The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. Everyone benefits from exercise, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Taking part in regular exercise of any intensity every day is essential for preventing a range of diseases and other health issues. Likewise, it’s important to establish a clear exercise schedule.
The three types of exercises we recommend
Aerobic – Aerobic exercise involves low to high intensity physical exercise, aimed to improve how your body uses oxygen and build endurance.
Anaerobic – While all exercise benefits the heart and lungs, anaerobic exercise provides fewer benefits for cardiovascular health than aerobic exercise and uses fewer calories. However, it is more effective than aerobic exercise for building muscle and improving strength.
Agility training – Agility training aims to improve a person’s ability to maintain control while speeding up, slowing down, and changing direction. People who take part in sports that heavily rely on positioning, coordination, speed, and balance need to engage in agility training regularly.
There are many exercises available for patients undergoing chiropractic care.
If your pain is coming from an irritated nerve or misaligned joint, that is, by definition, a mechanical problem. Mechanical problems require mechanical solutions, which is what we are trained to correct.
Exercise prescription, in addition to passive care such as manipulation and soft tissue therapy, can be an important component to recovery. Your chiropractor can help you tailor exercises to meet your needs and goals.
Here are a few reasons why exercise and movement are an important part of the chiropractic approach:
Increase self-reliance – A corrective exercise program can help you play an active role in your care. It allows for a renewed sense of self-reliance and an ability to perform activities of daily living without undue fear or risk of injury.
Decrease fear-avoidance – Unless fear of pain is specifically recognized and addressed early, it may lead to fear avoidance behavior—e.g., not using your muscles for fear of further injury rather than strengthening them. Resuming normal activities and exercise increases your confidence, and ultimately improves your recovery.
Increase treatment effectiveness – Evidence also suggests that manual therapy (manipulation and/or mobilization) combined with exercise is more effective than other therapies for patients with musculoskeletal conditions, including neck pain.
Minimize recurrence – Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters concluded the use of exercise in conjunction with manipulation is likely to improve outcomes, as well as minimize episodic recurrence3.
Long-term benefit – A study showing that spinal manipulation and/or mobilization plus exercise demonstrates long-term benefit for pain relief, functional improvement, and global perceived effect for subacute/chronic mechanical neck disorders with or without headache2.
Not only is exercise a great tool to prevent injury, it is also an effective way to alleviate pain and improve function for a number of musculoskeletal conditions, like low back pain. Being active and mobile is important to our musculoskeletal health and our health in general. But it can also help with other therapeutic interventions like the adjustment.
It’s best to ask your chiropractor about how an exercise program can help you.
For exercises you can do at home, check out our exercise videos on our blog.