Flexibility is the capacity of a joint to move fluidly through its full range of motion. The major limitation to joint flexibility is the tightness of soft tissue structures (joint capsule, ligaments, muscles, tendons). Sedentary lifestyles permit muscles, tendons and ligaments to weaken, shorten and lose their strength. This not only leads to decreased flexibility, but also leaves one vulnerable to injury, loss of balance and coordination, and to degenerative arthritis. Arthritis can be viewed as progressive stiffening of your joints in response to the inflammation of wear and tear. Mobility and flexibility are the opposite of arthritis and aging.

In nature, when confronted with a stressful situation such as a predator, the body is mobilized for a physical event- fight or flight.Your nervous system becomes activated with a host of hormonal changes anticipating this physical exertion.

Unfortunately, this response is rarely useful in modern day stresses: interpersonal conflict, anxiety, worry, environmental noise/air/water pollution, etc. In 1956 Hans Selye described how, left unchecked, the stress response can interfere with sleep, immune response, mental focus, and ultimately to adrenal exhaustion. The biochemical and physical responses associated with chronic stress can lead to virtually all diseases associated with aging and death.

Stress-related muscle tension leads to painful conditions such as chronic headache, back and shoulder pain, poor posture, compromised nerves, trigger points (highly irritable spots that refer ache and pain elsewhere in the body), and reduced circulation. This reduction of blood flow causes damage to the muscle cells’ energy-producing capacity and an accumulation of waste products- the main reasons for pain, aching and fatigue. Once initiated, the pain-stress cycle can set off a complex chain of self-perpetuating events that may adversely affect the quality, and perhaps even the quantity, of life.