Hey Everybody! Its Karen from Wellness Works NW! How are you doing out there? Can you believe that September is here! This has been a very quick month! I was sitting here thinking about what happens to people. We like to specialize in people who are chronically ill. This is an area that we think we can really help people. Today I want to talk about Muscular Atrophy.
Muscular Atrophy is a terribly common thing that happens to people. It happens when people lose the muscle ability they once had. People who are not moving a lot because they have been in an accident or have had a stroke and they in healing mode get muscular atrophy. These types of traumas make it hard to get the muscles going again. You need to work with your doctor and also exercise to get that agility and flexibility you once had. Sometimes getting back to where you used to be is going to take a lot of exercises, like stretching and range of motion movement. This is not always easy and while you are getting your agility and flexibility back, you may be losing muscle mass. So we will have to work to work those muscles back to where they used to be.
There are 3 different ways to experience Muscular Atrophy:
Physiological: This is where you may have had a stroke and you must go through therapy to get the muscles to work again. I had an aneurism, several years ago, and it was thought that maybe I would have some muscle loss, but I was very blessed where I didn’t have to go through physical therapy but it did take a while to get things moving again.
Pathological: This comes with just getting older and you really need to move. Studies have found that the older we get, the more we need exercise. You don’t need to jumping around on a trampoline but walking is really good. Anytime where you can get some resistance exercise it is important, this will help with arthritis and muscular atrophy. You don’t necessarily have to go to a gym to do that. So think about that.
Neurogenic: This is the most severe form of muscular atrophy. This happens when you have had some sort of trouble with your spine. Maybe you were in a wreck or had a bad fall. It is the hardest one to work through.
When you have noticed that you can’t move like you used to it is always best to exercise. If I could impress on you anything, I would like to encourage you to move your body. Moving is so important to feeling better.
We have this thing called muscle memory where your body remembers doing particular activities or athletics. If you get back to doing similar activities, this will usually come right back. But you must start with stretching. Often our posture is really bad because we are looking down at our phones a lot and we forget to stand up straight when we are walking. I know I talk about this a lot and I will continue to do this because we need really focus on our posture. If we don’t stretch and move correctly, we will notice that our back can get used to being hunched over and it is hard to correct. It may even become impossible to correct. Many times we have jobs where we have sit and I totally understand that but even just a little bit of movement will make a difference.
You can even do some exercises at your desk. Like moving your shoulders up and down toward the front and back will loosen up those shoulders. You may hear some cracking and it may hurt a bit but that is ok. When you haven’t been moving for a long time, your joints might get stuck and we want to get them loose and in the right spot.
I want to show you and an exercise that you can do on the floor. Start by getting down on the floor and lie on your stomach. I want you to put your arms out the side and lift them up and back to get your shoulders to go back. It might be hard to do this if you haven’t been moving but it want you tot try. Another way to move is to put your hands behind your neck, from this same position on the floor. And then come up with your torso and legs to stretch your back and abs.
Movement is your friend. You’ve got to move it, move it, move it. Really. Keep me informed with what you are doing. Send me an email about what you are doing this week that is different to karen@wellnessworksnw.com
I am sending you all kinds of wonderful vibes and positive prayers.
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Karen G. Clemenson is not a doctor or a scientist. She is a real person that eats too much sometimes and misses her workout on occasion but is mindful of her path toward wellness, all the time.
Karen understands that your physical wellness does not begin and end with your membership to a local gym. She knows that weight loss management begins with steps; some small and some large. These steps include diet, physical activity and retraining of the thoughts and habits that keep you from being successful on your path toward wellness.
