My 5 commandments to future proof your body

We all know our bodies change as we get older. And you’ve probably seen parents, aunts, and other older adults get weak and stiff and lose the ability to do the things they love.

But the truth is, while your body will change, that doesn’t need to make you less capable.

Here are 5 most important things you should know and apply, so that you can make sure you build and maintain the capabilities you want for a lot longer than most people think is possible.

1. Move More

Very simply – move more of your body, more of the time.

For someone who runs exercise classes, I’m actually not a fan of exercise, per se. Or at least I’m not a fan of segregating exercise into 1 hour of your day when you’ve spent the previous 8 hours in your car, at your office desk, or doing limited repetitive movements. The mums and dads running after toddlers and babies all day have a slightly different challenge, mostly I get mums come in with shoulder pain having held some awkward position whilst co-sleeping.

So you can switch this up by setting yourself reminders to get up once every hour and take a walk around the office or stretch your legs. Or simply to shift your position slightly, untuck your pelvis, find some movement in your neck by looking over your shoulder. I’m going to do a separate post on sitting positions – I really love a yoga ball for inviting more movement in your day.

But you can also start to increase your range of motion, find some time to dedicate to moving your joints through their full range of movement, go one joint at a time, bend and straighten, rotate and turn, twist and roll, that’s all there is to it.

If you find any pain in your range of movement, give me a call for a chat.

2. Load your bones

Osteoporosis is a real concern for the aging body, but interestingly, the most crucial time is in our late teens and early twenties. Essentially, our peak level of bone density is reached at this age and so while in later life (particularly post-menopause for women), it is common to lose bone density, we can regenerate bone tissue to our previous peak levels by loading our bones maximally – and I bet you were much more active in your twenties!

So what does that mean?

Well, osteoporosis isn’t something that happens to all the bones across your body, but there are a few frequent spots where bone density is commonly low, these include:

• Ribs
• Wrists
• Vertebrae
• Hip bone (head of the femur)

To ‘load your bones’ you need to get your bones stacked optimally to increase the effect of weight bearing activity on the bones – basically, the bones regenerate from being squished, and they get most squished when stacked on top of one other!

So whilst I normally tell my clients that poor alignment is not necessarily the cause of their pain, improving it might just help your bone health in later life.

3. Boost your cardio

Eurgh, this one is my worst – I have a love/hate, on/off relationship with running, but I do love a good dance and can go for hours on the dancefloor (shame I don’t really get out that much anymore)! I feel like this is probably the easiest one to write about though – we all know that cardiovascular fitness reduces the load on our heart, thereby reducing the risk of a stroke or heart attack.

However, it doesn’t need to be massive – a vigorous walk is one of the best forms of exercise, you can work on loading the bones optimally, improving mobility and increasing cardiovascular fitness all in one hit!

4. Rest

This is my favourite bit! People who don’t know me very well are likely to be surprised when I say that most of my close family call me lazy… I like to lay in, whenever I can, for as long as I can!

But rest is probably best when its a mixture of two things. Firstly, proper recovery – according to a research paper on the impact of exercise for improving bone strength, they found that longer periods of rest between exercise had greater effects. Yay for me!

The second type of rest is what I call active rest, the kind where you are actually engaged with an activity that you enjoy for the fun of it – for me that is canoeing, or going for a walk in nature. I think this type of rest, while also being good for the body is definitely good for the mind. The days that I sit on my sofa, scrolling through Facebook are not good days, I become irritable, insecure and lethargic. I think regular walking is the only habit I have kept up through lockdown, and it has been so good for my mental health.

5. Strengthen your muscles

Hmmm… now strengthening is important, but actually I’m more concerned with muscle control and coordination, so that those pesky uneven surfaces don’t lead to a fear of falling. And it is the fear of falling that I’m more concerned about than the fall itself, because this fear stops you from doing all of the above, it stops you from moving more, it stops you from doing bone strengthening weight bearing activity, and it becomes a vicious cycle, where the less you do, the more unstable you are on your feet and the more likely you are to have a serious fall.

Skilled movement exercises that require you to improve your proprioception and your precision are perfect for this. Better muscle control means more efficient movement, it means getting up of the floor more easily, or have better balance to put your socks on. The level and type of motor control you need for own life may not be the same as what I need, but assessing your particular needs is important for figuring out what limitations you need to address.

If you would like more support with your movement, and future-proofing your body, give me a call on 07572 381 928.

Louise is the owner of Bodyworks Massage and Movement Studio, providing people in pain with greater strength, mobility, and ease of daily movement.

She has extensive experience as a clinical massage practitioner and movement specialist. Louise offers both clinical massage and functional movement classes to return clients to a strong and pain-free day-to-day life.

Clinical massage uses a combination of advanced techniques for helping you to reduce pain, increase range of motion and find ease in your body. While functional movement training not only serves as a way to retain mobility and fluidity of movement, but also as a way to strengthen and prevent further injury or flare-up.