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Exercise and Flexibility

Therapeutic ExerciseTherapeutic exercise is used in Chiropractic Medicine to help treat musculoskeletal function, impairment, and maintain a state of well-being. Therapeutic exercise is prescribed with these goals in mind:

  • Improve ambulation
  • Increase flexibility
  • Mobilize joints
  • Improve circulation
  • Release contracted tendons, muscles, and fascia
  • Improve balance
  • Reduce rigidity
  • Promote relaxation

Dr. Mac may prescribe therapeutic exercise to help you recover from an injury or to improve your overall wellbeing. Therapeutic exercise has many benefits and is used for the treatment of many conditions.

Flexibility Training

Flexibility TraningAs the name implies flexibility training helps to increase your body’s flexibility and range of motion. Flexibility training not only increases your body’s range of motion but it also strengthens your muscles. This helps to prevent injury because the affected limb can move further reducing the risk of injury and enhancing athletic performance.

Flexibility training is not just for athletes. Anyone can benefit from this type of therapeutic exercise. Dr. Mac may prescribe flexibility training to help you recover from an injury, strengthen your muscles, and help enhance your physical strength and ability. Muscle tears are the result of over extending the muscles and with flexibility training your muscles are stretched and strengthened thereby reducing the chance of further injury.

Flexibility training falls into three main categories.

  • Dynamic flexibility may include such exercises as kicking an imaginary ball or twisting from side to side. This type of exercise helps to increase the body’s ability to perform dynamic movements and is targeted at increasing the full range of motion in the joints.
  • Static active flexibility exercises use the muscles themselves to increase flexibility. For example holding your leg out in front of you as high as possible stretches the hamstring while your leg muscles hold the leg up. This creates tension between the antagonist (hamstring) muscle against the agonist (quadriceps and hip flexors) muscles.
  • Static passive flexibility exercises use your body weight or an external force to strengthen and stretch your muscles. For example in the exercise above you would rest your foot on a chair instead of depending on the quadriceps and hip flexors to hold your leg up.

Dr. Mac may prescribe a combination of exercises to treat your specific needs. He may prescribe a combination of exercises to help increase your range of movement, strengthen and stretch your muscles, and prevent injury and enhance your performance.