I often use an analogy to explain the importance of sports massage in order to give your body a much-needed MOT – you wouldn’t wait until your car breaks down in order to get it serviced, so why do the same to your body? Most of you reading this will also hopefully by now be aware of how highly I recommend that Biomechanics is integrated into a treatment programme, because of its power to fix a dysfunction rather than just using massage alone to treat the symptoms. Massage alone therefore is like just putting oil on a rusty, worn-out bike chain just to keep it going a bit longer, but this of course isn’t good for the bike, as other areas are likely to then wear out as well, and something sooner or later will give in.
But like with anything in life, like getting fitter, it does take sustained effort on the individual’s part in order to make it all worthwhile – I suppose that’s why many people struggle to find the motivation to exercise, because it’s easier to conform to an unhealthy habit than a healthy one, like sitting on the couch all day rather than expending the energy to exercise.
Why then do people not take this same approach with their bodies and continue to take the quick fix option by correcting something only when it goes wrong? After all, this is the thing that sets apart the Biomechanics from simple things such as massage alone. Many people think that by exercising, they are benefiting their longer-term health, which is true to a degree, as it exercise does carry cardiovascular and mental health benefits, along with a reduction in the risk of developing various diseases, but while this is widely covered in the media, what isn’t as well recognised is that if you perform exercise in the wrong way, developing the wrong habits, then it can have dire consequences on your longer-term joint health.
"what isn’t as well recognised is that if you perform exercise in the wrong way, developing the wrong habits, then it can have dire consequences on your longer-term joint health."
Perhaps a reason for this lack of adherence is that it’s easy to get carried away with the results of the first appointment in terms of pain relief, and it’s therefore easy to put the issue on the back-burner from then on. After all, pain is our body’s natural way of telling us that something is wrong, and in the absence of pain, we therefore ignore the problem rather than taking a preventative approach. Another explanation could be the type of world we now live in, where we want things done instantly. Let’s take TV for example – in the past, there were a limited number of channels, no facilities to record shows if you were out, no instant one-touch recording, no catch-up where everything is available to us in seconds and no facility to buy films online to watch immediately. In addition to this, with online facilities which allow you to order things one day and have them delivered the next, I think as a society we’ve got used to being a bit spoilt and wanting things immediately, hence the reluctance to take a step-back, and use our patience.
"I think as a society we’ve got used to being a bit spoilt and wanting things immediately, hence the reluctance to take a step-back, and use our patience."
But if the dysfunction is still there, it will put more and more strain through your body, and sooner or later it will come back and bite you if you don’t take a preventative approach. So don’t wait until you get injured to have treatment, as this does nothing for your longer-term health – let’s take the proactive approach!