Camosun Sport and Fitness Leadership (SFL) graduate David Liira was recently featured in the winning photograph in Camosun’s 2020 Co-op Photo Contest. Liira, who is now a kinesiologist at Backfit Clinic, worked at Backfit during his Co-op work term; that’s when the photo of him was taken that ended up winning the contest.
“We tried to make it representative of what I do in an everyday session,” says Liira. “It was a planned thing for the contest.”
Liira says he took a chance on the SFL program, not really knowing what he wanted to do after he completed his studies. But along with making some connections in the industry and finishing his program came a decision to follow his fascinations.
“The nervous system in general really fascinates me,” he says, “and the complexity of the nervous system within the back is super great, just with all of our nerves tapering off from the spinal cord, and [the] interaction between the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system really comes through the spinal cord.”
The complexity of that section of the body is part of why Liira sees so many people come to the clinic with injuries. There are numerous spinal nerves between each of the vertebrae, which means there’s lots of room for ailments.
“There’s just so much that can go wrong, and I think that’s what’s so fascinating,” he says. “There’s so much we can do to make it better.”
If Liira could prescribe one thing during isolation, it would be movement, he says.
“I can’t stress that enough… Not only the mental-health aspect of it, but also just within physiology,” he says. “The literal brain chemistry, and the studies that have been put out for both aerobic and resistance activity, it’s so clear that physical activity is the best non-invasive option for improving one’s mental health… I think if there’s one drug we can continue to prescribe, it’s the exercise.”
Liira got the opportunity for a job interview at Backfit after the supervisor and another staff member—both of whom graduated from the SFL program—told Liira there was an opening at the clinic.
“That was a key link for me getting that job—that community that was already established between us,” he says. “And I see that at a lot of gyms in town. Camosun’s Co-op education is kind of integrated into a lot of the workplaces now.”
Here in 2020, waiting for the day when we can get back to normal will be a process that requires patience, says Liira. But sometimes things aren’t as complicated as our mind tells us they are.
“Health and wellness, although it can be complicated, I think a lot of the things that we can do are pretty simple in nature: sit less, eat better, sleep more than we do, maybe stare at our phones a little bit less,” he says. “I think there are things that we know make a difference, but sometimes just putting that to practice is difficult. Especially in COVID, those simple decisions are so, so critical.”