If you ain’t dead, you ain’t done

The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Movement is life, life is movement. Many biological functions in your body are dependent on movement, especially your brain’s development and continual “tuning”. Your brain began developing in the womb, first, through your mother’s movement, then later, through your own. Movement physically changes your brain and enables it to function better. Why do you think movement, play, and restlessness are so inherent to children?

In the book The Well Balanced Child, Ewout Van-Manen points out that, “…physical movement is the basis for cognitive, social, and emotional development.” That’s because it encourages the necessary stimulus to form new brain connections. This starts before you’re born and continues until you die. Unfortunately, the modern American lifestyle has just about eliminated it, e.g., escalators, cars, TV remotes, computers, etc. And the consequence… Americans have become bad “movers.”

Life is about being happy. And to be happy you need a healthy body to move.  Injuries and pain shouldn’t be the norm, yet often are. You should be able to go for a run without getting knee pain, you should be able to pick up a suitcase without back pain, and you should be able to grab something out of the back seat without injuring your shoulder. You were built to run, jump, twist, turn and play without limitation and definitely without sustaining the nagging injuries that most people complain of. You were built to be resilient, not fragile.  And this is true at age 20 and age 70. You die with the same parts you’re born with, and those parts are built to work and repair themselves throughout your lifespan.

So where has it gone wrong? Why do most American adults decline with age and just accept that they must live in pain and not enjoy movement like children?

The Perfect Storm

 There is one guaranteed fact of human biology; you will get good at whatever you do regularly, and you will get bad at what you don’t do regularly. You’ve heard the statement before, “use it or lose it.” If you throw a baseball every day you’ll get good at throwing a baseball, (in fact your arm bone will actually change shape to make you better). If you do crossword puzzles often you’ll get good at them. If you sit every day you’ll become a great sitter. Fact! And that’s what happens to most Americans at age six, we start sitting 6-8 hours every day! Add a computer into the equation and you get three concurrent problems occurring at once, the perfect storm for dysfunction.

The brain uses three sensory systems for movement:

Visual System (your eyes),

Vestibular System (the balance center often called your inner ear), and

Proprioceptive System (your body’s 3D map made up of sensors in your joints, muscles and skin

The integration of these three systems is how the brain knows if it’s moving, sitting, walking, falling, which direction, how fast, etc. As you can imagine, this awareness is a very high priority for your brain. How a person’s brain integrates these three systems is what makes that person a good, or not so good athlete, and whether movement is painful or not.

When a person sits in front of a computer all day, the three systems become greatly under-used. The proprioceptive system falls asleep as the joints, muscles and skin detect very little movement. The vestibular system (inner ear) isn’t stimulated because moving your head would be a bad idea if you’re trying to focus on a computer screen and work. The eyes are stagnant and sit still focusing on the screen two feet away. Your eyes have muscles that need to move and stretch just like everything else in your body.

When the brain no longer has to integrate the three systems to manage and control movement that ability shrinks away. Over time, movement becomes difficult and painful.  No wonder going to the gym after work is so difficult for people.  It’ll just lead to discomfort and pain.

The Solution

Enjoying movement like a child should be the norm, not the exception. If you’re brain’s sensory systems are alive and functioning well movement will feel good and you’ll want more of it, like a child. The solution, as you can imagine, is to follow the same developmental strategies that children do and use your three sensory systems, play!

You have to live in such a way that the three sensory systems get stimulated on a daily basis.  Participate in activities that move your head in many different directions, change your eye positions quickly and often, and take your joints and muscles through many different motions.  Get out and play sports.  They accomplish all of this.

Other great activities include dance, martial arts, surfing, Frisbee, mountain biking, wrestling with your kids, playing with your dog, and the list goes on and on.  You’ve just got to get up from the computer and move in new and different ways daily!  And please note, walking, jogging and health club machines aren’t included in this list.  These activities involve little to no head movement and very little eye movement… not the goal here.

Depending on your current condition you may have to do a little “work” before “play” is fun again, e.g., mobility and flexibility training with a personal trainer.  A good trainer knows how to progressively program movements that will stimulate and integrate your three systems and rehabilitate you back to your childhood. Plus, you’ll burn some calories and tone your muscles to boot.

The movement strategies that children use to grow and become good movers, like skipping, rolling, rocking and various forms of crawling exist for a reason.  If you want to have the youthful vigor of a child again you simply need to reintegrate them back into your life.  Go have some fun and play!

Ryan Joiner - is the founder of Athlon Fitness & Performance, a health club and personal training gym in San Luis Obispo that specializes in comprehensive programs for its members including movement re-training, weight loss, nutrition and sports performance.  He can be reached for comment at (805) 546-6070 or ryan@AthlonElite.com.