I think people look at fitness too much as being about breaking a sweat rather than building a better functioning body. Thus, when an injury occurs the thought process is: what can I do to still get a great workout without any pain? This past month I had two cases like this.One was a man who had three herniated discs and the other was a woman who had had anterior shoulder pain for about 2 years. Both of them were very fixated on having me help them find things that they could still do and avoid things that they couldn’t. Neither of them was thinking about what things they should do to fix the problem so that they wouldn’t have to avoid exercises.
Most people have trouble moving, which is where many of these issues start. Movement is about more than getting yourself or a weight from point A to point B – it’s about how you get between the points. The man with the herniations needs to learn to move through his hips, the woman needs to learn how to move her shoulder blades, and both of them need to learn why they shouldn’t be afraid to challenge exactly those areas which give them the most trouble.
When it comes to the hips we’re talking about hip hinging. A hip hinge means bending the body from the hip joint. Most people bend and lift through their spine in such a way that every time they pick up their shoes, get out of bed, pick up their kids, etc. they put their intervertebral discs in a bad situation. Once they’ve done each of those things a couple thousand times it’s no wonder the back finally gives out. That’s why it’s important for someone with back trouble to deadlift and squat. If you invest the time to learn the movements correctly you will learn to stop doing the things that are hurting you. The man who came to me had been following only a swimming regimen because he believed that this was the only safe thing for him to do. He downright feared deadlifting and squatting because he felt it was too risky for his back – a common concern for the average exerciser. Swimming may avoid that issue but it doesn’t fix the root of the problem. It won’t teach anything about movement and therefore, while it may not hurt him, the bad habits he has outside of the pool will continue.
The same is true for shoulders. Many shoulder problems come from faulty scapular movement and poor stability. Trouble with retraction – pulling the shoulder blades back and down – is the most common issue that I see. The shoulder has a lot of soft tissues coming together in a small space. If you allow your shoulder blades to move poorly you can end up with a lot of pinching which may lead to inflammation, more pinching, and eventually damage. That’s why it’s critical to learn how to move the joint properly. We do so much with our arms that consistently poor shoulder movement is a ticking time bomb. I teach my clients how to squat and deadlift in order to teach them good scapular retraction. I then have them do push ups and overhead presses to learn to apply retraction in dynamic movement. As long as they do not have pain in the process this is the route I would take. The woman with shoulder trouble didn’t want to do any movements that stressed the area but if you don’t learn to apply technique to dynamic movement, what good is it to know the technique?
There is too much emphasis on getting in a hard workout which leads people to work around trouble spots rather than correcting them. If we focus more on improving our body’s function rather than worrying about intensity we will have better results. If you can, let a trainer help you!