Trash Truck Metaphor For A Sustainable Body

Avoid Waste For A Sustainable Body

The trash truck went right on by. There was only an almost empty recycle bin.

This brief post is about two events related to sustainability, when it comes to the planet and our bodies.

ONE, avoid wasting stuff: I went to take out the trash and recycling this morning. Glancing into the ‘landfill bin,’ I noticed that it was empty, after a whole week of living. Then I noticed that there was very little recycling, but I took that one down to the road. The trash truck came moments later, only to roll on by our absent trash bin. How is this possible?

ANSWER: We live mainly on home-grown or local vegetables, that are not packaged, and we don’t buy a whole lot of stuff, and no paper towels anymore.

Don’t miss that great movie, the story of stuff:

If we don’t waste stuff, our lives will be much improved, as will that of the Biosphere, and all of it’s inhabitants. But how is this a metaphor for body sustainability?

Best running and body movement book I ever read.

TWO, Yrma’s hip pain: Just like the planet, our bodies possess limited resources, in the form of flesh, sinews, and the like.They’ll wear away, if we don’t learn how to use them wisely. I was chatting to Yrma, at Weaver Street Market, while purchasing my coffee this morning. Hearing of my success with curing a fellow employee, Elise, of her so-called plantar fasciitis, Yrma requested my advice on her sore hip. I asked her to point to the region that was sore – the iliacus! Classic hip flexor strain, due to inefficient movement – lots of walking in Yrma’s case, as I know from seeing her walking for exercise around town.

Iliacus muscles, that can be spared unnecessary effort using spinal recoil. Wonderful graphics by By Sebastian Kaulitzki, copyright purchased from ShutterStock.

I briefly described the lesson of Jack Heggie, in his remarkable book, where he explains how to use spinal elastic recoil to reduce stress on the hip flexors (iliacus and psoas muscles). This is achieved through relaxed counter-rotation of shoulders and hips. The goal is to sustain Yrma’s resources, before she’s all crippled up.

Such simple changes, less stuff and less wasted effort.

The trick to keeping moving as you age, and of course, Yrma is still young, is to harness your resources. Inefficient movement leads to unnecessary wear and tear, which can be avoided.

Simply learn to listen to your body, and find ways to remove unnecessary load. How on Earth could I continue Ironman training at age 75, with progressive vascular disease, including an aortic aneurysm?

ANSWER: By learning how to move increasingly efficiently, in my ongoing battle against entropy.

Think about it.

kev aka FitOldDog

Oh Yes! Please ask your doctor to explain this image to her/his patients, and ask about their diet while they’re at it.

Grey is muscle, white is fat, black ring around the central white spot (bone marrow) is the femoral bone.