You are a Domestic Athlete… The importance of taking care of yourself

By Ryan Craig – Physiotherapist

I once had an old ute (a ’96 Ford Courier), it was my first car and it went alright until it started making strange noises one day. It’s name was Henry and I wanted to revive it, so I took it to the mechanic.

When I took Henry to the mechanic he did more than just scan over the parts of the car and then take a punt at what the problem was. He turned on the engine to see how all the parts were working together. Part of his problem-solving process involved seeing the engine doing what it was designed to do.

When you take a broken phone to the IT person, they don’t just look at the case, they boot it up and see how the software is running. Are you following me?

So let’s think about ourselves for a minute. What were we designed to do? Well that’s a big question, but a big part of what we do is *move*. When we move well, we enjoy longevity. When we move poorly the demands of everyday life causes more stress and strain on the body. If we are proactive, we service the vehicle before a warning light comes of the dash. If we are less-so, we push through until we are confronted by a big red pain light. Sometimes if we are really determined we don’t even let that stop us. I hope this analogy is working.

**A physiotherapist can help you take care of yourself with manual therapy, mobility exercises, dry needling and exercise rehab**

Here is a thought, your body has only one defence against misuse, and that is to create a pain symptom. What does this tell us? I don’t want to sound like a guru, but pain is (in some way) your friend. The brain senses stress and strain subconsciously and knows that the best way to tell you about it is to put a warning light on the dash. It starts as a whisper and it ends with 4 ibuprofen everyday.

And would you know it, pain is a pretty good behaviour modifier. Pain at the knee with running? Well it makes running less appealing. Back pain with bending? Easy, no more bending!

Pain has done it’s job, you aren’t doing that thing you were doing that was creating stress and strain in the body. But that’s not the end of the story…

This is where you have a choice to make as a mover and proud owner of a human body. If you are alive then surf coach Rodrigo Perez calls you a ‘domestic athlete’. You must move everyday, there is no escaping it.

I want to challenge you to choose to learn more about your body. Again, this is guru-ish – the language of the body is movement, are you movement literate? Learn to move well and reclaim that movement/activity/sport that was once off limits because it was causing too much strain on the body. Take care of your vehicle, so that you can do more of what you were designed to do.

If we can help you with a movement or pain problem see a physiotherapist that speaks the language** We have a purpose built studio with an exercise rehab studio in Surfers Paradise.  We look forward to meeting you!

Ryan Craig

Physiotherapist

Central Physio & Health