— Strengthen —

Bones, muscles, ligaments and joints are the FUNDAMENTAL building blocks of our bodies. If we don’t use them they will cease to work EFFICIENTLY.

— FIRST STEPS TO A HEALTHIER YOU —

Stretching is often the best way to start a new exercise regime. Stretching allows the muscle fibres to start to re-align, helping to reduce knots and muscles to become less tight. As muscle tightness reduces, the strain on the bones, tendons, ligaments and joints is reduced allowing function to start to reassert itself. Exercise classes such as Yoga and Tai Chi can really help with the road to recovery; there is evidence to suggest that adding Yoga to your weekly routine will help to start restoring function and improve the feeling of wellbeing.

— INCREASING YOUR BODY’S POTENTIAL —

Strengthening your body takes time and should be approached with the knowledge that it does. Once function starts to restore then we can start to exercise. Exercise causes minute damage to muscle fibres (muscle aching) and it is this damage that allows the body to repair and strengthen the muscle. If we do too much too soon the muscle aching is enough to put us off exercising, therefore a controlled exercise regime such as the BBC Couch to 5K can greatly increase the likelihood of success. If running isn’t your thing then there are other options to improve your strength which only need a couple of minutes a day. Please ask your Chiropractor for more information.

— BEING THE BEST YOU CAN BE —

Push yourself - joining local exercise groups give you an excellent source of support whilst you get stronger and often add a bit of fun competitiveness. The thought of going out on a cold wet day to walk ‘that mountain’, ‘run that 5k’ or ‘cycle up that climb’ is a lot easier if you know that everyone else is suffering too. More importantly you most certainly would have deserved the cup of coffee at the end to warm back up. For those who are particularly keen you could sign up for a charity run/swim/cycle/walk to give you a goal to aim for. There are plenty of options and if you would like pointing in the right direction with regard to training or indeed, maintaining your activity, just ask your Chiropractor.