At Chirolink we like to prioritize our patients’ quality of life, and this can be approached in a variety of ways. We have many tools in our toolbox. One of these are very specific exercises that you can do at home!
This blog post outlines a few different exercises out of the normal gym routine that you can do to give your body the boost it needs to take your quality of life to the next level.
Before we give you these important exercises, we will first discuss why we do them and explain just how smart the body is.
Firstly, there are the well-known benefits of exercise. It combats disease, boosts the immune system, maintains a healthy weight, keeps us strong, and even balances our mood. Ultimately, the stronger we are, the more stable our bodies are, in every sense (our joints, meaning less pain and inflammation, but also systemic health). The happier and healthier our joints and muscles are, there is much less chance of wear and tear.
Why these specific exercises?
Firstly, Chiropractic adjustments provide the body with significant proprioceptive input, and this alone benefits the body in a variety of ways, but we all have our parts to play in health and healing. Going for regular adjustments is crucial but there is more you can do at home! There are very specific exercises we can do that complement the adjustments phenomenally. These exercises focus on the body’s proprioception and cross-lateral motor control. They focus on postural muscles that require strength to keep our backs and bodies strong and stable by appropriately positioning themselves to protect the spine. They keep the body at its lowest risk of acute or chronic injury. In other words, regular adjustments and exercise sharpen the proprioception in our body stimulating the flow of sensory integration resulting in a better functioning of our frame.
Let’s first break down proprioception.
Proprioception refers to the sense and perception of the position, movement, and orientation of our body parts. Our nervous system can gather information from sensory receptors located in our muscles, tendons, joints, and inner ear and integrate that information to provide us with a continuous sense of our body’s position and movement in space.
Proprioception plays a crucial role in our daily activities and overall coordination.
Here are a few reasons why it is important :
- Body awareness: proprioception allows us to have a sense of where our body parts are without having to look at them. It enables us to perform tasks such as reaching for objects, typing on a keyboard, or walking without constantly monitoring our movements visually.
- Posture and balance: Proprioception helps us maintain proper posture and balance. It provides feedback to our muscles and joints, allowing us to make subtle adjustments to keep our body aligned and stable. This is particularly important during activities that require stability, such as standing, running, or playing sports.
- Motor control: proprioceptive information is vital for fine motor control and coordination. It allows us to perform precise movements with our hands and fingers, like writing, playing musical instruments, or using tools. It also helps us adapt our movements to different situations, such as adjusting our grip strength when picking up objects of varying weights.
- Injury prevention: proprioception plays a role in injury prevention by providing us with a sense of body position and movement. It helps us detect and correct movements that may put excessive strain on our joints or muscles. For example, if we stumble, proprioception allows us to quickly adjust our body position and recover balance to prevent a fall.
- Rehabilitation: proprioception is crucial in rehabilitation following injuries or surgeries. It helps individuals regain strength, coordination, and motor control by retraining the sensory feedback loops between the brain and the body. Rehabilitative exercises often involve tasks to improve proprioceptive functioning.
Overall, proprioception is essential for our daily functioning, coordination, and body awareness. It allows us to navigate the world smoothly and efficiently while maintaining balance and preventing injuries.
Specific proprioceptive exercises include:
Planking – while laying your stomach, lift the body with only the forearms and toes on the ground. The elbows are bent, the arms are shoulder-width apart and the body is held up in a straight line (no lifting or dropping of the pelvis). This position is held for as long as possible. We recommend trying to build it up to a minute a day – or longer if you can!
Bird dogs – while on your hands and knees in the tabletop position, slowly lift your left hand while simultaneously lifting your right leg and then bring them back down. This is then repeated on the opposite side.
Cat cows or pelvic tilting – while on your hands and knees in the tabletop position, slowly and gently tilt the pelvis while arching the lower back. From here slowly come back to neutral and tuck the pelvis under by rounding the back up towards the sky. These movements are done while holding the abdominal muscles firm to protect the small structures of the back.
Simply balancing on one leg. This can be done with your eyes open or closed while standing on an uneven surface or while brushing your teeth.
Motor coordination or cross-lateral exercises are an exceptional way to build up proprioceptive input into the spine and brain. They are integrative exercises that reinforce this information. They are not incredibly challenging but require consistency, persistence, and finesse. Motor coordination is the ability of the different parts and sides of the brain to communicate effectively and share information during functional tasks. As babies, not all of us crawl for long enough or efficiently enough and it is suspected that this may lead to difficulty doing cross-laterality exercises further down the line. This has even been linked to academic and sporting difficulties.
Cross-lateral exercises for motor control are designed to train and develop the communication pathways between each side of the brain about the body. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. these include:
- While standing upright, slowly lean forward while raising the left arm forward and lifting the right leg backward. Without twisting the hips or body. This is repeated on the opposite side.
- While standing upright, with the elbow bent, raise your right arm to the side while raising your left leg forward with your knee bent. This is repeated on the opposite side.
- While standing, raise the left arm to the side while raising the right leg to the side with the knee straight. This is repeated on the opposite side.
- While lying on your back, raise your left arm over your head while simultaneously turning your head to the left.
These movements need to be done simultaneously, not separately. They are not challenging like gym exercises and therefore don’t require you to go too far or too hard. They require finesse and control as we are exercising the nervous system not just the muscular system.
Always remember that some is better than none. The volume of exercises can be overwhelming. We encourage our patients to at least do some but to do it consistently to truly see the results.
If you’d like to discuss this further and take it to the next step, book an appointment at Chirolink and we will be more than happy to help you!