Your Joints Need To Glide

Even a child of three knows that muscles move bones at joints (if you find one that doesn’t know, have them call me). That means that if you release muscles and the joint remains stuck, the muscles will stay short and tighten up no matter how soft they are when you get off the table. And if you just get your joints mobilized (did someone say “chiropractor”?), the shortness and high tone of the muscles will pull the joint back into restriction.

That’s why I’m a renegade chiropractor: I spend half an hour to an hour, and I mix bodywork with micromobilization for 95% of my treatment time. If you want to see glide in action, look below at the video I made for bodyworkers on gliding the elbow.

As in all matters of life, intention is crucial. What you target is what you impact most. To get relaxation, mobility, and lasting outcomes, your joints need to glide.

I’m not talking about the fast adjustment that we chiropractors sometimes do.

I’m also not talking about when someone takes you to the farthest stretch your joint can go to and then pushes on you. I’m talking about restoring the tiny gliding movements that occur at every joint. I incorporate it throughout my treatments.

Subtle gliding motions are crucial for maintaining joint health, ensuring proper alignment, and supporting a full range of motion. When glide is restricted—often due to injury, prolonged immobilization, or chronic postural stress—joint mechanics become compromised, potentially leading to pain, stiffness, and compensatory movement patterns that increase the risk of further injury elsewhere.

Micro-mobilizations aim to restore this lost glide by introducing movement in specific directions to the joints. These interventions can help reduce pain, improve synovial fluid distribution, and enhance proprioceptive feedback.

For example, in the shoulder, restoring posterior glide can significantly improve motion in all directions, but especially the posterior glide, which is critical for daily functions like reaching behind the back. The number one way that people injure the shoulder is by reaching into the back seat for something while driving, which involves internal rotation with extension.

In the knee, regaining normal glide is essential for activities like walking and squatting without discomfort. We tend to think of the knee like we think of the elbow: it only bends and straightens, right? But no. When you turn to look behind you, more of the rotation comes from the knee than from the neck, hips, or low back (feel free to gasp).

But there’s more – without rotational glide, bending the knee can be hard, painful, and/or impossible. There is strain to the meniscus and the cartilage, the kneecap can’t track properly, etc. etc. Even a child of three knows someone suffering in that way. Perhaps it’s you they know.

A lot of practitioners, from PTs to massage therapists to Zumba teachers, incorporate joint gliding. I focus on it very intently, probably because, though I was born knowing how to do bodywork, I got my formal training as a chiropractor. Fast adjustments can be sublime, but a decent number of people don’t want them. But even a child of three knows that everybody can benefit from subtle, gentle gliding.

Come see me, and get your glide on!