Life’s Too Busy For Exercise

Well, it’s a busy time of life! People over forty have a very busy work life, they are often at the peak of their career, have a young to teenage family, and quite often don’t feel they can exercise because they don’t have time for it. They can also often unfortunately experience the ‘creeping on’ of weight as the years have gone by. They have less energy, feel tired, and often are not actually sleeping enough, which can be a major contributing factor and one frequently overlooked. The over forty set have issues with regards to reduced general flexibility, stiffness, poor posture - and they have aches and pains they have never had before!

By the time you hit forty ... you are starting to feel the effects of gravity! 

Sometimes, poor posture has always been there, but now has begun to cause problems and whether we like it or not, our flexibility has reduced as time goes by. Hence, if it never was very good to begin with, it now just becomes further compounded, in both your spine and all your other joints. Your spinal posture is closely linked with everything - ie. what you are doing with your spine is linked to your problems with your shoulders, which of course affects what happens with the rest of your arms. This happens in the same way that poor foot posture affects the whole body.

Is Physical Work Really Enough Exercise?

The type of job occupation a person has can greatly affect flexibility, stiffness and the posture of a person. But what must be remembered is that a person who is labouring can be just as much at risk as someone who has a very sedentary job even though they generally tend to be a little bit fitter. So, regardless of what someone does for a living, they can often develop very similar problems for very many reasons - as time goes by. Frequently we see at the centre, tradespersons or people with very physical jobs who believe they do not need to go to the gym or do any exercise at all because they do enough at work. But in effect, they are spending all day doing ‘bad exercise’ and really need to counteract that with ‘good exercise’!

Living with The Pain!

The other tricky problem is that a lot of people have a gradual onset of reduced flexibility, stiffness and poor posture and as a result get used to these things, and feel the problem gets ‘easier to live with’ - over time. This is compounded by the fact that they go to the doctor who may prescribe anti inflammatory, cholesterol or blood pressure pills, where appropriate, which may offer some relief but does not address the actual source of the problem. So a lot of people believe that this form of treatment is going to ‘sort out the problem’, and sadly don’t attempt to actually solve the cause of the problem - which of course will make a big difference in the long term. 

Sorting Out the Problem

Unfortunately we see many clients who have had an innumerable amount of tests and scans before even being assessed by a physiotherapist - who could possibly provide a more accurate determination of the source of the problem. At the centre, we are able to refer our clients for X-rays and scans when we feel it is appropriate, and will refer them to the doctor or an appointment specialist when necessary. We always recommend everybody get a full health check, but where there is a continual effect of reduced flexibility, stiffness and poor posture, a visit to the physio could address the source of the problem - and make life easier - over time!