Watch how my 81-year-old trainee Huzorie went from having difficulty standing up because of joint pain to saying “Oh Gosh! This is easy. This is marvellous. I haven’t sat like this for years”.

This is a video from one of my biomechanics classes where I teach seniors in their 60s, 70s and 80s to use exercise movements as a treatment for their painful joints. In this particular class I used my knowledge of pain physiology and my experience in human biomechanics to diagnose Huzorie’s response to painful movements and subsequently taught her movement patterns that alleviated her pain.

I taught her to create joint angles that reduced the stress on the joint structures and concurrently improved her physical movements. I spent considerable time teaching her the science of chronic pain and the nervous system’s involvement in generating pain even in the absence of tissue damage.

Towards the end of the video you can clearly see how she was amazed (as she herself expressed) as she performed the squats without any pain. Joint movements are a result of the mechanical properties of the muscles, bones and other physiological processes. My responsibility as a coach was to rehabilitate her joints by improving her movements, thereby improving her overall physical performance and her self-confidence.

Wherever you are in the world, if you are over 50 or if your parents are over 50 (60s, 70s, 80s) and are struggling with physical movements due to pain, working with a professional who understands pain and human biomechanics will greatly help restore normal movement. And if you’re in Goa I’d be ever willing to guide you. Make sure you share this information with the ones who may find this class helpful.