Health and fitness training has many components. People tend to focus on training the external and neglect training the internal. Internal training refers to what you can do for the health of your organs, muscles, connective tissue, and functional ability. External training refers to shaping our appearance and our ability to express what’s inside. I believe that there is too much emphasis on what our body looks like and not enough on we can do with it. Exercise movement training can play a huge role in safeguarding us from injury by increasing our overall awareness of ourselves and what we are capable of doing.
Everyone falls. I have never known a person who has not fallen down in their life. As babies we don’t fear it. In this modern age we’ve become more sedentary, and we’ve lost a lot of our innate abilities to protect ourselves. Mobile phones and portable entertainment devices externalize our focus. Over time they dull and eventually diminish our awareness of our surroundings. Because sidewalks are relatively smooth and predictable, we are no longer accustomed to the constant change of walking on uneven surfaces (like in forests). These environments served to enhance our awareness, strengthen the muscles and connective tissue of our feet and lower legs including the knee. Footwear that is too rigid and confining often negatively affects our balance, and weakens our muscles and connective tissue putting our nervous system on sleepy-time making it difficult to feel the surface you are walking on to determine the best way to traverse it.
• A simple walk in the park (off the pavement) or on a beach once or twice a week can help strengthen the lower leg and foot muscles, while improving the balance and stability. I recall listening to elders whom I always knew as active people express fear of falling, tripping, and breaking a hip. After retirement a decrease in daily physical activity induces muscular atrophy and de-conditioning. We have our bodies for life; don’t let a slow down from work be a slow down from moving, movement is life.
• Most serious accidents occur around, near, or about our home. The fear of falling increases tension in the body and inhibits the natural flow of movement. This tension increases the likelihood of serious injury when a fall does occur. I treat falling as a forgone conclusion. In any active lifestyle the possibilities increase to an absolute certainty. It’s not a question of if, but when and how well you will fall. In the Afro-Brazilian martial art of Capoeira there is a saying, “When you fall, you fall well.”
I have always incorporated falling principles into movement training. I have taught youth to senior citizens and have seen very good results after students internalized the basic principles. People generally fear the unknown. Fear can be a significant factor in accidents, creating self-fulfilling prophesies. The unfamiliarity of how to navigate our way down safely can be removed by proper practice of the basics.
Students of martial arts, dance, gymnastics, and some contact sports are taught the way to fall safely as a matter of course. The quality of our lives is diminished when apprehension is associated with our ability to move about freely. Our confidence can be shaken to such a degree that we will limit where and what we do. Trying new things like learning to ice skate, riding a scooter, or taking a sleigh ride down a hill may become terrifying prospect instead of the joy of adventure.
This article is not intended to minimize the seriousness associated with a bad fall, nor suggest that you can make yourself impervious to harm. I hope to bring to light the importance of functional training elements in your fitness training and how inclusion of it will benefit you greatly by enhancing your safety, confidence, and joie de vivre.
The following are a few tips on falling safely:
1. When your balance is lost and you feel yourself falling, don’t fight and attempt to go against the force of the fall. Instead, get as close to the ground as possible (bend your knees). When we are adults, out of pride or a sense of always wanting to maintain control, we may inadvertently turn a simple slip into a nasty fall by not giving into the fall. Giving in to the fall will minimize the force by being closer to the ground before actual contact is made.
2. Be aware of you surroundings on slick surfaces. Bend your knees, widen your stance, and raise your arms, like plane wings, to help you balance.
3. Safely secure items like phones, bags, books, or sharp items that may cause damage if you fall on them.
4. A soft pack worn on the back or a bag can be used as a shield if fallen upon provided the contents are not harmful to the body.
5. If you must go down, and sometimes you must, make yourself round whenever possible. Tuck your chin to your chest, and clasp teeth together minimizing the risk of biting your tongue.
6. Relax. Don’t stiffen up or tighten your muscles by making yourself rigid because you become more brittle and the impact does more damage.
7. Have a seat if at all possible. Give in and you’ll have better control over your descent.
8. Keep a sense of humor and don’t fear! It is better to fall well and shake off your clothing while laughing about how bad it could have been than fight to stay erect, when you can’t, leaving you defenseless against the force when it comes.
9. Practice safely making transitions from standing to sitting on the floor. First from the front, then either side, then back. This will help a lot in familiarizing yourself with the proper way to go down safely.
10. Try to avoid hitting bones like elbows, hipbones, knees, and of course your head. If you can help it, use the fleshy parts of you body to make contact with hard objects or surfaces. It’s not going to be comfortable, but personally, I would take a bruise over a break any day!
Any serious movement training or health and fitness regimen is not complete without learning how to fall safely. The confidence of moving without fear as we age will keep us functioning with greater safety and give us less cause for fear, which may inhibit us from partaking in the things that we love and take for granted everyday. If you must fall, and sometimes you must, fall well.
You are what you do.
Have a question? Ask fitness expert Emory M. Moore, Jr., founder of Embora and the EM Technique, at info@embora.com
|
|
 |
|
Monday, March 22, 2010
|
