5 Shockingly Simple Ways to Injury-proof Your Body

You might think that you need to pay a professional to test the health and function of your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments.

But actually there's 5x super simple exercises that you can do in the comfort of your home to self-assess the health and balance of your body:.

These are:

• Body scan
• Eye differentiation exercise
• Foot, ankle, knee and hip synchronisation test
• Hip disassociation test
• Ankle mobility assessment

Doing these 5x simple exercises will help you to be more proactive in reducing the risk of getting chronic injuries like arthritis, joint bursitis, plantar fasciitis etc, that can have a long-term impact on your quality of life.

Let's dive into each exercise...

1) Body Scan

You can do a body scan in many different ways and positions - standing, sitting, lying on your back or walking.

The most important thing is to the scan mindfully, slowly and systematically, without analysing or trying to make sense of whatever you're noticing.

For example, try to avoid doing or thinking this - "I feel like my shoulders are really tight today. Why is that? What could be wrong with them? Maybe it's that new class I did, or the extra gardening at the weekend. What should I do now to make them better? ......"

Instead, simply notice whatever you're noticing or feeling, without any expectations, anticipations or judgements.

The aim of the body scan is to deepen your first person awareness and connection to your body. This is the first step to creating a somatic movement practice.

'Soma' = 'Body'

'Somatic' = 'Of or relating to the body'

In psychology terms, this is a "bottom up" practice (body to brain), as opposed to top down" (brain to body). Talking therapies, such as CBT or counselling, would be examples of "top down" practices.

I love somatic "bottom up" approach. The vagus nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the "super highway" of the body. It constantly delivers information and signals between the body and brain.

80% of the fibres in the vagus nerve run from body TO brain. Therefore it's the body that's mostly talking to the brain, and the brain then responding to those signals it's receiving.

How to do a body scan

• Choose a position - standing / sitting / lying back  / walking
• Starting at the top of your head, scan your mind's attention slowly and systematically down your body, all the way to your toes
• As you scan, notice which muscles feel like they're holding onto tension
• Then, notice which muscles feel relaxed and soft
• Do you notice any differences between the front and the back of your body, the right side and the left side of you body?

As mentioned before, there are many ways that you can do a body scan. This is just one example.

Remember, there are no "right or wrong" answers. The scan is to deepen your awareness of your body - you may notice repeating trends of muscle tension, or different patterns of tension: relaxation depending on whether you've had a busy day vs a chilled day, a good night's sleep vs a poor night's sleep etc.

As you raise your awareness of what's happening in your body, and how it reacts to different circumstances, you then have the power to make informed choices. Instead of being surprised at how your body's feeling, you'll be more proactive at maintaining the health and function of your body.

2) Eye Differentiation Exercise

A differentiation exercise is when we move the eyes and head in different directions.

Caveat: If you feel light headed, dizzy or nauseous when doing this exercise, STOP! This is a symptom of the nervous system becoming confused and overwhelmed. If this happens, do the exercise with the eyes and head moving in the same direction.

The eye differentiation exercise is helpful to reset and rebalance the eyes and head. 

If the eyeballs have moved off centre in their eye socket, or aren't in sync with the head any more, you can notice symptoms like a persistent headache, eye strain, sense of pressure or tension behind the eyes, sinus pain or toothache without a blocked sinus or rotten teeth.

You may also notice other symptoms like vertigo, poor balance when standing on 1 leg or with your eyes shut.

The optic muscle and nerve communicate directly with the trigeminal nerve that runs behind the sinuses and into the jaw and teeth. The optic nerve also talks to the capitus nerve of the capitus muscle. The capitus muscles is attached to the top 2 neck vertebrae - C1 and C2 (atlas and axis). 

How to do the eye differentiation exercise

• Lie on your back in a comfortable position on the floor. Make sure your head is level and you're resting squarely on the back of your skull - use a firm pillow or cushion if required
• Direct your eye gaze to the ceiling above you - can you sense if your eyeballs are in the centre of your eye sockets?
• Keep your head still and turn only your eyes to your right, so you can feel that your eyeballs are now sitting to one side of your eye socket. You may also notice your eye muscle starting to work harder.
• Keeping your eyes to your right, slowly turn your head to the right until it catches up with your eyes, and your eyeballs return to centre in your eye sockets.
• Now, keeping your head to your right, turn only your eyes to centre, so you're looking at the ceiling above you. You'll now feel your eyeballs in the opposite side of your eye socket, and perhaps your eye muscles working harder again. 
• Keeping your eye gaze to the ceiling above you, now slowly turn your head to centre. When your head realigns with your eyes, you'll feel like your eyes are back in the middle of your eye socket, and your eye muscles will relax again. 
• Repeat this whole process to your left.

I've had good success helping people overcome persistent headaches with this eye differentiation exercise. 

I've also had people come up to me after doing this exercise, and mention they're noticing a lot of neck muscle tension that they weren't previously aware of. This can also contribute to symptoms of headaches, migraines and eye strain. Once they're become aware of this neck tension, they can now release it to feel more comfortable - with awareness comes choice and power!

3) Foot, Ankle, Knee and Hip Synchronisation test

I think most people know that the feet are important as the foundations of the body, but I'm not sure if many truly understand how important your feet are to the overall health and function of your body.

Would you agree?

How you use your feet HUGELY influences how you move, balance, stabilise and the long-term health of your joints. 

Conditions such as osteoarthritis, joint bursitis and cysts are NOT an automatic result of getting older. True, ageing doesn't help! But these chronic conditions usually begin from instability, muscle imbalances and altered biomechanics somewhere in the body.

The good news is that, unlike ageing, you CAN do something to improve stability, muscle function and biomechanics.

That's where this test comes in.

The foot, ankle, knee and hip synchronisation test helps you self-assess if these 4x important body parts are working together as Nature designed.

How to do the foot, ankle, knee and hip synchronisation test

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet planted on the floor, hip width apart and parallel to each other
• Roll onto the insides of both feet, so that your knees rest lightly together (there's no need to push the knees together). Hold this position
• Do you notice more muscle tension on the inside and front of your body (eg. adductors / inner thigh, hip flexors, abdominals, chest, front shoulder muscles)?
• Now, roll onto the outside of the feet, so the knees and hips point outwards. Hold this position.
• Do you notice more muscle tension on the outside and back of your body (eg. hamstrings, gluteal muscles, spinal muscles etc)?
• Roll smoothly onto the inside and outside of the feet a few times.

This test brings up several interesting and important observations:

1. The direction of the feet is related to the direction of the ankles, knees and hips
2. When you only use the inside arches of the feet, you only use the inside surfaces of the ankle, knee and hip joints
3. When you only use the inside arches of the feet, there tends to be more tension in the front and inside muscles - adductors (inner thigh), hip flexors, abdominals, chest, front shoulder, neck and jaw
4. When you only use the outside of the feet, you only use the outside surfaces of the ankle, knee and hip joints
5. When you only use the outside of the feet, there tends to be more tension in the back and outside muscles - hamstrings, gluteal muscles, spinal muscles, back of the neck, eyes and jaw.
6. The feet, ankles, knees and hips are designed to move together at the same speed 

Can you seen how influential the feet are for muscle tone and long-term joint health?

If the feet aren't level and balanced on the ground, you're more likely to unbalance, and either overload a joint or overwork certain muscles. 

4) Hip Disassociation Test

Hip pain is common, especially in women aged 40+. Common diagnoses for hip pain include hip dysplasia, bursitis, impingement and osteoarthritis.

This test will help you assess the health of your hip joints and your core stability. If you're aware that your hips may be at more risk of one of these conditions, you're in a much better position to make changes BEFORE pain starts.

How to do the hip disassociation test

• Lie comfortably on your back with your knees bent and feet planted on the floor, hip width apart and parallel
• Pick up your right foot and place your right hand either on top of or behind your knee
• Bend your knee and wait for the hip muscles to fully relax - you'll feel your leg becoming light, loose and floppy as the hip muscles relax
• Using your right arm, circle your leg around the hip socket a few times, Then change direction.
• Can you feel if your right thigh is moving around the centre of the joint? If your right thigh makes contact with the inner edge of the joint, you'll feel sensations like clicking, rubbing, grating, rubbing, grinding or friction. 
• Repeat with the left leg and hip

Hip disassociation is the ability of the leg to move independently from the pelvis. To do this, the leg must move within the centre of the joint. If the thigh makes contact with the inside of the joint, a couple of things will happen:

1. On the moving side, every time the thigh rubs against the hip socket it erodes the protective lining of the joint (the labrum), and damages the cartilage of the top of the thigh bone
2. The contact between the moving thigh and the inside of the hip socket creates micro movements of the pelvis on the opposite (supporting) hip. This can result in damage to this hip joint. 

If you can move your leg independently from the pelvis, keeping the thigh consistently in the centre of the joint, you'll lower the risk of getting a painful condition such as hip bursitis, impingement or osteoarthritis, that can severely impair your mobility. You'll also reduce the possibility of needing a hip replacement in the future.

5) Ankle Mobility Assessment

Did you know that if you over-stretch a ligament, it doesn't ever really bounce back to it's original state?

One of the most commonly stretched ligaments is the ankle. You can over-stretch this ligament by rolling or spraining your ankle. If you have a bunion toe or a flat inside foot arch, this can also gradually stretch the ankle ligament over months or years.

The ankle mobility assessment allows you to test the integrity of your ankle ligaments.

How to do the ankle mobility assessment

• Lie comfortably on your back with your knees bent and feet planted on the floor, hip width and parallel
• Pick up your right foot and place both hands behind your knee (you may like to interlace your fingers)
• Bend your knee so that your thumbs sit on the inside and outside of the joint,. Your hands will now immobilise your knee
• Roll your right ankle in a circle a few times, as if you want to touch the 4 points of a compass with your toes
• Change direction.
• Repeat with your left ankle

As you roll one ankle, notice if the movement feels smooth and silent. 

If you feel any sensations like clicking, rubbing, grating, grinding, catching etc, this can indicate that the ankle ligament has been over-stretched at some time and is no longer supporting the joint as it was designed.

A wobbly ankle joint can result in a wobbly foot and knee. This reduces the support available for the hip and pelvis, reducing joint and core stability.

You'll have less control of your standing balance and movements, increasing the risk of falling or getting joint pain.

Takeaway

All of these tests are very simple, and can be done in the comfort of your home. I teach these exercises in my community class (details below), as well as my Stretch classes in the clubs.

They'll give you basic insights in the health of your body and joints without having to make an appointment to see a medical professional or physiotherapist.

This increased awareness of what's happening in your body gives you a head start in preventing joint pain, persistent muscle tension and chronic injuries from starting.

You'll reduce your risk of getting painful conditions such as bursitis, impingements, plantar fasciitis, disc herniations, non-specific lower back pain, and  osteoarthritis. These conditions often take a while to resolve (if ever), and they can severely reduce your mobility and quality of life.

Prevention takes less time and £££s than treatment.

NEXT STEPS

** BOOKINGS NOW OPEN ** 

The Befriend Your Body Method for Pain Management & Relaxation

A small group, tranquil mindful movement class for pain management and relaxation, with a deeply relaxing sound bath meditation and a 1:1 coaching slot for you to get help with a specific pain or injury before the class.

During the class, you'll learn how to use small movements to successfully release muscle tension and reduce pain. then immerse yourself in the calming sounds and healing vibrations of the crystal singing bowls, ocean drum and rain stick. You'll leave feeling fully rested, relaxed and rejuvenated. 

This class is for you whether you're looking for a natural way to manage pain, or simply to quietly rest in a peaceful sanctuary.

Click HERE for all the details, including how to book. Numbers are limited to a small group to nurture a friendly, inclusive and supportive community for all members.

Other ways you can find help with managing chronic pain or an injury are:

• Book into a Stretch or Pilates class with me - these are a good introduction to The Befriend Your Body (BYB) Method (mindful movement) for pain management.
• Get your copy of my free E-guide "How to Get Relief From Back Pain and Muscle Tension in just 10 mins a Day". This introduces the 3x universal stress responses that can keep you stuck in pain, and explains the 4x pillars of The BYB Method. There's also 2x video tutorials showing you how to release muscle tension from the front and back of your body in the comfort of your without expensive equipment. Download HERE
• Subscribe HERE to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a weekly e-newsletter delivering mobility and pain reduction tips directly into your inbox every Monday morning,

You can connect with me through any of these channels:

• Email at norma@unicornhealthandfitness.com
• Follow me on Facebook and DM me on Messenger https://www.facebook.com/norma.pearsonfitness
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.