I don’t know about you guys, but as a result of years and years of competitive sports, I’ve got some nagging ailments that have really annoyed me over the past 5-7 years.
My right shoulder is incredibly volatile from about 15 years of playing indoor and beach volleyball and being a baseball pitcher (with a wicked fastball, I might add…although my mound dominance ended when I was about 14:-).
My left knee has a tendency to get a little sore every now and then because of some degeneration due my obsession with being able to dunk a basketball…that obsession still continues today (in highschool I dunked once in a game and several times in practice…I haven’t dunked a basketball in the past 11 years).
And just recently, since I’ve been dabbling a little on the “interwebs”, my upper and lower back haven’t been feeling as strong…probably from sitting at my computer for hours on end.
Sound familiar? I know it does. Nagging injuries are something that plague us as busy dads.
Before I really started to educate myself on how to alleviate (and then prevent) my nagging injuries, I used to just “LIVE WITH THE PAIN” thinking that it was just a part of life and of getting older.
All of that changed when I met Keith Scott, a physical therapist from New Jersey, at conference a while back. Keith convinced me to pick-up a foam roller and taught me how to incorporate soft tissue, mobility and injury prevention techniques INTO MY CURRENT LIFESTYLE AND TRAINING PROGRAM.
Since then, I’ve managed to stay (relatively) injury and pain free and in the instances that I do start to “feel” anything, I know exactly what to do.
It was a no-brainer, then, for me to interview the man, Keith Scott, himself and get him to divulge some of the secrets he gave me that’s allowed me to be a FitAndBusy – and Injury Free – Dad for the past few years.
Read on and learn how to be UNBREAKABLE…
CL: Keith, having chronic or nagging PAIN (as in low back, neck, hip, shoulder, knee, etc) is so common today that people think it is normal. Why is this such a dangerous way of thinking?
KS: First of all, people have to stop playing the “victim”, where they think they’re supposed to have pain and that it is just a “normal part of life.” Once you give in to that kind of thinking, you lose the ability to do the things you want to do, because you are a prisoner of your body.
Having pain is a normal thing when you have physical issues; however living with it is not.
When people “give up” and just figure they have to deal with it or ignore it, more problems are sure to begin. For example, if you hurt your lower back, and just think “well, I am getting older, this is just part of getting old” you will automatically stop doing anything that causes low back pain, or might cause low back pain. I see dads do this all of the time. They can’t play with their kids, they have to stop working out, and they just wind up living on the couch. Pretty soon, they lose important strength, lose their mobility everywhere, sustain other injuries and the cycle continues. In no time at all, they just feel “old!”
Most dads just want to be healthy, look decent and take care of their families. You can’t do that unless you are physically healthy. I work with dads that come to me just because they want to be able to play with their kids, work in the yard and look good too. Their knees, low back, shoulders, etc… are hurting them so badly, they had to give up on doing all of those things. There is no need for that, and no need to think that way. Within a month of working with my UNBREAKABLE system, they get their lives back and can start doing all of the things that are important to them.
CL: OK, so one of the obvious symptoms of being injured is PAIN. What is pain really? And why is popping pills for pain not a viable solution to the problem?
KS: Pain, simply put, is just your body’s way of telling you that you’ve got a problem. It’s a signal that is put into place so you don’t do anything to mess yourself up more. The important thing to remember is that pain is also the body’s way of letting you know that you need to do something to correct this issue. Some people tend to skip that part. They feel pain, and just stop doing things and never address the problem.
The solution for a lot of people out there is to just pop some over-the-counter medication until the pain goes away. There are many problems with doing this, but the biggest problem is that taking pain medication is only treating the symptoms, and doing nothing about the problem. Even if they do take away some of the pain, the problem(s) is still there and will eventually come back…usually worse.
The other problem with using pain meds all of the time is that it will start to mess up your stomach and cause other side effects that are very serious. Not something anyone wants or needs. Finally, I have witnessed many people use so much pain medication that it totally masks the pain to the point where the person injures him or herself even more because they could not feel anything. Remember, pain is there for a reason. Without it we would be hurt all of the time. You have to address the issues.
=>Click HERE to become pain-free and UNBREAKABLE
CL: One of the biggest things that plagues us is having bad posture. Why do you think that is and what can we be aware of/fix in our everyday lives to help us stand/sit more erect and alleviate the strain that bad posture has on our bodies?
KS: I think the biggest reasons are sitting so much. Dads tend to sit at work all day, come home and then sit some more. Go to bed and repeat. The low back and hips get tight, the shoulders get rounded, and those things pull the body into really bad posture. Having bad posture is a marker for a lot of pain and problems.
A big way to correct some of these issues is just to get up from your desk every 20 minutes and stretch. It doesn’t have to be long either. Just a quick break to stretch out the back, hips and shoulders, and that can prevent a lot of the stiffness and tightening that occurs. The other thing that dads can do is to make sure they are aware of their postural problems in the first place. You would be surprised at how many dads out there think they have NO issues with their posture, until you do an assessment on them and show them just how bad it is.
Until you become aware of it, you cant fix it. That is the biggest step. I have fixed a couple of postural things in some dads and in a matter of minutes pain started to disappear
.
It is really that simple sometimes.
CL: OK, last question. A lot of guys, when they think about “injury prevention” work, they think that they have to put everything else (ie. their muscle-building and/or fat loss goals) on hold. Is there any truth to that? Can you prevent injuries and still go hard with your goals without suffering any set backs in either?
KS: Absolutely! That is the whole point of my UNBREAKABLE system. Too many people separate the rehabilitative side of things with their regular fitness programs. I don’t know too many people that never have pain or physical problems. So when they do, most people stop their program completely until the pain goes away and then resume in a few weeks, only to have the same issues again. Why? Because they never really solved the problems in the first place.
Its important to understand that you can continue to train AND work on your physical issues at the same time. Actually, this is the best way to go about things as long as you do it the right way.
Lets say you have a shoulder issue. Why should you have to stop training completely just because one joint in your body is injured? You shouldn’t…and it really doesn’t make sense to do that. However, this is exactly what most people do. My system is set up so you can address the shoulder problem AND continue to workout, around your problem. That way you are still burning fat, still building muscle and you are taking care of your issues at the same time.
I spent 15 years dealing with athletes and their injuries. Athletes don’t have the luxury of taking a lot of time off…the season is only so long. It was my job to find a way to get them back in the game as fast as possible, while keeping them strong and fit. I was able to do that by combining a sports medicine approach with a conditioning approach. They were training while rehabbing. There is no reason that “non-athletes” cant do the same.
CL: Awesome info, Keith. Man, I’m glad I sat beside you during that conference! I think I learned more chatting with you than I did during the actual presentation that we were there for!
Chris Lopez
The FitAndBusyDad
P.S. If you’re looking to 1. Take care of those nagging injuries that keep on flaring up on you and 2. Stay on track with your Fat Loss Goals, then using Keith’s “plug and play” UNBREAKABLE system in conjunction with your FitAndBusyDad Workouts is probably the best and safest way to stay healthy and get lean for the summer.
=>Become an UNBREAKABLE DAD!!!
