San Antonio Chiropractic Care To Improve Your Range of Motion

Range of motion is something most people take for granted until it's gone. If you've injured your shoulder and can't rotate it fully, this is something you will think about all day, every day. It affects simple and complicated tasks. When your range of motion becomes limited, what can you do?

When you are considering movement in the body, you are considering the health of your joints and spine. This is the primary focus for San Antonio chiropractors, who treat joint and spinal health issues at Axis Chiropractic & Rehab to improve overall wellness.

What Range of Motion Means

Range of motion is sometimes abbreviated to ROM. It's your ability to freely move your body, which is something often associated with the range of movement around a joint or the joint's flexibility. When you bend your body to the side or turn your wrist in a circle, you are exploring your range of motion. When you can't do this without experiencing pain or discomfort, your range has become limited.

Your ROM is important to your daily activities like driving a vehicle, loading a dishwasher, or walking. Depending on the issue, it can make any activity difficult.

It's also important to have a healthy ROM so you can prevent further injury. If your range of motion is already limited and you push your body to go past the pain, you can sustain further injury to the joint or spine. The pain is a sign that something needs treatment. Without proper care, it's easy for injuries like tears and sprains to happen, or further inflammation that result in even more limited range of motion. This creates a cycle of injury that causes more pain, limited movement, and will take longer to heal.

How A Limited ROM Happens

There are many causes of limited range of motion issues.

Sometimes, this may be the result of an injury or trauma to the body. After a car accident, it's common for people to experience whiplash. This can limit your ability to turn your head from side to side, rotate your shoulder, or other everyday movements.

Many medical problems can cause limited range of motion. When your body is recovering from a surgery where you've been spending a lot of time stiff and not moving, it can be hard to get going again.

Chronic inflammation in the joints can make it difficult to move. So can conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome.

People who work at their desk all day may come to experience a limited range of motion. This may not seem like an injury, as it doesn't happen all of a sudden, but from repetitive motions that took their toll on an aching joint.

Another common cause of loss of range of motion is spinal misalignment. Whether from repetitive movement, an accident, or just living your day to day life, spinal misalignment can make it difficult to turn your body. When your back hurts, any simple movement can feel painful.

Chiropractic Care For Improved Range of Motion

With natural and non-invasive treatments, chiropractors can help you realign your spine or get your joints feeling better. These adjustments are gentle and pain free. By realigning your body to its natural alignment, blood flow can be resorted, compressed nerves can be freed of pain, and the discs in your spine can be put back into alignment.

During your appointment, your chiropractor will likely perform spinal adjustments, and possibly perform manipulations to other parts of your body to get your range of motion back. Depending on the problem, they may discuss future appointments with you as part of a long term treatment plan to keep your range of motion strong.

They will also likely discuss things you can do at home to help keep you in your best health. Your San Antonio chiropractor at Axis Chiropractic & Rehab will know stretches you can do and exercises to strengthen specific muscles that will keep the affected areas in good health.