Despite writing workout programs to help clients with niggles, pains and injuries every day, I continue to find myself surprised and excited to see how profound the effects of corrective exercise can be.
I’ve got a few examples of things I’ve found especially exciting over the last few months:
Two separate early stage workout plans have provided a pretty much immediate resolution to two clients chronic back pain. Another program has radically improved nerve pain which has been going on for years. A much more gradual approach has seen a client almost back to full function after an acute shoulder injury. A similarly gradual approach is showing consistent benefits to a clients hypermobility caused pain.
I’m sure you’ll agree that these are pretty impressive results just from showing up consistently for the right exercise!
These are my top tips for getting the best out of a corrective exercise routine:
1) Injuries are almost never fixed by rest. If something hurts, be proactive. Learn what is causing your pain and work to correct it.
2) Keep it simple! Don’t turn to the social media trainers who show you a million advanced stretches. Go for the most simple (appropriate) movements first, do them frequently, then add complexity and variety gradually as you progress and need more challenge.
3) Turn up consistently. Even if you feel that progress is slow, it will start to snowball pretty quickly if you keep at it.
4) Straight from the outset, the right exercise should give you some form of benefit (even if it is only a short lived and tiny amount at first) if you’re to take it as a sign you’re going to get a longer term improvement from it. If this isn’t the case, it’s wise to get further advice from a hands on therapist before deciding what to do next. It might be that you’re going too hard or too easy, or that you’re not quite heading in the right direction. Or, it might be that you have an injury which is beyond the scope of corrective exercise.