I spent all last Friday moving apartments and I’ve spent the last few hours (more like all day) today helping a friend move furniture.
Oh, the aches and pains.
Moving boxes, bins and furniture of all shapes and sizes, through hallways, doorways and through elevators.
What did I learn from this experience?
Doing this all day can lead to back pain.
First off, let me tell you, I much prefer lifting weights at the gym! At least the load comes in neat, compact packages and the environment is controlled.
Secondly, no one is immune for a sore back!
I’m pretty certain, with all my physical therapy experience, I used solid biomechanics when lifting, pulling, pushing, dragging all those items, but I still couldn’t escape the dull ache that crept into the base of my spine.
It just feels like I need to dig my thumbs as deep as possible into those tight bundles of irritated muscle fibres along my vertebrae and force ‘em to relax.
In fact, this is one of those occasions where acupuncture is extremely helpful in decreasing pain and improving mobility. I’m on my way to get myself needled.
End result: improved movement!
But the lesson here is more important.
Next time, it’s all about outsourcing. I will hire movers.
Being a movement guy, I get a lot of email relating to, well, movement.
Just today, in fact, I was emailed a link to an article which discussed why exercise alone is not the solution to the obesity epidemic.
No surprise there, as we all know that nutrition plays a fairly large role.
However, in this article, the author was discussing how a few hours a week of exercise was still not enough movement.
I agree.
This is where NEAT comes into play.
NEAT is the acronym for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and represents ALL of your daily movement that’s not intentional exercise.
This includes puttering around your house (or your desk), walking to the mailbox, around the grocery store, to the dry cleaners or even your fidgeting.
Just move.
According to this article, in the past 150 years, we have dropped NEAT related calorie burn by about 2000 calories a day.
If you think that seems like a lot, it’s because it is!
We’ve stopped taking the stairs, we drive everywhere, we use remote controls and have automation everywhere. Technology is playing its part in making us fatter.
In my physiotherapy practice, I use overhead squats to assess alignment, joint mobility and motor control.
This squat variation is a fantastic diagnostic physical therapy tool and is an important part of my clinical movement screen. These can be used to improve spinal stability while improving hip and shoulder mobility at the same time.
How does your overhead squat look?
Are you able to keep your heels on the ground?
How far down can you squat?
Does your torso lean forward or are you able to keep your chest up?
Where do you arms sit? Are they right overhead or do they angle forward?
