Yes…Of course they benefit. Corrective exercises are just exercises with a specific purpose. That purpose is to correct imbalances in the body resulting from injury, overuse, underuse, or developmental issues that arise from childhood. That means that everyone, at any age, can benefit from using corrective exercises to further their health.And as we see less and less movement available for our children on a daily basis, their bodies are learning to adapt in ways that used to be reserved for people who had severe pain.
Take a look at your kids. Take at look at young people on the subway, or just walking down the street. You’ll see shoulders slouched forward, and head positions that are so far forward it makes the youngster resemble a turtle more than a human. You’ll see feet splayed out and knees collapsed in on themselves. What one might have confused for “style” or “swagger”, now looks like a person with a limp or someone walking on their toes. These are all imbalances in movement that can be addressed and fixed with corrective exercises. It can be fixed quickly, too. In some ways, the younger you are, the more quickly positive changes can take hold. Our younger population doesn’t have the bad habits that many of our more seasoned folks do. And while it may seem easy to dismiss the causes of poor posture and poor mechanics to the oversized backpack, or even laziness, the truth is our youth need hours of movement daily. And 30 minutes of corrective exercise is really just a good start.
Children have less and less movement available to them on a daily basis. In a world dominated by “screen time” , the idea of kids playing outside seems like a quaint memory by a generation of parents who find the day getting away from them. Of course, this is entirely based on my own upbringing as a comparison to my children’s upbringing. I was the product of a single-parent home and grew up in the 70’s and early 80’s. Back then, as most can attest, we had no cable TV, no cordless or wireless phones, no remote controls, and no idea what the internet was…etc. In fact, consumer computing didn’t exist. However, playing in the yard was a thing. I had physical education classes everyday. I also played whatever sport was in season. I would ride my bike from one end of town to the other and the only expectation I had to return home was to do it before dark. I would get physically tired, sweaty, and hungry from all the activity in my day to day. Ah…the good ole days.
Today’s children have activities dominated by concerns of too much screen time, playdates, and more recently, social distancing. They are driven everywhere. If they play a sport, they tend to be single sport athletes with extra coaching time for “privates” with coaches trying to earn a little extra cash. For those that don’t play a sport, they have to find their activity elsewhere. And with school being held remotely for many, the idea of working out in an organized PE class went out with the dinosaurs, with the results being an entire generation of youth having physical challenges that used to be reserved for our older populations.
The way things appear to be going for many, our kids have a critical need for movement of any kind.
In this world 30 mins of Ouch! corrective exercises is good for everyone. If you or your kids have no symptom, start with the Everest Routine. If you don't know what that is, you'll need to join Ouch! and visit the Exercise Library at the top of the page.
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