Don't Believe Everything You Hear
How do you tell the difference between a myth and reality? Fact and fiction? A story and the truth?
Words like objective, data, authentic, science, validity, and proof come to mind. We all love stories, fairy tales, gossip, urban legends, hoaxes, and fantasy but they do a huge disservice to us, our bodies, and our health.
If you have heard any of the following things, think twice before you believe them. They are more than likely not true, even though they are commonly held beliefs. These are the 10 biggest myths about your body and health:
If you have heard any of the following things, think twice before you believe them. They are more than likely not true, even though they are commonly held beliefs. These are the 10 biggest myths about your body and health:
- It's genetic.
- Your body is fragile.
- It's normal aging.
- The human body is not well designed.
- It's inflammation.
- It's overuse.
- Surgery will fix the problem.
- It's just bad luck.
- You just need to strengthen your core.
- Stretching is bad for you.
Let's take each one and briefly discuss them.
1. It's genetic. If you are talking about your brown eyes or red hair, then yes it's probably genetic. But if you are talking about your "bad knees", "weak back", "poor posture", or "flat feet" you are wrong. Those are not things you genetically inherent from your parents but rather develop from the way you are using (or not using) your body. The good news is since it's not genetic, you can do something about it. (Start here)
1. It's genetic. If you are talking about your brown eyes or red hair, then yes it's probably genetic. But if you are talking about your "bad knees", "weak back", "poor posture", or "flat feet" you are wrong. Those are not things you genetically inherent from your parents but rather develop from the way you are using (or not using) your body. The good news is since it's not genetic, you can do something about it. (Start here)
2. Your body is fragile. Actually your body is designed to be incredibly strong, resilient, and capable! Your body can handle running long distances, swimming for hours, walking for days, lifting heavy objects, and will get stronger as a result. Every part of your body (skin, muscles, tendons, bones, nerves, heart, lungs, etc) responds to the demands you place on it and gets more capable for tomorrow. But remember...use it or lose it. Stop using your muscles, bones, etc and they get weaker.
3. It's normal aging. We are told normal aging causes the loss of strength, balance, flexibility, bone density, height, and our metabolism. We are also told that with normal aging we will develop degenerative discs, cartilage damage, arthritis, neuropathy, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and cancer. None of this is true. This is not normal aging. These changes are the result of our environment and how we interact with our environment. Normal aging can look and feel like this and this.
 Normal aging is not losing mobility and freedom. |  Normal aging is staying strong and capable. |
4. The human body is not well designed. Our culture tells us that our body is not pretty enough, strong enough, thin enough, young enough, capable enough. We grow up believing we were born fat or un-athletic or flat footed or with a bad back or weak knees or hyper-mobile shoulders that are prone to dislocation. Experts tell us our knees are inherently flawed and prone to injury, our spines are a bad design, our necks are weak, and our wrists weren't designed to handle typing on a computer. Our culture tells us science is our only hope with its stem-cell injections, joint replacements, high-tech braces, and special creams, supplements, and engineered foods are our best hope to get some longevity out of our flawed human bodies. Well I don't agree. I believe the human body is designed perfectly and describe 10 design perfections in the human body here.
5. It's inflammation. Knee hurts? It's inflammation. Sore shoulder? It's inflammation. Bad back? It's inflammation. Foot pain? It's inflammation. Depression? It's inflammation. Heart Disease? It's inflammation. Osteoporosis? It's inflammation. As a society, at some point, we decided that anything that is sore, hurts, or going wrong in the body is caused by inflammation. First many times when we actually look at the tissue level there is no inflammation present. What? Yes. For example in a study looking at "plantar fasciitis" when tissue samples were studied it was found there was very little or no inflammation in most patients but rather necrosis - yes tissue death. Many "itises" there is little or no inflammation even though we've given them the name of "disease characterized by inflammation." The second problem with blaming everything on inflammation is that inflammation is an effect not a cause. To fix anything we need to address the cause not the effect. The third problem is interfering with the wisdom of the human body and it's immune response is playing god and probably not the best idea. Let's stick with addressing the cause of the problem again. Learn more about inflammation here.
6. It's overuse. Carpal tunnel? It's overuse. Achilles tendonitis? It's overuse. Iliotibial band pain? It's overuse. Sound familiar? But how can "overuse" be the cause of Achilles tendonitis if both legs are running the same miles and only your left Achilles hurts? How can typing on a computer be the cause of your carpal tunnel syndrome when everyone else in your office is pain free? Overuse is the easy answer but one that don't make common sense. Learn what really causes pain instead of overuse here.
7. Surgery will fix the problem. Your knee hurts and your doctor says a knee surgery (a meniscectomy) will fix the problem. But we forgot to ask these questions: What caused the knee injury? Doesn't my body need meniscus? And what happens if I still have knee pain after surgery? Surgery merely treats the symptom not the cause of the symptom. Learn more about meniscus surgery here. The same common sense approach can be taken with back pain/surgery, knee replacement/hip replacement, and many other surgeries.
8. It's just bad luck. Injuries are often blamed on bad luck or a fluke accident. I don't buy this argument at all. It's not bad luck that caused Greg Oden to have multiple knee injuries and surgeries or good luck that allowed John Lynch to play 15 mostly injury free seasons in the NFL. Greg Oden had many postural imbalances that put his knees under unequal and excessive stress which lead to repeated cartilage damage. On the other hand, John Lynch worked hard to maintain good posture and this allowed his body to take the repeated abuse of the NFL and play many successful and injury free seasons.
9. You just need to strengthen your core. Every physical therapist's favorite diagnosis and recommendation: your core is weak and you need to increase your core stability. Knee pain? Weak core. Hip pain? Weak core. Poor running form? Weak core. Inconsistent golf drive? Weak core. The problem starts with very few people understanding what actually causes injury. Hint: it's not a weak core. The next problem is not understanding what the "core" really consists of and how to strengthen it. The final problem happens when we strengthen the core before correcting postural alignment.
10. Stretching is bad for you. The myth that stretching is bad for you is all over the internet, in health and fitness magazines, and preached by physical therapists. The problem is all the studies these people are basing their opinions off of are looking at the wrong things. Studies show stretching decreases power. While this might be true, increasing power isn't the goal of stretching. Stretching's goal should be realignment of bones and restoration of joint range of motion (improved posture, balance, and function). This in turn will decrease chance of injury and improve efficiency (which will in turn improve performance). To experience this, try this running warm-up and cool-down stretching routine and notice how your running improves.
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