C RY D E R
P O I N T
SEPTEMBER 16
Elite Fitness and Pool Management
16 CRYDER POINT COURIER | SEPTEMBER 2019 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM
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Valid From: 8/5/2019 12:0100:/040/2A0M19 12:00:00AM
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Take Care of Yourself!
Pay Attention to Your Personal ‘Check Engine Light’
BY STAN KUPCHENKO, DPT
It’s not unusual to seek out professional
counsel when something goes awry, particularly
when it comes to your health. In fact,
aside from your yearly check-up—often
hastily or reluctantly scheduled—you’d be
hard pressed to find people who regularly
seek out the expertise of health, wellness
and movement specialists simply to make
sure things are going as smoothly as they
have been in order to keep the status quo.
Yet, how different are we when it comes
to something like our cars, which require
regular maintenance and upkeep. Do you
wait until your engine falls out of your car
when you’re on the freeway or do you get
your car checked when the light on your
dashboard comes on? Do you change your
oil regularly or wait for the car to stall or
go up in smoke?
Maintenance and upkeep are part of
our everyday lives, except for areas in our
own health and wellness and, in particular,
our movement. Everyone has heard the
saying “sitting is the new smoking.” Well,
human beings ‘smoke’ 8 hours a day in
today’s world (desk jobs make sure of it).
But human beings weren’t meant to sit for
8 hours (nor were they meant to stand for 8
hours, for those who have standing desks).
They were meant to move—and move well.
For those who live in sustained postures
for a third of their day, it’s inevitable to
experience deficits in movement, as well
as have aches and pains. The unfortunate
thing is that those aches and pains, which
are your body’s ‘check engine lights,’ often
go unacknowledged until something
breaks down. What adds further complexity
to the problem is that most of the time
the symptoms that someone feels are just
a compensation for the real problem, and
treatment of those symptoms is just putting
a band aid on them instead of actually
fixing them.
For example, did you know that oftentimes
back pain really isn’t coming from
your back? And when you finally go to the
doctor or the orthopedist to address your
lower back pain, you’ve only addressed
the screaming victim and not the criminal
that lurks nearby that brought it on in the
first place. And so the vicious cycle continues:
fighting off episodes of back pain;
spending time, money and effort; and yet
never addressing the original impairment.
Our healthcare system thrives on this
and this needs to be stopped. How? By
‘checking your engine lights’ and ‘having
your tires rotated every few months’—and
by getting a movement screen every now
and then. Better yet, by getting up and
move!
Stan Kupchenko is a former staffer at
Elite Amenity Management and is now a
Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified
Manual Physical Therapist. He currently
practices at Symbio Physio Therapy and
Wellness, an outpatient orthopedic clinic in
Chelsea, New York, working primarily with
dancers and triathletes. Stan firmly believes
in patient-centered holistic care and strives
to change the face of healthcare as we know
it.
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