Author: Ali Lubbers PT, DPT

Golfers reach.  Waiters bow.  Deadlift.  Warrior 3.  Airplane.  Forward fold.  Rock backs.

What do all of these activities have in common? They require isolated movement of your hip joint, also known as a hip hinge.  Bending from the hips helps you to maintain a neutral position of the spine which is a critical movement for function.  As humans, we often need to get close to the floor – for gardening, to pick up laundry, to lift grocery bags, to pick up your children (you get the picture).  If your hip doesn’t hinge well in its socket or your hamstrings limit this movement, the next set of joints that have to get you lower are in your lower back.  While bending the spine isn’t a dangerous or bad thing, we need stability in the spine when lifting or leaning. 

The serratus anterior muscle is a great one to focus on for shoulder strength and health.  It’s also known as the boxer’s muscle. Not only does it keep your shoulder blade stable on your rib cage, it also helps with shoulder protraction and upward rotation.  These actions maintain space in your shoulder joint when you reach or raise your arm. After all, nobody likes the pain of a pinching shoulder.

Mindfulness, meditation, and breathing exercises. Many of these ideas have been hot topics to help with mental health. Interestingly, many of the interventions we use as physical therapists involve practicing mindfulness with exercise and movement. For example, learning to be conscious of how you are moving and breathing, or working to change your posture. 

Recovery can seem like a bad word. Like you’ve done something terrible to yourself that you must atone for.  In terms of exercise, recovery is absolutely necessary in order to progress.  Recovery is the yin to exercise’s yang.  Rest is a crucial part of muscle building and to make changes in soft tissue quality.  This is not to say “rest” is laying on your couch for a year, but we do encourage you to plan rest and recovery into your fitness routine. 

Here in Boise, outdoor exercise can be limited in the summer by high heat and poor air quality.  And in winter, the darkness, mud and cold can slow us down. When the weather is finally nice out, it can be tempting to increase your exercise to “make up” for lost time.  However, this can lead to overuse. We want you to avoid overtraining injuries in the first place. Read on for some tips to avoid injury, and if you’ve already injured yourself, get into physical therapy so you can get back on track.

Whether you have a balance problem with everyday activities or want to feel more secure fly fishing, working on your balance has many benefits. Most of us are aware that we need to strengthen and stretch, but tend to leave out balance exercises as part of our fitness routine. But balancing isn’t just for yogis!