Floss your teeth, floss your nerves! 

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• Our body is inwardly supported by a 3D matrix of connective tissue called fascia. (Think - Frodo getting stuck in Shelob's web in The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King.)

• When the fascia is healthy it allows internal structures (muscles, tendons, nerves, blood vessels) to glide smoothly. 

• However, fascia can become very tight and restrictive, especially after injury or extended periods of immobility. 

  • For example, being in a sling or cast, or just being imprisoned by your desk chair!​

• Nerves create pain when there is undue stress upon them. They do not like being compressed or squeezed. 

  • Take for example, hitting your "funny bone." This sudden and radiating pain occurs when you smash your ulnar nerve between your ulna bone and something else, such as your desk. 

• Nerves can become squeezed, pinched, restricted, or caught up within your tightened and restricted fascia. This can present itself in pulling, radiating, tight pain, especially when movements or positions are performed that stress the nerve pathway more.  

 

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!

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• Nerve flossing is a technique that places your body in positions to target certain nerve pathways. 

  • From there you slowly alternate between tensioning the pathway and releasing the pathway. (Think about pulling a rope back and forth to free it up if it's stuck in dense bushes)​

• This helps to:

  • Improve fluid movement throughout the area​

  • Free the tension surrounding the nerve 

  • Improve flexibility 

  • Decrease pain generated by the nerve under tension