The female body is a fantastic design!

Women have the ability to carry and deliver babies, they tend
to be more flexible and they are the fairer sex. However these benefits also come with draw backs.

During menstruation and pregnancy there is a further increase in flexibility in the female ligaments
and muscles due to hormonal changes which lead to less stable joints. In order to carry children
females have a wider pelvis than males, which causes increased loads at the hips, knees and ankles.
The combination of a wider pelvis, increased forces and the tendency towards increased flexibility in
the joints, leads to an increased risk of injury in the cartilage, ligaments, tendons and muscles.

To address poor joint stability, many exercise professionals prescribe strengthening programs.
Unfortunately research has shown that many strengthening exercises fail to improve functional
stability. For example if you train by performing repetitive knee extension exercises, this will not
translate into a more controlled and stable knee when you descend a staircase.

In addition every individual has a different postural alignment. This should be taken into
consideration during training as the way one person performs an exercise may be very different to
how another person performs it. These differences will lead to different pains and conditions.
Exercise programmes such as Pilates and yoga are beneficial for raising postural awareness and work
on improving postural control. However it is very difficult to consciously improve your posture and
during daily life our bodies will subconsciously revert to their poor postural alignment.

The effects of ageing also lead to increased risk of injury. Research shows that as we age our bodies
become less able to cope with loads. In addition, as females approach the menopause there is a
change in hormone levels, leading to a decrease in muscle strength and bulk. This leads to further
difficulty in maintaining stability at the joints, especially the knee, and as a result increases the risk of
degenerative changes such as osteoarthritis.

It is common for aches and pains to become an everyday part of life. It has also been proven that
even small changes in weight, short periods of inactivity, increases in physical demand or even the
stage of the menstrual cycle, can significantly worsen our chances of developing pain. To top it all
off, these pain which begin as minor irritations can progress to recurrent strains and sprains,
osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain.

Unfortunately, the solution and the cause are often the same thing. As we begin to develop pains we
are often told to exercise more, lose weight and become stronger. However, increased activity levels
in poor alignment, will increase the loads our bodies have to cope with. This in turn can increase our
likelihood of developing further pain and injury, leading to inactivity. Here is where the vicious cycle
begins.

In order to avoid this vicious cycle, it is extremely important to follow certain basic rules, such as a
proper warm-up and cool down including stretching, appropriate footwear selection and a balanced
exercise regime. This programme must be specific to each individuals’ abilities and goals, comprising
a happy mix of resistance, cardio, stretching and also rest.

It is important not to exercise through pain as this can not only cause further damage to the affected
area but also causes additional problems. When we have pain our bodies will compensate on a sub-
conscious level, by changing the way we perform the exercise to decrease the stress on the
damaged area. These compensations can create new aches and pains, muscle tightness and put
other areas at increased risk of both injury and potential degenerative changes. In addition, by
repeatedly training with poor movement patterns, our bodies learn these patterns and adopt them
on a permanent basis.

However there is a solution which addresses all of these problems!

Apos Therapy is a treatment that is used during your daily routine and is extremely easy to comply
with. It is incredibly effective in reducing knee and back pain and has the unique benefit of
concurrently addressing the postural alignment and stability issues discussed above.

Apos Therapy realigns the body to correct postural issues and via the introduction of a controlled
instability, teaches the muscles around the joints to contract in an efficient manner.

The beauty of Apos Therapy is that the effects are not short term; because this training occurs
during everyday tasks such as walking, it allows the body to learn these better motor patterns.

Apos Therapy should be considered not only for those with an injury or pain, but also for pro-active
individuals who want to remain healthy and active throughout life.

Well, in a nut shell- ladies should take care of what they have been provided with! Always remember
what are your functional goals, remember not to overload and to try and address any personal
asymmetry or alignment underlying feature, in order not to harm yourself, and to keep happy and
active!