There has been more and more talk about how important exercise is. Now I have blogged at length about the importance of pelvic floor exercises – the bread and butter of a pelvic floor physiotherapist – but as you can see we do far more than teach Kegal exercises these days!
But exercise is far more than that. There was an interesting article recently highlighting, that the UK’s Royal College of Physicians has just approved a report: ‘Exercise for life: Physical activity in health and disease’. The report states: “There is evidence for the benefits of exercise in many forms of disease. It is effective, inexpensive, with a low side-effect profile and can have a positive environmental impact. Despite this, there remains a reluctance within the medical profession to use exercise as a treatment.” (Royal College of Physicians Exercise for life: Physical activity in health and disease. London RCP,2012). So, we as physiotherapists have a critical role in assisting GPs in this invaluable and essential treatment modality but especially teaching pelvic floor friendly exercising.
So if the evidence is compelling that if we sit all day we are likely to live a shorter life. And the evidence is compelling that due to computers, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and iPhones we are sitting more and more for longer and longer. And the evidence is compelling that exercise releases endorphins and can be important in the management of anxiety, depression and chronic pain conditions. Therefore, when I found this quote I felt compelled to share it with you…….
Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive.
Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.
It doesn’t matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving.”
Maurice Greene –attributed to Roger Bannister shortly after running the first sub-4 min mile.
So the message – Change your thinking about exercising and moving… Just Do It!