Breaking down self-care movements so that you’ll actually do them.
Let's face it: terms like 'corrective exercise' or 'home exercise program' don’t exactly inspire excitement. When I go over stretches or exercises with patients in the office, I can almost see them think, “Yeah, sure, Doc…” But what if there were simple, effective movements you could easily fit into your day—and that would actually improve how your body feels?
Consistent, gentle movements and exercises are key to long-term health and vitality. While cardio and intense exercise are essential for heart health, mobility plays an equally important role. When our bodies have limited or restricted mobility, our tissues don’t get enough oxygen or nutrients, which can lead to further increased tension, pain, and can even impact our emotional state and brain function. Having your joints and muscles move smoothly and consistently through their full range of motion not only promotes blood flow and circulation, but also helps reduce tension, pain, and improves the nervous system’s control of the muscles.
One of my goals in my practice is to empower my patients to maintain their own health. I want them to be pain-free and to move forward without fully relying on me or other practitioners. Of course we all need check-ups or get injured occasionally, but my patients shouldn’t have to rely on me to keep their bodies mobile. My job, as I see it, is to educate them about their bodies and teach them how to care for themselves when it comes to basic and fundamental movements. Because of this, I always go over self-care stretches and exercises with my patients when they see me in my office. The specific exercises will be slightly different from person to person since everyone's body has different needs, but they will predominantly follow the same formula and sequence outlined below.
Mobilize (~1-5 minutes)
Stabilize (~1-5 minutes)
Integrate (~1-5 minutes)
Mobilize
Mobility is all about joints and muscles moving through their full range of motion. The first thing we should do is mobilize or stretch the joints or muscles that are tight or restricted. Each muscle or joint should move through its full range in all directions several times a day, with each movement worked on for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. This allows the tissue to be fully stretched and fully contracted. That doesn’t mean you have to do the whole body—although doing this with every joint in the body and in all directions is ideal, it can be very time-consuming. If you’re pressed for time, focus on the areas that feel most tense or restricted.
Exercises included in this step are: stretching, foam rolling, ball release, traction/distraction, and mobility band work.
For the most part, we are pretty good at doing this step of the sequence. People often sit on a foam roller or hold a stretch for extended periods. In fact, this step is sometimes overdone. It’s the next two steps that most people aren’t doing enough or miss entirely. We have to follow the muscle release by training the body on what to do with the new range of motion. If we don’t, you’re going to fall back into the same old movement patterns and be just as tight later.
Stabilize
Stability exercises focus on activating the core and the muscles that stabilize the joints. We are also ensuring we are engaging the correct muscles to create the core and joint stability, and minimizing any compensation. These exercises are usually done on the floor or in a quadruped position, focusing on holding a position or controlling a movement.
In this step, I usually suggest that each exercise be done as a 30-60 second hold, or for 1-2 minutes in a 4-second block (4 seconds out, 4 seconds hold, and 4 seconds return). Slowing these exercises down forces greater control, helping you focus on stability while maintaining normal breathing throughout.
Some examples of stability exercises are: 90-90 breathing (Dead Bug hold), dead bugs, bridges, bird dogs, and planks.
Integrate
Integration exercises take the new mobility and stability you’ve gained and apply them to full-body movement patterns. The goal here is to plug the new range of motion and stability into the nervous system and learn how to incorporate the changes we made into everyday movement patterns. In other words, we have to reinforce the changes we just created in the tissue and this new way of moving so the brain can save it, and it becomes second nature.
Some examples of integration exercises include: toe touches, walking, squatting, lunging, push-ups, etc.
Example Flow
Let’s put the three steps into action using an example of something I see frequently: a patient complaining about “tight hamstrings.” Note: Even with a packed schedule, you can still find time for this routine, which takes just 10-15 minutes
Tight Hamstring Flow
Mobilize: (~5 minutes total)
Foam roll/stretch:
Calf (30-60 seconds)
Hamstrings (30-60 seconds)
Quads (30-60 seconds)
Glutes (30-60 seconds)
Stabilize: (~2-5 minutes)
Leg lowering (~1 minute each side)
Bridges (~1 minute each)
Dead bugs (optional) (~1 minute)
Integrate: (~1-2 minutes)
The following integration exercises should be done in a slow and controlled fashion (4-count down, 4-count hold, 4-count up):
Toe touches (10 repetitions)
Squats (10 repetitions)
Lunges (5 repetitions on each side)
The whole progression shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes. If your schedule doesn’t allow for that much time, you can shorten it by only completing one exercise from each step (foam roll hamstrings, leg lowering, toe touch). If you have more than 15 minutes, you can always get more benefit from adding another set and going through the entire flow again. You can get better results doing 2 rounds of 10-minute circuits rather than 1 round that’s more in-depth but takes 20 minutes.
As with any exercises, if you experience any pain, please stop immediately and reach out to me or another medical professional that focuses on movement to schedule an appointment. We can help you understand what's happening with your joints and muscles, and tailor exercises to keep you strong and mobile.
I hope you found this helpful and that it gets you moving just a little bit more than last week.
by Dr. Ryan Slaughter, DC, SFMA, Rocktape CMP
831-440-7845
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