Compression Vs Decompression exercise
When it comes to the human body the spine is really the engine for movement. Almost all nerves ability to do their job (motor control) are dependent upon the spine being in an ideal position. If the spine isn’t in an ideal position the body ages faster. As the famous Chinese proverb goes “You are as old as your spine.” That should be on the wall of every gym, yoga studio, court, field etc. across the world.
Compression of the spine is caused by things like lifting weights, running, martial arts, minimal amounts when standing and walking if you’re healthy, jumping etc. Compression isn’t necessarily bad it’s more so that when you compress the spine and never do anything to decompress the spine it will age the spine and ultimately the entire body faster.
In order to counteract all of this compression of the spine it is important to decompress the spine. Things that do a good job of this are passive hanging from a bar, myofascial stretching / ELDOA, yoga done correctly, stretching done correctly, lying in the corpse pose on the ground, inversion tables and much more. Here at Davidshealthyliving we utilize mostly myofascial stretching, hanging from bars, and corrective stretching to create balance in the body.
Signs the body is balanced
Your weight shift distribution between your legs when standing is almost perfectly even
If you drew an imaginary vertical line from your ear straight down to the ground your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles will be in alignment with that imaginary line
If you drew an imaginary horizontal line from one eye to the other, one shoulder to the other, one hip to the other, one knee to the other and one ankle to the other it would be close to perfectly straight.
When the body is in balance it’s a sign that your spine and your joints are ready for compression based exercise. The more you do exercise when the spine and joints are not in good alignment the more damage you’ll do to the joints, ligaments, tendons and spine. This ages you faster and creates pain.
Suggestions
Hang from a bar at least 3x per week. Aim for 3 minutes of passive hanging on those days and 90 seconds of active hanging. This will strengthen and stretch the shoulders. If you’d like a more in depth hanging routine you can check out this blog post from Ido Portal. https://www.idoportal.com/blog/hanging
If you currently experience pain after doing compression exercise like deadlifts, sprinting, jogging, overhead press, rows, squats, lunges etc etc. then IMMEDIATELY STOP and begin doing decompression exercise like hanging, corrective stretching and myofascial stretching / ELDOA. With the power of the internet you can find some ELDOA exercises and myofascial stretches online. If you aren’t comfortable with that then look for a CHEK practitioner or ELDOA practitioner.
Ask the question to yourself…. why am I unaware of what causes me pain? If you already know what’s causing your pain then ask “Why do I do things that cause me pain?”
