Keeping your body moving is key to staying healthy and feeling good. When we don’t use our full range of motion, our muscles tighten up, joints get stiff, and even simple movements can become harder over time. Things like yoga and chiropractic care can help keep everything working the way it should by improving flexibility, circulation, and overall function.

Adding gentle movement, like yoga, into your routine can make a big difference in how your body feels. It helps with balance, mobility, and even reduces aches and pains. Whether you’re super active or just looking to stay flexible as you get older, moving regularly is one of the best things you can do for your body.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:05 – Introduction & Importance of Movement

01:36 – Neuroplasticity & Proprioception

02:55 – Why Full Range of Motion is Essential

04:29 – Consequences of Reduced Motion

06:24 – Rebuilding Neural Pathways with Exercise

07:57 – The Role of Yoga in Joint Health

09:29 – Final Thoughts: Move or Lose Function

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:05] Under Chalmerswellness.com Or blogs. There’s some in the news thing that there’s a blog about where all of these are up there. And you’re going to see a lot of the things I did with other people. It was really it was a great grateful interview rule podcast because it’s really, really important. One of the things I talk about a lot and I don’t talk about enough about the, you know, motion and function and how the body works with that. And so we’ll go into a little bit of it. I’ve got ten minutes. And so we have to be a little bit you have these big words. But so the reason why this is also the reason why chiropractic is so hyper important for everyone, not just athletes, but specifically athletes and. The thing about yoga, especially the way that she does it, is the functional movement class Watch. Like, that’s awesome. It’s not how everything moves and why we need to move. That’s the thing. That’s a reason that we need to move. We specifically need to move into the entire full functional range of motion that we have for a joint is because the the body of the brain talk to each other all the time. And there’s a thing called neuroplasticity, which is we our brains stay in the same function that we give them over time. So tell for instance, how you can type, right? So put your hands on the keyboard and you first look at the keyboard. You go look at where all the keys are and you can’t figure it out Over time. You just get used to where your fingers are going.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:36] And so all of a sudden, I can type. I don’t have to look at the keys, I can type. And then if you go from a standard keyboard to an ergonomic, once it’s broken into the keyboard, just instances like this, it’s it’s like that. You can tweak your hands a little bit and you got to learn how to do it again a little bit with your path. Right? So that’s called neuroplasticity, like teaching your body where things are in space. The issue is like, if you’re right, if you’re if you look at the home row, if you guys look at the home row is the middle of the keyboard. So let’s say you get your fingers on J and you want to go to U. It’s just you don’t have to look, it’s just a little bit of computer. Satish, scoot it further. Right. So like you don’t have to look you just know it’s. It’s about here, it’s about there. The reason, you know, that is called from your perception into a proprioception is it tells our body where our joints are in space. Right. So like, for instance, you close your eyes, you put your hand over your head, you know, you can feel that your hands. Right? So positioning in space, this is really, really important because as we move as we walk, we got to get all this information to the branch. Where are the toes? Where is the ankle? Where’s the hit? Where’s the knee? Where’s the low back? You know, if we’re raising a right leg, the left go back has to tighten so that we don’t fall over like all those millions. Little calculations, little millions, little alterations.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:55] Every time we move to tighten the spine that rotate this way, twist like this. So all those things are going back and forth from the brain need to be exercised or else we start to lose the body’s ability to type or walk or do those sort of things. So the issue we get into is that if we do not forcibly or actually if we don’t on purpose, move through a full range of motion, what ends up happening is that the information that comes from that joints in those muscles in that way to the brain stops happening. And when it stops happening, what ends up with your brain is doing is it’s just changing the way that it views the body function. So what happens when you have you lose a hand or it’s like that, your body goes, we’re not getting input from this area anymore, so we’ll just glaze over it. We won’t we will act like it’s not there anymore, which is really, really important because if you start to lose, say, for instance, range of motion function, range, motion and neck. So, so the 90 degree motion you get 60 degree motion. What ends up happening is it’s your body literally changing the way the musculature works in that area. And so it’s shorter and tighter. And so over time, you now only have a functional movement at 60 degrees. And one of the of happening is that those those muscles tighten down to now reset to a smaller range motion, a smaller function. As they get tighter, they start pinching on fabrics. And so we end up having sort of the sewer system is slower so we get sick a little bit easier. We get sinus infections that we get sinus infections, we oppression area pressure the job more often.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:29] We can start compressing blood vessels and so we get less oxygen to the area, we get less nutrients and less weight. So this is how we get trigger points and things like that. And so if we don’t actually move that whole range of motion, literally your brain forgets you can do it. And so it is slowly decreasing that we can move. And this is why as we get older, we have harder and harder times moving our joints hurt, more things like that because we’re not getting the proper motion. And now the brain literally starts thinking that it’s smaller than this and we start having issues. This is why you can actually use specialty exercises to fix neurologic issues. Like I mentioned, there’s a whole big, giant amount of education on the neurologic function, on rebuilding people out for strokes and things with specific exercises, cross promotions, primitive motions, things like that, activating sensory input. So this is one of the things that we have to kind of recognize. If we don’t act with these joints, we are actually these muscles. We don’t keep these things moving. Our body starts to basically shut down. So this is also kind of in the same vein of where we get winter fasciitis, carpal tunnel, frozen shoulder, scoliosis, things like that. Is that the tone or how our muscles are pulling all the time starts to shake? As it changes, we start having physiological function, having body differently. So, you know, for instance, with pleasure fasciitis, you know, the to the muscle, the function tubules interior starts to elongate and the calf muscle, the back starts to tighten and pulls up a little seen pulls back on the calcaneus the heel though this is very, very, very small mouth and into flattening out and stretching that plantar fascia and then it can’t get nutrients and it can’t get where it’s not as well and it’s inflamed.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:24] And that’s where we get these issues, which is also why all the ones I mentioned just sharing instructions on frozen shoulder. So yes, it’s always worse in the more there’s a whole neurologic back story about flexure domination and essential function, the frontal lobe that’s sparing for the escort. Well, that’s kind of where this is. And so the idea that we’re going to specifically go through a range of motions, you know, specifically, hey, this is how your body is supposed to move. Can you move like that if you can’t? Which is why practicing going through that motion over and over and over again helps regenerate, rebuild those neural pathways this way allows us to move like that in the future and also makes the joints feel lubricated and functional. And so it’s really, really easy to use these type of movements to now restore motion that’s, you know, in pain and get body function backwards. Let’s do that. So we talk about why exercise is so important. This is just one of the many, many, many reasons that exercise is so critical to the long term health of heart function. It’s just a brain function. So if you guys aren’t doing some type of large range of motion function, I would highly recommend that you take a look at the podcast and she’s doing a deal. Emily White yoga.com. If you guys go to yoga income you guys it’s nice five bucks a month and she’s got like all these little videos where you can like watch it and do kind of yourself. Those are fantastic. And the thing is, is that you really should have somebody kind of watch you do these things and help you through it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:57] Like go and take a class and have somebody who’s really good at it kind of help you move the way you’re supposed to. This is why you should get adjusted on a regular basis because then your joints will be able to function at a much higher range of motion, much higher functionality. But. If you’re going to do something every day, do a little yoga. The 20 minutes of this, do you know? Do you know Taichi? I do that type of thing. But this is five bucks if you guys aren’t doing anything. Even you. Lifters. Like people like me, they’re like, Are you Just. Looks like I do a lot of yoga. Like when we built the five five, like, there’s a lot of yoga that has been incorporated that that I still do all the time, you know, pigeon and stuff like that. You kept house stuff and, you know, coming up and, you know, moving, going through the nasal flow and things like that. So I get full functional movement. My joints really, really work. I have still balance and coordination, I think so, yeah. John on her website lit yoga account and you know jump on there for five bucks and start practicing some of those things. You might look at me like, Hey, seven pursue this. I don’t need to do cool. That’s a lot. But 30% you might need to do so, you know, if you’ve got tight caps, if you’ve got tight hamstrings, if you’ve got this tight stiff upper neck and upper back, these are things that you guys need to start to correct. Because if you’re in your if you’re if you’re under 80 and you’re noticing that your joints are tight, you’re still if you can’t remember, touch your toes, there is ranges of motion that you try to do that your body is too tight to do or too stiff to do. That’s a major problem.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:29] Like it’s a lot bigger problem than you think it is. You need to start moving through these range of motion. You get that range motion back because it’s not just going to wake up one day. There. It’s all it’s all that you’ve got to earn. You’ve got to demand it comes back. And so, you know, get get the stuff. So doing these stretches again, this is the other stuff. If you’re not seeing a chiropractor a somewhat regular basis, make sure your joints are taking care of them, moving properly because your joints are literally directly connected to your rear. And I could legitimately I could talk about this for hours just as a minimum nerve jerk nerd. That’s an awareness. So if you guys are not moving in the full functional range of motion, you need to you are doing detrimental to your long term health. That’s just know. Take take that for what it is. Because I’m going to win that argument because there’s there’s no research that shows that that’s not the case. So if you guys aren’t moving, get moving. And this can be really, really beneficial for you to check out Lyt yoga dot com and check out the podcast on Chalmerswellness.com. It’ll be it’s pretty impressive. She’s a fantastic. So check it out if you guys have any other questions and some questions from.

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness