Condition
Chiropractor for Stiffness & Restricted Movement
Stiffness gets treated as a minor complaint until it stops you doing something. Getting overhead, squatting to the floor, turning to reverse the car, swinging a club — when range disappears, everything else works harder to make up for it.
Why am I so stiff?
Stiffness usually comes from one of three things: restriction at the joint itself, protective muscle tension, or not having the strength to control the available range. Assessment at Northern Beaches Chiropractic in Currambine identifies which applies, because each needs a different approach.
What commonly contributes to it
People commonly visit us for assessment and management of mobility restrictions. These are the factors that turn up most often — your own picture is worked out in the assessment.
- Joint restriction, including age-related change through the hips and spine
- Protective muscle guarding after an injury or a painful episode
- Long periods in a narrow range of positions
- Lack of strength at end range, so the body limits access to it
- Post-immobilisation stiffness after a brace, cast or surgery
Three reasons a joint will not move
Joint restriction responds to hands-on work and loaded end-range movement. Protective tension responds to reducing threat and reintroducing the movement gradually. A control problem responds to strength work, not stretching.
Same symptom, three different plans. Which is why an assessment beats a generic mobility routine off the internet.
Keeping the range you gain
Range gained passively and never used tends to be gone within days. Range that gets loaded — even lightly — tends to stay.
Take-home work is therefore active and short. Two or three drills done most days will beat a twenty-minute routine you abandon in a fortnight.
Frequently asked questions
Is stiffness just part of getting older?
Some change in range with age is normal, but a marked loss of movement is not inevitable and usually reflects how much range gets used rather than age alone. Most people regain useful range with consistent work.
Why does stretching not help?
Because stretching only addresses one of the three possible limiters. If the restriction is at the joint, or if you lack the strength to control end range, stretching will not change much no matter how consistent you are.
How long before I notice a change?
Range often improves within a session. Holding it takes several weeks of regular loaded work, since that is what tells the body the range is worth keeping.
Related pages
Last reviewed by Dr Corey Williams, Chiropractor. This page is general information, not individual health advice.
Get your mobility restrictions assessed
Book an assessment at the Currambine clinic and find out what is actually going on.