Everyone recognizes exercise as a way to improve health and lose weight, but few people realize how important it is to ensure that their bodies are well prepared for it. Failure to do so will allow undetected limitations to cause chronic pain and injury. For this reason, it’s critically important to assess your capacity to exercise safely and address any identified limitations before they lead to significant problems.

Chances are that you have at least one physical limitations that you’re not aware of, and if you choose to exercise without identifying and correcting it, you may very well end up with one of today’s many common complaints and end up worse off physically than if you never exercised at all. Such complaints include pinched nerves or bulging discs in the neck or lower back, tendinitis or bursitis of the knee, hip, shoulder, or elbow, and more generally, an increased risk of chronic pain and acute injury. By making an effort to assess physical characteristics such as your posture, range of motion, and balance of strength, and by including corrective measures in your exercise routine to improve any identified limitations, you’ll greatly increase your resistance to pain and injury and improve your physical function.

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Earlier this week, I had my first experience with jury duty. Although I wasn’t selected, the case being tried inspired me to reflect on relationships between health, liability and lawsuits.

The Case

During the entire day that it took the lawyers to select the jury, they provided quite a bit of information about the case through the questions they asked potential jurors. The case was about a lawsuit regarding the injuries from a seemingly minor car accident. Although the defendant admitted to being at fault for the accident, her defense was based on the notion that the injuries of the other driver were preexisting. It was in the hands of the jury to decide if the injury was indeed preexisting, if the injured party should receive compensation, and if so, how much the compensation should be.

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I’m sure you know exercise is good for you, but do you know why?

Most people have a vague idea but aren’t entirely sure. It doesn’t take much thought to realize exercise was a major part of our evolution, and as such, it makes sense that it’s an important aspect of our health and well being. Just like most animals, we had to hunt for food, defend ourselves, and flee from danger. The levels of fitness and skill that these activities required are comparable to those of a well trained modern day athlete.

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