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Improving Movement Patterns From the Ground Up

After surgery or a prolonged illness, individuals often have to relearn how to move and perform daily activities such as sitting and standing. But as you age, did you know you can naturally lose the ability to perform basic movement patterns, requiring you to relearn them later in life? Cooper Fitness Center Director of Education Carla Sottovia, PhD, shares when we become sedentary, we naturally lose mobility, flexibility and power we developed from our childhood into our early adult years.

“When we learn how to walk it’s from the ground up,” Sottovia said. “It’s a natural occurrence for our first 12-18 months to learn how to move. We go through natural milestones such as rolling, turning on our backs, standing up and then taking our first steps.”

The aging process starts at 35 when we naturally begin to lose our ability to move without restrictions and pain, but our lifestyles can speed up this process.

A sedentary lifestyle loses natural ability

Whether it’s sitting in front of our computer at work, the commute to our jobs or sitting on the couch to relax, prolonged sitting has become the norm. Just like some of the things we learned in school but have forgotten as the years passed, the movements we learned as a child will naturally wane.

“As we become adults, we’re sitting too much. We’re inactive,” Sottovia said. “We lose some of our physical abilities like mobility, flexibility and power. If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

As we lose those abilities, we often stop performing those movements completely.

“We start avoiding movements saying, ‘I can’t get down on the floor’ or ‘I can’t squat so I’m not doing those things anymore,’” Sottovia said. “We're limiting ourselves.”

Basic movements your body can forget to do naturally

Sottovia says key areas of your body that you should focus in maintaining good mobility and stability includes foot/ankle; hips and knees, and your thoracic spine (upper back). Also, you should be able at any age to touch your toes, squat down to the floor unassisted and get up from the floor unassisted.

You also should include on your daily exercise routine strategies that will enhance such capacities. Below are 4 strategies that you can incorporate on your exercise program.

Ways to improve movement patterns

Hip Stretch – This movement enhances the mobility of your hip, ankle and thoracic spine. Start in a half kneeling position. Move your hips forward with your arms up. Then bend to the side with your arms stretched out for three to five seconds. Alternate sides. Repeat five times on each side.

Supine Squat – Focused on increasing mobility and agile strength, start in a plank position. Hands directly in front of your shoulders with your knees slightly bent. Push your hips back into a supine squat then push back into the starting position with your legs. Repeat five times.

Supine Squat with Front Foot Reach – This exercise focuses on increasing agile strength and the ability to come up from the ground. Start in plank position with your hands in front of your shoulders and your knees slightly bent. Push your hips back into a supine squat position push off with your foot and bring one foot forward into a lunge position with your chest forward. Bring your foot back and return to plank position. Alternate leg. Repeat five times on each side.

Up Up, Down Down – This exercise focuses on your ability to bring yourself up from the ground and lower yourself to the ground. Start at a tall kneeling position and bring one foot forward into a half kneeling position. Use your back foot to push yourself up into a standing position. With the foot you brought forward first, return to a half kneeling position and then back into tall kneeling position. Alternate feet. Repeat exercise five times on each side.

For a video demonstration of these exercises, watch this Exercise Move video.

It can take just a few weeks to retrain the body to make these movements.

“The brain is easily adaptable,” Sottovia said. “It takes a few weeks of doing these techniques every day, but it’s just a matter of repetition until they become a natural pattern. Then the movements will feel smoother and more natural.”

For more information on personal training or to schedule a session with a professional fitness trainer, visit cooperfitnesscenter.com or call 972.233.4832.