Improve Your Mobility With Chiropractic and Massage

If you experience mobility issues, you’ve likely been injured and are experiencing pain. We need to be much more intentional about the way that we move and increase our awareness as to how we move.

You may find that you get somewhat stuck in certain positions. You may have dominant movement patterns that are almost one dimensional. Think of being in a seated position and bending at the hips and knees as we get up and walk. But it’s that forward and backward motion only.

We need to take hips through a greater range of motion. We do that through external and internal rotation. Those rotations open up the hips to improve that joint mobility and the fluid in the joint to lubricate them in a much better way.

Adopt Good Movement Patterns

We think of how we move through the day and look at body composition as far as the load we’re putting on to our joints. So we want to look at how we move and maintain that good flexibility. That’s why it’s critical to get good movement patterns in. First thing in the morning I do hip opener exercises and will use a pull-up bar and hang from the bar to get a good range of motion through the shoulder area.

Flexor Dominant Posture

It’s important to open up through the chest area and get good mobility through the mid- upper back—we often experience tightness in all those areas and get stuck. The term is flexor dominant posture. We’re tight through the chest and hips, and we need to open up those areas and find that greater range of motion.

What You Can Do at Home

Trigger point balls and foam rollers are great tools that you can use at home. They are effective in breaking down the knots or adhesions in the muscle and restoring proper blood flow. You also will help to flush out the built-up metabolites and inflammatory products that build up in our tissues that create those aches and pains.

You don’t have to spend a lot of time using the trigger point balls or foam rollers, but you do need to be consistent. I recommend spending 5-10 minutes per day or every other day, which will yield good results.

Deep Tissue Release

I then recommend that you book an appointment with one of our two highly skilled massage therapists at Chaparral Chiropractic Wellness Centre. The MT can do the deep tissue release and get to the areas that are much more difficult to release or open up on your own. I get a massage every 3-4 weeks and make that a part of my health routine. If I’m particularly active with my workout or other physical demands, I go more often.

By establishing a good relationship with your MT, you can communicate back to them as far as intensity and pressure. Our therapists will be asking those proper questions along the way to get the best response and make recommendations to you as far as what areas you can work on outside of your care program.
Schedule an adjustment or massage today!