There are a few terms that you may notice repeated on our blog writings and newsletters. These terms are important to understand in your battle against spondylolisthesis so we thought it would be a great idea to talk about them more in depth.
The following terms are addressed with our clients and patients through various exercises to help improve how they move and how they feel. Over the next few weeks we will break down each term into a blog post and give examples of how you can improve them.
In almost all cases of spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis the individual will lack one if not more of the following foundations of proper movement.
1. Strength
2. Stability
3. Flexibility
4. Mobility
These areas of proper movement are key to reducing the likelyhood of injury.
For spondylolisthesis patients it is extremely important to develop a good level of balance with all four of these areas. Lacking just one area can lead to flare ups, pain, and very long days.
Many times spondylolisthesis therapy or rehab focuses on one or two of these areas of proper movement and leaves out the others. The spondy related pain may subside momentarily, but will only return if all four areas are not addressed.
The following terms are addressed with our clients and patients through various exercises to help improve how they move and how they feel. Over the next few weeks we will break down each term into a blog post and give examples of how you can improve them.
In almost all cases of spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis the individual will lack one if not more of the following foundations of proper movement.
1. Strength
2. Stability
3. Flexibility
4. Mobility
These areas of proper movement are key to reducing the likelyhood of injury.
For spondylolisthesis patients it is extremely important to develop a good level of balance with all four of these areas. Lacking just one area can lead to flare ups, pain, and very long days.
Many times spondylolisthesis therapy or rehab focuses on one or two of these areas of proper movement and leaves out the others. The spondy related pain may subside momentarily, but will only return if all four areas are not addressed.
Many people think that since they do not play a sport or are not active that improving these areas is not important for them. This could not be further from the truth.
Everyday activities require each and every one of these four areas of proper movement.
Take a simple task such as carrying something. It could be a bag of groceries, a work bag, holding a baby or even the doing the laundry.
Every time this happens the appropriate amount of strength is required to lift the object. The proper amount of stability is required to help with support. Flexibility and mobility are also called upon to help your body achieve the right positions. And this doesn’t include the strength and stability that are required to walk while the weight of the object applies resistance to one side of the body.
If you lack any of these areas (strength, stability, flexibility or mobility), something has to be altered to help you pick up that briefcase or carry that bag of groceries. You may compensate by using your back more or you may lean to the side to make up for the lack of flexibility.
Once compensation occurs, stress soon follows to tissues and areas that are not meant to handle the stress (often the low back for spondy patients).
Tasks that may appear to be simple can lead to pain if these four foundations of proper movement are not working together.
Everyday activities require each and every one of these four areas of proper movement.
Take a simple task such as carrying something. It could be a bag of groceries, a work bag, holding a baby or even the doing the laundry.
Every time this happens the appropriate amount of strength is required to lift the object. The proper amount of stability is required to help with support. Flexibility and mobility are also called upon to help your body achieve the right positions. And this doesn’t include the strength and stability that are required to walk while the weight of the object applies resistance to one side of the body.
If you lack any of these areas (strength, stability, flexibility or mobility), something has to be altered to help you pick up that briefcase or carry that bag of groceries. You may compensate by using your back more or you may lean to the side to make up for the lack of flexibility.
Once compensation occurs, stress soon follows to tissues and areas that are not meant to handle the stress (often the low back for spondy patients).
Tasks that may appear to be simple can lead to pain if these four foundations of proper movement are not working together.
If you participate in sports or athletic events the importance of these areas functioning properly is increased. The running, changing directions or jumping in sports requires much more strength, stability, flexibility and mobility when compared to less demanding activites.
The first thing you should do is to determine where your current levels are. Your current strength, stability, flexibility and mobility levels can be determined by a screen or evaluation. We talked about this more HERE.
Secondly, you need to determine where you want your levels to be. To determine where you levels need to be you need to think about the demands of your daily activities.
Do you like to run on a daily basis? If so the pounding and repetitive stress on the joints in the hips and knees would require more strength and stability that someone who enjoys swimming as their hobby. Therefore your therapy should include a strong emphasis on all four areas of proper movement.
If you like to play golf then you would need more stability and flexibility when being compared to someone who likes to go for walks every now and then.
Everyone is different and requires different levels of strength, stability, flexibility and mobility to succeed and limit the pain.
Understanding these four terms and relating them to your daily activates will go a long way in speeding up your recovery process for your spondylolisthesis.
Improving your spondylolisthesis pain over the long run is more complicated than just stretching this or strengthening that. It is important to improve all of these four previously mentioned areas throughout the entire body.
This is the formula we used when creating our SpondySolution home program. We put a balanced emphasis on all four areas of strength, stability, mobility and flexibility to help those who suffer from spondy's achieve proper movement and lasting relief.
Follow along in the next weeks to learn more about each area and ways you can improve them. In the mean time check us out on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/SpondySolution. We provide up to the minute posts about our blog and other great reads as well.
The first thing you should do is to determine where your current levels are. Your current strength, stability, flexibility and mobility levels can be determined by a screen or evaluation. We talked about this more HERE.
Secondly, you need to determine where you want your levels to be. To determine where you levels need to be you need to think about the demands of your daily activities.
Do you like to run on a daily basis? If so the pounding and repetitive stress on the joints in the hips and knees would require more strength and stability that someone who enjoys swimming as their hobby. Therefore your therapy should include a strong emphasis on all four areas of proper movement.
If you like to play golf then you would need more stability and flexibility when being compared to someone who likes to go for walks every now and then.
Everyone is different and requires different levels of strength, stability, flexibility and mobility to succeed and limit the pain.
Understanding these four terms and relating them to your daily activates will go a long way in speeding up your recovery process for your spondylolisthesis.
Improving your spondylolisthesis pain over the long run is more complicated than just stretching this or strengthening that. It is important to improve all of these four previously mentioned areas throughout the entire body.
This is the formula we used when creating our SpondySolution home program. We put a balanced emphasis on all four areas of strength, stability, mobility and flexibility to help those who suffer from spondy's achieve proper movement and lasting relief.
Follow along in the next weeks to learn more about each area and ways you can improve them. In the mean time check us out on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/SpondySolution. We provide up to the minute posts about our blog and other great reads as well.
