You’ve got to Move It, Move It!
Reviewed August 2026
The big no brainer is muscular strength. Muscles deteriorate when we don't use them. You might think the biggest consequence of this is that you can't lift things as easily (e.g. weights at the gym, the stuff required for that D.I.Y project at home, the growing babies in your world), but that's not the worst of it. Loss of strength in the muscles, especially around the spine, causes altered posture. This altered posture results in the joints, muscles and ligaments that hold our frame together being subjected to uneven wear and tear. The ultimate result is damage to the joints and one example is osteoarthritis.
While we're talking about bones, I wrote a blog on osteoporosis recently (read more here). That's poor quality bone that is vulnerable to fracture. We are all vulnerable to osteoporosis across time, but the way to delay or prevent it is to eat a balanced diet and continue weight bearing/resistance training throughout your life. You've got to keep your body moving to keep your bones strong.
And it's not just the frame – we need movement to keep our squishy bits healthy too! Physical exercise that works our cardiovascular system is important. It serves to keep our heart muscle strong and keep good tone in the smooth muscle that lines our arteries. The smooth muscle in our arteries serves to turn the pulsing blood flow from our heart into a constant flow that the cells throughout our body can access. If the smooth muscle in our arteries deteriorates (which happens through lack of use as we lose our physical fitness) our brain cannot regulate blood flow and we start having blood pressure problems followed by possible turbulence in the blood flow. This turbulence can result in plaque build-up in our vessels and possible stroke.
The contraction of the muscles in our arms and legs is what helps blood (via veins) and interstitial fluids (via the lymphatics) return against gravity to the heart for the next vascular swoop around the body. Without movement in the arms and legs these fluids can pool in our extremities causing oedema (swelling)...which can cause even more problems down the track.
We need to keep moving for our brain to function properly too. When our joints move they provide sensory feedback to the brain about where each joint is in space. The brain collates this information in each moment of time and uses it to pre-plan our next movement so we don't injure ourselves by moving poorly or bumping into things. We all know people who are prone to whacking their elbows on things or tripping over stuff (for example) – in these people, their joint position sense is a bit off.
This sense of where we are in space is one of the three elements that the brain collates to give us our sense of balance. If we are not moving regularly, practising our ability to balance, our brain gets less efficient at collating the data from our joint position sense (kinaesthetic), our inner ear (where we are in relation to the gravity field) and our eyes – the upshot is, the ability to balance gets worse. Good balance (and thus reduced falls risk) is maintained by moving and challenging our ability to balance regularly. Playing it safe on this front does you no favours. It's use it or lose it.
Interestingly, movement matters in the little things too. Sitting looking at a screen all day, looking at a screen during the commute home and watching a screen for entertainment of an evening has the little muscles which alter the focussing lens in your eyes working through a very small range of motion. These tiny muscles have the job of allowing us to focus on close work and then change the lens thickness so we can focus in the distance and enjoy a sunset or the action on the opposite side of the football field. These little muscles inside your eye will contract and deteriorate if we don't work them through their range of motion regularly and then the distances we can focus on become more limited.
And a really big thing – PAIN. Movement is essential when it comes to retraining the brain to stop being overprotective and giving us pain. We've written blogs on this topic (here) and if you're interested or intrigued by this new pain science please follow this link to hear Lorimer Moseley explain persistent pain in a user friendly way - "Tame the Beast"
As chiropractors, our focus is on the movement of our joints – everything from your jaw joints (TMJ) to your little toe, but especially your spine and pelvis. Joints, and the position sensing tissues around them, are constantly feeding information about the joint position back to the brain 24/7. The brain uses this information to pre-plan movements and coordinate group muscle efforts to promote motion that the brain considers safe.
If a joint is not moving well (e.g. through injury, bad habits, poor posture...) then this position sense feedback to the brain stops. This means the brain is making movement plans without a full appreciation of the situation at the joint level. In this scenario it is easy for the brain to send out non-ideal instructions causing poor movement patterns that can lead to dysfunction and injury. When a person is experiencing this kind of joint dysfunction and bad feedback loop to the brain they often end up in our practice asking us to help them sort out a pain. They are in the right place because this is what we deal with every day.
Keeping your body moving is vital to healthy function of that body. Everything works better when it is strong, fit and able (read more here). When your body is not moving well, with or without pain in the frame, chiropractic care can both help get your body moving well and help you to make good lifestyle and exercise choices to keep your body moving well.