As we conceive it, sport may not be healthy and is not for everyone. Instead, movement is always healthy. Find out what kind of movement the body really needs and find out what you can do, whatever your condition.
If we talk about health, we have to talk about movement. Movement is necessary for health, moreover, movement is an engine of physical health. The body, in fact, “regenerates” through movement.
Before getting into the subject, I would like to distinguish between movement and sport. They are two concepts often put in the same bag, and they are not synonymous, at all. Sport can be healthy or not. Movement is always healthy.
Definition of sport: “Physical activity, exercised as a game or competition, whose practice involves training and subjection to rules”. Physical activity a priori, is healthy, the problem arises in how we approach it: as a game or as a competition. The image of people in gyms, sweating, exerting, is common. There is little play and a lot of competition, competition against oneself.
Is that bad? Not necessarily, although it is somewhat exclusive. A body can be taken to the extreme without risk or injury, but that rule does not apply to everyone, not to all ages, not to all bodies. Also, not everyone likes to suffer or exert themselves. In addition, the sport is carried out in a specific place (the gym or the sports court) and requires “dressing as an athlete”.
On the other hand, the idea is bought that running (currently “running”) is the healthy way to do sports without having to pay the gym fee. What if I don’t like to suffer or push myself or I can’t run? Are you running out of options? Not at all
MOVEMENT IS LIFE, LIFE IS MOVEMENT
This concept is a starting point: Life is expressed through movement and movement generates Life.
- Joints need movement to “self-lubricate”
- The intestines need movement to stimulate peristalsis and displace the food bolus.
- Muscles need movement to stay strong and healthy.
- Bones need movement to prevent osteoporosis.
- The heart needs movement to move blood…
The whole body needs movement to function properly.
HOW MOVEMENT BENEFITS JOINTS
I want to stop at the joints. Most joints in the body are protected by a joint capsule. This capsule completely isolates the inside of the joint from the outside. We can imagine that capsule as an orange to which a bone enters on each side and in its center are the two bones, articulating between them.
The ends of the bones are protected by cartilage, a pearly substance, specially designed to withstand rubbing, friction. Cartilage is a more than peculiar tissue, it has no innervation or vascularization, that is, it does not feed through the blood like the rest of the tissues and structures.
The cartilage feeds on the synovial fluid that fills the inside of the joint capsules; Therefore, the quality of the fluid defines the quality of life of the cartilage.
How can we renew, that is, enrich the synovial fluid? Through movement.
The inner walls of the capsule are lined by a membrane (synovial membrane) that secretes joint fluid on demand. Every movement, whether large or small, produces a stimulus in the joint capsule. Each stretching, turning, compression, traction that the joint receives, translates into stimulus on the membrane, which secretes joint fluid, which in turn lubricates and nourishes the cartilage. Movement stimulates the production of lubricant which in turn facilitates movement: movement generates movement.
SMALL MOVEMENT GENERATES BIG MOVEMENT
This is a basic and very unknown concept. We live in a fast and competitive society, which values quantity more than quality. The movement is no exception. Our mind works with values such as all or nothing: if my shoulder hurts and I can’t lift my arm to the ceiling, I better not move it; error.
The body is made of small cells, absolutely sensitive to small movements. For the body, a small movement is already enough stimulus to lubricate the joint.
If my shoulder joint hurts I should make small and painless pendulum movements, these movements will help regenerate the cartilage and lubricate the joint. You have to trust the times of the body, stimulate it but not mistreat it: the small grows, the big blocks
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR POSSIBILITIES, NOT YOUR LIMITATIONS
Finally, another concept that takes away the healthy movement of people is focus. We tend to focus on what we can’t do: “I can’t move my arm, my hip hurts, I can’t turn my neck…” This approach is limiting and frustrating.
Stop thinking about what you can’t do and explore your possibilities. The body is a unit. A small movement at one end will grow and “contaminate”, little by little, its surroundings. The key is not to scare the tissues.
Can’t move an arm? Move the other.
Can’t move it much? Move it little.
Can’t turn to the side? Turn to the other.
You’re in a wheelchair… Keep your arms active.
You’re in a bed… Move your feet, do breathing exercises, move your hands…
In short: movement is key to the health of the body. The small movement is as effective as the large one. Move the body, don’t quarrel with it.
Find what you can do, forget what you can’t do.
Do you know what is the activity that moves all the joints of the body? Walk… just walk, at your own pace; The body will do the rest.