wouldn't be wrong if I said that every second person in their prime is familiar with back pain. For the average untrained city dweller, problems can begin as early as age 25, when the small blood vessels that supply the intervertebral discs naturally disappear. That's why the active years of dancers and athletes are typically measured in their 20s and 30s. Furthermore, professional overload puts disproportionate wear and tear on athletes' bodies, leading to significant joint and spinal problems.
After 25 years of well-fed living, our discs receive nourishment solely from the blood flow through the vessels of nearby muscles. The more blood we pump through the vessels, the better the nutrition. “Well-fed,” elastic joint tissue and similarly “nourished,” strong muscles and vessels accustomed to stress can protect against injury and provide protection in critical moments.
Without regular active leisure activities and recreation—sports, dancing, swimming, mountain climbing, skiing, etc. (sex doesn't count, as it's a natural necessity for procreation)—the body will remain as infantile as school physical education classes, which both boys and girls try to skip under any pretext. And as adults, we avoid physical activity at all costs, trying to make any chore easier by acquiring helpers in the form of all sorts of technological innovations. This isn't always justified from the standpoint of common sense and spinal health, but that's the topic of another article.
And such a body is incapable of performing its functions like an adult—moving gracefully, dancing, running, having long-lasting sex, maintaining balance on a slippery slope, and so on. It's poorly trained or not trained at all, and therefore can fail at the most crucial moment, and, worst of all, it allows the ego to control our actions. It's easier and more enjoyable for the ego to watch football on the couch with beer and chips than to go to the gym and work out for an hour or so.
To avoid disturbing my laziness—it guards the ego from any external influences—I once tried to command my muscles to maintain posture, lift weights correctly, bend, and rise. It was a completely useless exercise… Firstly, the command works as long as the mind is free of thoughts and worries, and secondly, infantile muscles are incapable, even with the help of a smart mind, of maintaining proper alignment and performing correct movements. How often after such bending and unbending, my back shoots!
How can I get rid of back pain? How can I treat joint and spinal problems? How can I correct poor posture and gait? And ultimately, how can I prevent them?
The truth is incredibly banal: you can evenly develop and strengthen your spinal muscles by wearing a muscle corset, thereby enhancing your sexuality and the qualities essential for attractiveness, and preventing, stopping, and even curing spinal, muscle, and joint diseases only through regular dance, sports, physical education, and gymnastics! And you don't have to spend months visiting clinics in search of the truth or spending your hard-earned money on services and medications that the pharmaceutical industry offers on an unimaginable scale to suit every taste and budget.
How wonderful a healthy back is! And how wonderful it is to have one! Strong muscles can support unstable vertebrae and joints, even broken ones. And for young women – expectant mothers – a strong spine is a vital necessity, on which the well-being of the family may depend.
So, we've decided to start back strengthening exercises for prevention or treatment. Where do we begin?
First, let's choose a sport . Sports with sudden movements, jumping, and falling are out of the question at this stage. Once your muscles become strong and resilient—and you'll feel this in six months to a year, depending on many factors—then you can jump with a parachute, but right now, no, don't, to avoid injury.
Secondly, where and how should I train ? To achieve this, I need to go not just to the gym, but to a specialized trainer specializing in therapeutic exercise and physical therapy. But not just anyone. You wouldn't entrust your apartment renovation to just any contractor to get what you want. The same goes for your back. Only on recommendation and only from those who have achieved clear results. It's a question of how broad your circle of friends is. You can also ask online. I can tell you that a year ago, every movement I made was accompanied by pain (a hereditary joint disease). Over the past year, I've become an active woman solely thanks to therapeutic aerobics—a symbiosis of cardiovascular training and therapeutic exercise.
If going to the gym isn't possible for some reason, you can purchase exercise routines on discs. It's a good idea to check the ratings and customer reviews of major online stores.
And thirdly, methodology is a master's tool . A good trainer's methodology allows you to develop correct and safe movement habits. Moreover, during exercise routines, the muscles, not the mind, are trained and developed.
Body memory is activated during the learning process. Properly trained muscles will always protect your joints in the event of strain or a fall. And you'll perform familiar movements correctly, without thinking about it, easily, gracefully, and painlessly.