ADD Health and Fitness

🧬 Swimming may affect a part of your body most people never think about: the discs between your vertebrae.

These discs sit between the bones of your spine, helping absorb loads while allowing your back to move.

And researchers have found something fascinating.

In an MRI study involving 308 young athletes across six different sports, plus 71 non-athletic controls, researchers found evidence of greater lumbar intervertebral disc height relative to vertebral body height in swimmers compared with the reference group.

In other words, regular exposure to different types of physical loading — including swimming — may be associated with measurable differences in structures deep inside the spine, not just in the muscles we can see.

But the science gets even more interesting.

A 2026 experimental study investigated swimming in rats with intervertebral disc degeneration. After an eight-week swimming intervention, researchers reported reduced inflammatory activity and improvements in markers associated with disc degeneration, including reduced activation of the NF-κB inflammatory pathway.

This does not mean swimming has been proven to regenerate damaged human discs or treat disc disease.

The 2026 findings came from an animal model, and human research is still needed to determine their clinical significance.

But together, these studies reveal something fascinating:

When you swim, you’re not only training the muscles you can see.
Researchers are also discovering how exercise and mechanical loading may influence structures deep inside the spine.

There is still a lot we don’t know — and that’s exactly what makes the science of swimming so interesting. 🏊‍♂️

WOW

It sure has been a journey back to having my own space doing what i love again.

I am SUPER excited to announce i am opening up a space that is not just about movement.
I am invested in creating a space that mothers, women and humans are allowed to arrive exactly as they are. A space of community, connection, support, safety and strength.

If it is your time to connect back to self, find your inner strength, need to let it all go, become fitter and stronger or move with friends, id love to hear from you to get started.

Details to come.

Super Excited to move into 2027 with new energy, new goals, passion and purpose.

Much Love Mel
🌻

Stay tuned for a couple of new things coming.
Pilates Reformer sessions.
Pm for act of intetest and we can chat times, days and goals.
Mel 🌻

Now’s the time to enrol for term 2. Secure your spot and help your child develop a life long skill