Joint Mobility Exercise To Improve Flexibility and Function

Have you ever felt tense and stiff muscles when stretching? As we know that having a flexible body is not an easy matter. Body flexibility training is also often used as a health therapy. Because with flexible body movements the muscles and joints will be trained to be weak and not stiff. Thus the blood flow in the body can run smoothly. Try these flexibility exercises to improve your joint flexibility and function so you can move better, allowing you to improve strength and performance during your next workout.

1. Neck Half Circles

Do you often feel stiff neck or pain under the head? Be careful, these complaints can bring problems not only in the neck but also in the head and upper back. Therefore, you need to do joint exercises on this one to help flex and maximize its function. Here are the following steps that you should try :

• Sit or stand comfortably with your hands on your lap.
• Tilt your head to one side until you feel a stretch. Slowly roll your head forward to bring your chin to your chest, only go as far as you can without pain.
• Continue to roll your head to the other side until you feel a stretch along the opposite side of your neck.
• Make 3 half circles, moving slowly and smoothly through the motion.

2. Ankle Mobility

Stretching the ankle joint helps maintain body balance, especially when doing training such as squats and deadlifts. Here are the following steps that you should try to exercise ankle mobility :

• Stand up tall facing a wall.
• Place hands on the wall for support.
• Slowly rock forward onto your toes, coming into a tip-toe position.
• Slowly rock back onto your heels, lifting your toes off the ground.
• Repeat 10 times, holding the wall for balance.

3. Shoulder pass through

Stretching your shoulders before exercise helps to improve your posture and prevent getting injured. This exercise involves several muscles such as chest, upper back, shoulder muscles, and the rotator cuff muscle (shoulder stabilizer). To do this exercise, you need a broom or pipe as a tool. Here are the following steps :

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart holding a broomstick parallel to the floor. Use an overhand grip holding the bar as wide as possible.
• Keeping your arms straight, slowly raise the broomstick above your head. Hold your core tight to maintain good posture and balance.
• Keep bringing the broomstick behind your head as a far as you’re able. Hold at end range for 2 seconds and return to starting position.
• Repeat 5 times.

4. Thoracic spine windmills

This exercise helps maximize joint mobility in the thoracic spine, from the base of the neck to the area between the shoulder blades. By flexing this part of the body, you can move and rotate your arms freely. This exercise involves the upper back muscles, spinal stabilizing muscles, core muscles, and abdominal muscles. Here are the following steps :

• Lie on the floor on your side.
• Bend your knees and hips to just past 90 degrees, resting your knees beside you on the floor.
• Straighten your bottom leg and rest your top leg on a foam roller or a towel without changing its position.
• Extend both your arms together along the floor, straight out in front of your body. They should be stacked, palms together, at shoulder height.
• Slowly lift your top arm and rotate it away from you, opening up your chest to the ceiling. You can rest your hand on the other side of your body, if able.
• Hold this position for 3 seconds and slowly bring it back to touch your other hand.
• Repeat 5 times on each side.

5. Walking hip openers

Hip joints include body parts that are able to move in all directions. Therefore, before exercising it is good to warm up in the hip and surrounding muscles so that balance and flexibility are maintained. In this exercise there are enough muscles that play a role, namely glutes, hip flexors, hip extensors, and other muscles around the hips. To do this, follow these steps:

• Stand up tall with feet hip-width apart.
• Take one step forward with your right leg, plant your foot firmly on the ground, and lift your left knee to your chest.
• While standing on one leg, make a circle with your knee, bringing it across your body and then out to the side.
• Place left foot on the floor and repeat on the right side.
• Repeat 10 times, then repeat entire sequence moving your legs in the opposite direction by bringing your leg out to the side first and then in a circle across your body.