So, here I am on my soapbox. My message? Get stronger!

You know those little aches and pain you’ve been living with? The ones that prevent you from living your fullest life? The it’s-because-I’m-fourty (or 50 or 25, whatever)-now aches? The I-sit-at-a-desk (stand, squat, whatever)-all-day aches?

I’m on my soapbox to caution you not to be too hasty to blame your age, or the chair you command each day, or concrete floor you stand on for hours, or the neighbor’s goat (just in case you were looking for a scape goat).

Instead, get stronger. Learn how to lift weights to improve your muscular strength. Learn how to use your own body weight to strengthen your “core”. It’s outside my scope of practice to teach you these skills, so I highly recommend using a personal trainer.

It’s also against my best interest to advise this. Clients who have taken this advise don’t come to me for massage very often anymore. They come occassionally for relaxation and if they sustain an injury. But those little, nagging, “chronic” aches and pains? Gone!

It doesn’t seem like it would take a tremendous amount of strength to sit at a desk all day and mouse away. But it does. It doesn’t seem like maintaining excellent health at 30, 40, 50, 60 (and so on), would require tremendous strength. But it does.

Get stronger. Live longer.