Reflecting on Your Year of Movement: What Your Body Taught You
- brittany5183
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
As 2025 comes to a close, it’s natural to reflect on accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned. When it comes to your body and movement, looking back on the year can reveal a lot about your habits, strengths, and areas that might need more attention. At Nashville Physical Therapy & Performance, we encourage our patients to take stock of their movement patterns, injuries, and progress—because understanding what your body has been through is the first step toward setting smart goals for the year ahead.
Reflecting on Your Year of Movement: What Your Body Taught You:
Why Reflecting on Your Body Matters
Our bodies are constantly adapting to our activities, environment, and lifestyle. Reflection helps you:
Recognize improvements in strength, mobility, or endurance
Identify persistent aches, stiffness, or movement limitations
Spot patterns that might lead to injury if left unaddressed
Celebrate small victories that might otherwise go unnoticed
Research highlights that self-awareness of physical capabilities can increase adherence to exercise programs and reduce injury risk (Bandura, 1997).
How to Reflect on Your Movement Year
1. Review Your Activity Levels
Think about the types of physical activity you did this year: walking, running, strength training, sports, or recreational hobbies. Which activities made you feel strong and capable? Which left you sore, tight, or fatigued?
2. Take Note of Aches and Pains
Track recurring discomfort. Did certain joints or muscles consistently bother you? Early recognition allows you to address issues with PT before they worsen.
3. Celebrate Your Wins
Even small progress counts. Did you finally hold a plank longer? Improve your squat depth? Walk a few extra miles without discomfort? These milestones are evidence of your body’s resilience and adaptability.
4. Assess Mobility and Function
Simple functional tests, like balance, shoulder mobility, or hip flexibility, can show where you’ve gained ground—or where gaps remain. Physical therapists can help quantify these changes and create a plan for continued improvement.
How PT Can Help You Reflect and Prepare
At Nashville PT, reflection goes beyond just thinking about your movement. We can:
Perform a comprehensive evaluation to measure strength, flexibility, and joint function
Identify movement patterns that may contribute to pain or limit performance
Develop a personalized plan to address weak areas and reinforce strengths
Help set realistic goals for the next year to keep you moving safely and effectively
Using Reflection to Set New Year Goals
Once you understand what your body has been through this year, you can make informed goals for 2026:
Strengthen areas that were consistently tight or weak
Increase mobility in joints that limited your activities
Prioritize injury prevention strategies for recurring issues
Maintain activities that brought you joy and vitality
Taking the time to reflect is a gift to your future self. By listening to your body and honoring what it accomplished—and what it struggled with—you set yourself up for a healthier, more active year ahead.
Start Your New Year with Insight
Reflecting on Your Year of Movement: What Your Body Taught You:
Reflection isn’t just for the mind—it’s for the body too. A physical therapist can help translate your reflections into actionable steps to improve strength, flexibility, and overall wellness. Don’t wait until discomfort becomes a problem; use your year-end review as motivation to keep moving stronger.
Schedule your personalized PT evaluation today and step into 2026 with a body ready for success.
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References:
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman.
American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Physical Therapy for Health and Wellness. https://www.apta.org/patient-care/health-wellness