You need coordination, not strength
You need this
Photo by Loic Leray on Unsplash
Not this
At least once per week, I have a conversation with a potential client or new client about how weak they are. Most often these individuals recently had a baby, but sometimes it has been years since. Often these individuals have felt weak for less than a year, but some have been working out in a variety of ways and still feel weak years later. When I actually evaluate these clients, most are not weak. I know they are not weak from clinical testing, and I can further prove it as they respond to treatment. If you started feeling weak pretty suddenly, without a dramatic decrease in your activity level, or even after increasing workouts and activity level, then you are likely not weak either. Instead you lack coordination of your neuromuscular system and require reeducation not strengthening.
To simplify that:
Your brain is not communicating with your muscles in the most efficient way and/or your muscles are turning on and off in a less efficient pattern.
When this happens your brain needs to be reeducated to improve communication. The good news is that this is a faster process then true strengthening. The bad news is that it can be more complicated. You can quickly google some exercises to strengthen your quads, abdominal muscles, biceps, triceps, lats, and even your pelvic floor, but you cannot google to figure out how to reeducate your neurological system or neuromuscular system. The internet has everything, so you can likely find a few blogs and articles with a few ides, but you won’t find a customized answer. Your current movement habits are just that, habits. One of the most important parts of physical therapy, and the real reason you should see one every year for a check up, is to figure out what habits of movement you are currently using, analyze those habits based on our knowledge of the human body to determine which are working well and which are not working well for your body, and to teach you to improve your movement patterns. Ideally, we teach you exercises or movements to utilize which will reeducate your neuromuscular system so that you learn new habits, which work better for your body.
Ready to reeducate your body?