We take our ability to move and to be flexible for granted. It’s usually when we challenge our mobility that we realize how stiff or immobile we really are. It’s why you “feel it” a day or two after exercising for the first time in a while.
When we get injured, it can be even more demoralizing. A few years ago, I was training at the gym, learning Olympic Weight lifting. It’s a very cool sport and learning the movements can be like learning to dance.
While I was training I developed a Baker’s cyst behind one of my knees.
If you’ve ever had one, you know it can be painful and can limit your range of motion. It got to the point where I couldn’t put much weight on my leg. Then one day it all came to a head. I decided to go out and do some light grocery shopping. As I took my first step down the stairs, I felt a pop in the back of my knee which was accompanied by a sudden release of tension and then I could feel hot liquid running down the inside of my leg into my ankle. The Bake’s cyst had ruptured.
Never before in my life have I felt so vulnerable. I could barely walk, never mind run. I realized that if I tried to cross the street and if I had to get out of the way of a passing car, I wouldn’t be able to avoid being hit.
During that time, I really got in touch with my mobility and how fragile it can be.
Besides accidents and injuries, our mobility seems to decrease over time, as we age. In fact, aging is thought to be an important factor in decreasing flexibility and movement.
Although it can be fair to say that as we age, the quality of the tissues can change, that change can not account solely for our loss of movement and flexibility.
There are people who have shown that the more we move as we age, the more we can retain whatever mobility we have. Some are even able to improve their mobility as they age.
There is one important factor in determining how mobile we are, one which is much more important than age or even lack of activity. (I will say that lack of activity does contribute quite a bit to mobility, so the more active you are, the more you challenge your body, your body will respond and adapt).
The one factor that governs how much and how well we move at any age, is the health of the nervous system. This is because the nervous system supplies the muscles with electrical impulses. And at the same time, it gathers information about our movement and feeds it back to the brain so that the brain knows how to adjust flexibility, strength, speed and reflexes.
If you have any degree of Neuro-Adaptive Syndrome (NAS), then your nervous system will be impaired to a certain degree. This impairment affects both the motor (the brain telling the muscles to move) and the sensory (the feedback to the brain). With NAS, our mobility can be affected through a lack of coordination or balance, or our ability to move with strength, speed and precision. And it can also affect our recovery time.
The practice focus at the Happy Spine, being Neuro-Spinal Optimization, seeks to correct, balance and counteract the effects of NAS. People who have Neuro-Spinal Optimization find that they start to regain flexibility, and they start to be able to challenge their bodies more with less of the uncomfortable after effects such as muscle soreness and stiffness.
Making sure that your nervous system is clear and that the electricity can flow more easily to your muscles as well as having clearer feedback to the brain can even have you feeling like you felt when you were younger.