Functional Movement for Exercise

Sep 22

How to Use Functional Movement for Exercise

Functional movement is a term that is often thrown around and is of course becoming super trendy. It seems if you throw the word functional in front of it, you can get away with any type of exercise from crawling around like a bear to swinging off a pole. But what does “functional movement” actually mean in terms of injury prevention and promotion of an active lifestyle?

What is Functional Movement?

Functional movement training originated with functional rehabilitation (mostly in Occupational Therapy), where the intervention is designed specifically for the person according to what is meaningful for them to gain functional independence. The overall goal may be to return to work or return or to full function in all activities of daily living.

Functional movement training mimics activities in your daily life, for example; walking, one handed carry (carrying a bag), squatting/kneeling (to pick things up, tie your shoelaces, reach into a low cupboard), pushing/pulling (a trolley, a pram, a wheelbarrow, opening a door).

The other way to look at functional movement is, movement that is required for you to be functional in your daily life. For example, you may need functional strength in your legs to walk up and down a flight of stairs at home. Functional movements are usually those which are natural to the human being. Walking is a natural movement pattern, running, jumping, bending, squatting are all normal movement patterns.

Functional movements are generally multi-directional, utilizing postural stability, multiple joints and multiple gross and fine motor patterns. In other words, it involves the whole body, and the whole person.

Because functional movement utilizes natural movement patterns, there is an inherent lower risk of injury and in fact, if we “practice” these natural movement patterns it can help with injury prevention because we improve neuromuscular postural stabilization and joint centration.

Conversely, if we utilize movement patterns that are not natural, especially under load, we are much more prone to injury.

Injuries are Often the Reason People Become Sedentary

The more we can make movement patterns more natural, the more we can prevent injuries. There basically really is never any need for a human being to shrug their shoulders under a heavy load, nor is there any need to lift a really heavy item above head height, nor extend your arm against resistance, nor pick something up with your legs straight and your eyeballs popping out of your head (think dead lift). While I never want to discourage anyone from engaging in physical activity, I see it is extremely important to minimize the risk of injury when exercising, as this is often the reason people stop moving. It’s the classic story of someone who got motivated to “get fit” and embarked on a gym program only to wind up with an elbow injury that takes 12 months to heal. In that 12 months the person is unable to do any “functional” tasks like carrying a bag, pouring a jug of water, mowing the lawn, even driving a car. They become more sedentary than they were before their attempted gym program and worse, more unmotivated to do any type of exercise.

A Few Small Tips to Get Started

Tips to make exercise more functional:

Use the general principle of using your own body weight to create resistance and use your whole body. For example, plank position with your arms straight. This keeps the spine in neutral alignment, engages postural or core stability, keeps shoulders, elbow and wrists in a centrated position. It also engages postural control mechanisms to keep your balance.
If using weighted loads, perform a functional movement such as lift and carry, keeping the load close to the body. Perform bilateral carry and unilateral carry with a lighter load.
Perform exercises on different terrain such as undulating grass, or hills to allow the body opportunity for slight changes in postural control and adaptation from proprioceptive feedback.
Use your whole body rather than isolated muscles or muscle groups. For example, 4 point crawling on feet and hands (like a bear), forwards and backwards for strength and endurance training, combined with coordination and agility training, and mobilization of the hips, shoulders and spine.

Tips to make functional movement part of your daily lifestyle:

Walk – It is simple, and it is obvious, but we must look for opportunities to walk more. Whether that be walking around your home, walking around your office. Think about how many times you stay sitting down rather than get up because it’s easier, or because you can send a text message instead to communicate. Think about opportunities to walk around a market, walk around a shop rather than order online. What about opportunities to walk to school with your children, or to the bus stop, or even just an extra 100 meters from the car to the classroom. Position things in your house to create more movement, walk to the laundry to put your clothes away every morning and night rather than save it up to the end of the week. Only fill your glass up half way before sitting down to have a drink….then get up to fill it up. Position things in your office to create more movement.
Be creative and remember that it is the moment by moment tasks and choices that add up over a week, month and year, rather than the 45 minute walk once per week that makes a lifestyle change.
Standing – What are you doing right now. Are you reading this sitting or standing? When in your life can you stand rather than sit? There are many opportunities to stand rather than sit.
Wait standing up – When you can, do all your waiting standing up. Wait for the kettle to boil standing up, wait for your coffee to be made at the cafe while standing. Wait for your kids at school pick-up standing outside the car. Wait for your next meeting standing up. Think of all the things you do that require waiting, and instead of sitting down and scrolling through your phone, stand up (and even better still, walk around).
Phone use – Every time you take a phone call either at home or work, stand up to talk. And, if you can, walk around. Most of us now use these amazing things called mobile phones, but, somehow they have made us more immobile. And, further to that, stand up when you are on your phone scrolling social media……that could add 1 to 2 hours of movement in your day.
Garden – Follow the lead of the people in the “blue zones” and build a garden at home, or if you don’t have space, use planters or pots. By the time you water the garden, weed and tend to it a couple of times per week, you have added a couple of hours of incidental movement (and hugely added to your nutrition).

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