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Oh S***!

A little bit of click bait there to spur on some reading - apologies, but if you're reading hopefully you'll find the value too.

What I'm referring to is the physiological principle of SAID. Of course.

SAID stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand and is one of the foundational principles of rehabilitation and training and is therefore, incredibly important in the clinical setting when we're trying to get the body to adapt and recover from pain or injury.

The Specific Adaptation refers to the body's ongoing attempts to adapt to the environment, and in this case the physical, mental or other challenges presented within the environment both of daily living and training. The challenges, whatever they may be, are the Imposed Demand.

This means that if your daily demands are to manage a team and communicate effectively, then through simply practicing this you will to some degree adapt to the demands of management and communication. Similarly, if your daily demands are to lift heavy objects, be that in landscape gardening, lifting of children or lifting in the gym, the body will to some degree get better and adapt to this demand too.

This is somewhat flippantly oversimplified though. If it were really that simple, then everyone would be winning at every task they do simply by doing it. So, to break down the concept and make it more tangible and relevant let's explore it a little further.

It is first important to consider that the body will ATTEMPT to Specifically Adapt to the Imposed Demand. However, if the task is too easy, no additional learning and challenge is presented and no adaptive change is encouraged. The noise, the message was too quiet. The task wasn't even noticed at a meaningful level. This may qualify as recovery though, an easy day.

On the other hand, if the task is too difficult it will result in some form of psychological or physical stress, overwhelm or damage. This could even be to the level that we legitimately refer to it as a trauma or traumatic experience. This will certainly qualify as stimulus for change, but we should be careful how much threat or trauma we are exposed to, so that it does indeed represent a stimulus for change and not simply break us down or cause injury.

So, if the task is too easy it's hardly noticed, it doesn't represent a stimulus for change. But if the task is too hard, we risk causing injury or setting ourselves back on the adaptive and learning journey.

This is where finding the right level of challenge is key. Defining the right level of challenge is going to be based on past experiences, both recent ones and longer-term habitual ones, because these will be the Imposed Demands that we are presently adapted to.

While there are changes that can be examined at the microscopic and complex levels of multiple body systems; neurological, hormonal, muscular, cardiovascular, the point here is to appreciate the principle. Having appreciated the principle we are then better equipped to identify what the next step might be.

To return to the examples above, it is key to NOTICE THE EFFECT OF THE ATTEMPT to Specifically Adapt to the Imposed Demand. With the analogy of managing a team, if we notice that our practice attempts to get the team to perform result in the team doing exactly what we wanted and doing so with great collaborative effort and good morale, amazing, lets employ that or a similar method in the future. However, if the team responds despondently, argumentatively, and are disjointed in their response, then the path towards the outcome could do with some changes. Maybe different members of the team need tasked or given ownership in a different way, or maybe the resources needed for the team to perform weren't available.

Similarly, with lifting heavy objects, we need to consider such things as level of fatigue, be that fatigue from previous heavy lifting or fatigue from lack of sleep, or lack of variety of movement. Approached with this in mind we are then in a better place to consider our level of preparation for lifting. We will also get feedback much like the team management analogy. If we perform the lift, we do it well and it was a challenge then we'll feel a sense of achievement. Our nervous system will reward us with this sense of achievement and we'll positively adapt to it. If, however, it was too easy, we'll not notice it as a beneficial or interesting challenge to adapt to, it  might still be a good job done though. Or if the lift was too hard it will cause us to not complete the lift or experience some degree of pain as a warning of actual or potential damage in doing so.

Tips and questions to ease pain and improve outcomes when considering SAID:

1.        How much movement have I been doing in the last week and the last month? This gives an idea of the level of consistent fatigue with certain movements and the level of established load tolerance.

2.        What is my body saying as a result of this last week and last month? Are there any aches and pains? How tired am I? Is the routine exciting and inspiring or dull and boring?

3.        What do I want to be able to do? This gives an idea of the goal we are working towards and is considered in context of what we've been 1. Doing, and 2. Experiencing.

4.        Next step. Based on 1. Doing, 2. Experiencing, and 3. Wanting, on balance, am I better to push forward more with what I've already been doing? Push harder? Add some variety? Allow for better recovery?

To many this will seem like opening a can of worms when all you were wanting was your back 'put back in place'. Chiropractic treatment is effective in this regard of pressing a reset button and helping the painful experience calm down, aiding recovery. But let's remember the bigger context. Care  that includes consideration of what we've been 1. Doing, 2. Experiencing, 3. Wanting, is also then care that can advise on 4. Next steps. This is where the long-term outcomes are achieved, a combination of pressing the reset button and running a better program. 

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