Spine & Joint Health As You Age

Today I've got 3 ideas for you to consider as you think about healthy aging and longevity.

#1: 

Joint and Spine Health is The Most Important Things To Focus On

If we're talking about healthy aging and prolonging a healthy and pain free life as long as possible, then I encourage you to flip the script that has us, as a general society, obsessed with weight loss and muscle strength and instead turn your focus towards your bones and joints. Yes, strong muscles are an important part of health, but it's pretty hard to train for strength if your having a lot of joint pain and I don't care what doctor tells you to loose weight to reduce your knee pain because that's just a hard thing to accomplish when your joints are yelling at you.  What's more is that a lot of people focus too much of muscle strength and run the risk of injuring joints in the process, because joints just don't get the same kind of attention.

Exercising for healthy joints is actually distinctly different than training for muscle strength or weight loss, and this is something that is often missing for a lot of people.  The main difference here is that when we exercise with healthy joints as the goal then there's a bigger focus on alignment, improving and identifying muscle imbalances, and building slow-twitch endurance type of strength which has a unique set of training variables that come together to create joint stability day-in and day-out. 

#2: 

How and Why to Work On Posture

When we talk about posture, we're mostly referencing the spine, although things that are happening in the arms or legs can also have an impact on your spine. 

There's a ton of nerves that come out of the spine, and we want to keep the spine as healthy as possibly so that there's lots of room for all those nerves to do their job.  Nerve pain is a frustrating and debilitating thing that can become a chronic source of discomfort, and usually stems from some type of reduced space for the nerves to flow and function.  This could be from inflammation or injury, but in my experience it's almost always associated with some kind of postural imbalance that further limits how much space there is for the flow of nerves and fluids. furthermore, if you've been struggling with nerve pain or spinal injuries, then working on posture is a great way to give your body the best opportunity for healing.

How to work on improving your posture can be a tricky thing to figure out. For one, it has a lot to do with habits and awareness, and there's often a very well established habitual posture that your body has come to think of as “centered" when in fact there is an imbalance.  Therefor it's tricky to work on posture by yourself, because it requires a shift in perception that's hard to accomplish alone.  

Quick Start Guide: do a quick google image search for “thoracic extension” and you'll get some good ideas to start you off.  Pretty much all of us need more thoracic extension, but of course, that might not be true for you, so this certainly doesn't replace formal assessments and personalized instruction.

Pro Tip: pay attention to protecting your neck as you work to gain thoracic extension.  It's common to have this movement come too much from the neck instead of the upper back. 

#3: Joints Still Need Load and Movement 

Healthy joints really love gravity and know how to work in harmony with the impact of gravity over the decades. After all, the downward pressure of gravity is one of the things that makes us literally get shorter as we age. And that shortening is coming primarily from a reduced space between the joints in the spine, that same space which nerves and fluids need in order to flow and function.

This is also where strength training and building real muscle strength can come back into play. Building strength is good for our joints - especially when it's done with intention. Often what this looks like here at Limber Arts is a very steady and progressive ramping up of increased load and increased movement. A client comes to mind that I've been working with for 4 years now.  When we started working together she was constantly in pain and very afraid of lifting weights or moving very much at all. And so, of course we started with things that her body could handle, which often meant lying down, or working with light resistance bands. Now 4 years later she is rarely in pain and she's regularly lifting weights and working on weight bearing strength multiple times per week. The key here was a slow, steady, and deliberate progression.  

One thing that sets Limber Arts apart from other studio's and gyms is that we focus primarily on fitness for longevity with a key focus on spine, bone, and joint health. You'll still gain muscle and feel that refreshing burst of spaciousness and energy in your body after coming in for a workout here at the studio, and at the same time you might literally get a little taller!

Click here to schedule a free consultation to see what current classes and offerings would be the best for your body and your needs.