Maintenance treatment, why should I bother?

We all perform some type of maintenance, whether it is on a physical part of our bodies or for a prized possession we own like an antique car. Some things we maintain on a daily basis, such as brushing our teeth, while for other things we may only maintain a few times per year, such as taking your car to the mechanic to avoid major damage, or going to the dentist to keep our teeth clean and white, avoiding bad breath, and avoiding more serious issues like cavities.

All of our bodies require some form of maintenance from time to time, to keep it in tip top shape. In this day and age most of us don’t move or use our bodies in a various of ways on a daily basis. Our bodies love movement, but most of all it loves varied movement. For instance, when we were all hunter gatherers we ran, climbed, lifted, bent, squatted, threw, lunged, you name it we probably did it 10,000 years ago. Unfortunately, nowadays a lot of us work at a computer (new method of hunting and gathering), and the longer we sit the more we get rewarded. This causes our bodies to become weaker and less resilient. We don’t move or challenge our bodies in all the wonderful ways we did when we were hunter gatherers or even when we were kids, and we all suffer for it.

There are several physiological changes which occur within our bodies when we are chronically sedentary. Firstly, we get decreased blood flow to various parts of our body, namely our upper and lower limbs. Second, we get a buildup of elimination products (toxins) due to decreased activity of our lymphatic system. Thirdly, we produce fewer beneficials hormones like testosterone and growth hormone which help our muscles grow and feel-good hormones such as serotonin and dopamine.

Lastly, our tissues form a glue-like substance every day, which we call an ‘adhesion’, and we have greater difficulty getting rid of this glue as we age. When we are sedentary this glue accumulates and effectively sticks different tissues together. Soft tissues within our body are meant to slide or glide past one another like two sheets of paper sitting one on top of the other. When the glue (adhesion) within our bodies accumulates it makes these tissues essentially stick together, and the more glue you have the more stuck these tissues become. Why should you care? Well, if our muscles stick together, we will lose flexibility, strength, and overall function. As a manual therapist this is one major component of my treatment with virtually all my patients. I must physically work the soft tissues of the body to break up these adhesions in order to restore the normal glide between them, unfortunately for some this can be a somewhat unpleasant experience. The good news is that we can all help ourselves, avoid or at least minimise the accumulation of adhesions.

There are many simple exercises that you can learn to reduce or eliminate adhesions throughout the body. You can also use soft tissue tools such as a foam roller, spiky ball or trigger ball, compression bands. You can use hot or cold (cryotherapy) to help move fluids throughout your body. You can use vibration platforms, or theraguns (massage guns) to release soft tissues. It should be noted that all of these options are not risk free, as you can damage your soft tissues if you push too hard or you use the treatment for too long. So, it is important that you seek advice from a professional if you are never used these devices or you are somewhat unsure about the pressure or frequency of treatment.    

At Back to Function we urge all our patients the get regular body maintenance. We recommend people receive some form a manual therapy whether it be chiropractic, physiotherapy, osteopathy, acupuncture, massage therapy, every 4-6 weeks depending on your individual needs. When regular maintenance manual therapy is combined with regular self-body work, and exercise your body will feel and perform much better and will be more resilient to injury. Doesn’t that sound worth it? Why wait until something breaks down or you injure yourself before taking action? Either way, it is going to cost you in the end. Might as well be proactive and nip these types of problems in the bud before they get the opportunity to wreak havoc and potentially sideline you at an inopportune time. 

I hope this helped!

Adam