Guide email 6
Default to Movement
The most significant mindset shift I had to make during my recovery was learning to default to movement. For most of my life, the main advice I got for any injury from health and...
The most significant mindset shift I had to make during my recovery was learning to default to movement. For most of my life, the main advice I got for any injury from health and medical providers was almost always the same: rest. I was told to rest for nearly a year in fifth grade, dealing with Osgood-Schlatter's disease. Later, it was my knees, elbow, or something else—and the answer was almost always rest.
Rest is important, and sleep and recovery are crucial. But the body doesn’t heal through rest alone. It heals through movement. Movement brings blood flow, drives lymphatic drainage, helps tendons remodel, and adapts bones. Even cartilage in the knee responds to walking. Movement gives the body the inputs it needs to recover.
This week, I am starting a new series focused on exploring some science surrounding the body’s adaptations to movements. This is part of the building blocks around a larger effort to build a movement growth mindset or to “default to movement. " • If this doesn’t make sense now, don’t worry—there will be much more on this to come!
For now, we will start with first principles: mechanotransduction. Essentially, it is the process by which mechanical signals are turned into biochemical signals and then drive cellular change.
In the following weeks, we will take a nature trail through some of the body’s adaptations to movement. We will start with the basics—muscle, cardiovascular system, and bones—and then slowly work our way to the other systems of the body, including the lymphatic and immune system, joints and cartilage, gene expression, fascia, and finally, the brain.
Check it out here:
Enjoy,
Jeff