Are you one of those people who struggle with pain and constant tight muscles despite all the stretches and exercises you do? Are you frustrated with your tight hamstrings, calves, or chest, hips and shoulders, and wondering where all that tension comes from? The truth is, your lack of flexibility doesn’t stem from your muscles or genes, but from your nervous system.

Your nervous system controls your movement by signaling your muscles and coordinating different body parts to create motion. When you want to touch your toes, for example, your nervous system sends a signal to your muscles to move your body in that direction.

The key to improving flexibility lies in understanding your structure (spine) and how your nervous system creates movement. When you actively engage your muscles to move your body in a certain direction, your nervous system signals not only the muscles you’re using but also the opposite muscles to lengthen, allowing for efficient cooperation and a smooth range of motion. However, when your nervous system detects a potential threat or danger, such as past injuries or poor posture, it may contract some muscles protectively to stop you from going too far. This protective mechanism can result in co-contraction and limited range of motion, even when there’s no actual injury or danger present.

If you’ve been struggling with tight muscles, it’s time to rethink your approach. Instead of focusing solely on stretching or exercise, consider the signals and patterns in your nervous system that may be limiting your range of motion. If your spine is in an abnormal position it will create limitations to your nervous system to send the right signals to your muscles. I will be hard for your muscles to truly loosen up if you don’t focus on the spine as well. 

Corrective adjustments not only focus on the nervous system but you can improve your quality of life, movement, and overall health. Your flexibility is not just about your muscles but about the signals your muscles receive from your nervous system. 

As technological advances have made our living and work environments easier, the sacrifice of exploring our full hip mobility in all directions it has been made to do. Sadly humans nowadays move less, and because of this our hips move less! Our bodies were not designed to sit for most of the day. Not only do we feel it in our hips but our low back and whole spine as well. Our spine loves movement as most of my patents know I talk about getting up to get walking/moving about every hour. But walking is only 1 direction the hips go in. We need to give this joint some more movement that it craves. The hip is a ball and socket joint meaning it has mobility in multiple directions! 

Our hips provide a stable base for the spine to keep the body in an upright position, but also provides enough movement to allow our lower limbs to move around the spine. With poor hip mobility can come poor movement, poor posture and inhibited muscles – all of which can lead to injury and distress.

Hip mobility limitations have been correlated with a variety of musculoskeletal conditions, including low back pain, femoral acetabular impingement, hip osteoarthritis, and ligament issues.

To really optimize hip mobility, we need a multi-centered approach. There is a ton going on at the hip. To give you some perspective, there are 27 muscles that cross the hip joint and there are many other muscle groups above and below the hip joint that affects the overall hip function!

Getting adjusted regularly + daily stretching will not only decrease pain, but really help your spine and hip health!

Exercises that will increase mobility to your Low Back/ SI joints and Hip Joint. There are even more great exercises I tried to put in my favorites. 

1. Hip CARS
2. Pigeon
3. Pelvic Tilts
4. Hip Flexor Stretch 
5. 90/90
6. Downward Dog Yoga Pose
7. Squat 

*** Ask to get on our email list to get a full PDF of how to do each exercise!!

Honey Sriracha Ground Chicken and Broccoli

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp (16g) Olive Oil, divided
• 12 oz Broccoli Florets, cut into bite-size pieces (I also may pick any vegetable that we are feeling) 
• 1 lb Ground Chicken (I may use chicken breasts instead of ground.) 
• 1/4 C (60g) Sweet Chili Sauce
• 2 Tbsp (42g) Honey
• 2-3 Tbsp (30-45g) Sriracha, to spice preference
• 2 Tbsp (30g) Soy Sauce (coconut aminos – healthier option) 
• 1 Tbsp (16g) Toasted Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Ground Ginger
• Sesame Seeds and Green Onion, for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and leave untouched for 1-2 minutes to develop some browning on one side. Stir and continue cooking until the broccoli is a dark green, about 3-4 minutes longer. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
2. Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet and brown both sides of the ground chicken before mincing and fully cooking.
3. While the chicken cooks, mix the remaining sauce ingredients together. Add the sauce to the fully cooked chicken and cook until thick. Be careful not to burn.
4. Once the sauce is thick, add the broccoli back to the skillet and stir everything together. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onion before serving.