Flexibility is overlooked by most of us. Lack of flexibility may lead to long-term joint degeneration, overuse injuries, and muscle imbalances. By definition, flexibility is the extensibility (ability to lengthen) of all soft tissues that allow a joint to move within it’s full range of motion. Your muscular, skeletal, and nervous system make up your kinetic chain. Your kinetic chain must be aligned properly to prevent patterns of joint dysfunction. When things are not properly aligned, it is known as postural distortion. Postural distortion leads to decreased neuromuscular efficiency and tissue overload. In laymans’ terms, injury! Your primary goal needs to be to maintain homeostasis of your kinetic chain. Imagine a chain link fence. Your dog skurries his way underneath the fence for years. You think nothing of it. Gradually the fence becomes distorted; some of the links are squashed together, the metal is buckling, there is a big gap in the bottom, it’s structural integrity is weakened. Now imagine the same thing happening to your spine. It may not be noticeable now, but over the course of time it, too, will deteriorate and weaken. Muscle imbalances may be caused by cause a variety of external and internal influences; poor posture, emotional stress, repetitive movements (tennis, golf, bowling, etc.), cumulative trauma, poor training technique and form, lack of core (abdominals and low back) strength, and lack of neuromuscular control. Following surgery and radiation, there is usually a foreseeable amount of scar tissue and, in some cases, adhesions that can bind the joint and inhibit movement. When there is a dysfunction in the connective tissues of the kinetic chain, the body views it as an injury. As a result, the body will initiate the repair process.