76 » OpenRoad Driver
TRIM LINES
Move It or
Lose It
THE 7 BASICS
by Vreni Gurd
»
From a physical ability perspective, the toilet was a dastardly invention. We are designed to poop
by squatting down to the ground from the time we mastered the skill as a toddler until the time we
die. Before the toilet we pooped often enough to keep ourselves adequately limber to squat low, and
strong enough to easily get up from that position.
Nowadays many of us stop getting down onto the floor altogether.
The chair is about as close to the floor as we get. When we do find
ourselves on the floor for some reason, like looking for something
that rolled under the sofa, we realize that getting up off the floor is
suddenly quite hard work.
We attribute our difficulty to aging and accept this as an inevitable
part of life. The question is whether the knee, hip, or back pain is
the reason for the lack of ability or whether the lack of ability is the
reason for the knee, hip or back pain. Often the lack of flexibility
and strength is the underlying cause of the pain. If the pain came on
gradually as opposed to a sudden trauma such as a car accident or
fall, it is quite possible and even likely that the pain is due to being
too tight and/or too weak.
If one is flexible enough to squat to the ground and stay there
comfortably, it is easier to recruit the muscles in the correct order
when getting up, which reduces the chance of getting low back, hip
or knee pain in the first place.
One of the biggest mistakes well-meaning adult children do is move
their parents out of a home that has stairs into a home that does not,
thinking that a stair-free environment will be easier on them. But
having stairs keeps one able to do stairs. Once there are no stairs
to climb on a regular basis, the ability to climb stairs is lost. Soon
stepping up or down a curb becomes a problem, and getting into or
out of cars is impossible without help. And so the life closes down
even further.
There are certain basic movements everyone should be able to do to
function well. If these movements are difficult or painful, our lives
close down. These are The 7 Basics: