Danielle Friedman
In many cases, aches and pains can be a reflection of your daily routines.
Habits like sitting at a desk all day, looking down at your phone or even straining to pick your socks up off the floor can lead to a body that feels creaky, tight and sore. Making time to practise good movement habits can keep you feeling limber and strong.
Physical therapists know this all too well.
“People come in with the same problems over and over again,” said Theresa Marko, a physical therapist in New York City.
She often found herself recommending the same exercises as solutions, she said — exercises that, for example, “counteract, you know, going to see The Odyssey for three hours”.
We asked physical therapists to share the exercises they wish everyone incorporated into their fitness routines. Here are six that came up again and again.
Standing on one leg
Good balance is important for both fitness and everyday life, but it deteriorates with age, unless you’re “really deliberate about practising it”, says Conor Nordengren, a physical therapist in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
One of the simplest ways to do this is by regularly standing on one leg, experts say.
This simple exercise could “strengthen all the muscles in your foot, your ankle, your knee, your thigh”, Marko said. It also helps to build stability — not only in your legs, but also in your hips, pelvis and lower back. “I stand on one leg in the kitchen, waiting for coffee, waiting for the elevator,” she added.
If standing on one leg is challenging for you, lightly rest your hand on a chair, a wall or a counter top until you feel stable enough to let go. If the exercise feels easy, close your eyes.
Stand on each leg for at least 30 seconds every day.
Hip hinges
The ability to properly bend forward, or hinge, at the hips is useful both for daily tasks, like picking things up off the floor, and for exercises like deadlifts and kettlebell swings.
But many people struggle with hip hinges, says Dhara Shah, a physical therapist at Emory Healthcare. It’s common to round your back and lock your knees when you bend over, which puts pressure on your spine and can lead to pain or injury.
Regularly practising hip hinges can also strengthen your glutes and hamstrings.
To do a hip hinge, send your hips backward while bringing your chest forward. Keep your back straight, your shoulders pulled slightly back, your abdominal muscles pulled towards your belly button and your knees softly bent.
Practise this movement daily, doing two sets of 15 hinges.
Sit-to-stands
The act of sitting down and then standing back up may seem simple, but with age, it can become increasingly difficult without proper strength and stability. Making time to practise “sit-to-stand” exercises will pay off by strengthening your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves and core muscles, and improve your ability to do lunges and squats, the experts say.
To do a sit-to-stand, lower yourself into a chair and stand back up in a slow, controlled way. If this feels challenging, practise it several times a day until it feels easier.
If it already feels easy, lower your body even more slowly and just barely tap your butt to the seat before slowly standing up again. The lower the surface, the more challenging it will be. “That control piece makes it a little harder,” Shah said.
Do two sets of 20 repetitions several times a week. For more of a challenge, do it while holding weights or a kettlebell.
Dead bugs with diaphragmatic breathing
Many people feel the effects of sitting for long periods in their neck, shoulders or back, but the problem often begins in their innermost core muscles, says Carrie Pagliano, a physical therapist in Virginia. “With a lot of these issues, people are just missing fundamental strength,” she said. When your core is weak, your neck and shoulders often compensate to keep you upright.
Physical therapists recommend doing the dead bug exercise while practising diaphragmatic breathing to build core strength at the deepest level.
To do a dead bug, lie on your back and raise your legs at a 90-degree angle, then raise your arms straight towards the ceiling. With your spine pressed into the floor, slowly straighten and lower your left leg while also lowering your right arm, until both are fully extended. Return to the starting position, then repeat with the opposite sides.
While extending, slowly exhale through your mouth to contract your deep core. While returning to the starting position, inhale and feel your belly expand. Do two sets of eight exercises a few times a week.
This breath work helps “stabilise your core from the inside out”, says Alicia Ferriere, a physical therapist in New Jersey. Together with the dead bugs, it can help support your spine and relieve aches in your neck and shoulders.
Wall push-ups
Push-ups allow you to practise lifting your body weight, which is essential for staying independent as you age and getting up if you fall, Nordengren says. They primarily strengthen the chest, shoulders, arms and core.
Unless you’ve regularly been doing push-ups from the ground, experts recommended doing them with your hands on a stable, raised surface such as a wall or a counter top. As you build strength, you can gradually lower the surface until you reach the ground.
“I’ll very rarely have people do them from the floor right away,” Nordengren said, especially since “a lot of people struggle with the technique”.
Start in a plank position, with your back flat and your feet pressed into the floor. Next, engage your core and slightly tuck your tailbone underneath you to prevent your back from arching. Bend your elbows into a 45-degree angle, while slowly lowering your chest, then push yourself back up. Imagine that you are pushing the floor away, Nordengren says, and be sure to reach your arms long at the top. Do two sets of 10 reps twice a week.
Cat-cows
To counter the effects of sitting or standing for long periods of time, many physical therapists recommended the cat-cow stretch, in which you alternate between arching and curving your back while on all fours. Take a few deep breaths in each position to feel a deeper stretch. This classic stretch can help relieve stiffness in your spine, shoulders and neck and improve your mobility.
When you’re in an all-fours position, you can limber up other body parts, too, Ferriere says. Try reaching forward with each arm or stretching each leg out behind you and doing a few hip circles.
Ultimately, these exercises are “giving you a little extra buffer to live your life”, Nordengren says, so your body is strong, steady and prepared for the unexpected.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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