Why would the body keep the muscle mass of Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his heyday) when the most physical demand of the day is walking to and from the car? It wouldn’t - think of all that wasted energy!
The body instead will adapt, respond, repair, grow and learn in response to the environment and the specific demands that are place on it. For the musculoskeletal system, we are talking about the ‘load’ it is subjected to. As we get less active with our modern sedentary lifestyle, the lack of ‘loading’ we are placing on our body is having serious detrimental effects on our health.
The importance of loading the musculoskeletal system for health, performance and productivity is under recognised and poorly understood. So what is it?
Loading
Loading can be seen as a challenge to a component of the body, this is especially true when talking about muscle, bone, tendon, nerve and connective tissue. If you ask a muscle to lift a certain weight it will be put under strain, muscle will respond by increasing its ability to lift so that next time, it will be easier. This is also called conditioning and/or training, and it is why athletes spend so much time progressively increasing their training load.
How the body responds to load.
Let’s look how thigh muscles respond after a set of squats. During the exercise the muscle will feel like it’s burning. This effect is lactic acid and other metabolites building up in the muscle as a result of anaerobic (without oxygen) burning of fuel. You will notice that this is not a lasting effect and the pain will usually cease as soon as the respiratory system has caught up.
Later, the muscles will then go though a process called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) which will peak in the first 24-72 hours following the session. DOMS occurs because the load will have caused microscopic damage to the individual muscle fibers. The micro-damage stimulates myocytes to start building more muscle components, in effect making the muscles bigger, stronger and more capable of squatting.
Everybody is different and people report a range of effects after exercise. Some people feel that the pain is so severe that they are brought to tears, whilst others enjoy the feeling and try to get it after each workout.
This process does takes time, as a general rule it will take 6 weeks to be able to measure the increased muscle density. It is worthy to note that bone, tendon, ligaments and nerve will be undergoing their own improvements.
What happens if there is no load?
We know the effects of weightlessness on astronauts. Bone, muscle and tendon all weaken, and the cardiovascular system will lose effectiveness when back on earth. Bed rest also results in a rapid decline in strength, muscle thickness, bone density and overall fitness. It is part of the reason why surgeons will get you out of bed in what seems just hours after an operation.
Do you need to load?
The World Health Organization states that people who are insufficiently active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared to people who are sufficiently active. Insufficient physical activity is 1 of the 10 leading risk factors for death worldwide. According to the Australian Government Department of Health adults need to get 300 minutes of moderate or 150 minutes of high intensity exercise per week . Doing so will provide significant reductions in the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, musculoskeletal problems, prevention of unhealthy weight gain and some cancers.
The take home message for the workplace
Encouraging your workers to be active has huge tangible benefits for employees, and programs to encourage activity can have big benefits to employers also. Look for decreases in workcover premiums, absenteeism, mental health issues and LTI rates. Other benefits include increases in productivity, worker health and culture.
Want to get your workplace moving? Learn how you can create your ‘Active Office.’
