A look at the body through JENGA

A brilliant colleague and friend (Kathy Dooley) recently wrote about an interesting observation she made while playing Jenga with her husband. Usually, the goal is to find the piece that can be easily removed from the tower of blocks and put it on the top without making it topple over.

She decided she wanted to make the game a little more interesting and tried moving a piece that was particularly tight. As she tried to remove the piece tightly wedged in place, she noticed that her actions risked destabilizing other pieces near by, as well as the entire system.

She equated this situation to that of someone who stretches, foam rolls, or releases structures that are tight without considering if that tightness is stabilizing the system/your body.

As she continued her attempt to remove the puzzle piece from any angle she could find, the Jenga structure would start to wobble. When she fully removed the wedged block from the tower, the whole thing came crashing down.

Like Jenga, those tight muscles might be linked to your overall stability. Removing that stability without a proper assessment could lead to further injuries. If those re-occurring tight muscles are getting you frustrated. Find someone who can help and stop the struggling cycle.