7 Simple Ways to FEEL if an Exercise, Therapy, or Treatment Is Helping or Hurting You

Greetings from Meridian Physiotherapy,

Today we’d like to give you some pointers on self-healing with exercises.

How do you know if what you’re doing is helping? Wouldn’t it be useful to have simple and immediate ways to FEEL it one way or the other?

For those of us who’ve worked together with Meridian Physiotherapy Exercises, you know that I’m constantly asking for feedback based upon certain FEELINGS!

Your body has an innate brilliance which we sometimes forget to use. How your body responds to each position, movement, and exercise holds an incredible amount of value and power in guiding you to know whether what you’re doing is helping or hurting you, both immediately and long term as well.

The most effective and impactful cue is to have what Dr. Buser and Dr. Hutton refer to as the “Anti-Gravity Feeling”. This is when you feel light, as if you’re walking on air or have that “spring in your step.” We’ve likely all experienced it at some point in our lives. It typically occurs when you give your body the right stimulus which puts your bones in the right place by using, most importantly, the ‘right’ muscles.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself after each exercise (as I do), workout, visit to your Physical Therapist, Chiropractor, Massage Therapist, Personal Trainer, etc. It can be of value to print them out to refer to them on a consistent basis. Hopefully this simple tool will help make a lasting and positive impact on how you feel.

• Do you feel heavy or light?
• Do you feel like you are dragging your feet or is there a spring in your step?
• Is your breathing more labored or easier?
• Are you slouching and hunched over or standing taller naturally and without effort?
• Are you lethargic or do you have energy throughout the entire day?
• Is your pain feeling worse, the same or better?
• Physically, mentally and emotionally, are you feeling worse daily, the same day in and day out, or better on a daily basis?

Always feel free to reach out with any thoughts, feedback, or questions.

Best Wishes.

Drs. Andrew & Rhiannon Buser, Meridian Physiotherapy Co-Founders, Huntington Beach, CA 

Article written in collaboration with:

Joey Zimet, Associate MeridianPhysio Exercise Therapist, New York, NY
www.meridianphysio.com/joey-zimet
(917) 589-5446
joey.zimet@gmail.com

Photo credit: pexels.com by Krivec Ales

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