Building Capacity
Max, my 1 year old, loves to eat! To demonstrate he’s hungry, he will crawl into the kitchen and squawk until someone comes to his aid. He’ll eat just about anything, which is a good and sometimes a bad thing!
A few weeks ago, I was busy preparing the coffee pot for the morning brew. On the counter top next to me sat Max observing my ministrations. I noticed him reaching to the open box of grape tomatoes. I thought nothing of it other than he’s being self sufficient. Then I saw him reach into the bag a few seconds later. And a few seconds after that, he reached into the box again.
After the 3rd helping of tomatoes in under 30 seconds, as any good but not great, parent would do, I took note. Where could all these tomatoes have gone? Max was squirreling them away! He stored one tomato in each cheek as well as one slightly popping out of his very full mouth.
He kindly spat out two tomatoes then promptly ate the other 1!
The way Max eats you would think he is preparing like a bear for his winter hibernation or storing away food like a squirrel for a barren winter. This evolutionary trait enables these animals to survive during periods of limited food supply. As a PT does, I thought “How is this similar to my world?”
Well, a reductionist view on injury goes like this. All tissues have a tolerance to stress. When we exceed that capacity the result is commonly pain. So, how do we improve our resiliency?
Move well, move often, become stronger. Recover. Repeat.
As we squirrel away, strength, endurance and movement competency, our body’s become more resilient. We are making deposits to enhance our capacities. This sets us up for success when the inevitable week or month vacation or intense work project rolls around. Through increasing our internal capacity we empower high level performance and stave off persistent aches or pains.
If you are looking for a place to start or are being slowed down due to pain, let’s talk about how we can help!
Warmly,
Joe