Twenty years ago I missed a stair, caught my heel on my pants, and flew down an entire flight of steps blueberry smoothie and all, straight into the wall.
With a tweaked left knee I limped through work that day and laughed it off.
My left knee is not laughing now.
A few weeks ago it started acting up going down stairs and I had to be honest with myself about why.
I’ve been driving back and forth to my Dad’s a lot, adding an hour-plus commute to my office on top of it, not playing with Bryan the pup like I usually do, and sitting far more than I should.
The body keeps the score and the Chinese have said it for centuries too: the body remembers every injury.
Here’s what I know after nearly 20 years in practice: the people in the most pain are almost always the people with the least mobility.
Truck drivers. Computer programmers. Anyone whose job keeps them seated for hours.
It’s not their fault nobody teaches fascial health but the result is the same: stuck tissue, compressed circulation, joints and nerves that don’t get what they need.
And it doesn’t take much to turn it around.
Fascial tissue contracts when you’re sedentary.
Your nervous system loses resilience when it isn’t challenged to navigate uneven surfaces, stairs, lateral movement, or balance.
The fix isn’t complicated…and I’m thinking one of the solutions is iplay.
When my knee flared I grabbed a rectangular eraser and scraped around the joint (old school Gua Sha). I foam rolled my quads, IT band, and hamstrings. I hula hooped. I did hip circles.
The pain went away.
Now I’m back to five minutes of play a day, crawling around after Bry guy, jumping and twisting playing tug too.
I’ve put skipping and walking backwards on my walks back into my routine.
And my knee seems to know the difference.
Ask yourself honestly:
Do you ever balance on one leg just for fun? When did you last skip, hop, or walk backwards? Can you do the twist without thinking about it?
Your nervous system doesn’t care if you look graceful. It just needs the challenge.
Come find me on Instagram @drjanninekrause — I’ll show you what five minutes of play actually looks like. (Spoiler: I’ve been told if I’m dancing it resembles various versions of “the Elaine” from Seinfeld.)
Here’s to playing more,
Dr. J
