You never know what you’re missing, until you realize you’re missing it! This realization is my way of helping clients understand what is actually going on with any health, fitness, and wellness challenges they are experiencing. Humans are composed of a complex set of systems. Each system is interdependent on the other to create health, fitness and well-being.
Remember the old song, “The leg bone’s connected to the hip bone, the hip bone’s connected to the …” and so on? Well, I want you to realize that, when it comes to your health, fitness, and wellness, everything is connected to everything! Certain organs and muscles, for example, share the same neural pathways. This means that muscles and their related organs will affect one another for better or for worse.
Most of us have become aware of the fact that our attitude has much to do with our feelings, which in turn affects our bodies. A good example of this is emotional stress. Our attitude over something that is happening in our life creates a sense of fear, leading to a visceral feeling of anxiety, which will then, (through the Emotional / Limbic system), be dumped into the neck and shoulders. Where do most people carry their stress? They carry it in the neck and shoulders.
It doesn’t matter if your goal is to increase your fitness, lose weight, learn the correct way to exercise, rehabilitate a muscular or postural dysfunction, get out of pain, or any other number of health and fitness issues. The best way to address these issues is to understand what you may be doing to cause it, and then follow a holistic approach to healing the body while you increase your fitness.
Most folks would not consider posture to be that significant when it comes to health and fitness. And yet, correct posture is critical to maintaining health. If the body is out of alignment, (let’s say a subluxation of the Atlas, which is very common), there will be additional load, compensations and adaptations down the rest of the spine and into the pelvis area, and continuing down to the feet.
Consider the spinal cord, which carries all information to the body, including the organs. In this example, a postural distortion in the cervical spine could cause compression or irritation to the spinal cord and possibly to other nerves and arteries that feed the brain and body. This compression, or irritation, will then have some affect on all the muscles, organs and other body parts which all receive information from the brain.
Now, what happens when a person with this postural distortion goes into the gym and works out? They will be putting more repetitive loads onto an already compromised system. Instead of getting healthier and increasing their fitness, they end up in pain, with nagging injuries that never seem to resolve themselves, and even worse health issues.
The important point to remember here is that there is more to health and fitness than working out.When we design comprehensive programs for clients we cover the correction of breathing dysfunctions, proper nutrition and hydration, an exercise program that includes stretching, corrective stabilization and muscle building exercises, improving the sleep / wake cycle and lifestyle factors.
Combining each one of these components is the foundation to health, fitness and wellness. If you want to see results in your health and fitness it would be a great idea to look into these components. I promise you they can make an enormous difference in whether or not you achieve your desired results. Want to learn more about integrating these components into your life? Let’s set up a time to talk.
Dave Fresilli
I wish for all of you Vibrant Health!
