Brittle vs. Adaptable

Brittle bones are a phenomenon familiar to most of us, we see it in the elders we interact with. Over time, as bones become more stiff and less capable of absorbing forces, they break easier. We have some means by which to mitigate this issue, there are medications and we have discovered that exercise via resistance training appears to reduce, halt or even reverse these changes in some individuals. These individuals have retained their ability to adapt.

Adaptation is something that we, as human beings, have developed a remarkable ability to do. Despite ever-changing environmental conditions, we find a way to thrive. Exercise is another way to alter our environment to produce a change. Depending on our intentions, we can become more mobile, increase our ability to produce force, or develop greater aerobic capacity to name only a few.

Challenges always arise, we may hit the limit of our adaptability and change stops occurring. We become brittle. The ability to adapt has reached its maximum, and the body may begin to fail in one way or another. As a physical therapist I see this often, pain is a common element that is there to let us know that something cannot do what we are asking of it. Pain is incredibly complex, reducing the complexity here allows us to gain a better understanding, but the variables are numerus. Often, if we provide the system with a new input, some other way of organizing around a challenge we can restore adaptability and potentially return to our desired level of activity.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist