It is almost 4 months post-knee surgery and my rehab could not be going better. The saying I use many times every day to my patients could not ring truer. “Life is motion”. This phrase has a whole new meaning to me now. Yes, life is motion, but the quality of motion is the important thing.
After my injury, even before surgery, I began working with Anita Luck, a Movement Specialist, Fellow of Applied Functional Science, and trained by the Gray Institute. Just as dogs wag their tails when they bark, all our body motions are integrated. With Anita’s guidance I am learning how to make all body motions more fluid, and work together in all planes of motion. A big goal is to get me back on the tennis court without limitations, preferably without need of a brace and hopefully stronger than before my injury. To do this I need to get my knee strong enough and muscle reaction time quick enough so no matter what position my foot is in when it hits the ground, the muscles around my knee can do their job. When you go to the gym and use exercise machines, for the most part you are working the muscle and the joints in one plain of motion. As part of my functional exercises I am exercising my muscles and moving my joints through all 6 cardinal planes motions. (Forward and back, side to side, and rotation). Balance through these motions are also being challenged as I do many of my exercises on 1 leg.
I am also learning how to integrate my whole body into these motions so I am more fluid and can generate more power whether swinging a tennis racquet, golf club, and even peforming chiropractic adjustments. As a result I am getting stronger and my body is learning how to adapt more quickly . I have been doing a lot of swimming, especially during last month’s heat wave. I was amazed at how my body rotated as I did the crawl stroke. I have never rotated so much or with as much ease, while swimming. All of these lessons I am passing on to my patients as they transition from the pain-relief to the rehabilitation part of their chiropractic care. My goal is get my patients as active as they can be so they can enjoy “pain-free active living” for a lifetime. It’s never too late to learn how to optimize function.
Working with Anita is giving me a new insight on how to get and keep my patients moving. Thank you Anita!
For more information, please feel free to call, or email Anita at:
[email protected] or (781) 888-1712