RESPORT Chiropractic & Physical Therapy

🍂 Before tackling your fall to-do list, make sure your body is ready for it.

Fall yard work and seasonal chores can involve more bending, lifting, reaching, and standing than your body may be used to. Here are five simple ways to help your body handle the extra activity:

✓ Warm Up Before Yard Work

Going straight into raking, digging, or lifting can place a sudden demand on your muscles and joints. Start with a few minutes of easy movement to gradually prepare your body for the work ahead.

✓ Lift With Proper Form

Bags of leaves, boxes, tools, and outdoor equipment can add up quickly. Keep the load close to your body, use your legs when lifting, and avoid twisting while carrying something heavy.

✓ Take Regular Movement Breaks

Hours of bending, standing, or working in one position can leave certain areas of the body feeling stiff and fatigued. Changing positions and taking short movement breaks gives your body a chance to reset.

✓ Stay Active As Temperatures Drop

Cooler weather can make it tempting to spend more time sitting indoors. Keeping up with regular movement helps maintain strength, mobility, and overall physical function throughout the season.

✓ Don’t Ignore Recurring Pain

If the same area continues to hurt during certain activities, don't simply keep pushing through it. Recurring discomfort can be a sign that your body is having difficulty handling a particular movement or workload.

🍂 Fall is a great time to stay active. Just make sure your body is prepared for the activities you're asking it to do.

“It feels fine, so I went back to my normal workout.” Sound familiar?

Maybe the back pain settled down, the knee stopped bothering you, or that shoulder finally felt normal again.

So you return to your usual workout, lift the same weight, play a full game, or spend several hours doing the activity you missed.

Then the discomfort comes back.

That does not necessarily mean something new went wrong.

Sometimes the body simply was not ready for that much activity yet.

A better approach is to build back gradually and pay attention to how the body responds during and after activity.

Small increases in load can give the muscles, joints, and nervous system time to adjust.

If you are unsure how quickly you should return to an activity after an injury, getting your movement assessed can help you figure out what your body is ready for.

Double Leg Extension is a simple way to train your core to maintain stability while your legs create movement.

Here’s how to do it:

1️⃣ Lie on your back with both knees bent and lifted, keeping your core gently engaged.

2️⃣ Slowly extend both legs away from your body. The farther your legs move, the more demand you place on your core.

3️⃣ Keep your lower back gently connected to the floor as you extend. This helps you maintain control of your pelvis instead of allowing your back to arch.

4️⃣ Bring your legs back in slowly and repeat, maintaining the same controlled position throughout the movement.

5️⃣ Keep breathing naturally. You should be able to maintain your abdominal control without holding your breath.

If your lower back starts lifting from the floor, reduce your range of motion or switch to one leg at a time. That is not a failure. It simply means you have reached the range where your body can no longer maintain the same level of control.

The goal is to build stability in the presence of movement, not to see how far your legs can travel.

If you are in your 50s, do not wait until you feel unsteady to train your balance. 👣

Balance shows up in everyday moments you probably never think about.

Stepping off a curb. Walking across an uneven surface. Getting out of a chair. Carrying groceries. Turning quickly when someone calls your name.

You want those movements to feel automatic.

That is why adding a few balance exercises to your routine now can be valuable. Try standing on one leg while holding onto a stable surface, practicing controlled step-ups, or working on your ability to shift your weight from one side to the other.

Start with exercises you can perform safely and progress as your control improves.

Your future self will benefit from the abilities you choose to maintain today.

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One appointment cannot change everything your body does for the rest of the week.

Whether you are working on back pain, shoulder mobility, strength, or balance, your body needs opportunities to practice the changes you are trying to make.

That is where your time between visits matters.

The exercises you are given, how often you move, how you manage your activity, and how you respond to daily demands all contribute to the process.

Think of an appointment as one part of the plan. The rest happens when you take those strategies into your everyday life.

Consistency gives your body more opportunities to build strength, improve movement, and become more confident with the activities that matter to you.

Tight calves are common for runners, but constantly tight calves deserve a closer look. 🏃‍♂️

Long-distance running places repeated demands on the calf muscles and ankles. As mileage builds, the calves can become stiff, sensitive, or overworked, especially when training load, recovery, strength, and mobility are not well balanced.

Chiropractic care can help assess how the feet, ankles, hips, and spine are moving together and address areas of restricted joint movement that may be affecting your running mechanics.

Dry needling can also be used to target specific areas of increased muscle tension, helping reduce sensitivity and improve comfortable movement.

The goal is not just to make your calves feel looser for a day. It is to figure out why they are getting overloaded and help your body handle the demands of running more efficiently.

If your calves always feel tight after your runs, it may be time to look beyond stretching and assess what is driving it.

Strong shoulders need stability, not just strength.

Shoulder taps are a simple way to challenge your shoulders, shoulder blades, core, and hips to work together while your base of support changes.

They help:

✅ Improve shoulder stability and control
✅ Engage the shoulder blades during weight-bearing
✅ Build core and hip stability
✅ Gradually expose the shoulders to shifting loads

How to do it:

1️⃣ Start in a high plank with your hands underneath your shoulders.
2️⃣ Keep your hips and shoulders as square as possible.
3️⃣ Lift one hand and tap the opposite shoulder.
4️⃣ Place your hand back down and repeat on the other side.
5️⃣ Move slowly and minimize shifting through your hips.

If you have trouble keeping your hips stable, widen your feet slightly to create a stronger base. As your control improves, you can progress from elbow taps to shoulder taps and eventually hip taps.

The goal is not just touching your shoulders. It is learning how to maintain stability while your body moves.

Getting back to running after knee surgery is not about hitting a specific date. It is about earning the ability to run again. 🏃‍♂️

Your knee needs to progress through several stages before it is ready for repeated running impact. Restoring motion and reducing swelling comes first. Then you need to rebuild strength, control single-leg movements, and gradually reintroduce impact.

Once your knee can handle those demands, a run-walk approach can help you safely introduce running without immediately jumping back into your previous mileage.

The timeline can look different from person to person. The type of surgery, healing progress, strength, mobility, and how your knee responds to increased activity all matter.

A smart return to running is not about rushing to the finish line. It is about building enough capacity that your knee can handle the miles ahead.

If you are unsure whether your knee is ready to start running again, a proper assessment can help determine what you should work on next.