Siouxland Magazine - Volume 3 Issue 2

Siouxland Magazine | Balance /42
No Struggle, No Strength
By Dr. Meghan Nelson
It’s important to consult your physician or physical therapist
before beginning any new physical activity. Always listen
to your body and respect any warnings you hear.
“Where there is no struggle,
there is no strength.”
– Oprah Winfrey
Sadly, all are probably too well familiar with the
struggles that we can face as a country, a community, or
as family members. Nearly every person I speak to these
days is stressed out, hurt, scared, or confused by the
chaos, the unknown, the struggles we face throughout
this nation with jobs, health, relationships, school, the
list goes on. The heavy loads that we all carry during a
global pandemic alone are enormous strains and many
are getting hit with forces from all directions, on all
fronts.
But is all the stress we face in life a bad thing? Can a
crisis illuminate opportunities?
How can we grow stronger without the stress? I am
hopeful that what has been broken will be repaired.
Somehow those fissures will all draw closer, the divisions
disappear, and strength rebuilt where the struggle was
the greatest. We just need to connect back with our
foundation, our own strength within for that sense of
stability and confidence to handle whatever will come
our way. We are all going to come out of this stronger
than ever. I have to believe this.
This protocol is based on Wolff’s Law, after the German
anatomist and surgeon from the 19th century, which
states that bones will adapt to the stress placed on them.
As you increase the load or increase the stress and
strain, the bone will continue to remodel itself stronger
and stronger in all the areas where stress is applied.
This law is why we emphasize the benefits of weightbearing
and resistance exercises throughout the aging
process. Because the inverse of this is true as well, if one
decreases the amount of load put throughout, the bones
will lose mass and density and become weak and brittle.
We can give resistance through moving the body
and limbs through space, against gravity, using our
body weight as resistance, bands, or dumbbells. The
power and strength we can get behind the muscular
contraction can come through an increase in neural
motor connections. In other words, if we focus and
use the mind-body connection we can recruit a larger
number of nerve endings to fire efficiently and attract the
greatest force from the muscle groups. This comes from
mindfulness and repetition—the more we practice, the
greater the neural muscular connection.
Let’s begin.
“There is a crack, a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
– Leonard Cohen
This is how the physical body works. We will never build
strength in our muscles if we do not put these tissues
through some stress. If we want to increase the bulk of
our muscles, we first have to tear them down a bit. With
the stress and strain put upon muscles, small muscle
cells or fibers may be torn. The body then responds
by sending new muscle cells to repair all of the little
microtears that occurred, bulking up muscle mass. The
more we build that resistance over time, the stronger
the muscle grows.
Our bones work in a similar way: to increase strength,
we must increase stress. For individuals who have
suffered from bone fracture, the strength of the bone
was unable to withstand whatever load was given.
Through physical rehabilitation, we can assist the
remodeling process of fractured bone after it begins
to heal. Your physical therapist will gradually introduce
weight-bearing and resistance exercises to your plan of
care to build up the strength at the fracture site from all
angles.
Mountain
Mountain: This pose is the essence of stability and
foundation; it can be done in many positions and is
often found in other postures or poses. Engage core
by maintaining a neutral spine with the navel drawing
inward. Legs and arms are fully engaged with an open
heart. Feel connected and grounded to the Earth, while
lifting your crown to the Heavens. Feel solid, strong,
like a mountain, nothing can knock you down. Breathe
in this moment stability and strength.