Movement Matters — Keeping the Body Capable

Stairs are one of the best tools to get muscles working.

What Do You Want Your Body to Still Be Able to Do?

There are movements we once did without giving them any thought at all. We bent down to tie our shoes, stepped over something in our path, climbed stairs, reached behind our backs to fasten clothing, crouched down to retrieve something from the floor, carried groceries from the car, stood up from a chair without leaning heavily through our arms, and sat down on the ground without first wondering how we were going to get back up again. We did not call any of these things exercise because they were part of living, yet those ordinary movements were continually asking our muscles, joints, feet, balance, and coordination to remain available to us.

The body responds to what we continue to ask of it. When we carry, reach, bend, step, rotate and regularly get ourselves up and down, those movements remain familiar. When an activity slowly disappears from daily life, the body receives fewer reasons to maintain all of the strength, range and coordination that activity requires. One day of sitting will not change what the body can do, and using modern conveniences is certainly not the problem; it is the pattern that builds over months and years when more and more of the movements we once performed without thought gradually disappear.

The change can be surprisingly easy to miss because daily life gives us so many ways to work around a movement that has become difficult.

Consider something as ordinary as tying a shoe. Slip-on footwear is convenient and, for many people, has replaced laces much of the time, but tying a shoe actually requires quite a collection of abilities. We need enough movement through the hip to bring the leg toward us, enough flexibility and control to cross or lift the leg, enough trunk movement to lean toward the foot, and enough range to reach the laces and work with them. If we stop performing that sequence for years, there may eventually come a day when we discover that bringing the foot close enough to reach it is no longer comfortable. The slip-on shoe has allowed us to continue getting dressed without interruption, so we may never have noticed that the movement itself was gradually becoming less available.

Fastening a bra can tell us something similar. Reaching the hands behind the body requires shoulder movement that many people rarely use anywhere else during the day. When that range becomes awkward, the bra is fastened in front and turned around, which gets the job done, but it also means the original movement receives even less practice. The same thing happens when reaching a low shelf becomes difficult, when we stop sitting on the floor because getting back up has become uncertain, when we choose the elevator every time because stairs have become demanding, or when we turn the whole body rather than comfortably looking over a shoulder.

Those little workarounds are worth noticing because they show us where everyday movement has changed.

Capability Is More Than Exercise

It is very easy to think of movement only in terms of workouts, exercise classes or going to a gym, but physical capability is much broader than that. Someone can have no interest at all in formal exercise and still maintain a very capable body because their daily life asks them to walk, garden, carry, lift, climb, bend, reach and move over different surfaces. Another person may exercise several times a week but spend most of the remaining hours sitting, and some movements that are rarely practised can still become increasingly difficult.

Capability is not one thing. Strength matters, but so do range of motion, balance, coordination, endurance, foot and ankle function, confidence with movement and the ability to shift body weight safely. We need enough of these working together to complete ordinary tasks without having to plan every movement in advance.

There is also a difference between being able to perform an activity once and having enough reserve to live around that activity comfortably. Getting up one flight of stairs when you are rested is useful, but being able to climb those stairs while carrying something, after a long day, or without needing several minutes to recover asks more from the body. Rising from a chair once is one thing; being able to do it repeatedly throughout the day without searching for something to push against is another. Physical reserve gives us room to move through daily life without every task using everything we have available.

Five Everyday Abilities Worth Protecting

Getting up and down may be one of the clearest examples of everyday capability because it combines leg and hip strength, balance, joint movement, and coordination. Rising from a dining chair, getting out of a low sofa, lowering toward the floor and returning to standing are movements that appear again and again throughout life. Once we begin relying heavily on our hands to lift ourselves from every chair or avoiding lower seats because we are uncertain whether we can stand again, the legs receive fewer opportunities to do the very work we want them to continue doing.

Carrying is another ability that deserves more attention than it usually receives. Grocery bags, laundry baskets, gardening supplies, pet food, luggage, firewood and grandchildren all ask the body to support weight while moving. Carrying brings the hands, arms, shoulders, trunk, hips, and legs into one activity, and because the load is moving with us, the body is continually adjusting. When everything heavy begins being divided into smaller loads or handed to someone else, that may be practical in the moment, but it can also mean the body is receiving fewer opportunities to maintain carrying strength.

Reaching and lifting allow us to interact with the space around us. Putting dishes on a shelf, taking something from a cupboard, reaching behind the body, washing our hair, hanging clothing, or placing something overhead all require useful movement through the shoulders and upper body. When one direction becomes difficult, we usually find another way to complete the task, which keeps life moving but can allow the original range to become smaller over time.

Walking and stepping are much more complex than moving from one location to another. Every step requires the body to support itself briefly on one leg while the other moves forward, and the foot and ankle are continually responding to the surface beneath us. Curbs, stairs, grass, gravel, slopes, and uneven ground all ask the body to make small adjustments. Footwear can provide valuable protection and support, and some people benefit greatly from orthotics, but external support also changes what the foot and ankle are being asked to do. Where it is appropriate and comfortable, giving the feet opportunities to move and respond to the ground can help keep those structures involved rather than expecting the shoe to create all of the stability.

Turning and bending are often among the first movements people begin to avoid once stiffness appears. We turn the whole body instead of rotating through the trunk, raise a task higher rather than bending toward it, sit down to dress because reaching the feet has become difficult, or stop doing work close to the ground. These changes can tell us a great deal about where movement is becoming restricted.

What Sitting Changes

Sitting belongs in this conversation because so much of modern life can now be done while seated. We sit to work, drive, eat, read, watch television, use a computer and often socialize. Sitting itself is not the issue; the concern is what happens when long periods of sitting crowd out most of the movement that used to happen naturally throughout the day.

While we are sitting, the chair is supporting a large portion of our body weight. The legs are not repeatedly lifting us against gravity, the feet and ankles are doing very little balancing, the hips remain in one limited position, and the upper body rarely moves through its full available range. When that becomes the dominant pattern of the day, there may be no dramatic injury or single moment to point to, yet over time certain movements can begin to feel unfamiliar, weaker or less comfortable.

This is one reason someone may feel less physically capable even though nothing obvious has happened. The body has spent much more time being supported and much less time supporting itself.

The good news in that observation is that movement can be invited back in. We do not have to begin by asking the body for everything it used to do years ago. We begin with what is available now and give those movements more opportunities to happen.

Chair Exercise Has Real Value

For someone who has already lost strength, balance, or confidence, a sturdy chair can become one of the most useful pieces of exercise equipment in the house. Sitting removes some of the concern about losing balance while still allowing the muscles and joints to work, which makes chair exercise valuable for anyone who cannot yet tolerate much standing activity or who wants to rebuild from a more secure position.

While seated, you can march the legs, straighten one knee at a time, lift and lower the heels, circle the ankles, open and close the knees, reach the arms overhead, move the arms behind the body, rotate through the upper torso, squeeze the shoulder blades together, or bring one ankle toward the opposite knee. That last movement begins practising part of what is needed to put on socks or tie shoes, while knee extensions and marching ask the thigh and hip muscles to become more involved again.

A chair can also become the bridge between sitting and standing. A person may begin by using both hands on the chair arms to stand, later asking the legs to take more of the work, and eventually discovering that less support is needed. The version you begin with does not need to look impressive. It needs to be something your body can actually practise.

This Week’s Capability Check

Before adding another exercise program to your life, spend a little time noticing how you already move through your day. Pay attention to whether you automatically push off a chair with your hands, whether you avoid reaching toward the floor, whether one foot is much harder to reach than the other when dressing, whether stairs have become something you plan around, whether you always choose shoes that require no bending, or whether you have stopped carrying objects that once felt quite ordinary.

Then try a few everyday movements and see what you notice.

• Can you cross one ankle over the opposite knee and comfortably reach your shoe?

• Can you rise from a sturdy chair without using your hands?

• Can you reach one hand behind your back and then the other?

• Can you step onto the bottom stair and lower yourself again with control?

• Can you bend toward the floor and return to standing comfortably?

• Can you carry two moderately weighted bags across a room while staying upright and steady?

There is no score to achieve here. The purpose is to find the movements that are still comfortable and the ones that have changed enough for you to notice them.

Movements You Can Practise This Week

Choose whichever of these feels useful to you. If one movement is enough for this week, work with that one. If several feel appropriate, use several. If you enjoy working through the whole group, do that. The goal is to give the body opportunities to practise the abilities you want to keep.

Sit to Stand

Sit toward the front of a sturdy chair with both feet planted firmly on the floor. Lean forward slightly, rise to standing, and lower yourself back into the chair with control.

Use the chair arms or place your hands on your thighs if that is what you currently need. Over time, you may find that the legs are able to take more of the work.

Counter Push-Aways

Place both hands on a secure kitchen counter and step your feet back until your body is at a comfortable angle. Bend the elbows and bring the chest toward the counter, then press yourself away again.

This gives the arms, shoulders, and upper body useful pushing work without requiring you to get onto the floor.

Carry

Pick up two manageable objects, one in each hand. Grocery bags, bottles of water or household objects can all work.

Walk through the room or hallway while keeping yourself tall and balanced. Carrying brings the hands, shoulders, trunk, hips and legs together in a movement that mirrors everyday life.

Step Up and Down

Using the bottom stair and holding the railing when needed, step up, bring the other foot up, and step back down with control.

Change which leg leads from time to time so both sides receive some work.

If stairs are not right for you at the moment, practise lifting one knee at a time while seated or standing while holding a secure surface.

Reach and Turn

Stand or sit tall and reach one arm across the body while allowing the upper torso to turn with it. Return to centre and repeat on the other side.

Stay within the range that feels comfortable rather than forcing the movement.

Shoe Reach

While seated securely, bring one ankle toward the opposite knee as far as comfortably possible. Reach toward the foot or ankle, pause there, and lower the leg again.

This practises part of the movement required for shoes, socks and dressing, and it can also show you whether one side moves very differently from the other.

Seated March and Leg Extension

If standing exercise is not appropriate right now, sit tall in a sturdy chair and lift one foot from the floor, then the other, as though marching. You can also straighten one knee, lower it, and repeat on the other side.

These movements give the hips and thighs work to do without asking you to balance in standing.

You may choose one of these movements and spend a few minutes with it, or move through several of them and create ten minutes of movement in whatever way works for you. There is no benefit in limiting yourself if your body is comfortable doing more, and there is no need to turn one useful exercise into a full routine before you are ready.

What Would You Like to Still Be Able to Do?

As we look toward the next 90 days, this may be one of the most useful questions we can ask ourselves: What do I want my body to continue being able to do without assistance, and am I still asking it to practise that ability?

Maybe you want to tie your shoes without struggling to reach your feet, climb stairs without pulling heavily on the railing, get onto the floor with a grandchild and know you can get back up, carry your own groceries, work in the garden, reach behind your back comfortably, or walk across uneven ground without becoming uncertain of every step.

Those movements may never appear on a fitness poster, but they have an enormous influence on how freely we are able to move through our own lives.

Movement matters because keeping the body capable means continuing to use the abilities we want to keep.