The Top 3 Benefits of Good Flexibility and Mobility

I just want to take a quick moment to describe the difference between flexibility and mobility. Flexibility is the ability of a muscle to lengthen passively without engagement. For example, when you perform static stretches like using your body weight and bending forward, you’re working on muscular flexibility.

Mobility on the other hand is related to the joints and their ability to move actively through their full range of motion. That’s a little bit more of what a chiropractor is concerned about. Chiropractors make sure the joints can move completely through their range of motion. When joints subluxate, which means that stress, tension, poor posture, accidents, or falls puts enough stress on these joints that they actually misalign, then they can’t move fully through their range of motion, and you have a restriction of movement. Most importantly when the joints misalign (subluxate) they can irritate the spinal nerves as they exit the spine and cause pain and dysfunction. When a joint is restricted, it actually degenerates, because it only stays healthy by moving through its range of motion.

These things are extremely important. Having good flexibility is important, but even more important from a chiropractic standpoint is having good mobility and making sure that the joints can move completely through their range of motion. But in order to have good mobility, you do need to have good flexibility. So, you also need to have good muscular strength and stability to actively manipulate the joints.Here are my top 3 benefits of good flexibility and mobility:

1. Prevent Injury: One of the biggest benefits of having good flexibility and mobility is that it may help prevent injury. Obviously, the more flexible something is the less likely it is to break, so that certainly can help in injury prevention. Some professionals say static stretching as a warm-up before activity may actually be helpful in preparing your body for that activity.
2. Improve Posture: Stretching will improve posture, especially if there are imbalances. One study found that pelvis mobility and flexibility may be linked to healthy spinal posture. Another study found that hip immobility can affect the natural curves of the lumbar spine and it leads to common postural problems like slouched shoulders, arched spine, compressed neck. All these things can be related back to a lack of flexibility and a lack of mobility.
3. Increase Ease of Movement: Flexibility can also increase the ease of movement. The better things move, the less stress there is on the joints, and that can prevent the joints from actually degenerating. So, good flexibility and joint mobility is very important. There’s a lot of research that shows that exercising and stretching actually can contribute to stress reduction, which I think is really important. And it can give you greater flexibility and physical independence, because as the body ages, it’s natural for joint mobility and flexibility to decrease. There are all types of leg swings, hip circles and other great types of exercises that you can do. If you keep exercising and stretching and maintain that routine, it will serve you better.

We encourage people to keep their flexibility, keep their mobility, keep exercising and get checked by a chiropractor. There are so many facets to health. There’s no one single thing, no one magic bullet. It’s not just about being flexible or being mobile, it’s about having everything together and creating that whole package, which will keep you healthy and performing at your best.

Chiropractic is a huge part of that. By gently adjusting the joints, making sure that they’re lined up so they can complete their mobility jobs and make sure that they don’t degenerate, we’ll keep the spine healthy and make sure your nerve system is functioning at its highest level for the rest of your life.