The Healing Power of Movement for Body and Mind

Until recently, the standard protocol for the vast majority of injuries was to rest and immobilize the affected area.  If you broke a bone, the doctor reset it and put it into a plaster cast until it healed, then you took off the cast, did some physiotherapy to gain back your strength and you were usually fine.

If you strained your back, you took some painkillers and muscle relaxants and lay down for a few days until the strain hopefully went away.  If you got a hip replacement, you stayed in bed for weeks with no movement until the surgery healed and then you did physiotherapy to help you walk again.

Recently, however, medical professionals have noticed that in many cases, movement is a much more effective healer than total immobility.  Naturally, in some cases, like a broken bone, the fracture has to heal straight, so a cast is used to keep the bone in place until it is fully healed.  But, in the case of many other injuries, movement is making recovery times much shorter.

In the case of a hip replacement surgery, doctors have found that having the patient up and walking the following day speeds up their recovery much more than immobility.  The patient has to be careful, but provided they have the strength to walk, the movement of their new joint together with the rest of their leg has proven to shorten recovery times dramatically.  Many patients, even the elderly, are able to walk out of the hospital after 2-3 days!  One client I knew had both hips done in the summer and was skiing normally that winter.

The same is true with many other kinds of surgery like a knee replacement.  If all goes well, the patient is up and walking within 2-3 days and sent home.  Doctors are realizing that the healing power of medically supervised and approved movement is so powerful.

Muscles Too

Now, is the same true for muscles as it is with joints?  Yes, it is.  Athletes have known for many decades that the best remedy for sore muscles is movement.  Rather than ice and rest your muscles, the most effective way to heal soreness is to move them the next day.  The muscles warm up, flex and have blood flow through them all of which help clear away soreness. 

Bodybuilders and weightlifters know that regardless of how sore muscles are, as long as they are not injured or torn, you can work them out with weights after 2 days and they will feel less sore after the workout.

Even a sore back can often be healed more quickly with movement.  It may take a longer time, but some light movement will very often help heal a sore back more quickly than complete immobility.

We do need to keep in mind that sore muscles are not the same as injured muscles.  If you feel a pop, tear, or sharp pain in your muscles, you should stop immediately as those are often indicative of a much more serious injury.  That is the time for immobility and probably medical attention.

Movement For Your Brain

One of the latest areas to embrace movement as healing is in brain injuries, specifically concussions.  Until very recently, if you hit your head very hard and had the symptoms of a concussion like sensitivity to light, headaches, nausea and balance trouble you were advised immediately to go to a dark room and not have any stimulation.  This meant no light, television, reading or devices possibly for many weeks.

Since 2017 or so, doctors have found that low light and brain “movement” heal the injury more quickly.  Some brain engagement like light reading and even television in low light speed up healing and make symptoms milder.

Our bodies including our brains are made for movement and it is through this movement that we heal and recover more quickly.

We can even us movement to “heal” our minds if we are in a slump.  There is a very old writer’s trick for getting out of writer’s block and being creative again.  If a writer cannot seem to write anything original or creative, they will copy out, by hand, something written by someone else.  It is most effective when it is writing that they like and admire as it gets the brain working again and they engage with the words.  This, coupled with the fact that it also creates tactile movement through the act of writing, is very effective at getting the mind and body “moving.”

We can even create motivation “movement” when we are procrastinating or feeling down.  One of the quickest ways to turn your mood around is to write out a list of your past accomplishments.  They do not have to be major achievements, just things you have succeeded at in the past, like passing a driving test, going to university, etc.  As long as you make the list the effect can be remarkable and get you moving again.

The healing power of movement, both physical and mental, is a potent tool we can use to recover from injuries and difficulties that we regularly face.