How to Avoid the Hospital

Hello, my name is Simon. I am a 59-year-old man who lives alone in downtown Perth. I am pleased to say that I have never had to spend a night in a hospital. This is because I know how to take care of myself. When I was growing up my grandpa often used to tell me that if you eat well and exercise, you will live a long life. He died aged 95, so he must have known something. However, it was only when I became friends with a doctor, that I discovered all the other things I could do to stay healthy. I decided to start this blog to encourage others to look after their health.

Weight Training After Menopause: Don't Forget To Book In For Physio

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One part of menopause that many women forget about is the effect your changing hormone levels have on your muscles. The reduction of estrogen in a woman's body leads to an increased risk of osteoporosis. Weight training helps to strengthen both the muscles and the bones in your body, but hitting the gym to undertake weight training exercises puts your body under a new type of stress. As someone who is about to start working out at the gym again, there are a number of reasons why you must make your first physio appointment now.

Poor Posture 

One problem with weight training is that without expert supervision initially, you put yourself in a position where you could damage muscles because you are lifting with incorrect posture. For example, a deadlift involves lifting a barbell loaded with weights. The correct posture to do this is with a straight back and shoulders pushed back. The lifting should be done by the legs rather than the arms. However, if your back is curved and your shoulders are not pushed back, you put more pressure on the arm muscles than is necessary. Physiotherapy after lifting with incorrect posture means your muscles have a chance to recover quickly. Your physiotherapist also has the knowledge to advise on the correct posture you need while lifting weights.

Overtraining

Your body did not become overweight in a week, and it is going to take more than one week at the gym to help remove the excess kilos you are carrying. However, many people get overexcited when they first join a gym, and the potential is there to overtrain. To start off with, you should aim for 2-3 30-minute sessions per week, and you can increase your exercising time from there. Putting your body under constant strain at the gym too early is going to hurt your muscles because they are not used to working out. Additionally, your muscles need time to recover from each gym session, so it is important you give them that time.

Overtraining and poor posture can lead to muscle strain in the arms, legs and back. A physiotherapist can do two things to help you get past the strain. Firstly, they massage and manipulate the sore muscles so that your recovery time is shorter. Secondly, they give recommendations about exercises you can do at home to strengthen your weak muscle groups. Finally, they give advice on correct posture and training times, so that you can weight lift smarter, not harder.

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14 September 2018