Did you know that doing regular significant amounts of walking can keep you looking and feeling younger as you move from your 50’s into your 60’s and 70’s? Of the several thousand patients I have had the privilege of treating over the last decade, it has been noticeable that a significant few of those who have reached 50 and beyond have a glow of health and youthfulness that is quite different from the usual.
This is especially noticeable in the healthy appearance and feel of the skin, the tone of the muscles, their ability to recover from injury and general vitality. What they all have in common is that they walk, run, cycle or swim a lot (on average more that 5 or 6 hours a week). So regular exercise is something that I have taken up myself and always recommend, but with certain health warnings.
When a body undertakes a great deal of repetitive movement, any existing asymmetry in the body (By this I mean the tendency to put more pressure on one side of the body than the other when walking or running) can add up to a lot of stress in a joint, ultimately resulting in arthritis.
Having good alignment is really important, especially if you are regularly exercising or starting to do more. If you feel that you have a tendency to favour one side, and you can easily tell, either by the fact that you get more aches and pains on either the left or right side of your body, or when you look in the mirror or at photos you notice that one shoulder is higher than the other. This normally originates from a quite natural and correctable twist in the pelvis.
Fortunately correcting this kind of issue is the bread and butter of an Osteopath who uses manual therapy techniques and exercise advice. If you have a suspicion that you may be favouring one side more than the other then it would be well worth getting checked out at our clinic in Ottery St Mary. It could be a great investment for a youthful,active and comfortable future life.
