Is it inevitable that you’ll experience a tight, painful, and achy body as you get older? Does age and pain have to go hand in hand, and if the answer is NO… how on earth is that even possible?

Let’s find out.

The amount of offhand jokes that exist about getting old, and feeling stiff and achy is off the charts. Scott and I were watching a stand-up comedian that had this whole bit showing what life is like before you turn 40, vs. what life is like after 40. Everybody was roaring with laughter, because it’s so relatable. But to be ultra “punny”, to me these jokes are getting old. Because it’s normalizing something that’s simply not true.

It makes me think about the jokes of “peeing your pants” as a mom. No, it’s not funny, and it’s totally preventable.

So the question is, can moving and feeling like an old person be prevented? Is it possible to move with ease as our bodies age and avoid moving like an old crotchety person? And is it possible to even reverse those feelings?

A few weeks back, it was my birthday and a bunch of us were having a conversation about what it feels like to get older… what you like about getting older and what you don’t like.

• Almost everyone around the room said that they like the increased wisdom, the years of confidence, and just that feeling of no longer needing to really impress anyone else, but they hate the constant aches and pains, and the sense that their body is getting older.
• Maybe right now, today you feel the same.

And it’s true… we live in mortal bodies. There is no amount of biohacking that we can do to pull the reins out of God’s hands and not die one day. Not have our bodies stop working at some point.

However, there are soooo many things we can intentionally do to take care of these fragile vessels well, and make sure that we have a well-functioning body for as many years to come.

There are always going to be certain things outside of our control, like arthritis. In fact, osteoarthritis is the most common form of athritis, and it can degrade cartilage, change bone shape and cause inflammation, resulting in pain, stiffness and loss of mobility. According to the Arthritis Foundation, women are more likely to develop osteoarthritis than men, and once you do develop it, there is no cure for it. You can’t reverse it. However, there are sooo many highly effective ways to manage it, and that’s pretty much the point of this episode.

Not only that, but one thing to note is that osteoarthritis is NOT an inevitable disease as you age. Many people never develop it… and if you don’t have have any arthritis like this yet or it’s very minimal, what I’m going to share with you today is going to dramatically decrease your chances of ever getting it.

The good news…

So much of the pain you might experience from aging joints, especially in your back and hips, that’s due to arthritis can be managed without surgery, without constant cortisone shots, and without tons of ongoing expensive treatments.

So before you go down that road, I want you to know that fixing your back or hip pain without those extreme measures is completely possible. Whether it’s lumbar spine issues, SI Joint pain, or even sciatica, you can get relief starting today.

No more sleepless nights. No more moving around like your body is ancient. No more groaning and complaining about the pain.

The 3-Part Formula

Let me teach you my proven 3-part formula that’s mandatory for experiencing long term pain relief and a youthful feeling body.

To easily remember it, I’m calling it the “PSF framework”.

1. Posture
2. Strength
3. Flexibility

You need to know that if any of these three pieces are not being addressed, you simply won’t feel good. Pain and achiness will occur.

1. Posture

Think of posture like the alignment of your joints.

For the most part, our bodies are constantly in motion (or they should be). And our joints will flex and extend and rotate, through a given range of motion. But if the majority of the time, you have a joint on your body that’s not well-aligned, you have the potential for a functional breakdown, and ultimately pain. And if it’s like that for a long time, osteoarthritis can set in.

• (Story about my mom getting foot surgery - Needing to sit for long periods of time with one foot up on a pillow. Potential for her back and pelvis to be out of alignment and developing an SI joint issue from her foot surgery.)

Anyone can work on improving their posture and alignment at ANY stage of life. Any micro-degree of improvement in your posture is completely worth it.

2. Strength

It’s a fact: strong muscles hold your body together.

If I were to wrap a plain skeleton it with a lot of muscle, it wouldn’t crumple quite so much. And then if I were to zap those muscles and make them actually flex, the entire skeleton would really snap into action.

The more muscles you have on your body surrounding your joints, the more they will hold you into good alignment.

• Sitting up straight to fix your posture is fine, but having muscles that hold you there all day long is even better. This is also why getting an adjustment from your chiropractor feels great at first (you achieve that first thing we talked about), but without strong muscles to maintain that adjustment… you’ll just go back into your old movement pattern.

This is exactly why you’ve always known that improving your core strength is critical for getting rid of any kind of back pain.

3. Flexibility

Flexibility or mobility is the final piece of the equation.

Tight muscles and joints that are not meant to be tight will pull your body out of alignment. Having the proper length of certain areas on your body is extremely important.

I know a lot of people personally, that are not my clients - just friends or family, that complain of chronic low back pain and chalk it up to getting older. But from across the room I can tell that their hip flexors and probably even adductors are crazy tight and it’s tugging on the alignment of their pelvis.

Why is it all so tight? Because as we age, we move less and sit more.

Most Common Causes

And that right there might be the biggest statement of the day: as we get older, we start moving less and start sitting more. And because of that, slowly over time, we turn into that crumpled skeleton in the chair that has joints all askew, zero muscle tone and no flexibility to speak of.

But it’s kind of like boiling a frog… it happens so slowly, that you don’t realize the gravity of what’s happening. Maybe it’s more like boiling a whole group of frogs, that are all joking about how hot it’s getting in the pot. That’s kind of the current attitude about aging… “haha, our bodies are just getting older. “

But the good news is that no matter how old you are, you can get out of that pot. Yes, even if you already have osteoarthritis.

But you HAVE to address all three of those things, otherwise you’ll still experience pain and achiness.

Remember the PSF framework that’s essential for moving with ease:

• Posture
• Strength
• Flexibility

Your Big Takeaways

Ok, to wrap up I always like to leave you with one simple action step that you can put into place TODAY.

Start thinking about which of those three areas you’ve been neglecting a little. Have you been ignoring your posture? Have you been stretching too much and doing just yoga, and not doing any proper strengthening? Have you been doing too much muscle shortening work like weightlifting and running, and haven’t been prioritizing your flexibility?

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