Many people hear the terms “working out” or “physically fit” and quickly shutter in reaction to thinking about their fitness or health level in comparison to others. Feeling inadequate or lacking motivation to workout, stay active, stretch, etc. is a common feeling among many during recent years – especially after being at home during a world-wide pandemic.
Whether you’ve been working out/staying active your whole life or are just beginning, there are options for everyone to take care of their bodies & minds by staying active regularly – not just for the physical appearance, but for the overall health and wellness of your body.
Below is a message from Dr. Bozak explaining his take on physical fitness, limitations, and benefits of staying active.
“Not long ago I participated in a CrossFit Health course, receiving a certification to coach athletes and learn more about how fitness and health are intertwined. Over the years, some people have only associated CrossFit with injuries and/or the thought that it was too extreme of an exercise. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyone can participate, including my young daughters from the age of 5 , or my parents who are in their 70s.
I have been doing CrossFit regularly for over 6 years now, and I have never felt healthier and functionally fit. To me, that means being able to carry both my daughters (they are 7 and 8 now) upstairs to bed at the same time, or have fun running around and playing with them without getting hurt or worrying about a potential injury.”
Everyone’s health follows a spectrum from elite level fitness and metabolic health at the top end, to disease and sickness at the bottom end. The closer you can get to the top end of that spectrum, the further away from sickness you will be. You will be able to resist and fight off infections better, and even recover from injury faster. In the time of Covid this couldn’t be more prominent.
It’s not just about being fast or strong, but about having a healthy immune system, reducing chronic inflammation in the body, and being able to do all the daily activities and hobbies you want to do safely with a low risk of injury – even as you age.
Now, doing any kind of activity is not without risk. When you start lifting weights or doing different body movements, there is a certain load you are putting on your joints, tendons, and ligaments that may be unfamiliar to them. If done correctly this is beneficial over time to strengthen not only the muscles that support your joints, but to strengthen your tendons and ligaments too.
A tendon is something that connects your muscle to a bone, and a ligament is something that connects two different bones together. Both play a vital role in any movement you might be doing, from exercising to daily activities such as: cleaning, getting dressed, or cooking. Unfortunately, these structures can be damaged both acutely with an injury, or chronically with wear and tear over time.
When a tendon is acutely inflamed, we call that tendinitis and there is a specific treatment to help that subside. But if a tendon slowly wears out over time, we call that a tendinopathy and the treatment options are different.
Pennsylvania Pain & Spine uses ultrasound technology to visualize tendons and ligaments in a patient’s body, allowing for proper diagnosis of the problem and also for imaging-guided treatments. For inflammation, steroid medication can be injected around a tendon to minimize or remove pain, and for more chronic tendon or ligament pain regenerative type injections help to get the body’s natural repair processes going again.
Some people see the name Pennsylvania Pain and Spine and think the only treatments are for neck and back pain when in reality there are options for many different parts of the body.
“In my almost 10 years of practice, I may have injected close to every joint and tendon in the body! Most of these joint and tendon issues don’t need surgery, as we have many less invasive options today.”
So what is the key to longevity? MOVEMENT!
You have to keep moving. Whether it be your back, or some other smaller area of pain from head to toe. If it is limiting your ability to move somehow, it should be looked at.
Now get up and move!
