Have you ever felt like all of a sudden your body is falling apart?  Simple things you were capable of in the past are now quite challenging.  Or you have pain that seems to make no logical sense.  Possibly one of the most common sentiments we hear from our clients is “why is my body falling apart?”  Or, “I am too young to be feeling so old and broken.”

Here are 5 signs that your body might be falling apart:

1.) Unexpected pain.

You wake up sore.  Your back hurts just driving your kids around.  Between your shoulder blades ache every time you cook in the kitchen.  You cleaned out the garage and feel like you did an Ironman.  Aches, pains, sharp or dull, sudden or all day seem to be more and more a regular part of your everyday life.

2.) Instability. 

You bend over to pick up a toy and your back “goes out.” Your ribs are constantly misaligned, and the chiropractor is on speed dial. You step funny and your pelvis gets stuck and you stop to readjust before you can move again. You start living like one random move might take your breath away or put you flat on your back for the weekend. You realize that your body cannot be trusted.

3.) Exhaustion with life.

By dinnertime, you cannot even sit up straight at the dinner table.  Cleaning the house is utterly exhausting so you must pace yourself. Sitting through your son’s swim meet feels like a major victory. Your body feels so tired that simple life demands make you wish you could take a nap.

4.) Bathroom issues.

Constipation… The. Struggle. Is. Real. Suddenly you need to be careful when and where you sneeze. You leak urine randomly when laughing and sometimes just cannot get there in time. Sometimes you think you need to “go” but you can’t really get that “last scoop out of the carton…” that is not good.

5.) Numb and distracted.

It is hard to feel your muscles anymore unless they are hurting. You feel disconnected and weak in your core. Intimacy is missing something – it just does not feel right. It is hard to concentrate because everything feels overwhelming and exhausting.

So what is going on?

Believe it or not, your internal core muscles can be directly connected to ALL of these feelings. Your “core” is actually the group of muscles that wrap around your body to support your spine and organs and connect your upper body (rib cage) to your lower body (pelvis). It is not some elusive thing you do a workout to get. When you think of the core this way, everything starts to look different.

Your corset muscle (the transverse abdominis) is one of the largest muscles in your body and the only muscle that wraps around your torso providing symmetry and balance and elongated stability.  This muscle is deep and gets neglected in life and fitness. Neglect leads to “disuse atrophy” (the shrinking of an underused muscle) and inefficient and exhausting movement patterns.

It does not have to be this way.

The Tummy Team specializes in Functional Core Rehabilitation and has developed a systematic step by step approach to rebuild your core and pull your body back together. We’ll address posture and alignment, compensation patterns, and lifestyle use of the core. We aren’t an exercise program so this isn’t about planks. And we aren’t traditional physical therapy, so we won’t make you do odd core exercises. We’ll use your everyday movements like sitting, standing, bending, reaching, lifting and walking to rehab your core and provide that stability your body craves. All those feelings we mentioned above will begin to dissipate and you’ll have more energy to live the life you want.

Enroll in one of our many rehab programs. We can help you feel better.