I’m six weeks into my physical therapy to rehab my shoulder. The first four weeks were all about improving range of motion after the surgery and from now on we will continue to work on that (currently about 90-95%) and rebuild muscle strength.
When we started in early January, my PT team told me two things that got my attention. The first was that I had the rest of my life to rebuild strength, but only a few weeks to recover range of motion. So it was going to be ROM first, strength building next. That sounded like a reasonable strategy to me.
The second thing they said is that “motion is lotion“. I had never heard that before. But they seemed to know what they were talking about and I have been a stretching and moving bad-ass ever since we started.
It’s hard—really hard—and time consuming. I do two sets of exercises every day—about an hour and a half total. I’m diligent and committed because I very much want to get back to my old self and play tennis again. Since I’m not playing tennis 3-4 days a week, I need to replace that calorie-burning exercise with another, so in addition to stretching and toning, I usually walk 2-3 miles almost every day. And it’s worked, I haven’t gained any weight during my recuperation.
So why am I telling you all this? Simply to encourage you to have ample movement in your life. Most of us just don’t move enough.
If motion is lotion, then we can all benefit from the salve of being more active.
I don’t think I have every taken my good health for granted, but my injury and rehab have certainly made me realize how very important the ability to move freely and without pain is.
SuccessNet is all about helping us live our best lives. And we talk a lot about mind set, success, goals, strategies and tactics to do just that. Certainly your best life includes living in excellent health. Without it, the other areas of our life don’t really work. As I’ve often said, “health is the first wealth.”
How about you? Do you exercise enough?
And don’t say you don’t have time. That’s like saying you’re too busy driving to stop and get gas.
Move your body! Get a buddy to walk with you. Go to the gym. Do some stretches. Ride a bike. Play a sport. There are so many ways to exercise. And many of them fun. We only have to move the parts we want to keep working.
Give yourself some lotion by getting into motion.
Best Life Principle: Motion is Lotion
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This article was originally published on SuccessNet.org in February of 2020.
