“The patient should be made to understand that he or she must take charge of his own life. Don’t take your body to the doctor as if he were a repair shop.”
– Quentin Regestein, M.D. associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
The first step in taking control of our health is understanding our body. If you’re like me, you’ve experienced how hard it is to know which exercises are safe when you don’t know why your body has sustained scoliosis. I wish our health professionals understood that, as a patient, not knowing the cause makes it challenging to choose what is ok for our body when it comes to exercise. I’ve declined many invitations from friends to try new workouts out of fear. If I had any anxiety or hesitation, I’d say ‘no’. This realization motivated me to encourage healthier behavior for our youth diagnosed with scoliosis.
In this post, I’m sharing some principles that have helped me make progress in my fitness journey. This aspect of life is as much mental as it is physical. I spend more energy convincing my mind of what my body is capable of, and once I get going, my body constantly surprises me.
Ahimsa: do no harm
When I created my training regimen I took comfort in practicing ahimsa. Ahimsa comes from Sanskrit and translates to non-injury and nonviolence. I like the interpretation of ahimsa as ‘do no harm’; no harm to oneself or to others. As I explore physical fitness, I make a point to bring my awareness to the sensations I experience. When I’m doing something strenuous or challenging I ask myself “is this sensation uncomfortable because it’s new? Is this sensation from growth in activating underused muscles?” If the answer is ‘yes’, I proceed. When I ask myself “am I experiencing pain and discomfort that could cause harm?” If the answer is ‘no’ I gently back away to find a modification that allows me to still benefit from the activity.
Ahimsa is particularly important for us scoli folks. A part of the scoliosis journey is learning about muscular imbalance. It’s not uncommon for all bodies to be out of balance from one side to the other side. For me personally, I tend to notice a significant difference between my left side of the body from my right side. While it’s important to push ourselves, I strongly encourage practicing kindness and patience in physical endeavors as we strive for evenness and balance across the body.
Training is the new exercise
Have you ever trained for a race? I’ve done a few 5Ks and they are a lot of fun. I am not an athlete by any means, so when I sign up for a race it’s instantly motivating. This gives me a timeline and A LOT of work to do :)
I like the Couch 2 5k app because it takes a slow and steady plan to condition the body that doesn’t feel like work. It just sort of happens. I’m applying this training mindset to my approach to exercise in general. I’m looking to find activities that I get excited about so I develop an active lifestyle rather than just a random race here and there.
To me, the idea of exercise feels passive. It’s something we all know we’re supposed to do it, but it’s easy to put off until tomorrow. The excuses are easy and endless! Today, I’m: tired, stiff, I had a long day and I earned watching Netflix on the couch this evening…
This year I was focused on putting on weight and the best way to do that was through consistent strength training. This personalized motivation – my ‘why’ – shaped my goals that I’ll discuss in the next section.
Goal setting
I follow quite a few yoga accounts on Instagram. I’m amazed at some of these very artistic poses that exhibit so much strength, power, and flexibility. When I see a really well-aligned handstand or a perfect backbend I find that I have absolutely no desire to do those poses. While nice to look at, my body craves something different. I’ve been doing yoga consistently for about 10 months now. The accomplishment I’m most excited about is being able to sit comfortably with my legs crisscrossed. This is my major win.
The goals that motivate me in my training:
- Go to hot yoga once a week
- Do 2 strength workouts a week
- Forward fold with straight legs
- Step forward from downward dog to low lunge
The first two goals are habit building goals. If I can get myself to show up, most of the work is done. The second two are results driven goals that will allow me to see progress as they have a firm ‘done’ status.
What I’ve learned about myself in goal setting is that I respond best to small attainable goals. If I set them too big or out of reach (like wanting to do a handstand) I’d have a hard time sticking with it and would likely get frustrated and give up. I enjoy this process of setting small goals more because they are meaningful and personal to me.
Recovery and Restorative Exercise
I am a big fan of recovery. Ha, I spend more time in recovery than participating in things I need to recover from! Activating the muscles to keep them healthy always feels like work (good work) and while recovery may not feel like work, it still takes an intentional practice.
Allowing the muscles to rest, restore and rebuild is an essential piece of the puzzle. I’ve learned the importance of nurturing the fascia and connective tissue within the body and have found that by doing this, it helps me progress in my strength training too!
When it comes to TLC for connective tissue, I am a big fan of restorative exercise. My favorite is yin yoga. Yin is a style of yoga that is very meditative. Rather than moving quickly through a sequence, each pose is held for several minutes. There is plenty of time to get comfortable in a pose and modify it to your needs without pressure to keep up with other people in class. I like to think of restorative exercise as any activity that involves a gentle movement of the body that fosters flexibility and mobility.
Home Practice
I like going to the gym. I enjoy the atmosphere, being surrounded by people, the classes, the whole thing. But it took me a while to get comfortable. I don’t know if it’s age or what, but I find that I worry a lot less about people looking or judging me and I’ve found more focus on accomplishing what I’m there to do. Having said that, there are good days and bad days. On bad days, my anxiety and awareness can be distracting.
To reduce mental noise, working out at home in addition to going to the gym does wonders for my confidence. This was particularly the case with yoga. When my friend told me about Down Dog it was a game-changer. I started using it daily for just 20 minutes. In this home practice, it was a combination of awkwardly trying to do the poses correctly and getting comfortable with moving my body. While I don’t use the app as much now as I used to, it is a handy tool that makes getting in a session effortless.
Final takeaways
Do: continue a physical activity. It’s the gateway to feeling great!
Don’t: let the fear of back pain hold you back. It will only get in the way of realizing your potential and strength.
My favorite (and free!) apps for getting started:
What goals do you have in mind for your fitness journey? If you were to set a 3-month goal, what would it be?
