Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist: Manchester Meandering, Muscles for Mental Health and Almighty Mabel

Welcome to Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist! Number 30! 

Motion Forword is about discussing the combined benefits of movement with a positive mental attitude. Using my personal/professional experiences, evidence-based research and some of your own experiences. 

Bringing some hope, positivity, happiness and maybe usefulness to those, perhaps like yourself, that needs a pick me up. 

Something about me… New Year in Manchester

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. (Blimey February is gone already!)

I was fortunate enough to visit an old friend in Manchester… and what a beautiful (but cold) place it is!

Here are some snaps…

Wishing you all a prosperous and fun filled 2026!

Something for you… Muscles and Mental Health

Speaking around, there seems to be a general consensus that people, particularly young people, are becoming more affected by poor mental health.

Anxiety, depression, health-anxiety and social isolation to name a few.

Its to no surprise that the physical separation of people during the pandemic (what a ride that was) has influenced our mental health. It forced us to communicate digitally to keep in touch. As normality returned, this ‘online life’ has continued and bled into day-to-day life and become a social norm. So much so, phrases like ‘in real life’ or ‘IRL’ are needed when things happen in the real world!

But… I digress.

Despite this, what is really encouraging is there also seems to be a shift for younger people to opt for the bar bell instead of the bar stool.

Make it stand out

Having some fun with memes…

And according to this paper, the benefits of muscle strengthening exercises seem to have a negative association on the symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents.

They showed the the more days that an adolescent (average age of 13) did muscle strengthening exercises (e.g. push ups, sit ups, weight training) the lower their depression and anxiety scores.

This research was conducted in China, so there will be some cultural and social differences, but it is a win for pushing/pulling weights around and generally getting stronger.

Now, I am not expecting you, as a diligent and forward thinking parent, to throw your children into a gym. It will ultimately be their choice. Because, not everyone likes the gym. I didn’t until I tried it out and discovered the benefits for myself. But… it is well worth encouraging children (and yourselves as adults) to explore what is out there…

To name a few…

Running, Hiking, Cycling, Dance, Weight training, Crossfit, Hyrox, Calisthenics, Climbing/Bouldering, Fishing, Paddle, Pickleball, Tennis, Golf, Stand-up Paddle Boarding, Surfing, Swimming, Silks, Hoop, Pole fitness etc

The list goes on and on.

Not all are muscle strengthening but I would argue using your muscles, in any fashion, is good for you.

Because… there is some really cool research that thinks of muscles beyond just producing movement. They release chemical messengers when they are activated (like the pancreas releasing insulin.) These tell other cells and organs in your body to do a heap of cool stuff… e.g. improving insulin sensitivity (less likely to get diabetes-type 2), activating white blood cells (immunoregulation), arthroprotective (protecting your joints), improve bone formation and improved collagen formation (improving skin/ ageing).

Yes you read that correctly!

Activating muscles helps keep your skin glowy and youthful. If that wasn’t convincing enough I don’t know what is!

But more seriously, I believe this is why we see so much chronic diseases (diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, obesity, Alzhiemer’s disease, kidney disease, cancer) in our societies. We don’t use our muscles enough and we don’t get all the benefits shown above.

So… love your muscles and your body will love you!

A story… Almighty Mabel

Mabel is a 33-year-old working full-time as a data analyst. She had been suffering with right lower back pain, right shoulder pain referring into the arm and wrist with little finger numbness for the past 2 weeks.

She had been working hard on a project that was time sensitive spending a couple of nights working until 11pm.

I imagine she looked like this:

Bruce Almighty… What a film!

No wonder her body was crying out!

I diagnosed her with De-Quarvain’s tenosynovitis (a sore thumb tendon) in her wrist and recommended a different type of mouse and wrist support. I also diagnosed issues with her mid back, sacroiliac joints and over working gluteal muscles.

After a week, the new mouse was helping and overall she had improved but still needed some help. I wanted to start getting Mabel moving more, as the most movement she did outside of work was play pool. So we started with some simple seated pigeons and extending hands out in front and side-to-side to get her body moving whilst being easy to complete.

Seated Forward Reaches

Seated Side-bends

Seated Pigeon

Mabel was diligent!

Over the next 3-5 weeks, her lower back pain and shoulder improved and was doing more of the exercises I perscribed (kick backs for glute strengthening and rows for upper back strengthening).

Into the new year, Mabel now manages really well with little back, shoulder or arm issues and, to my delight, has taken up swimming twice a week and even going to the gym once a week! So proud!

Over the course of 6 weeks, Mabel followed my guidance and little by little we saw improvements. Thank you Mabel for trusting in me and look forward to our next meeting.

Thanks for reading.


Until next month…

Motion Forword ⏩⏩

Nathan