Today’s blog is written by a guest writer:

I have lived with pain for years.

To begin with, I have S-curve scoliosis, which sets off a whole gamut of pain from my lower back to my neck. I have dealt with this pain since I was about 15.

Then in the recent years, between ages 45 and 50, I began to add to my collection of pain centers.

There is the shoulder injury from the time I moved my mother out of her home of many years. I lifted box after box of books, and at the end of the week, both shoulder sockets were had developed a burning sensation. They haven’t been the same since.

I take a weekly ballet class and somewhere along the way, I developed a hip socket injury that won’t allow me to lift my right leg beyond knee height. So I am a lopsided ballerina.

And from time to time, my knees give me trouble. I assume this could be attributed to my high-heel addiction.

I have always exercised, mostly inspired by my scoliosis—swimming, dance, yoga and the gym. And I have done intermittent physical therapy for injuries. But since age 45, I started working much more, driving much more, and exercising much less … until I started writing physical therapy articles.

Through the writing, I learned about the importance of combining strength and flexibility training to heal the body, and I began to exercise for 45 minutes or more every day, incorporating some of the strength and flexibility exercises I was writing about.

After a couple of weeks, I noticed something: My pain had gone away.

Yes, my back still acts up a bit,, my knees still creak, my shoulders are tight, and I am still a lopsided ballerina. In short, I am still 50. But it is a drop in the bucket compared to the often debilitating pain I was living with on a daily basis.

Recently, I said to someone: “The thing about aging is that I’ve started worrying less about how I look and more about how I feel.”

And these days, I’m feeling pretty good.

Lesson here: Don’t forget about the power of Physical Therapy, Pilates-based rehabilitation, the importance of stretching, strengthening, a good home exercise program and everything else ActiveCare Physical Therapy teaches. It’s not just for injuries that are acute. Chronic injuries and just being proactive in your health and wellness can benefit from Physical Therapy so use them if you can! This blog post was written by a medical health writer.