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On last blog post, we wrote that it was important to do daily therapeutic exercises. If you have not read it yet, please read it first. When we say “exercise” here, we are talking about therapeutic exercises, not weight training. You do not lift heavy weights with our therapeutic exercises. But, it does not mean to be easy though. Why aren’t they easy? It is because muscles that do not properly work will be used with the exercises. Why do we emphasize to do daily therapeutic exercises? Let me explain what we believe.
Purpose of our therapeutic exercises is to restore normal body functions. In other words, muscles need to properly work or rest as they are supposed when the body moves. If the muscles do not have proper functions, the body has to compensate when you perform a certain movement. Since some muscles do not properly work, other muscles have to work harder to execute the movement. The body subconsciously has been adapted to keep you moving. Otherwise, the body is not moved as you want. This is similar to a work place situation. When someone does not work, somebody else has to overwork to cover the lack of work to accomplish a project. Then, if the situation is continued, the overworking person will be eventually tired and broken down. Your body is same as this. Those overworking muscles will be eventually broken down.
Why is this happening to my body? It is because the brain thinks that this is normal. The muscles are mainly controlled by the brain. The brain regulates movements. The brain decides which muscle are contracted or relaxed when the body executes movements. The brain has the programing.
My brain has correct programing, doesn’t it? Well, the brain used to have it. However, the programing was overwritten as you have done incorrect movements for long periods of time. Everyone has correct movement pattern (correct programming in the brain) when he/she was born unless having some illnesses. However, as you have grown up, the correct movement patterns have been lost. It might be due to injuries, cultures or habits. For example, You might injure and then have compensated movements, or you might have certain habits when you sit for long time at a work. When you do certain movements or keep certain postures for long time, the brain recognizes that this is correct movement patterns and then the brain changes the programming. It is like “muscle memory”. When athletes practice certain skills such as shooting for basketball or any other sports skills, they shoot a ball over and over to gain the skills. People commonly say “muscles need to remember the motion”. What they are doing is having the brain remember the movement patterns, which is making the program in the brain.
How can I correct the programming then? You need to perform correct movement patterns over and over to rewrite the programing. Otherwise, the brain will not remember correct movement patterns. Therefore, we emphasize you to do our therapeutic exercises at home not only doing them at our clinic. Repetition is very important. It might take for a while to change the programming because the incorrect programming has been built up over the long periods of time. Please be patient. There is no quick fix here. You have to do the brain re-education to restore normal body functions.
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