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In last week’s post, I mentioned an accident I suffered (in a store where I slipped on debris), and I began to think about physical pain people suffer (beyond injuries.) Although I did not cause that accident and pain, I have made mistakes that did cause my own pain. Yet kind people have taught me how to correct those mistakes. They also helped me avoid further pain and injuries by teaching me about stretching and safe exercises that my body type can do. I have also come to recognize the importance of continuous movement throughout the day to avoid the pain of inactivity. I don’t mean the pain of illness and structural flaws but the pain that could be compared to the “Tin Woodsman” in the Wizard of Oz. He had rusted and could no longer move. So let’s look at ways we can avoid physical pain.
As I thought about that fall in the grocery store, I realized that God had spared me from worse damage. The store manager said my legs had gone out from under me in the splits. But I cannot do the splits, so some things in my legs were torn, but not irreparably. I realize that if I had been stiff-bodied or weak I would have been carried out of the store on a stretcher. My daughter, Amy, actually helped me about half a year ago. I had mentioned that my hips had begun to hurt while I did my dead lifts (without much weight, since I am not very strong.) She had a different problem, although her pain came her hips too. While her hip flexors were very limber, they needed to be strong. She recognized that although I kept my hips strong, I needed to stretch mine. When I first tried to do the stretch, it hurt terribly. But I remembered my misery trying to do the dead lift. I could no longer fully do that lift, and I moved like a robot, because it hurt so much. So I kept at the stretches, and eventually the stretch stopped hurting. My hips also stopped hurting when I did the dead lift, and I could fully do it again.
Over the years I have noticed my girls doing another hip stretch, although I do it on my back with bent knees and legs in the air. These stretches helped make my legs and hips at least a bit more flexible. When I fell, I did not tear every single muscle and connective tissue in my legs. I was hurt but able to limp (in great pain) out of the store. I still have pain, but far less than I did when the accident first happened.
My knee has been hurt the worst, not my hip, but I still consider this a miracle. I thank God, because a person can limp with a knee brace, but I suspect a person cannot walk at all with a damaged hip. I have been applying DMSO and a variety of essential oils. Here is a link to DMSO if you want to try it: https://goto.walmart.com/c/3255743/565706/9383?veh=aff&sourceid=imp_000011112222333344&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fip%2FLow-odor-DMSO-Dimethyl-sulfoxide-liquid-3-4-Oz-100ml-Pharmaceutical-grade-High-purity-Heiltropfen%2F1783448088%3FclassType%3DREGULAR%26athbdg%3DL1600%26adsRedirect%3Dtrue
Here is a link to a variety of arnica oils https://goto.walmart.com/c/3255743/565706/9383?veh=aff&sourceid=imp_000011112222333344&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Darnica%2Boil
I have mentioned DMSO and its safety in prior posts. This wonderful lotion brings down inflammation, and I have not taken any oral meds (aspirin, Tylenol, ibuprofen, etc.) for the injuries, because I have ulcer problems, so I avoid anything that could hurt my stomach.
But getting beyond accidents and injuries, both flexibility and strength help bodies in so many other ways. I am dismayed by how many lovely people now have necks that jut forward, and shoulders slump. Sadly I have been one of the people with slumping shoulders, and I want to encourage you to do the same test I accidentally did on myself, over six years ago. Stand in front of the mirror in what you consider a comfortable, natural posture. When I happened to see my reflection, while standing “naturally,” I was horrified to realize I was severely slouching. Slouching was my “natural, comfortable posture.” Standing up straight felt unnatural and forced, ugh! Ever since then, I have been challenging myself to stand up straight. I remind myself to tilt my chin up to avoid the “head jutted out” posture. I have mentioned, in earlier posts about the posture brace I wear a few times a week. Some people have mistakenly thought the brace makes backs lazy by “holding them up.” Here is a quick link to show you several of these posture correctors. https://goto.walmart.com/c/3255743/565706/9383?veh=aff&sourceid=imp_000011112222333344&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dposture%2520corrector%2520for%2520women%26typeahead%3Dposture
The brace actually stretches my shoulders back to the proper position. When we slouch, the muscles in our back stretch too much, and the muscles and tissue in our chest do not stretch enough, so they become too tight while the back muscles/tissue are over stretched. The posture brace forces the front of my body to stretch back. Basically I have an imbalance. I lean forward too much.
So I have also come up with a simple plan, though I have not mastered it perfectly. I try every hour to look directly up at the sky and then bend my head back. I don’t do this every hour (sigh,) but I do it a few times each day. Last year I added a short 5 minute exercise, the “bridge.” I do it three times per week, but I only last for one minute, and I take a break before doing another set. I cannot do a back bend like gymnasts. But I can lay on the floor with my knees bent and feet flat on the floor and with my hands behind me. Then I push my belly up into the air. That is all I do for one minute, five times. But I think it helps make me more flexible.
I have also mentioned the hard foam rollers. These help release tension in muscles and fascia (the connective tissue surrounding muscles.) Long ago, when I was lifting weights at home, my legs became so tight, I mistakenly thought I had injured myself and ended up on crutches. But my brother told me he had been told his legs were too tight, and he had to begin stretching them. I realized another mistake! I had tight legs, not injured ones. And I learned that “tight muscles” are not admirable. They produce pain and injuries, as my pain had testified. When I first began to use the hard foam roller, I thought I had several bruises on my legs, because it hurt so much. So I stopped and looked at my legs but felt bewildered, because I could not find any bruises. Then I realized, the legs were so tight, most of their surface was all knotted up. I was a mess! I had to continue to use the roller, every day, and do the rolling motion for at least a few passes. Over time, the pain went away, and I felt relief, knowing I was doing the right thing. I have added a link for the foam roller here: .https://goto.walmart.com/c/3255743/565706/9383?veh=aff&sourceid=imp_000011112222333344&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fip%2FProsourceFit-High-Density-Foam-Roller-36-18-12-inches%2F3727544351%3FclassType%3DVARIANT%26athbdg%3DL1600%26from%3D%2Fsearch
I suspect I don’t need to tell you what to do to stretch, because you probably have an intuitive sense of ways you can bend and stretch, and I don’t want to bore my readers with too many details. My main goal is to challenge my readers to consider any places where they have aches and pains. First, see your doctor to rule out structural flaws, illness, etc. But if your doctor says you are fine, and your intuition also says your body is not damaged, just tight, then please be gentle and patient with yourself. But do begin to stretch. If you would like to know more about stretches and exercises I do, I would love to tell you about them. But for brevity sake, I want to close this post by reminding my readers that God has called us to live our lives in motion. Some people are injured or sick, and they cannot move as much. That is not a sin. We must live with the limits God gives us. But as much as your body allows you, gently move it. Stretching does not take hours. You can even do some stretches while you ride as a passenger in the car (like gentle neck stretches) or while watching a program, and especially during commercials. In fact, I want to challenge you, if you watch programs, aim to take a break and stretch every thirty minutes.
Unfortunately the sin nature has taken our bodies and changed them from beautiful forms that feel no pain (Adam and Eve in Eden before the fall of sin) and turned them into forms that slouch, get stiff and like me, that make exercise and posture mistakes so that they ache. But wise people have come up with stretches and exercises we can do to care for our bodies when they ache from poor posture, over use, imbalance, injuries, and other issues that are not extreme (as I said, see a doctor for extreme issues.) So please accept my challenge to listen to your body, and figure out if you need to stretch more. If you are unsure of how, you can ask your doctor for a referral for physical therapy, because physical therapists really know the muscles and connective tissue of the body. They can assess you and give you exercises and stretches that can help. And of course, you can probably figure out many of these too by listening to your body and just gently moving to elongate anything you have allowed to become cramped and tight.
Paul told Timothy, (1Tim.4:8) “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come.” Paul did admit that exercise is of some profit, because we need to move our bodies. In Paul’s day, people could not afford to sit for long hours. They had to walk and do frequent physical work, since there was no electricity, nor were there cars. So their daily life gave them physical exercise. Today we have so many conveniences that we have to consciously add some physical movement back into our lives. We can ask God to guide us in how we do that so we are gentle and do not harm ourselves but instead bring relief to bodies that were aching from inactivity and tight tissues.
So as you figure out your own methods of moving your body, may the Lord bless you this week. Thanks for joining us in this post!