Move Well and DIY

We love people to move well and feel great. As our communities adapt to a new way of life, which finds us all spending the majority of our time at home, a lot of us have decided it is the perfect time to pick up our old tools, bring out the vacuum cleaner or refine our green thumbs while re-landscaping our backyards.

Whilst all these activities are great things to be doing to keep ourselves busy, they like any physical activity can put our body’s under strain and if our bodies are already being loaded up non-optimally, this can lead to us experiencing symptoms of pain. Therefore, it is important to keep our muscles strong and our joints moving well to make sure we can keep ‘pottering’ around our homes in our best shape.

What to do to move well

If you are already a Barefooter your Physiotherapist will have devised a set of muscle releases/ stretches and exercises for you to be doing at home regularly. It is a good idea to work these into your routine before and after any house work or ‘DIYing’. So before you start vacuuming the whole house, do a set of your muscle releases to help your muscles adapt to the strain better, then when you’re done take a break and try and fit in another set of releases.

Furthermore, it is important to work within your limits and listen to your body by taking regular breaks from any sustained postures i.e. squatting whilst weeding, reaching overhead to repaint those walls or vacuuming the endless amount of animal hair out of your carpet.  By changing positions regularly you can help make sure your body doesn’t develop any niggles or pain and it can keep helping you make the most out of being at home.

If you are after some releases or stretches for your body, click the link here, for a list of examples and instructions.

We can help if you need

If you or someone you know is experiencing any muscle joint or possible nerve irritation please contact us. We can determine if it is a musculoskeletal issue before having to see a GP. We are open 5 days a week and a couple Saturdays a month. We have early and late appointments available. Please call us at 1300 842 850 or Click here to book an appointment.