“I’m over it.”

The winter that seemed to never end, is chronologically over according to the calendar. Despite the fresh few inches of snow spawning a White Easter, its SPRING! Buds are on the trees. Crocuses and Snow bells have held out an extra month but are now showing flower. Soon daffodils and hyacinth will spot the home garden and you will have a fever to get outside.

However, this long winter has limited your body’s movement except for the marathons of snow shoveling and an occasional run across the grocery store parking lot in subzero weather, you haven’t been exercising. That includes stretching, core work and aerobic. your bones and your muscles are a little saggy. Things don’t feel right on the inside. Things that usually are movin’ and a shakin’ have been a sittin’ and spoilin’.

Rubbing your eyes as you exit your outside door you encounter sunshine and un-befouled weather. The glare, the warmth and the lack of ice and salt below your feet is foreign yet not unkind. The grass is a mixture of windblown trash, brown and yet a trifling amount of green grass. You reach down to touch the grass and there is a softly bulging mass between your upper and lower body edging your belt, that impedes your reach downward. There inside your shirt lies the Ghost of Christmas Past cookies and sandwiches. What the heck? Yet you force your hand to the ground to feel the grass. You continue to bend and retrieve sticks and papers and extension cords from holiday lights and darn-it-it-all if your legs back and neck don’t feel that fresh out of the box good feeling any more. You push yourself for a few hours sweeping the walk and raking the mulch and sure as you’re whipped. You go to bed knowing that tomorrow will hold a muscle-locked anti-holiday. Happy Spring.

“Ouch!” It hurts.

BUT don’t stay in bed. The worse thing you can do is sit on your bottom. Your achy muscles are full of acid and nuclear wastes that will hemorrhage at the least little effort, it seems. However immediate action is required to fend off the entropy of the snow bound human. Get off the couch. Go back out the door and take a nice slow walk. Ease back into motion. I said ease. Take a tour of the neighborhood, get judgmental on your neighbors yards, ear buds in, or steal some landscaping ideas. Every step you take you modestly exercise every muscle in your entire body. One waltz around the block can neutralize that impending doom of soreness that your muscles were feeling this morning.

Walk by time not by distance. Put on a favorite artist in your MP3 player and enjoy the time within your head. Be safe though, adhere to all traffic laws and be aware of dangers like broken walkways and dog droppings. Just walk. Come home and drink a whole bunch of water and have a piece of fruit. That’s it. You are done with maintenance. You are free to go back into the yard and do a little more. Make yourself a little more sore.  Tomorrow you walk again.

Its a start.

Its SPRING. The days are longer, the sun seems brighter, and everything is returning to its growth cycle. Trees are greening. The school children are out playing. Everything appears to be healthier. In our chiropractic office we’ve noticed in our 20 years experience that this is when the best chiropractic results occur. Chronic problems that nagged and were stagnant all winter long have begun to abate and improve. Sickness decreases. Health returns like ivy in my garden. People feel better and the miracle of spring brings birds home to sing and energy in your body. Everybody feels whole and complete.

Go ahead and shake off the cold. Get outside and work. Take a walk. Move. Move. Move. Start slow. Don’t jump ahead of yourself. Limit sitting. Increase playing. Stop growing old. When walking gets boring, then dance. Jog. Sprint. Bike. Climb. Swim. Compete.

Enjoy your abilities. Spring allows a new day to begin. You may feel tired and stiff at the starting line but after one step you can be headed in the right direction.

Dr. John Przybylak, D.C.