12 Jun Increase Your Range of Motion Naturally
Has your range-of-motion declined over time? This could be due to a chronic condition (that you may or may not be aware of) that limits your ability to move around as freely as you used to. Or, the problem could be due to a neuropathic problem, misalignment of the joints and even your diet. Thankfully, at Mile High Spine & Pain Center, we specialize in chiropractic care, trigger-point therapy and neuropathy treatments to help improve your range of motion naturally. Improve your range of motion capabilities without narcotic pain medicines, surgery or invasive procedures. Learn more about three treatment options that will restore the motion you once had!
How You Move
Range-of-motion generally refers to how far (distance and direction) a joint can move. Each joint in the body has a normal range of motion and it can be measured by a professional (like those in our office). When a person has limited range-of-motion, it means that their joints have a limited ability to move. The onset can be sudden or gradually progress over time. The common culprits? Injury, misalignment of the joints or spine, neuropathy, chronic conditions or diseases such as arthritis and osteoporosis, and even swelling and inflammation in the joints.
One of the best ways to improve your range-of-motion is to invest some time in physical therapy, where the experts can help move and loosen up your body through proper treatments. Physical therapy is a series of different treatments and methods that will exercise various parts of your body to regain muscle mass and movement, flexibility, function and how much you can move. Many exercises help improve your range-of-motion, but at our office, we generally couple physical therapy treatments with trigger-point therapy, chiropractic care and neuropathy treatments.
Trigger-Point Therapy
What is a trigger point? If you’ve never heard of this term, that’s okay. You’re probably familiar with what it is though. Throughout the body, there are an estimated 620 points where small knots and nodules of tension can form. Many of these are actually palpable. If you feel tension in your back or have aches and pains in your neck or spine (or elsewhere in the body), you might be experiencing the effects of a trigger-point. Sometimes you can’t physically feel the knot, but other times you can.
These little knots can compress nerves, creating pain and inflammation in the localized area. Trigger-points can be tricky. They can cause symptoms (which also include numbness, tingling, stiff muscles, etc.) in parts of the body far away from the trigger-point. Intensive research has proven the power of a small knot of muscle. Even small knots can cause serious pain and make you not want to move. Muscles become stiff and your range-of-motion will diminish. Our trigger-point therapy aims to provide deep tissue massaging coupled with vibration exercises, electrostimulation, stretching, myotherapy and inflammation injections to find your trigger points and release the tension that is causing your body stiffness and pain.
Chiropractic Care
Many range-of-motion problems can stem from the joints being misaligned, especially when it comes to the spine and back. The joints fall into the area of the body’s muscular, nervous and skeletal systems, which is exactly what chiropractic care deals with. A postural and spinal analysis helps us discover vertebral dysfunction or misalignment. These misalignments can alter body functions and limit how much you are able to move. When the spine is misaligned, the discs and nerves around them become compressed and will cause you pain when moving. The more the body is misaligned, the more you won’t want to move. That can diminish your range-of-motion even more.
With chiropractic care, we apply a small amount of pressure to move the vertebrae and loosen your joints that have become frozen. Releasing that tension will allow your joints to move, increasing their motion and getting you back to an active life.
Neuropathy Treatments
One of the most common symptoms of neuropathy is a limited range-of-motion. No surprise there. You may also experience numbness and tingling in the extremities and the limbs. Neuropathy involves damage or defects within the peripheral nerve system. When a nerve becomes blocked, you will start to experience symptoms such as the ones we listed above as well as:
- chronic pain
- fatigue
- stiff neck muscles
- foot and ankle pain
- inflammation in the knees, calves, shoulders and other joints
- weakness and tremors.
We utilize neuropathy treatments with many of our patients who are experiencing limited range-of-motion, especially if it has decreased over time without a discernible cause. Electrostimulation and massage therapy can release tension and stiffness in the muscles naturally and without medication.
Generally any one of these therapies can clear up your symptoms and get your body moving again. Even changing your diet with our nutrition experts could clear up the problem. We can help you find a natural remedy to relieve your range-of-motion problems. At Mile High Spine & Pain Center, let us see what our treatments can do to get your body feeling better and moving way you want. Call our office at (720) 507-0080 today to learn more!