Is this holding you back from the things you love?

As summer is just around the corner, maybe you are gearing up to get in the garden, do your lawn work, get out onto the fairway or return to your favorite activities.

Too often, clients will tell us that discomfort begins after returning or restarting an activity they love to do. Then that discomfort either leads to more pain or they stop their favorite activity altogether because they can no longer do it without discomfort taking away the joy they receive from it. They blame their age, lack of physical ability, and other reasons they can no longer do the activity.

Has that ever happened to you? What if you didn't have to stop? What if it has nothing to do with your age or any reason you thought?
What if the WAY you were doing the activity was causing the problem and not the activity itself?

Here is an example of Lisa, an IMS client that went from not being able to walk more than three blocks without pain to walking three miles.
Lisa is a 55-year-old woman who had knee surgery for a torn ligament. After the surgery, she had physical therapy but continued to have pain and could not walk for more than a couple of blocks without more pain and the knee swelling.

Lisa lives in a larger city, so walking was the easiest way to get around, and more importantly, she loves exploring when traveling and spending her weekends walking to dinners, theaters, and with friends for exercise.

Upon further discussion and assessment, we learned that she had compensated how she was moving due to the pain she experienced before and directly following the surgery. While the surgery fixed the torn ligament and PT worked on getting her stronger after the surgery, it seemed how she was actually moving through her daily life (which may have contributed to the torn ligament) before and after the surgery was not addressed.

We put a plan together to address this, including balancing her muscles, creating better joint alignment, teaching her how to move again free of compensation, and resetting her body if and when she felt she was compensating again.

Lisa now looks forward to traveling again moves comfortably about the city and has returned to walking 3-5 miles on the weekends with friends.

The key was finding what was holding Lisa back from doing what she needed and loved to do and implementing a plan that she could easily follow.

If you have been struggling or even stopped doing activities you need, want, or love to do, from tasks in your home to outdoor activities, reach out and let's talk about how we can work together to get you moving and feeling better.