Consistency and Treatment

I wanted to talk about consistency when you are trying to rehabilitate yourself from an injury because it is something that I see a lot in my office.  However, if you want to see quicker results and not have to come back to my office as frequently, it is necessary to carve out a time in your day to make it a habit and do your exercises consistently.

Movement And Consistency

Doing the weekend warrior style and only doing your exercises once a week for an hour is not going to be anywhere near as beneficial as doing 15 minutes of them every single day.  This helps to break up that repetitive strain that happens when you are sitting all day at a desk or in the car. Note that strain on the body is not only something intense or very physical, but can also involve being sedentary.  We are meant to move, lubricate our joints through movement, and make our musculoskeletal system function better with movement.

Movement really is the key in having our body be as functional as possible. Our society does not lend itself to alternatives to sedentary jobs.  Just because you work out for an hour a day does not negate the ten hours you spend at your desk. 

For example, if you are having a pelvic floor issue and part of it might be coming from sitting at your desk all day because your tailbone scoops under and shortens your pelvic floor. What you can do is to stack your rib cage and your pelvic floor while taking breaths every couple of hours so that you will open up and expand your pelvic floor. It might be a small movement, but it will make a lot of difference.

The same goes for other repetitive jobs that do not involve sitting. Such jobs can lead to other issues in the upper body, low back, and the like. You can make an incredible change by being consistent with your exercises.

Prehab Exercises And Consistency

Taking ownership of your movement and making it a priority is going to be what helps you more and will affect you long-term. I am not saying it is an easy thing because it is not. I struggle with this too.  Now that my plate is getting fuller, the systems I used to have in place to keep myself from getting injured are not followed as strictly anymore.

I actually had an injury last year because I stopped doing my prehab exercises. I know how important it is and I know better than anyone else that that can happen and I still let myself falter. I had a hip injury. I danced my whole life and all the way through college.  I did a ton of yoga that really relied on my hyperflexibility and less on my strength. I knew that I would be prone to deterioration of my hip joints because of how lax my ligaments are in my hip.  I woke up one day and could not externally rotate my left hip without a terrible, sharp pain. 

I can tell you that doing 15 minutes of my exercises every day to PREVENT that injury was way easier than trying to rehabilitate the injury. I started rehabilitating it in February or March, and right now I do not have any sharp pains, but I have some residual tightness. The tightness is my brain’s defense mechanism to protect the area. I would say it is 95 percent better and I am trying to work in safe ways to return to the yoga postures that I love with my joints centrated.  

It was a long road and it was not immediately fixed when I started doing my exercises again.  I had to spend a little more time and had to tweak things to see where I was actually weak at. It probably took me 20 minutes a day and I did not focus on the hip. That is not where the dysfunction was coming from.  I caution you that usually the site of pain is a response to something and it is not the area that is giving you the issues. I doubled down on my core, my pelvic floor, and my inner thighs. When I worked on these, I was able to sleep again on my side with my leg up. I can do so many things again without feeling a sharp pain on my hip, but as I am getting busy again, I haven’t been as active with my exercises and I have been less consistent. Those twinges are my not so gentle reminder to get back to my exercises. 

Your exercises might be a life-long thing and that does not mean you are not addressing it or fixing it, it just means that maybe you are protecting your body from the rigors of your career or life.  In my work and the things I do every day like commuting and driving, it shortens my pelvic floor and my tailbone gets tucked under.  It will not be easy, but if you want to continue doing the things that you love, you will make that consistent work happen.

Injury And Consistency

Another example related to injury and consistency is my dad having a motorcycle accident last summer. This happened a couple days after he retired and he wrecked his motorcycle. He fractured his shoulder blade in two places, 13 rib fractures (mostly displaced), tore up his hand, punctured his lung (with blood in it), broke his collarbone, and he was in the hospital for ten days. He could barely move or walk and everything was excruciating. Before he left the hospital, he asked the orthopedic surgeon when he can play golf again as it is his passion. He was told he could play the following summer and he nearly died because that’s what he lives for. 

I worked with him almost every day and that is important. I gave him a checklist of the things he needed to do so he could go back to playing golf quicker. He did everything on that checklist EVERY SINGLE DAY. I gave him a variety of activities to help with his issues and he did them religiously. It was his new job. That consistency was the key factor. Even over his treatments.  My dad was able to play golf by the end of that summer instead of the next summer. He shocked his doctors.  

Conclusion

I let life derail my exercises and I did not see it until it hit me like a truck and altered my sleep, activities, and everyday life.  When we put in the effort every single day, we will get better as soon as possible. You have to understand that whatever it is you are suffering from does not have to be the norm.

Consistency creates magical results.  I advise that you do baby steps so it is more attainable and palatable to your life. Even if it is just 30 seconds every hour that you do while you are at your desk and later add little things the following weeks, you create that habit and carve out that time every day for yourself.  You will eventually be at the point where you are more active, less inflamed, and in less pain. We want it to be something you can sustain and fit into your schedule.

Before I end this, just remember we are all human, it can be done, and even your practitioner can get their butt kicked by an injury.

If you have any questions, you can drop it in the comment section or you send me a message through Facebook or Instagram. I’d be happy to do another podcast about your questions. Also, if you want me to talk about something specific, let me know!

You can also check my TikTok account as I use the platform to educate viewers about movement, chiropractic education, yoga, pregnancy, and more!