Bank accounts don't need stress, but your dysfunctional joint is not a bank account and is totally reliant on stress.
biological tissues = stress responsive
The human body is an adaptable complex system comprised of biological tissues. Biological tissues are stress-responsive tissues, meaning: they have the capacity to self-organize and self-repair. For example, after a stressor has been inputted into the system; the biological tissues which were stressed will self-organize and self-repair themselves in a manner that enables them to better handle that specific stressor.
The process of increasing capacity as a result of specific stressors is a biological principle known as the SAID Principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands).
During the self-repair process, the body will overcompensate, up to the individual's biological limit, in a manner so that the capacity of the stressed tissues will be able to better withstand that same stressor in the future [1]. Why does the body overcompensate in the repair process? Simply because the body acts on a prediction that it will encounter the same exact stressor in the future; however, predicts that the stressor will be worse in the future and thus increases the capacity of the tissue as a result.
Understand: training/treatment stressors aid in enabling of the body to increase its capacity to better handle stressors in the future.
If stressor inputs like treatment/training are removed from biological systems, the body will decrease capacity and become fragile and weak.
stress = information
Optimal stressors behave as information to the complex system to overcompensate and build increased capacity so that the organism is a better match for the demands being placed upon them. Thus, the absence of stressors being inputted in biological systems is harmful.
Inversely, a bank account does not have the capacity to self-repair. Thus, when a withdrawal is made (i.e., stressor) the account is harmed by the event. Understand: your joint is not like a bank account!
dr prescribed removal of stress?
In regards to addressing and resolving joint issues (joint dysfunction, pain, etc.), there exists a majority of doctors who treat the joint like a bank account and have patients believing that stressing the joint is harmful - this is 100% false. Instead of optimally stressing the joint - that is providing the joint with the information it desperately needs to self-organize itself, these doctors convince the patient to "rest" the joint to let it "heal".
Don't get me wrong, there is a time to rest a joint but the time to rest is only after the joint has been optimally stressed. After the optimal stress has been applied to the joint, then it needs time to rest to "heal" (i.e., self-organize) in a manner to better handle the applied stress in the future - which in this case means the joint will increase in capacity.
The old, incomplete, and inaccurate model of the doctor prescribing the "rest and heal" process that leads to decreased capacity of the joint, due to the intentional removal of stress, leads to the joint self-organizing (i.e., "healing) itself to have the ability to handle less stress than prior! Unfortintyualy we have to coherently understand this doctor-prescribed process that has to the intent to make the patient better is actually doing the exact opposite and is instead not only making the joint more fragile (i.e., has less capacity to handle stress) but is also perpetuating the injury process.
start optimally stressing your joint today
If you have a dysfunctional joint the best course of action is to first get the joint assessed. A joint assessment can be done online or in-person by myself.
If you want to bypass the advised joint assessment and get directly into training those options are readily available for you as well:
If you are not close to Columbus, Ohio, and want an in-person joint assessment you can use the link to find a trained and certified Functional Range Assessment Practitioner with this link:
https://functionalanatomyseminars.com/find-a-provider/
Works Cited
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. Random House, 2016.