You are self-lubricating!
Our bodies only function well with lubrication – from joints to eyelids to tendons to love-making; we need to have minimal friction. A lot of our wonderful lubricating ability comes from a substance called ‘lubricin’. The quality and quantity of lubricin is improved with, you guessed it, exercise and movement! But the opposite is also true – the more sedentary we are or the more stress we have in our life the worse. Fun fact: we can actually build up a healthy reservoir of lubricin in our joints with lots of movement! Remember, rest is rust and motion is lotion!
Why remain physically active during the rehab process?
We need to remain as physically active as possible, as:
- Physical activity reduces pain (Naugle 2012)
- Physical activity promotes healing (Khan 2009)
- Helps prevent disease (Pedersen 2016)
- Strengthens bones and muscles (Frost 1994)
- Improves mental health (Deslandes 2009)
- Increases the quality and quantity of your life! (Dankel 2016)
- Remaining as active as possible helps to avoid the pain cycle.
- Physical activity promotes independence and self management
- Physical activity helps address comorbidities
Motion is lotion
If you can keep moving you’ll get some lovely benefits – a nice coat of lubricant on your joints and you will flush out old fluid in your muscles. Your blood will travel around your body delivering nutrients and removing waste products. Your brain will be washed with happy chemicals that nourish and awaken nerve cells. You’ll push oxygen deep into your lungs and stimulate amazing cellular activity throughout your body. Remember, motion is lotion and movement is medicine!
A representation of the loss and gain of capacity with physical activity with example activities.
De-loading is important when it comes to desensitising. But remember, we don’t want to do too little in this phase. The term is de-load not completely off-load. Therefore, maintaining as much physical activity as possible, even when we are dealing with pain and injury, is crucial!
Thanks for reading!
I hope this infomation clarifies some of the rationales around successful treatment. If you need help addressing your pain or injury book in!
