How flexibility exercises could be the missing link in your workout regime

Maximising your flexibility means you are likely to have less injuries, less pain, improved posture and balance, increased strength, and better physical performance. Flexibility – or how much your muscle can lengthen – significantly affects your overall mobility. Made up of your strength, coordination and balance, your mobility is simply the ability you have (or haven’t!) for your joint to move through a complete motion. If your joints do have a wide range of motion, you can enjoy optimal physical and functional performance with little pain and discomfort. Essentially, performing stretches allows you to be more mobile which is one of our main treatment goals.

So, here we share how you can improve your flexibility and what flexibility exercises can help.

To exercise at home by yourself, try self-limiting exercises. They require minimal coaching and promote good posture, strength, control … and your body tells you immediately if your technique is wrong through fatigue or discomfort. Check out these ideas!

Body movement is influenced by your brain’s perception. If your perception doesn’t align closely with reality, it can affect your injury recovery, exercise reps, or daily activities. Here we explain how chiropractic care can help.

Whether it’s backyard cricket, horsing around in the pool with the kids, or a round of golf with mates – participating in any activity without regular ‘match fitness’ can leave you susceptible to injury. As with swimming, golf is an excellent low impact activity for everyone. It gets you out into the fresh air (which helps reduce stress and anxiety whilst boosting your mental alertness) and incorporates incidental gentle walking between greens. If you have a round of social golf coming up, check out how you can reduce your risk of tweaking a niggle and instead focus on a legendary hole in one. (We’ve no tips for the latter!)

A couple of great tips to self mobilise your ankles and to teach ankle balance (or proprioception). This is integral for ankle stability, helping to prevent a recurrence of an old injury. If you’ve just injured your ankle, please chat with us or your health care professional to ensure you haven’t fractured your ankle or sustained another type of nasty injury.