When You Don’t Stretch: Why Muscles Get Stiff, Movement Gets Harder, and Injuries Become More Likely
A patient with chronic back pain does targeted stretches.
If you rarely stretch, your body can start to feel “tight,” which can change how you move. Many people notice they can’t bend, twist, squat, reach overhead, or turn their head as easily as they used to. Over time, this can affect your flexibility, your range of motion (how far a joint can move), and how smooth and efficient your daily movements feel.
At El Paso Back Clinic, Dr. Alexander Jimenez, DC, APRN, FNP-BC, often explains this: when mobility decreases, the body starts to “compensate.” That means you move around a stiff area instead of through it, and those workarounds can build up stress in nearby joints and muscles (Jimenez, n.d.-a). This is one reason people can develop recurring back pain, neck stiffness, hip tightness, or shoulder irritation even without a single big injury.
What “Muscle Stiffness” Really Means
Muscle stiffness usually feels like tightness, soreness, or difficulty moving. It can happen after overuse, after you’ve been still for a long time, or when your muscles stay “stuck” in a more contracted state (Tarantino, 2025). Osmosis
Osmosis notes that stiffness can appear after a long period of minimal motion (such as bed rest or inactivity) or after new exercise that causes temporary muscle cell damage (Tarantino, 2025). Osmosis
Key idea: When your body doesn’t move a joint through its normal range often enough, the muscles and tissues around it can start to feel restricted. That restriction can make normal tasks think harder than they should.
Do Muscles Actually “Shorten” If You Don’t Stretch?
You’ll hear people say, “If you don’t stretch, your muscles will shorten.” That statement is partly true, but it needs context.
Adidas explains that the word “shorten” can be misleading: for most people, it feels like shortening because mobility and flexibility decrease when stretching is skipped, even if the muscle is not literally shrinking in everyday life (Adidas, 2025). adidas
Harvard Health adds an important clarification: without regular stretching, muscles can become tight, and when you need them for activity, they may not extend fully, increasing the risk of joint pain, strains, and muscle damage (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024). Harvard Health
So the practical takeaway is simple:
Skipping stretching often leads to less mobility and flexibility
Tight muscles can reduce how far joints can move
Tight muscles can make injuries more likely when you suddenly “ask more” of your body
How Tight Muscles Reduce Range of Motion
Range of motion (ROM) is the movement around a joint or body part. When ROM is limited, you can’t move that body part through its usual, healthy motion (Jimenez, n.d.-b). El Paso Back Clinic® • 915-850-0900
El Paso Back Clinic explains how tightness—especially in areas like the hips and ankles—can reduce ROM and limit potential for form and strength. When posture and form are compromised, pain and injury risk can rise (Jimenez, n.d.-b). El Paso Back Clinic® • 915-850-0900
What limited ROM can look like in real life
You might notice:
You can’t turn your head fully when driving
You bend from your lower back instead of your hips
You can’t squat without your heels lifting
Your shoulders feel “pinched” when reaching into a cabinet
Your hamstrings feel tight when you try to walk fast
And here’s the tricky part: your body still gets the job done—just with more strain.
Why Stiffness Can Raise Injury Risk
Harvard Health explains that tight muscles may be more easily damaged when they are suddenly stretched during strenuous activity (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024). Harvard Health
That’s why injuries often show up in moments like:
A weekend game after sitting all week
A sudden sprint to catch something
Lifting a heavy box with “cold” hips and hamstrings
A long drive followed by quick unloading or bending
Mayo Clinic also notes that better flexibility can help joints move through full ROM and may decrease injury risk, while emphasizing that stretching must be done correctly (Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.). Mayo Clinic
Common Reasons People Stop Stretching (And How to Fix Them)
Most people don’t skip stretching because they don’t care. They skip it because it feels confusing, time-consuming, or uncomfortable.
Common barriers
“I don’t have time.”
“Stretching hurts.”
“I’m not flexible, so it doesn’t work for me.”
“I only need stretching if I work out.”
Better, more realistic reframes
You only need 5–10 minutes a few times a week to start seeing benefits (Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.). Mayo Clinic
Stretching should create tension, not pain (Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.). Mayo Clinic
Flexibility improves over weeks to months, not days (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024). Harvard Health
Stretching supports everyday movement, not just workouts (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024). Harvard Health
Safe Stretching Basics (So You Don’t Make Things Worse)
This matters: stretching done poorly can backfire.
Mayo Clinic recommends:
Don’t stretch cold muscles—warm up 5–10 minutes first
Don’t bounce
Hold stretches about 30 seconds (longer for problem areas)
Don’t stretch into pain (Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.). Mayo Clinic
The American Heart Association adds:
Stretch when muscles are warm
Hold 10–30 seconds and repeat 3–5 times
Stretch slowly and smoothly (American Heart Association, 2024). www.heart.org
Quick safety checklist
Warm up first (easy walk, gentle movement)
Move slowly
Breathe
No bouncing
Stop if you feel sharp pain, numbness, or joint pain
A Simple 10-Minute Daily Stretch Routine for Real Life
This is designed for normal adults: busy schedules, stiff hips, tight neck, and lots of sitting.
Step 1: Warm up (1–2 minutes)
Walk around the house
March in place
Gentle arm circles
Step 2: Do these 6 stretches (about 8 minutes total)
1) Hip flexor stretch (1 minute each side) Helps if you sit a lot and feel tight in the front of your hips.
2) Hamstring stretch (1 minute each side) Harvard points out that tight hamstrings from sitting can limit how well you extend your leg and support walking mechanics (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024). Harvard Health
3) Calf stretch (45 seconds each side) Helpful for ankle mobility, walking, and squatting mechanics.
4) Chest opener (45 seconds) Stand in a doorway and gently open the chest to reduce rounded-shoulder posture.
5) Upper back reach (45 seconds) Hug yourself and gently pull your shoulder blades apart.
6) Neck side stretch (30 seconds each side) Gentle only—never crank your neck.
Step 3: Add “micro-mobility” during your day (optional but powerful)
Stand up every hour for 30–60 seconds
Do 5 bodyweight squats to a chair
Do 10 shoulder rolls
Take a 3-minute walk after meals
These small habits often matter as much as one long stretch session.
Stretching After Workouts: What You Should Know
Adidas explains the difference clearly:
Dynamic movement is best before workouts (prepares your body)
Static stretching is typically better after workouts, when you’re warm (Adidas, 2025). adidas
Mayo Clinic also cautions that stretching cold muscles can increase injury risk and notes that some intense activities may not benefit from heavy stretching right before performance (Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.). Mayo Clinic
A balanced approach
Before exercise: warm up + dynamic mobility
After exercise: gentle static stretching + breathing
On rest days: short, consistent flexibility routine
When Stiffness Is a Sign You Need More Than Stretching
Sometimes the problem is not just “tight muscles.” You may have:
Joint restrictions that block movement
Spine or pelvis alignment issues affecting mechanics
Inflammation around a joint
Pain patterns that keep muscles “guarded”
A nerve-related problem (numbness, tingling, weakness)
El Paso Back Clinic notes that limited ROM in areas like the back, neck, or shoulders can be linked to the body being out of natural alignment, repetitive motions, or wear and tear (Jimenez, n.d.-b). El Paso Back Clinic® • 915-850-0900
If stretching doesn’t help—or makes symptoms worse—it’s smart to get assessed.
The El Paso Back Clinic Approach: Integrative Chiropractic + Nurse Practitioner Support
This is where integrative care can be a game-changer: you’re not only “stretching more,” you’re also finding out why you’re tight and building a plan that fits your body.
What chiropractic care can add
El Paso Back Clinic describes a “restoration” approach that may include:
Soft tissue work (to reduce tightness and improve circulation)
Adjustments (to address misalignments and support mobility)
Nurse practitioners are advanced practice clinicians who assess, diagnose, and treat illnesses and injuries and support chronic condition management (American Nurses Association, n.d.). ANA Healthgrades also describes NPs performing screenings and physical exams, ordering lab work, documenting care, and diagnosing certain conditions (Prosser, 2025). Healthgrades Resources
Why the combo helps stiffness and pain
Together, a chiropractor + NP team can:
Screen for red flags (nerve symptoms, systemic issues)
Decide when imaging or labs are appropriate
Build a movement plan that matches your pain level
Address sleep, stress, inflammation, and recovery habits
Track progress using measurable goals (like ROM improvements)
Dr. Jimenez’s Mobility & Flexibility materials emphasize that “great mobility” supports functional movement without ROM restrictions and that people who don’t stretch often may experience stiffened muscles that reduce effective movement (Jimenez, n.d.-a). El Paso Back Clinic® • 915-850-0900
Red Flags: When to Stop Stretching and Get Checked
Call a clinician promptly if you have:
Numbness, tingling, or weakness in an arm/leg
Loss of balance, clumsiness, or trouble walking
Severe pain that doesn’t improve
Pain after trauma (car accident, fall, sports collision)
Fever, unexplained swelling, or sudden intense stiffness
Muscle stiffness can sometimes be related to underlying medical issues, and diagnosis may require an exam and follow-up testing, depending on the cause (Tarantino, 2025). Osmosis
The Bottom Line
If you don’t stretch regularly, it’s common to feel tighter and less mobile over time. That stiffness can reduce range of motion, make daily tasks harder, and increase your risk of injury when you suddenly push your body. The good news is that you don’t need extreme flexibility. You need consistent, safe mobility work—and when required, professional support to restore movement and reduce pain.
A practical plan usually includes:
Small daily stretching habits
Better warm-ups and recovery routines
Strength + mobility (not stretching alone)
Integrative evaluation when pain, ROM loss, or repeated flare-ups keep returning
Fitness vs. Wellness: How Exercise and Chiropractic Care Can Boost Your Overall Health
Strong woman lifts a barbell during a CrossFit workout
Many people talk about being fit or feeling well, but what do these terms really mean? Fitness is about your body’s ability to do physical tasks. It includes things like strength, endurance, and how well you can move. For example, if you can run a mile without getting too tired or lift heavy boxes, that’s fitness in action. Wellness, on the other hand, is bigger. It covers your whole health, including your body, mind, emotions, and even how you get along with others. It’s about feeling good in all parts of life, not just the physical side. Exercise is the key link between the two. When you move your body regularly, it builds strength for fitness and also helps your mind stay calm and your emotions balanced for wellness.
Think of fitness as the engine that powers your daily activities. Without it, simple things like walking up stairs or playing a game could feel difficult. Wellness is like a full car – it needs a good engine, fuel, maintenance, and a smooth ride to get you where you want to go. Exercise keeps everything running well. In this article, we’ll explore these ideas, examine how chiropractic care fits in, and see why combining them all leads to better health.
What Is Fitness?
Fitness focuses on the physical side of health. It’s your body’s capacity to handle activities without getting worn out or hurt. This includes strength, which helps you lift and carry things, and endurance, which lets you keep going for longer periods. Fitness also covers flexibility, balance, and how your heart and lungs work during movement.
Here are some key parts of fitness:
Cardio endurance: This is how well your heart and lungs supply oxygen during activities like running or biking. It helps you last longer without feeling out of breath.
Muscular strength: Built through things like weightlifting, it makes muscles stronger for tasks like pushing or pulling.
Flexibility: Stretching exercises improve the range of motion in your joints, reducing the risk of pulls or strains.
Body composition: The mix of fat and muscle in your body, which exercise can help balance for better health.
People often measure fitness by how they perform in sports or daily chores. For instance, if you can do push-ups or walk briskly for 30 minutes, you’re building fitness. Regular activities like swimming or yoga can improve these areas and lower the risk of conditions like heart disease or diabetes. But fitness alone isn’t enough for total health – that’s where wellness comes in.
What Is Wellness?
Wellness is a wider idea than fitness. It’s about achieving optimal health across all areas of life. While fitness is mostly physical, wellness includes mental, emotional, social, and even spiritual parts. It’s like a wheel with many spokes – if one is weak, the whole thing wobbles.
Key areas of wellness include:
Physical wellness: This overlaps with fitness and involves eating well, sleeping enough, and staying active to keep your body strong.
Mental wellness: Keeping your mind sharp through learning, stress management, and positive thinking.
Emotional wellness: Handling feelings like anger or sadness in healthy ways, often through speaking with friends or journaling.
Social wellness: Building positive relationships and feeling connected to others.
Other areas: like financial stability or environmental awareness, affect how you feel overall.
Wellness is a daily practice, not a one-time goal. It means making choices that help you thrive, not just survive. For example, someone might be fit from gym workouts but lack wellness if they’re stressed or lonely. True wellness balances everything for a happier life.
How Exercise Connects Fitness and Wellness
Exercise is the bridge between fitness and wellness. It’s any movement that gets your body working, like walking, dancing, or lifting weights. For fitness, exercise builds muscle, boosts heart health, and improves endurance. But it also touches wellness by reducing stress, lifting mood, and helping you sleep better.
Benefits of exercise for fitness:
Burns calories to control weight.
Strengthens bones and muscles to prevent injuries.
Improves heart function to lower disease risks.
Benefits for wellness:
Releases feel-good chemicals in the brain to fight depression and anxiety.
Boosts energy for daily tasks and social activities.
Enhances sleep, which supports mental clarity and emotional balance.
Types of exercise include aerobic (like running for heart health), strength training (like weights for muscle), and flexibility work (like yoga for movement). Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, plus strength work twice a week. Even small steps, like a daily walk, can make a big difference. Exercise doesn’t just make you stronger; it helps you feel more balanced overall.
The Role of Chiropractic Care in Fitness and Wellness
Chiropractic care is a natural way to support both fitness and wellness. It focuses on aligning your spine and improving the function of your nerves. This can ease pain, boost movement, and help your body heal itself. Chiropractors use adjustments – gentle pushes on the spine – to fix misalignments that cause issues like back pain or headaches.
How chiropractic helps fitness:
Improves joint mobility for better exercise performance.
Reduces injury risk by maintaining balance.
Speeds up recovery after workouts or strains.
For wellness, it goes deeper:
Lowers stress by relaxing tight muscles.
Boosts immune function through better nerve flow.
Supports overall health by addressing root causes rather than just symptoms.
Dr. Alexander Jimenez, a chiropractor and nurse practitioner, has observed in his practice that combining chiropractic with lifestyle changes leads to better outcomes. He notes that patients with chronic pain often improve faster when adjustments are paired with exercise and nutrition. His work shows how this approach prevents problems and promotes long-term wellness.
Integrating Chiropractic Care with Exercise for Better Results
When you mix chiropractic care with exercise, the results are even stronger. Chiropractic provides a solid base by aligning your body, while exercise builds on that with strength and heart health. This team-up reduces injury chances, improves how you move, and supports lasting wellness.
Steps to integrate them:
Start with a chiropractic check-up to fix any alignments.
Get personalized exercise tips, like stretches for flexibility or core work for stability.
Combine with other habits, such as healthy nutrition and stress relief.
Examples of exercises chiropractors recommend:
Core strengthening, like planks, supports the spine.
Stretches for the hips and back to ease tension.
Low-impact activities like swimming for overall fitness without strain.
Dr. Jimenez’s clinical work supports this. He uses integrative methods, like spinal decompression and tailored workouts, to help patients recover from injuries and stay active. His observations show that this holistic path leads to less pain, more energy, and a better quality of life.
In sports or daily life, this combo helps you perform better and feel great. For instance, athletes use chiropractic to stay aligned during training, while everyday people use it to handle desk jobs without back issues. It’s about prevention – catching problems early so you can keep moving.
Why This Matters for Long-Term Health
Focusing on fitness and wellness through exercise and chiropractic isn’t just for now; it’s for the future. Regular movement and care can prevent chronic issues like arthritis or heart problems. It also makes life more enjoyable, with more energy for hobbies and time with loved ones.
Challenges might include starting slow if you’re new, but small changes add up. Consult pros like chiropractors for safe plans. Remember, wellness is a journey – keep balancing all parts for the best results.
In summary, fitness builds your physical power, wellness covers your whole self, and exercise ties them together. Adding chiropractic care creates a strong foundation for health. As Dr. Jimenez’s practice shows, this integrated way leads to real improvements in how people feel and function.
Sport-Specific Training & Chiropractic in Back Injury Recovery
Introduction
Back injuries—whether from sports, auto accidents, work accidents, or daily strain—present a unique challenge. The spine supports nearly every movement, and when it’s compromised, strength, mobility, and balance suffer. For patients at a clinic offering advanced back care (like El Paso Back Clinic), the integration of sport-specific training with chiropractic and integrative modalities offers a powerful path toward recovery and long-term resilience.
Sport-specific training—customized drills that focus on strength, agility, and coordination—can rebuild function in a way that general rehabilitation often cannot. Paired with structural alignment, nerve health, soft tissue healing, and holistic support, this combination helps patients achieve more than just pain relief. They regain strength, flexibility, and control.
In this article, we will:
Define sport-specific training and its essential components
Show how it applies in a back-injury or spinal-rehab setting
Explain how chiropractic and integrative care complement and enhance outcomes
Illustrate how a multidisciplinary spinal/rehab clinic (such as El Paso Back Clinic) can deploy these strategies for complex cases
What Is Sport-Specific Training?
Sport-specific training consists of exercises and drills designed to mimic or approximate the demands of a particular sport or movement pattern. Rather than simply engaging in general strength training or cardio, the athlete (or rehab patient) practices movements that simulate the activities they actually perform in their sport (or daily life). (Simplifaster, 2023)
For example:
A soccer player might do cone drills, direction changes, and sprint cuts.
A basketball player might do jump-rebound drills, lateral slides, and shot motion under fatigue.
A person recovering from a back injury who intends to return to recreational tennis may benefit from training rotational core stability, hip control, and deceleration drills.
The principle is to condition not just muscles, but neuromuscular coordination, timing, balance, and movement patterns under stress. (Island Sports PT, 2024)
Core Elements of Sport-Specific Training
Strength & Conditioning Focused strength work for sports-relevant muscles. For instance, rotational core strength, hip extensors, and glutes are often critical, especially when the spine is recovering from injury. (Kinetics Performance, 2024)
Power/Explosive Work Plyometric movements, medicine-ball throws, jump training. These train fast-twitch fibers and increase force production. (Keiser, 2024; Physio Jersey, 2024)
Speed, Agility & Quickness Drills with cones, agility ladders, reaction tasks, shuttle runs—all aimed at improving the ability to change direction and speed efficiently. (Sensory Stepping Stones, 2024; Rockstar Academy, 2024)
Endurance/Conditioning Many sports or daily activities require sustained effort. Interval training, circuits, or sport-like conditioning help build stamina. (Adrenaline SPT, 2024)
Skill/Technical Drills Repetition of sport-specific moves—shooting in basketball, footwork in soccer, and throwing motion in baseball. (Island Sports PT, 2024)
Balance, Coordination & Core Stability Single-leg work, balance boards, unstable surfaces, control drills—all to enhance proprioception and stability (TRX Training, 2024).
Adapting Sport-Specific Training in Back Injury/Spinal Rehab
When someone has a back injury, it is not advisable to immediately engage in high-intensity sports drills. The approach must be staged, cautious, and progress gradually. Sport-specific training in this context helps by:
Rebuilding movement patterns in a safe, graduated way
Restoring control under load so that the spine can handle complex tasks
Bridging rehabilitation and performance so patients return stronger
Preventing reinjury by conditioning neuromuscular systems for the true demands of sport
Direction change, agility, weighted movement pattern mimicry
Maintain spinal control, avoid jerky motion
Performance/Return
Full sport drills, high intensity
Cutting, jumping, sprinting, full-range sport tasks
Ensure readiness, maintain recovery support
By layering work progressively, the spine adapts, and the patient regains confidence in movement.
Why Combine Chiropractic & Integrative Care?
Sport-specific training alone is powerful—but when combined with structural and holistic care, the results are far more robust. Particularly for back injuries, the spine, nerves, musculature, and soft tissues must all work in harmony.
1. Structural & Joint Alignment
Spinal misalignments or restricted joints (“subluxations” or hypomobilities) can alter loading patterns, leading to compensations that result in pain or injury. Chiropractic adjustments and mobilizations restore joint mechanics, which help patterns in training translate cleanly into movement (El Paso Back Clinic focus) (ElPasoBackClinic.com, 2024).
2. Soft Tissue Healing & Function
After injury, muscles, ligaments, and fascia often stiffen, scar, or become restricted. Therapies such as myofascial release, instrument-assisted soft tissue techniques, or therapeutic massage break up adhesions, improve circulation, and restore elasticity. This allows better movement and reduces the risk of overuse.
3. Nervous System & Proprioception
The spine is intimately linked to the nervous system. When spinal alignment and joint function are optimal, nerve signals travel more freely, which improves balance, reaction time, coordination, and fine motor control. Chiropractic care supports this neural integrity.
4. Pain Modulation & Inflammation
Manual therapies, acupuncture, electrotherapy, or low-level laser may reduce local inflammation, modulate pain, and speed recovery—allowing patients to train more consistently.
5. Systemic & Functional Health
Recovery is not just local—nutrition, hormonal balance, sleep, metabolic health, and inflammation status all impact tissue healing. Integrative methods (functional medicine, nutritional support, lifestyle modification) optimize these systemic factors, enabling better regeneration.
How El Paso Back Clinic Can Implement This Model
El Paso Back Clinic, as stated in its mission, provides care for back injuries, sports wellness, rehabilitative protocols, chiropractic services, functional medicine, acupuncture, and sports rehabilitation (ElPasoBackClinic.com, 2024). This makes it well-positioned to deploy a combined training and integrative care approach.
Here is how a clinic like this can operationalize the model:
Diagnostic & Assessment Phase
Use advanced imaging, postural and movement analysis, orthopedic tests, and functional assessments
Identify spinal misalignments, joint restrictions, muscular imbalances, and neuromuscular deficits
Use lab panels or metabolic analysis to pick up systemic inhibitors of healing (e.g., inflammation, nutritional deficiencies)
Treatment & Structural Rehabilitation
Begin with chiropractic adjustments and soft tissue work to restore alignment
Address compensatory tight muscles and weak stabilizers
Start with gentle neuromuscular re-education, core work, and movement foundations
Integrative Support
Provide nutritional counseling, anti-inflammatory protocols, and supplementation as needed
Use adjunctive therapies (acupuncture, electrotherapy, cold laser) to accelerate tissue healing
When foundational stability is sufficient, introduce sport-specific drills adapted to the patient’s goals
Progress through staged phases (as shown above)
Monitor compensation, form, pain response, and neuromuscular control
Maintenance & Prevention
Even after returning to activity, periodic check-ups, structural tuning sessions, and movement refreshers help prevent recurrence
Continued integrative support helps sustain joint health, muscular balance, and systemic resilience
Case Example (Hypothetical)
Patient Profile: A 28-year-old recreational soccer player suffered a lumbar disc strain while pivoting mid-game. After several weeks of pain control and basic rehab, she presents to the clinic wanting to return stronger than before.
Protocol:
Assessment: MRI, posture/gait/movement analysis. Detect slight rotational asymmetry in the pelvis and tight hamstrings.
Structural phase: Chiropractic adjustments to lumbar and pelvis, soft tissue work along paraspinals and hamstrings, nerve glides.
Intermediate loading: Hip bridges, split squats, controlled rotational medicine-ball passes
Sport transfer drills: Side shuffles, agility ladder, simple cuts, controlled acceleration
Full application: Simulated soccer drills, jumping, multi-directional change, in-field practice
Maintenance: Structural “tune-up” visits, integrative support, movement habit education
Over months, the patient regains performance while minimizing flare-ups.
Benefits & Outcomes
By integrating sport-specific training and chiropractic/integrative care in a back-focused clinic, patients can expect:
Faster, more complete recovery
Better movement control under stress
Reduced recurrence of back pain or injury
Enhanced performance in sport or daily tasks
A more holistic, systemic healing process
In El Paso Back Clinic’s model, this approach strengthens the spine and the entire neuromuscular system, rather than just patching symptoms.
Conclusion
Back injuries challenge the body’s core systems. Recovery is not just about stopping pain—it’s about restoring function, control, and resilience. Sport-specific training gives patients a roadmap to rebuild movement in a meaningful way. Chiropractic and integrative care corrects structure, optimizes nerve function, treats soft tissue, and supports systemic healing.
At a clinic like El Paso Back Clinic, which already embraces chiropractic, functional medicine, rehabilitative services, and sports wellness, the synergy of these approaches is a natural fit. By walking patients through assessment, structural restoration, staged sport-specific training, and integrative support, the clinic can help them not only return from injury—but come back stronger, more balanced, and more resilient.
Preventing Sports & Back Injuries: The El Paso Back Clinic Approach
Athletes, weekend warriors, and active individuals often push their bodies to the limit. Without smart preparation and care, minor misalignments or imbalances can lead to back pain, sprains, or more serious injuries. At El Paso Back Clinic, our mission is to prevent injuries before they occur, maintain spine health, and support long-term performance and wellness.
In this article, you’ll learn how a multifaceted strategy—involving movement, conditioning, chiropractic, integrative therapies, and recovery—can reduce injury risk. We’ll also show how El Paso Back Clinic applies these principles in real-world care.
Why Back & Sports Injuries Occur
Biomechanical Stress & Misalignment
Even small spinal misalignments or joint restrictions can change movement mechanics. Over time, stresses that should spread evenly across tissues become concentrated on certain discs, muscles, or ligaments, making them vulnerable (Mount Sinai, n.d.; Emery & Meeuwisse, 2008).
Overuse and Repetition
Playing the same sport repeatedly without variation often leads to overuse injuries—microtears that accumulate faster than the body can heal. Many youth and amateur athletes suffer from this because they skip rest phases (Nationwide Children’s, n.d.; CHOP, n.d.).
Fatigue, Poor Technique, and Weakness
When muscles fatigue, the muscle fibers break down. A runner might collapse inward at the knee, or a basketball player might land with improper form. These movement faults under fatigue cause injury (Walker Physical Therapy, n.d.; PWR Physio, n.d.).
Insufficient Recovery
Without proper rest, nutrition, and tissue repair, microdamage lingers. Eventually, the body’s threshold is crossed, and a dramatic injury occurs.
Core Prevention Pillars
At El Paso Back Clinic, we emphasize these foundational pillars:
1. Dynamic Warm-Up & Mobility Routines
Warm-ups aren’t just stretching—they’re activation drills, joint movements, and controlled progressions that prepare muscles and joints. Cooling down, stretching, and mobility work afterward help flush byproducts and reduce stiffness (First Physio Plus, n.d.; Garden State Pain, n.d.).
2. Technique Monitoring and Movement Quality
We routinely analyze movement—such as running gait, jumping, squatting, and twisting—to identify harmful patterns. By coaching technique and correcting faults, we reduce stress on the back and joints (GPOA, n.d.; Walker Physical Therapy, n.d.).
3. Balanced Strength, Stability & Flexibility
Having a strong core, glutes, and stabilizers protects the lumbar spine. We design programs that incorporate strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance to create a well-rounded system (PWR Physio, n.d.; Walker Physical Therapy, n.d.).
4. Strategic Rest and Load Management
We guide patients and athletes in periodization, which involves alternating high and low loads, scheduling rest days, and monitoring fatigue to prevent overtraining (Bayfront Health, n.d.; Fick PT & Performance, n.d.).
5. Nutrition, Hydration & Recovery Support
Good hydration and nutrients (protein, vitamins, minerals) are essential for tissue repair. A poor diet hinders recovery and increases the risk of injury (LI Spine Med, 2024).
The Role of Chiropractic & Back Clinic Services
El Paso Back Clinic (under Dr. Jimenez) stands out by combining back/spine care with integrative therapies. Here’s how chiropractic and back-clinic services help prevent injuries:
Spinal Alignment & Joint Function
Chiropractic adjustments and spinal mobilizations help maintain vertebral alignment, ease restrictions, and ensure joints move properly. This reduces compensatory stress on surrounding tissues (Dallas Accident & Injury Rehab, n.d.; Evolved Health Chiropractic, n.d.).
Posture, Movement Pattern Correction & Neuromuscular Feedback
We assess posture and movement patterns across the kinetic chain. Correcting compensations (e.g., pelvic tilt, scoliosis curves) helps protect the spine during sport demands (Dallas Accident & Injury Rehab, n.d.; Evolved Health Chiropractic, n.d.).
Proper nerve input from spinal segments supports muscle activation and timing. By improving the communication between the spine and joints and the surrounding muscles, we help the body respond more effectively under stress (Fremont Chiropractic, n.d.; Young Chiropractic, n.d.).
Versatile Soft-Tissue & Myofascial Work
Muscles, fascia, and connective tissues often tighten, pulling on the spine. Techniques, such as soft-tissue work, instrument-assisted release, and myofascial release, help reduce tension and restore balance (Garmon Chiropractic, n.d.).
Monitoring & Maintenance Care
We often schedule preventive “maintenance” visits. Even when patients feel fine, small dysfunctions can arise. Regular check-ins allow us to catch them early—before they develop into problems.
Integrative Therapies & Supportive Methods
To maximize prevention, El Paso Back Clinic layers on integrative and complementary care:
Physical Therapy & Exercise Therapy
Sometimes muscles need retraining. Our clinic can collaborate with or provide therapeutic exercise programs that focus on weakness, imbalance, mobility deficits, and sport-specific drills (Current Physical Therapy, 2025).
Massage, Trigger Point Work & Soft-Tissue Modulation
Massage and trigger point therapy enhance circulation, alleviate adhesions, and promote muscular recovery. These help tissues remain supple and resilient (Primary Health & Wellness, n.d.).
Acupuncture & Electro-Acupuncture
Using needles or micro-current stimulation, we stimulate healing, reduce inflammation, and modulate pain. These methods pair well with structural work (clinic’s integrative model).
Kinesio Taping & Supportive Bracing
Taping techniques provide gentle support, reduce stress on soft tissues, and enhance proprioception during dynamic phases of sports (Premier Injury Clinics of DFW, n.d.).
Nutritional & Functional Medicine Guidance
As part of Dr. Jimenez’s broader practice, we assess systemic contributors—such as nutrition, inflammation, and hormonal balance—to optimize the body’s healing environment.
Putting It Together: How El Paso Back Clinic Builds a Preventive Protocol
Here’s how our clinic might structure a prevention plan for an athlete or active individual:
Watch performance metrics, fatigue trends, and pain signals
Adjust load or interventions accordingly
Over time, this layered approach builds resilience—spines become more stable, tissues more durable, and neuromuscular control more refined.
Why Choose El Paso Back Clinic
Dual Expertise for Spine & Whole-Body Health
At El Paso Back Clinic, Dr. Jimenez offers both advanced back-centric care and integrative medicine. The clinic’s services extend beyond symptom relief to encompass systemic wellness, functional movement, and injury prevention (El Paso Back Clinic, n.d.).
Local Focus, Tailored to El Paso Athletes
We are familiar with the terrain, climate, demands, and sports culture in El Paso. Our protocols are adapted to local conditions—heat, elevation, sports trends—and we serve individuals, teams, schools, and sports clubs.
Evidence-Informed, Patient-Centered Approach
Our protocols integrate best practices from sports medicine, chiropractic research, and functional health models. We emphasize care plans unique to each patient—not cookie-cutter templates.
Support for Injury, Recovery & Prevention
Whether someone has already been injured or is simply seeking preventive care, our clinic handles a spectrum: back pain, sports injuries, work injuries, and even personal injury/auto trauma.
Summary & Next Steps
Preventing back and sports injuries is not about a single fix. It’s about a synergistic strategy: warm-ups, monitoring technique, balanced conditioning, spinal care, integrative therapies, and smart recovery. El Paso Back Clinic weaves these together in a real-world, locally tuned model.
If you are an athlete or an active person looking to protect your spine and enhance your performance, consider a preventive evaluation. Contact us to begin your tailored, resilience-building program.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Pioneering Integrative Care as a Chiropractor and Nurse Practitioner
Dr. Alex Jimenez, a licensed chiropractor and board-certified nurse practitioner based in El Paso, Texas, brings over 25 years of expertise to his Injury Medical & Chiropractic Clinic practice. His dual licensure provides unique insights into the etiologies, pathogenesis, and treatment of complex clinical conditions, enabling him to deliver patient-centered, integrative care that bridges physical medicine, functional medicine, and advanced diagnostics. Combining chiropractic expertise with nurse practitioner-driven medical management, Dr. Jimenez offers comprehensive treatment protocols tailored to acute and chronic conditions, promoting metabolic resilience, longevity, and whole-person wellness.
Dual Expertise: Chiropractic and Nurse Practitioner Roles
Dr. Jimenez’s practice stands out due to his ability to integrate the biomechanical focus of chiropractic care with a nurse practitioner’s diagnostic and therapeutic scope. As a chiropractor, he specializes in restoring musculoskeletal function, particularly after trauma, neck, back, spine, and soft tissue injuries. His chiropractic interventions emphasize non-invasive techniques, such as spinal decompression, manual adjustments, and functional rehabilitation, to alleviate pain and enhance mobility.
As a board-certified nurse practitioner, Dr. Jimenez employs evidence-based medicine to address systemic and metabolic dysfunctions. His expertise extends to managing chronic degenerative disorders, hormonal imbalances, weight loss, sexual health, and pain syndromes. This dual perspective allows him to identify underlying disease causes, from biomechanical misalignments to physiological imbalances, and design treatment regimens that address symptoms and root causes.
The synergy of these roles enables Dr. Jimenez to offer a holistic approach that is particularly effective for complex conditions such as sciatica, fibromyalgia, disc herniation, spondylolisthesis, and chronic neck or back pain. His integrative protocols combine functional medicine assessments, lifestyle interventions, and advanced diagnostics to achieve homeostasis and physiological balance.
Treatment Protocols: Evidence-Based and Patient-Centered
Drawing from integrative protocols outlined on his website, www.chiromed.com, Dr. Jimenez employs a multidisciplinary approach to patient care. His treatment plans are grounded in evidence-based medicine, functional medicine, and lifestyle wellness strategies, tailored to each patient’s unique health profile, lifestyle, and medical history. Below are key components of his integrative care model:
1. Chiropractic Care and Functional Rehabilitation
Spinal Decompression: Non-surgical decompression therapy is used to relieve pressure on spinal discs, addressing conditions like disc herniation, sciatica, and spinal stenosis. This modality promotes healing by improving blood flow and nutrient delivery to affected areas.
Manual Adjustments: Targeted adjustments correct spinal misalignments, reduce nerve compression, and restore joint mobility. These are particularly effective for whiplash, scoliosis, and poor posture.
Functional Strength Training: Dr. Jimenez designs conditioning programs to enhance recovery and prevent re-injury. These programs are tailored for athletes and individuals seeking optimal performance and incorporate mobility, flexibility, and agility training.
2. Functional Medicine Assessments
Functional medicine tools evaluate metabolic, hormonal, and nutritional status. These assessments identify the root causes of conditions such as fatigue, weight gain, or chronic pain, enabling precise interventions.
Advanced diagnostic protocols, including blood panels and imaging, provide data-driven insights into etiologies and pathogenesis. This allows Dr. Jimenez to address underlying dysfunctions rather than merely masking symptoms.
3. Lifestyle and Nutritional Interventions
Weight Loss and Metabolic Resilience: Dr. Jimenez integrates nutritional counseling and metabolic optimization strategies to support sustainable weight loss and prevent chronic diseases like diabetes or cardiovascular disorders.
Hormone and Sexual Health: Personalized regimens address hormonal imbalances and sexual dysfunction, improving quality of life and overall wellness.
Pain Management: Nutritional and lifestyle modifications complement physical therapies to manage chronic pain syndromes, reducing reliance on pharmaceuticals.
4. Specialized Care for Complex Conditions
Sciatica and Disc Injuries: Dr. Jimenez employs targeted decompression and rehabilitation protocols to alleviate nerve compression and restore function.
Chronic Degenerative Disorders: Conditions like fibromyalgia, arthritis, and spondylolisthesis are managed through integrative plans that combine physical therapy, nutritional support, and metabolic optimization.
Sports and Auto Accident Injuries: Tailored rehabilitation programs address soft tissue damage, shoulder injuries, and whiplash, ensuring rapid recovery and long-term resilience.
5. Advanced Wellness Programs
Dr. Jimenez’s clinic offers comprehensive wellness programs on longevity, skin care, and hair loss. These programs integrate nutritional supplementation, lifestyle coaching, and cutting-edge therapies to promote vitality and aesthetic health.
High-level conditioning programs optimize performance for athletes, incorporating functional strength training and recovery-focused interventions.
Integrative Team and Clinic Highlights
Injury Medical & Chiropractic Clinic is El Paso’s largest mobility, flexibility, and agility center, integrating chiropractors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, nutritionists, and physical performance trainers. The clinic’s multidisciplinary team collaborates to deliver personalized care, ensuring patients achieve measurable health outcomes. Key services include:
Acupuncture: A Complementary therapy to reduce pain and promote relaxation.
Advanced Nutritional Programs: Evidence-based dietary plans to support metabolic health and recovery.
Physical Performance Training: Programs to enhance fitness, prevent injuries, and optimize athletic performance.
The clinic accepts major insurances, including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and First Health, making care accessible to a broad patient base.
Insights from Dual Licensure
Dr. Jimenez’s licensure as both a chiropractor and nurse practitioner provides him with a comprehensive understanding of disease processes and treatment modalities. His chiropractic training equips him to address biomechanical dysfunctions, while his nurse practitioner expertise allows him to manage systemic conditions with a medical lens. This dual perspective enhances his ability to:
Clarify Etiologies: By combining musculoskeletal assessments with metabolic and hormonal evaluations, Dr. Jimenez identifies multifactorial causes of conditions, ensuring targeted interventions.
Understand Pathogenesis: His knowledge of disease progression informs proactive treatment plans that halt or reverse degenerative processes.
Design Appropriate Regimens: Integrating physical, nutritional, and medical therapies, Dr. Jimenez creates synergistic treatment plans that address both symptoms and underlying dysfunctions.
This integrative approach is particularly valuable for patients with chronic or multifactorial conditions, as it addresses the interplay between physical, metabolic, and lifestyle factors.
Patient-Centered Care: In-Person and Online
Dr. Jimenez’s practice emphasizes personalized attention, whether patients visit in person at 11860 Vista Del Sol, Suite 128, El Paso, TX 79936, or engage through telehealth. His functional medicine series, accessible via www.dralexjimenez.com, educates patients on holistic health principles, covering topics from spinal health to metabolic optimization. The website features:
Informative Content: Blog posts, articles, and videos provide insights into chiropractic care, functional medicine, and injury rehabilitation.
Patient Testimonials: Success stories highlight the transformative impact of Dr. Jimenez’s care, showcasing outcomes for conditions like sciatica, sports injuries, and chronic pain.
Appointment Booking: A user-friendly interface allows patients to schedule in-person or online consultations, with clear guidance on what to expect during their first visit.
Commitment to Education and Community Health
Dr. Jimenez is dedicated to empowering patients through education. His website is comprehensive, offering evidence-based information on health conditions, treatment options, and wellness strategies. By fostering health literacy, Dr. Jimenez enables patients to make informed decisions and take charge of their well-being.
His commitment extends to the El Paso community, where he aims to expand access to integrative care. Dr. Jimenez promotes proactive health management and preventive care through workshops, online content, and community outreach.
Conclusion
Dr. Alex Jimenez’s dual expertise as a chiropractor and nurse practitioner positions him as a leader in integrative medicine. His ability to bridge physical medicine with systemic health management allows him to address complex clinical issues with precision and compassion. Dr. Jimenez delivers personalized care that promotes healing, resilience, and longevity by leveraging evidence-based protocols, advanced diagnostics, and lifestyle interventions.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit www.dralexjimenez.com or contact the clinic at +1-915-412-6677.
For individuals experiencing musculoskeletal issues and pain symptoms, can learning about biomechanics and how it applies to movement, physical training, and performance, help in injury treatment and prevention?
Biomechanics
Biomechanics studies all life forms and their mechanical workings. Many think of biomechanics in sports and athletic performance, but biomechanics helps create and improve technologies, equipment, and injury rehabilitation techniques. (Tung-Wu Lu, Chu-Fen Chang 2012) Scientists, sports medicine doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors, and conditioning specialists utilize biomechanics to help develop training protocols and techniques to improve therapy outcomes.
Body Movement
Biomechanics studies the movement of the body, including how muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments work together, especially when movement is not optimal or correct. It is part of the larger field of kinesiology, specifically focusing on motion mechanics and analysis of how all the individual parts of the body work together to make up athletic and normal movements. (José M Vilar et al., 2013) Biomechanics includes:
Structure of bones and muscles.
Movement ability.
Mechanics of blood circulation, renal function, and other functions.
The study of forces and the effects of these forces on the tissues, fluid, or materials used for diagnosis, treatment, or research. (Jose I. Priego-Quesada 2021)
Sports
Sports biomechanics studies motion in exercising, training, and sports, which incorporates physics and the laws of mechanics. For example, the biomechanics of a specific exercise looks at:
Body position.
Movement of the feet, hips, knees, back, shoulders, and arms.
Knowing the correct movement patterns helps make the most of the exercise while preventing injuries, correcting form mistakes, informing training protocols, and increasing positive results. Understanding how the body moves and why it moves the way it does helps medical professionals prevent and treat injuries, alleviate pain symptoms, and improve performance.
Equipment
Biomechanics is used in the development of physical and sports equipment to improve performance. For example, a shoe can be designed for optimal performance for a skateboarder, long-distance runner, or soccer player. Playing surfaces are also studied for this purpose, such as how the surface stiffness of artificial turf affects athletic performance. (Jose I. Priego-Quesada 2021)
Individuals
Biomechanics can analyze an individual’s movements for more effective movement during training and games.
For example, an individual’s running gait or swing can be filmed with recommendations on what to change to improve.
Injuries
The science studies the causes, treatment, and prevention of neuromusculoskeletal injuries.
The research can analyze the forces that cause injuries and provide information for medical professionals on how to reduce the risk of injury.
Training
Biomechanics studies sports techniques and training systems to develop ways to improve efficiency.
This can include research on positioning, release, follow-through, etc.
It can analyze and help design new training techniques based on the mechanical demands of the sport, aimed at resulting in better performance.
For example, muscle activation is measured in cycling using electromyography and kinematics, which helps researchers analyze factors like posture, components, or exercise intensity that affect activation. (Jose I. Priego-Quesada 2021)
Motions
In biomechanics, the body’s motions are referred to from anatomical positioning:
Standing upright, with the gaze straight ahead
Arms at the sides
Palms facing forward
Feet spaced slightly apart, toes forward.
The three anatomical planes include:
Sagittal – median – Dividing the body into right and left halves is the sagittal/median plane. Flexion and extension occur in the sagittal plane.
Frontal – The frontal plane divides the body into front and back sides but also includes abduction, or moving a limb away from the center, and adduction, or moving a limb towards the center in the frontal plane.
Transverse – horizontal. – The upper and lower parts of the body are divided by the transverse/horizontal plane. Rotating movements occur here. (American Council on Exercise 2017)
Moving the body in all three planes occurs with daily activity. This is why performing exercises in each plane of motion to build strength, function, and stability is recommended.
Tools
Various tools are used to study biomechanics. Studies are usually performed using a device known as electromyography or EMG sensors. Sensors are placed on the skin and measure the amount and degree of muscle fiber activation in certain muscles during test exercises. EMGs can help:
Researchers understand which exercises are more effective than others.
Therapists know whether patients’ muscles are properly operating and functioning.
Dynamometers are another tool that helps measure muscle strength.
They measure the force output generated during muscle contractions to see if the muscles are sufficiently strong.
They are used to measure grip strength, which can be an indicator of overall strength, health, and longevity. (Li Huang et al., 2022)
Beyond Adjustments: Chiropractic and Integrative Healthcare
References
Lu, T. W., & Chang, C. F. (2012). Biomechanics of human movement and its clinical applications. The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences, 28(2 Suppl), S13–S25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kjms.2011.08.004
Vilar, J. M., Miró, F., Rivero, M. A., & Spinella, G. (2013). Biomechanics. BioMed research international, 2013, 271543. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/271543
Priego-Quesada J. I. (2021). Exercise Biomechanics and Physiology. Life (Basel, Switzerland), 11(2), 159. https://doi.org/10.3390/life11020159
American Council on Exercise. Makeba Edwards. (2017). Planes of Motion Explained (Exercise Science, Issue. https://www.acefitness.org/fitness-certifications/ace-answers/exam-preparation-blog/2863/the-planes-of-motion-explained/
Huang, L., Liu, Y., Lin, T., Hou, L., Song, Q., Ge, N., & Yue, J. (2022). Reliability and validity of two hand dynamometers when used by community-dwelling adults aged over 50 years. BMC geriatrics, 22(1), 580. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-03270-6
Dr. Jimenez, D.C., presents how to implement exercise as part of your daily routine. Many factors and lifestyle habits tend to take over our daily lives, and in this 2-part series, we will look at how to implement exercise in a clinical setting. Part 2 will continue the presentation. We mention our patients to certified medical providers that provide available therapy treatments for individuals suffering from chronic conditions associated with Lyme disease. We encourage each patient when it is appropriate by referring them to associated medical providers based on their diagnosis or needs. We understand and accept that education is a marvelous way when asking our providers’ crucial questions at the patient’s request and acknowledgment. Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., uses this information as an educational service. Disclaimer
How To Implement Strategies?
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Today we will discuss how to implement strategies using exercise as a prescription. Remember, just like we talked about how a healthy diet full of nutritious, whole foods can be used as a prescription, we want this science to make it to the patient and create outcomes because otherwise, this is just a bunch of things you know and not something that you know how to put into practice. So we’ve listened; we know that’s what you’re up to, so let’s get started. We will discuss some general aspects of implementing exercise as a prescription and some ideas we use in our practice. And then, of course, share the brilliant ideas with some of the other colleagues who also are figuring out ways to make this work in their practice. The first thing we want to share with you is when you’re approaching a patient with an exercise prescription, assuming the patient’s interested, you should ascertain first how this person is motivated.
Because it always makes sense to ride their motivation wave than to come from the standpoint that this is what I want from you, and this is why you need to do it. The first thing we want to put out there is that you want to ensure that this patient has a reason to want to exercise. So it’s less about a doctor’s orders or a provider’s recommendation, and you want to partner with our patients therapeutically, which means understanding their motivation. So for most people, there are two ways we can reinforce the outcome of a positive implementation of the exercise. First, we want to optimize those factors related to one-on-one communication with our patients. And then, number two, optimize the environment in our practice for success. Okay, so we’ll go over these things in detail now.
It only sometimes works if we give them a prescription and assume they want to do it. So if Joan Rivers was your patient in the past, this might have been her reason for not wanting to exercise, and you must be able to roll with it. Let’s talk about how we can do that. This works with patients, spouses, and children; it is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it is their idea. So, with much bigger goals in mind, Nelson Mandela used the same principle. So we want you to think about who you are working with and who you are partnering with; these are some common functional medicine personas that you may come across, especially if you’re in more of a private practice, whether it’s cash or membership type of practice, you might see this persona in people.
Look For The Personas
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Are these all personas the same? Not necessarily, as people have different reasons to exercise. For example, say you have a chronically ill individual who needs their hands to be held or have individuals who read many fitness magazines following these leaders through a whole lifestyle lens. And the way you engage with each of these personas is based on their goal for exercise. So, the unwell individual may have different goals, challenges, or limitations than the lifestyle lens individual. So make sure you know who you are working with, and if you need more clarification, have a conversation with them to find out.
Let’s say you’ve gotten through that step, and now you’re in the actual conversation of, “Hey, let’s figure out how to get this exercise thing to create benefits in your life.” As you’re having the conversation, you might learn to use some aspects of motivational interviewing. So rolling with resistance, for example, sometimes people say, “Nope, I don’t want to exercise.” So in this example, you might say, “Okay, if you don’t want to exercise at a gym, what other options have you heard of that you might want to consider?” Let’s say that’s how you opened it up and remember that there’s always a way to roll with the resistance, and it’s focused on acknowledging the patient’s input. You’re responding to them by saying, “Okay, fine. You don’t want to work at a gym. I get that,” while expressing empathy. Many individuals have tried to work at a gym, and the machines tend to injure them when used incorrectly, intimidate them, or the equipment is not made for their size structure.
Emphasize With Your Patients
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Many people want to avoid exercising; this is one of the many frustrating things because you feel the equipment needs to be made for you. So notice that you can empathize without judging and then roll with resistance and ensure they understand that you acknowledge their input about the situation. These things are common sense to you. Many of us may not employ these to the fullest potential to motivate our patients to implement exercise as part of their daily routines. The important and obvious thing is to refrain from arguing with your patient. Because all that will go to create for most people is more resistance, so if they say, “Hey, I don’t want to exercise right now,” you can say, “Would you be willing to talk about exercising as a goal in the future?”
And if they say, “Yeah, I need to make it through December,” you can reply with, “Okay, great, let’s have you follow up with me in January. Does that work for you?” So again, avoiding arguing and expressing empathy can put people’s minds at ease and prevent resistance. Another factor that many people often do when it comes to implementing exercise as part of their routine is by developing discrepancy. So sometimes, people say things that conflict with the daily habits that they already follow. So they might say, “Yeah, I want to exercise because I don’t want to take a statin medication, but I don’t have time to exercise.” So this is where you help them understand like you recognize that exercise is one of the key ways to reduce your need for a statin medication. And you get that if we leave this cholesterol the way it is, it will cause more risks for your patients. But at the same time, time is a factor. So you come up with some ideas to benefit your patients and incorporate exercise as a routine.
Develop A Plan
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Remember that you don’t have to solve everything for someone. You could put things out like developing discrepancies for the patient and then let the patient generate solutions that work. So also support self-efficacy. This means that we are not going to change the behavior. The patient is the one who has to change the behavior, and their understanding of their capacity to change their behavior is essential. So whatever you can do to point out the positives, acknowledge whatever they’ve done, even if it’s like, “Hey, it’s wonderful that you bought sneakers. I understand that you didn’t do anything we discussed; life happened. I want to acknowledge you for getting the sneakers because that makes it much easier to start the plan now.” So support self-efficacy whenever possible. Now other more tangible obstacles keep someone from wanting to implement exercise.
Many times it’s either on a mental or physical plane. So here are some solutions that we’ve listed for some of the common mental obstacles we’ve seen. Some people don’t want to be out in public because of concerns about body image. So, they can often go to a special kind of gym if they want to go to a gym, or they can do at-home videos or a personal trainer. Sometimes it gets boring, and they would often moan and groan about it when they are exercising; however, if they are doing fun exercises like dancing or swimming, they will become more motivated and start to change their exercise regime throughout the week. You could do these things despite needing more knowledge or confidence about doing it correctly or on time.
Incorporate A Trainer Or A Health Coach
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: That’s when you might want to bring in a health coach or personal trainer, and with physical obstacles which may be related to a person hasn’t been exercising for a long time and assuming that you’ve cleared them to be able to initiate an exercise plan, maybe there are ways that you can say, “Okay listen, I want you to walk at a low intensity to start with, and you know, over the next month I’d like you to build up two 5,000 steps a day.” This can be a routine set for three days a week, four days a week, or whatever you decide with them and does that work for the patient. That might be one way to work on physical or perceived physical limitations. And then there may be people who have real-time constraints. So the two ways to handle this; is to optimize NEAT or HIIT workouts.
These can be simple activities we do throughout the day, like taking the stairs, parking further away, walking during your lunch break, and having walking appointments and meetings. While watching TV in the evening, you could pump some free weights in your bedroom or your living room. Or if they are more avid exercisers and are open to taking on some HIIT training, that could be a way to get some concentrated cardio and strength training signals in the body. Next, we want to discuss the different scenarios we may have regarding our office structures that support implementing exercise. A common scenario would be that you need a dedicated person in-house to help people implement the exercise prescription.
Use Resources
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Okay, so if you are the provider, health coach, and personal trainer, we want you to consider using resources. You must recognize your boundaries in terms of not being able to be everything to everyone but using your resources effectively. Because we can’t create boundaries that are so tight that you’re not making the type of office that you want, meaning one that incorporates exercise prescriptions. So we’re going to talk about an office workout and exercise grid and how we will work with the local community, personal trainers, and gyms to refer out. And we have trained them to look at our exercise prescription as a guideline even though we are not legally partnered with them. They use these prescriptions as a way of communicating what our goals are. Here are some tools that we use that we are going to share out.
And then, especially in certain times like we’re having right now, we also referred to online resources. So this office workout prescription was created by our team, and we handed out this resource to our patients. We encourage them to find a buddy in their office or home because it is generally more fun. There are data to suggest that when you exercise in a social format, Like participating in team sports, it creates more benefits than doing an individual sport or being at the gym with your AirPods centered only on yourself. So there is this association where having a social element to your exercise regimen increases the benefits. Set up reminders on your phone when you’re at the office to do these hourly five-minute exercises.
And then we also have an online link where our trainers and health coaches demonstrate proper form and modifications for these office workouts. And then, of course, once you give any resource, whether it’s this office workout prescription or any other help, determine with the patient what we want to do about this. We don’t want to give out this prescription and say we hope it works. The main question is that do you want to have accountability? “Hey, can you come back to see us in a month, and let’s see where you are with it?” Or, “Hey, can you consider taking it to this next level after a month if you feel good and come back to see us in two months?” Or, “Hey, once you’re done with this, why don’t we talk in two months to recheck your lipids and know if you made a bump in your LDL particle number so that we can lower the dose of your statin or get you off the statin.”
So we don’t recommend just doing the exercise prescription and leaving it open-ended in terms of follow-up; make it like any other prescription; if you were to put someone on a statin, you would follow up with them. So just like that, you would follow up with someone you prescribe an exercise prescription. Again, it’s really practical. It can be done whether you work in an office, a home office, or you don’t work at an office but work in the house. So it’s in your IFM toolkit. And it has a Monday through Friday, an eight-to-five grid of what you do throughout the week. So it diversifies exercises and makes it, so all your muscle groups are incorporated using the stuff you have in an office or a typical home.
Delegate With Your Patients
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: So it is beautiful for the “I don’t know what to do” people, and it’s a great start for sedentary people. Then you can also consider any technology that is of interest to you. Here are some that our health coach and personal trainer have suggested based on what the patient’s goals are. They may be trying to run a 5k, then find an app that might work for them there. Or they may incorporate yoga to work on their mind-body access or flexibility. You can personalize it to the type of workout if they’re interested in HIIT, yoga, or Pilates. Again, find technologies you enjoy, and check them out yourself. Or you can make a little cheat sheet that can be given out or put as a template. Here’s something important that we want you to consider if you still need to do it.
It’s called delegation. This can not be done alone; this is a group effort to allow the individual to have a team to back them up and help improve their health and wellness journey. Now, this is done in healthcare all over the place. For respiratory therapists, many people will do delegated work from the healthcare provider. So it’s just a transfer of responsibility for the performance of patient care. Now, remember that it’s still done under the provider’s responsibility. You should consider that different states and insurance contracts may have little nuances on how they would want you to do delegation. Still, we know habits have changed, and we need help to keep up with them to meet the requirement.
So how would we delegate a patient? We would go through a thorough examination, like taking their BMIS/BIAs with the Inbody Machine, and then go through a series of functional medicine tests to determine what issues or overlapping risk profiles are affecting them. Then the doctor and their associated medical providers will develop a personalized treatment plan for that patient that incorporates a healthy diet and exercise regime for them to follow.
Conclusion
Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Making these small changes is beneficial in the long haul regarding a person’s health and wellness journey. It may take a while to get accustomed to the routine, and sometimes it can be frustrating. However, finding what works and doesn’t work with the patient and making these changes can result in a better solution that benefits the person.
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