As a massage therapist, I have an understanding of bodies. I know how they work and how they compensate for what is not working properly.

When I work on a body I try to ascertain just what kind of training the person has already participated in. If they are not in sports, then what lifestyle habits do they have? Over the years I have noticed that many of the people I work on who are athletes have sports specific problems.

Why is this? Well, what I have seen happen is, depending upon the sports that person is playing,  one area gets very developed while another area may be lacking. For example, when you see someone who looks like they have very strong legs but can’t help but notice they hardly have any glutes. I  wonder how the body makes up for this imbalance. Our bodies function in certain ways, and when we shift the balance of our strength to one area, the body is forced to compensate by using muscles from another area. When those muscles are much weaker and less developed, they put a lot of stress on their structure. If the glutes are not available for the cast of the sport then the body will switch to another area to try to make up for it. 

After I help them recover from the tear or whatever injury has occurred due to the imbalance I try to encourage them to do exercises to specifically strengthen the areas around it so that the whole hip and thigh can work together as they were designed to do.

Even if you aren’t an athlete, if you have spent years compensating for a weak arm or leg, you are putting extra pressure on the arm or leg that is strong. That is why it’s so important for people to balance their workouts. If we keep all of our limbs as strong as they can be, then we will give our bodies the structural support they need and keep our injuries from reoccurring.

Valentina Boonstra