I have lived a very active life. Looking back, I realize how incredibly fortunate I have been to avoid major injuries and illnesses through all the adventures. Granted, I have spent the majority of my life conditioning my body to be able to perform any task I chose to tackle. Yet conditioning is not a guarantee you will remain injury free. Sometimes stuff happens, and no matter how prepared your body is, it can only withstand so much. The important thing is not to panic and realize that your body is doing the best it can in that moment. Here is an example:

I was recently at home, sitting in my favorite chair, working on my laptop reviewing some videos of exercises to improve visual ability. I decided to attempt some of the exercises which involved making rapid eye movements. I imagined following an object around the room as it traced the letters of the alphabet in a grand fashion. As my eyes ricocheted all around, I could feel how my nervous system was beginning to get agitated. I ignored the agitation and sped up my eye movement a little bit longer before I stopped. These exercises, when done with the proper intensity and in the right amount, can be very beneficial to the nervous system and the rest of the body. However, performed at too high of an intensity, or too much volume, it can place the nervous system in a fight or flight response.

It would appear that I received the latter effect. It was only a few minutes after stopping the eye exercises that I began to feel my right knee become uncomfortable. I have never had right knee issues. I had not done anything to it, nor had I strained it earlier in the day. It just began to get stiff and sore. I tried moving it around and crossing my legs, but it just kept getting worse. Eventually, it forced me out of my chair, and I attempted to walk it off. Within a few more minutes, I could barely place weight on my right leg, and the pain in my knee had become excruciating. I tried getting to the floor and lying on my back to take weight off my knee, but that just made matters worse. There seemed to be no position that would alleviate the pain. I limped into my bedroom and struggled to get on the bed. That is when my body temperature began to drop, and the chills set in. I pulled the covers up and proceeded to sweat as if I had a fever.

My family witnessed my descent and were concerned something was really wrong. Some suggested I go see a doctor or head to the emergency room. I told them that I was going to just continue to observe what happened next. If the pain got worse, I might take them up on their offer. For the moment, I was going to just work through it. I was sure I had the tools I needed to get out of this situation. After all, the problem was not my knee. I had done nothing to my knee. It didn’t get wrenched or hit, and I hadn’t felt it until stopping the eye exercises. It was my nervous system trying to protect me. I needed to let my brain know that everything was okay.

I got out of bed and began to explore what my knee was able to do. Once I found some pain-free movements, I began to add more movements to it. My body temperature began returning to normal, and I was able to place more weight on my right leg. I continued to explore basic movements while loading and unloading weight on my right leg, until I was able to walk around without pain. Throughout the rest of that night and on into the next day, I continued to gain proper movement back into my body. My knee pain was gone within a couple of days, but the experience of how my body adapted will stay with me a long time.

  It was the craziest thing to know that nothing was wrong as the pain increased. It was equally strange to be an objective observer of my own body as it went through such an experience. The urge to panic grew as the pain grew. Yet, I consciously kept reassuring myself that it would be okay, and I could get out of what I got myself into.

This is not to say that joint pain is always the result of the nervous system surging into a protective state. Joint pain can occur for a variety of reasons. However, it does make me wonder how often we experience pain, not because of injury but because the brain is trying to find a way to deal with what the body experiences. Then, instead of thoroughly exploring the “whys,” we just automatically default to medication, bed rest, and doctor visits.

There were many lessons I learned from this weird event. The first being that the nervous system is nothing you should play around with. It is very powerful and should be given the respect it deserves. The other lesson is that we have many tools to help our own bodies get out of trouble. There is always a position the body can be in that is pain-free. We just need to be able to find it.

Riddle of the day: What does a river, a newspaper, and the human body all have in common?

Answer: Things go bad when their circulation drops.

If water were to stop flowing down a river it would eventually dry up and no longer exist. If nobody subscribed to a newspaper the company would end up going out of business. When the human body reduces circulation a whole myriad of problems can ensue. These are the problems you often hear people, or find yourself, complaining about: joint pain, excessive muscle tension, tendinitis, restless legs, arthritis, low energy, shortness of breath, dizziness, neuropathy, numbness, and tingling.

There is a very simple remedy for many of these issues: it’s called movement. In some cases, it might need to be a specific movement, but for most people a simple walk can achieve wonders. Walking is what drives organic function. When we walk, all of the 206 bones, 360 joints, and over 650 muscles move through the full range of motion in three-dimensional space. The muscles create a pumping mechanism that helps circulate fluids (not just blood) throughout the body. It causes a greater uptake of oxygen and improves the overall gas exchange in our respiratory system. It can also help achieve better hormonal balance, digestion, and state of mind.

Try this little experiment some time when you have been inactive (like sitting at a desk for more than thirty minutes). Before getting out of the chair, perform a mental check-in with how your body feels. Are there any areas that ache or feel too much tension? What is your emotional state? How is your energy level? Are you alert or is your mind tending to wander?

Now get up from the chair and go outside for a five-minute brisk walk. Maintain a gentle awareness of your surroundings and if your body experiences any kind of change. After five minutes, head back inside to your chair, but do not sit down. Stand by your chair and perform another mental check-in. Has anything changed? Are there more or less aches? How much tension is experienced? What is your emotional state? How is your energy level? Are you more or less alert?

If you noticed a change in any of these areas, you have proven the point. The body needs to move on a very regular basis. For most people, it needs to move more than it currently does. The cool thing about this little experiment is that it creates a noticeable change in a very short amount of time. The sad part is that the body will also revert back to its previous state if you sit back down for a long time. The key is to break up your time spent being inactive with short bursts of gentle activity. It will not only improve your circulation, but it will also improve your feeling of happiness. So stop reading this rant and go for a walk.

My son and I were recently studying the Revolutionary War and the events leading up to it. We read about the Stamp Act, the Townshend Act, the Quartering Act, the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. After studying these events he asked me why. Why did these things happen? I told him because the King of England wanted a debt repaid.

I explained that several years earlier the colonists were threatened in the north by the French and local natives, who attacked them and tried to conquer more land. The King of England sent military forces to the colonies to protect them. This cost a lot of money which needed to be repaid. The king tried to get his money back by taxing the colonists, but the colonists had other ideas.

It is very important that we study history in order to understand where we find ourselves today. I relay this story because it is very similar to when a person develops pain in their body. There is always a reason for pain. It does not just appear on a whim. It is a reaction to some action.

I had a man come see me who had been suffering from lower back pain for almost two years. He had tried several approaches to addressing his pain and although some helped there was not one thing that was truly successful.

We began with making a timeline of all of his injuries, significant illnesses, accidents, etc. Trying to get an idea of what occurred before the back pain which might have led to where he now finds himself. There was a basketball injury to his left leg thirty years ago, back in his high school days. That was followed by a left knee surgery to repair an injury he sustained while playing baseball not long after the first injury. The were some other episodes like a broken finger and impact to his right shoulder but the high school injuries were what interested me the most.

When we captured his gait on video we could see quite easily that he was not wanting to place much of his weight over his left leg. Even though his injury had occurred decades ago his body was still moving like it was yesterday. This was causing the muscles on his right side to undergo a lot more work to support him with every step he took. It also meant that his spine was having to adjust to living over his right leg and was never given a chance to experience what life was like over the left leg.

Could this gait pattern have been created thirty years ago and never went away? The answer is yes. Unless proper movement patterns get reestablished the strategy the unconscious mind develops to stay away from pain and future injury will continue. Remember, it took 13 years after the French & Indian war ended for Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. It might take thirteen years for pain to develop from an early injury.

There is a direct correlation between emotions and the quality of posture. When someone is feeling depressed, they hold a much different posture than a person who is completely elated. But which came first, the posture or the emotion? Could changing one cause a change in the other? It turns out that it is hard to separate the two. Try this silly little demonstration to get a better understanding.

Stand with your feet hip width apart. Begin to feel the heaviness of your arms and shoulders as they begin to slump forward and down. Feel how your head begins to draw forward and your spine begins to collapse. Allow you knees to bend and experience the weight of your body in your legs. Now say out loud, “I feel really happy!”

Did you let out a little giggle? Pretty hard to convince yourself that you feel happy? Feeling just the opposite while holding your posture in that position?
Now try standing tall with your shoulders drawn back and arms by your side. Feel your chest lift as the top of your head lifts toward the ceiling. Take a deep breath and say, “I feel really sad.” How convincing is that?

A change in posture is an unconscious reaction to some type of physiological, hormonal, or emotional experience. A physical injury, such as a sprained ankle, will cause a person to shift weight away from the injury and reform their posture to reduce the pain response. A reduction in serotonin will have a direct effect on a how a person feels and supports their weight. And, as you might have just experienced, emotions can have a tremendous impact on how balanced you are.

We already know that improving a person’s posture can reduce pain and compensations, but could it also have a positive effect on their hormonal balance and emotional wellbeing? What if improving your feeling of wellbeing was as simple as breathing? Crazier things have happened! Let’s do one more experiment.

First, as you stand comfortably, check in with how you feel. What is your emotional state? How does your body feel? Are there areas of tension? Next, place one hand against the center of your chest and one hand on your tummy. Feel how you breathe. Do you breathe more from the chest or more from the tummy? Continue to keep your hands in place. As you inhale, try to breathe into the tummy only. Can you keep the chest still as you fill your tummy? Take six deep inhalations through your nostrils and breathe out twice as long through your mouth. Now just walk around and see how you feel.

Stand as you did when you began this experiment and check in with how you feel now. Did anything change? What’s different? What’s the same? By breathing in to the mid-section you are more likely to turn on your “core” muscles which help maintain proper posture. Just a simple thing like breathing could help improve posture and have a tremendous effect on how you hold yourself and how you feel.

Obviously, this is not the answer to all of life’s problems but when you catch yourself in a less than desirable mood, take a moment to check in with your posture and maybe take a few deep breaths. Who knows, maybe things will appear just a bit better?