It is important to understand the stages of injury and the disabilities that are caused long term by intervening too late, the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff is the current model.
The initial stage of a movement problem is a Musculoskeletal (MSK) Disorder and this is where we should intervene to get the best long-term outcome at reducing the relative risk of MSK disease.
MSK disease is a neuromuscular imbalance caused by a fall, injury, an overuse pattern or even poorly learnt movement patterns.
How well are you moving?
Signs that movement is going wrong:
- Stiffness
- Non acute pain
- Avoidance of a movement or activity
- Uncoordinated
- Lack of ability to learn new movements
If you have any of the above book a free 15-minute consultation to see how a whole body (Clinical Biomechanics) can help.
Musculoskeletal Disease – this is where the rehabilitation world typically intervenes for a non-acute injury, but it can cause more permanent issues such as arthritis, tendinitis and disc problems.
Continued use of an imbalanced body creates accelerated wear and tear (premature ageing) of the body. This is very costly long term and is not covered by ACC.
The final stage is Musculoskeletal Disability
This is the end of the journey for the initial disorder. It normally ends with seeing an orthopaedic surgeon and a long wait list for an expensive operation.
The World Health organisation states that 33% of the world’s population will end up here – this is frightening and if we intervene at the initial stage this would be dramatically reduced.
WHO also states of that 33%, 100% of this population are at risk to coronary heart disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, and deteriorating mental health.
Understanding where the initial disorder comes from is key to long term health changes, I am privileged to work with my mentor Jo Abbott a Clinical Biomechanist (https://joabbottmsc.com/jo-abbott-clinical-biomechanist-researcher-nutritionist/) her doctorate: an accurate, reliable and valid musculoskeletal ‘Test-to-correction’ protocol provides a critical framework for improving world health by reducing the global burden of musculoskeletal disorder, disease and disability means she is at the cutting edge of the industry bringing research out of the lab into a real-world situation her support with clients and pushing me to understand how the body if put in the right circumstances, can heal.
