Last month chiropractor Cydney Keller and acupuncturist Suzanne Chi attended an international dance medicine conference where they spent over 20 hours each learning about everything from dance-specific functional assessments to rehab for aerialists to how dance therapy is helping to improve symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders. They connected with other members of the Portland healthcare community who specialize in dance wellness, strengthening referral networks, and refreshed their knowledge of sports medicine in general.

One of the topics for learning and discussion was flexibility. When is flexibility useful and what is the best way to go about increasing flexibility? What if stretching doesn’t seem to help? One activity recommended is nerve gliding. Also known as nerve flossing, nerve gliding describes exercises that focus on stretching and mobilizing the nerves. Traditional stretching focuses on elongating tight muscle fibers, but you may not realize that nerves can become tight as well. Ideally, nerves glide in and around the muscles and bones smoothly, but particularly when we spend a lot of time in stationary positions or doing repetitive motions, nerves can get stuck and don’t move as well.

Once a nerve becomes stuck, every time you move your body the nerve gets tugged as it tries to move through its normal pathway. This pull on a nerve leads to irritation and can over time result in sensations like pins and needles or pain. Altered or unusual neurodynamics (movement of nerves) can be the cause of many problems including headaches. Neural mobilization (gliding/flossing) exercises can provide relief.

Nerve gliding exercises separate the nerve from fascial adhesions that keep it stuck in place, leading to more pain-free movement as the nerve can move unencumbered, in tandem with the rest of the body. Nerve gliding usually works best when combined with other treatments, and is particularly useful for conditions like sciatica and carpel tunnel. Ask your doctor if nerve flossing might be a an effective adjunctive treatment for you in order to get the exact nerve flossing exercises for your condition.