You Don’t Know What You’ve Got, Until It’s Gone!

Healthy movement is critical for functioning well and living independently. 

What would your life be like if one day you lost the ability to move?  Let’s look at simple ones like the ability to bend over or reach above your head.  What would life be like if you could no longer walk, or climb stairs?  Who would be there to help you with your daily activities; cleaning the house, picking up, or even doing your laundry.  Could you work?  The problem only compounds if someone else depends on you, like children.

How Important IS Your Ability To Move?

It happened to me one day at work while bending  over to pick up a small towel.  The pain and alarm on my face made a colleague across the hall think I was having a heart attack.  Slowly, and grabbing for the wall in excruciating pain I made my way down to the emergency room for care.  When the doctor asked me what happened, I explained that I just picked up a small towel.  It was just a towel.  I explained to the doctor that it had been 2 years since I had stopped exercising.  After some x-rays, we sat down to talk.  The doctor told me that I had strained a facet joint with spasm of adjacent muscles.

Speaking to me about my lack of exercise he told me that this was my wakeup call.  Begin again, and don’t stop.

Now, this was a temporary issue for me losing only two days of work and I recovered fairly quickly returning immediately to exercise.  I did not want to feel that again.  However,  I want you to think about the long term issues people have when they neglect exercise over many years; perhaps they never get active.  The issues that follow are termed, “behavior-linked problems and diseases”.   Caused primarily from the lack of exercise and poor diet.

We’re not talking about running marathons here or even going to the gym, just walking would be a great start for most folks, and done right can be a great sustainer of fitness for others.  A colleague some years my senior uses a treadmill at a degree of incline for his daily exercise with great results.  He reported that climbing some hills on a vacation abroad, he left his group behind… they could not keep up.

Note: I want you to notice something mentioned two paragraphs above. Begin again, and don't stop! You should always begin again if you should fall off

Hitching A Ride

It may just be me, but are there a whole lot more scooters these days in our grocery stores and other public places.  This may be geographically dependent.  Here in San Antonio Texas, I’ve noticed scooters more.  Why the increase?  Could it be overuse?  Okay, maybe that was a bit of sarcasm.  Alright, dripping with sarcasm.  There are some medical conditions which necessitate the use of wheelchairs and scooters  for people to gain mobility.  That’s not what I speak of here.

I’m talking about the person who no longer can bear their own weight.

“Clear and Present Danger”  Don’t Let Your Weight Stop You in Your Tracks

You don’t have to listen to the radio or watch television long before you hear a report on the state of American obesity.  More and more since we have shown our children how to do it, they are the current focus of attention.  So, the  (CDC) Center For Disease Control and Prevention along with other like entities are scrambling to find solutions.  What can be engineered into children school programs and lunches to turn the tide for them.

Currently, our children will be the first generation to not live as long as their parents.  Did you hear me?  A GENERATION’s parents will out-live their children!

You’ve Got to Keep Moving, If You Want to Keep Moving

We need to exercise!  It’s just like I knew I had to return to exercise  after my wakeup call in my lower back.  We already have the solution.  Move!  That’s it, just get up and move.  To start off, the simpler the better.  If you can walk around the block, start a daily walk.  I live in Texas.  If it’s too hot, walk in the morning or after dark.  Perhaps walking is not your thing.  What about a bike.  Men like this one.  Someone said to me one time that men can do anything as long it’s in the seated position.   Take a ride around the block.

(Tip: Coasting does you no good.)

Herein lies the solution to your own personal health care plan.  Movement.  You can get real creative here also.  I have a dog named Chess who happens to be 13 years old.  Recently, one day she would not eat and we noticed that she was not getting up much.  When we forced her to she had a limp.  What did I do?  I incorporated a daily walk around the block.  Twice on weekends or days off from work.

So that’s it.  Get up right now and move!  Here’s what I don’t want you to do.  Go out and join a gym or purchase some type home gym equipment.  Even if you don’t have a bike, don’t by one.  Why, if you won’t get up and move, you will not continue at the gym, and the bike will just sit there.  I know too many people including those in my own family who have purchased something, and do not use it.