Keeping You Moving Well so that You Can Age Well

Your body’s motion is controlled by the neuro-musculo-skeletal system. This motion system is broken down into three groups based upon the function of the various tissues within your body. The first group is known as the Active Subsystem which consists of the muscles that create motion. The second group is known as the Passive Subsystem which consists of the skeleton, ligaments, tendons, fascia, and other connective tissue that hold your body together. The third group is the Control Subsystem which consists of the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and mechanoreceptors that control the motion of your body.

These three subsystems must work together for normal, healthy motion. Even if you have strong healthy muscles you cannot maintain overall wellness if your Passive and Control subsystems are not as equally strong. Therefore if you are trying to lift something without integration of these subsystems you will unable to move any more weight than your muscles, joints, or nerves will allow.  Balanced and full motion allows joints and muscles to move smoothly and keep you moving well as you age.

The doctors at Life in Motion Chiropractic and Wellness approach treatment with three principles in mind. The first is motion; problems with this affect all three of the body’s subsystems. To effectively help a motion problem treatment solutions must address the mechanical and neurological issues involved and our doctor’s approach to this threefold:

- Chiropractic manipulative therapy unlocks, restores, and maintains joint motion. Joint mobilization reduces restrictions and other posture and motion distortions. In fact, freeing a compressed nerve or restoring motion can affect other parts of the body via the Control Subsystem.

- Myofascial therapy lengthens tight muscles and breaks up ligamentous and fascial adhesions. Other benefits of this form of therapy can be pain relief, which also affects the Control Subsystem, improved circulation, and general stress reduction.

- Therapeutic exercise, during which we teach you how to properly stretch tight/facilitated muscles and strengthen weak/inhibited muscles.

Secondly, we look for compensatory movement patterns in the body’s chain of motion. Your body type, injuries, and lifestyle habits train you, over time, to involuntarily and without thinking move your body in a unique pattern of motion using your stronger muscles. Your joints and ligaments stretch in the direction they are used and subsequently adhesions form along unused paths of motion. Therefore, you begin to move along the path of least resistance, just as a piece of paper bends along a crease the tissues of the body literally groove and fold in the way they are being used. As these mechanically inefficient patterns of poor posture and unbalanced motion progress, a “pain cycle” is created, the result of which is a continuous loop of increased body stress, joint degeneration, chronic pain, and recurring injury.

The solution, which is the third principle of treatment at Life in Motion Chiropractic and Wellness, is the implementation of “the motion cycle” through the use of postural retraining which helps to form new “life habits” and trains the body to move with conscious, full range of motion. Free, balanced motion reduces joint stress, relieves pain, and restores flexibility subsequently breaking the “pain cycle”.

The goal of treatment at Life in Motion Chiropractic and Wellness is to restore balance, flexibility, and control which instills self-efficacy and helps to keep your body moving naturally, feeling good, and aging well.