Corrective exercise
After your assessment an exercise programme may be created which will identify key areas that need correcting. In fact even if you are in considerable pain there are still exercises and postures that can be utilised to promote healing.
Exercise is crucial simply because bodywork on its own does not fully educate your brain and body to exist in a different way to that which was causing the pain in the first place. Exercise is highly intrinsic whereas bodywork and the use of hands on pain relieving techniques tend to be short term and extrinsic.Why is Helford different
The key differences between Helford’s approach to exercise and other traditional methods are as follows:
Posture
You need to correct posture (within genetic limitations). Whether you are a sports person or just going about your life day-to-day, poor posture means your joints are outside of their neutral, natural position. An inability to move your joints through their optimal axis of rotation means you are more likely to injure yourself either during sudden trauma or cumulatively over time.
Functional exercise
Traditional exercise programmes rely too heavily on fixed cam resistance equipment, which either work muscles one dimensionally or because you are often sitting down do nothing to activate the core muscles. We are designed to push, pull, bend, rotate, squat, lunge, walk and run yet by the time we reach adulthood many of us have disrupted these very natural movement patterns. Helford Clinic relies on a three dimensional approach that utilises stability equipment such as swiss balls, medicine balls, wooden dowels and cable column machines. Exercises are utilised based on their ability to promote stability in the core as well as dynamic three-dimensional activation of the big muscles in the extremities.
Core conditioning
All human movement “should” be initiated from the core muscles outwards. If these core muscles do not activate a split second prior to any movement in the extremities then more shearing forces are applied to the joints such as the knees or shoulders. Quite often by simply addressing core strength, pain can be lessened in the knees, hips or shoulders.
Mind Body exercise
There is no point in creating an exercise programme of resistance training and conditioning if you in highly stressed. Exercise can be injurious and counterproductive. A programme of gentle low intensity exercise needs to be adopted as well as identifying key lifestyle changes before proceeding further. Once your stress load has been lowered then more complex high intensity exercise programmes discussed above can be used.
