Wednesday, August 15, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Health & Fitness
15
Strength, resilience key to performance
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Elite athlete or weekend
warrior, we all want to per-
form better on the court or
on the road or trail. For many
of us, being able to handle a
hard day’s work in the yard or
the garden is just as satisfying
as athletic performance.
No matter what our physi-
cal demands may be, build-
ing strength and resilience
are key to improving our
performance.
It’s not just that being
stronger can help you drive a
golf ball farther or pedal up a
hill faster: Being strong can
help you avoid injury. And
avoiding injury means you
can spend more time training
and engaging in your sport
or activity — which means
you’ll get better at it.
Seth Wilkie, a physical
therapist at Step & Spine
Physical Therapy in Sisters
knows a lot about resilience
— from a variety of perspec-
tives. As a professional thera-
pist, he knows what the body
requires to function at its
best. He started down his path
toward becoming a physical
therapist as a personal trainer,
working with people look-
ing to get fitter and stronger.
Equally important, he is an
athlete who has found a way
to manage and recover from
injury.
A passionate soccer player,
Wilkie played into college.
Now he is an avid cyclist and
triathlete.
“Athletically, I’ve had a
history of disc injury,” he told
The Nugget.
To deal with that problem,
he “self-treated with a lot of
stretching and strengthen-
ing. And then understanding
about pain. I’ll be honest: the
strengthening is the bigger
deal.”
So much depends on
simply being strong. Wilkie
notes, for instance, that hav-
ing strong neck muscles can
reduce the chance of concus-
sion, because a strong neck is
less susceptible to the whip-
lash action that tosses the
brain around in the skull.
Wilkie recommends heavy
strength training to build that
resilient body. Equally impor-
tant, he says, is an appropriate
progression of your program.
“In other words, be consis-
tent,” he said.
There are other elements
that come into play that
can help a strong person
improve function and perfor-
mance. He teaches people to
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relax and move — because
relaxed motion is more effi-
cient. While he works a lot
with people who are trying
to recover from injury or a
chronic physical impinge-
ment, he emphasizes ongoing
self-care for his patients.
“I view myself as a guide,”
he said. “My job is not to fix
people, but to help them fix
themselves.”
While modifying shoe
choices or bike fit may be
called for in addressing an
injury, for injury prevention it
is best to keep things simple
and not overthink things. If a
shoe feels good and fits well,
it’s probably the right choice
for you.
“It’s all about comfort
footwear choice,” Wilkie
said.
A body’s resilience also
has an impact on the way we
respond to pain. Pain and our
response to it is complicated
and somewhat mysterious.
“Having an injury and
being in pain are two differ-
ent things,” Wilkie said.
It’s not a simple mind-
over-matter proposition —
but what is in your mind
can have an impact on your
experience of pain. A resilient
body gets used to being under
stress that can be uncomfort-
able and painful.
And “self-talk matters in
pain sensitivity and perfor-
mance,” Wilkie said. “Pain is
not a reflection of the status
of the tissue. Pain is a reflec-
tion of you as a whole —
mind, body and spirit. All of
it matters, all the time.”
Activity builds resilience;
being strong helps us stay
active. So, the key to fitness,
well-being, and improving
our performance is to work
hard to become Sisters Strong.
Get Back Into the
Game Safer, Faster &
Better than Before!
Physical therapists are an athletes first line of
care in the treatment of sports injuries.
We help athletes of all ages maximize
performance and minimize injury by developing
comprehensive training programs that meet
their individual needs and goals.
Find out how we can help you. Schedule a
ten-minute evaluation any Tuesday for $10.
Nicole Stavale
PT, DPT, OCS
Barrett Ford
PT, Cert. MDT
Seth Wilkie
PT, DPT, OCS
541-588-6848 | 625 N. Arrowleaf Trail (Near Ray’s Shopping Center) StepAndSpine.com