Flexibility! We have all heard it said a hundred times... "flexibility is important, you have to stretch!" . But why is it so important and how could it possibly be deemed the "fountain of youth"?
Take a look at this picture.
How would you describe her posture? Pretend you are watching her walk down the street, what words would you use to describe her movements and biomechanics? Is she shuffling? Taking small steps? Perhaps these words come to mind..."hunched over" "stiff" "slouching" "slow" "OLD"
We know a person is older just by watching the way they move. This is because as we get older our bodies become less mobile, less flexible and have less available movement.
As we age we begin to loose our elasticity of the soft tissues in our body. Take a look at this graph...
This is what happens if we let nature take its course. The numbers on the bottom of this graph represent age and the numbers on the side of this graph represent percentage of maximum mobility. Now take a look at the blue line. At about age 23 we reach 100% mobility, or our maximum mobility. At age 50 we only have about 50% of the mobility we had at age 23, and at age 60 we only have about 25% of the mobility we had at age 23. That is a huge drop!!!
Sooooo what can we do??? Can this graph be changed???
Yes, of course it can! It is never too late to begin incorporating activities into our lives that improve our mobility. Stretching and regular chiropractic care are fantastic ways to improve mobility, flexibility and function as we age. By beginning a regular stretching regimen we can not only change that blue line on the graph, but we will also help to prevent musculoskeletal injury and arthritis. It only takes about 10 minutes a day to stretch your upper and lower body. We all have an extra 10 minutes, right?
Chiropractic care is also a great way to improve mobility! That very concept is what chiropractic care is all about. Chiropractic Doctors examine their patients to identify areas of immobility and dysfunction, then restore that mobility through adjustments and muscle therapy.
With regular chiropractic care and 10 minutes a day of stretching we can change that blue line on the graph and maintain about 75% of our maximum mobility through the age of 80!
Big difference!!!
Wouldn't you rather look like this when you get older...
Take better care of your body TODAY so that you can play, move and enjoy all the tomorrows to come!