Exercise May Not be the Answer

Not for a pain problem anyway

When you see someone who looks great working out in the gym, it’s tempting to believe that they got that way because they worked out.

 

However that may be only partially true.

 

It’s undeniable that if you want a muscular body, you have to lift weights, exercise and work out, but that, in itself, is not enough to be healthy and pain-free.

 

A recent patient of mine told me that as a young man he enlisted in the Israeli army and did their National Service. He also told me that he went to the gym every day for 40 years! Now 80 years old, it’s all he can do to get out of a chair and his walking is limited to about 200 yards on a good day. Much of that is quite unsteady.

 

His muscles are strong, but he lacks the ability to use them properly.

 

His control systems have gone bad.

 

The only reason a muscle contracts at all is because it receives a stream of messages from the motor neurons within the spinal cord. Those motor neurones receive thousands of inputs to allow the muscle to contract just the right amount to enable smooth and proper movement.

 

Without good muscular control, any weight training or weight lifting is going to have a very limited effect and could even cause injury.

 

It’s one thing to be able to lift a weight. That weight is stable and unlikely to do anything unusual, but that’s not the real world. In everyday life, our muscles have to cope with an extremely variable external environment. Walking along a country path, down some steps or over an uneven pavement, our muscles will be called upon to hold us steady and resist sudden and unexpected forces in a what we never encounter in a gym. Fortunately, we have musculo-spinal reflexes that make such changes for us, without us even knowing they are happening. 

 

If you’ve ever squatted on your haunches, you know that your ankle muscles are making tiny adjustments, without you doing anything to keep you on balance and stable. 

 

Every muscle does this automatically, all the time. That’s how you move properly.

This is where we are using NEUROLOGICAL strength, not just physical strength.

You may have noticed this in the elderly. They can’t cope with uneven surfaces and have to move more slowly because their musculo-spinal reflexes are not what they were. Walking speed is actually an independent predictor of poor health and an earlier death.

 

Fortunately, neurological strength is innate. We develop the reflexes and neurological connections which control movement in our early years, all we have to do is not screw up those connections.

 

Sadly, modern medicine is generally ignorant of this aspect of function. They have no tests for it and therefore disregard its importance. That’s why there is virtually no research on these reflexes.

 

Afferentologists test these reflexes, especially the myotatic reflex, which is the one that adapts to variable external forces.

 

As the patient’s muscle engages, the Afferentologist will resist that engagement and then assess whether the patient can reach their full potential. A muscle which can only be activated to 50% of its potential is quickly discovered and then we can do other tests to find out how to restore the nerve supply to normal.

 

This allows patients to return to the exercise and activities they love without fear of pain and injury.