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Now that every self-respecting runner and yogi has mastered the art of foam rolling, there’s a new layer to post-workout fine-tuning. The cutting edge of bodywork—known as nerve flossing—targets the nerves in order to take your exercise regimen to the next level.
When our nerves become agitated—be it by stress or the high-intensity exercises we take up to combat stress—they inflame, and the surrounding muscle responds by tightening. “When people are trying to stretch their hamstrings and it hurts, they tend to think it’s a tight muscle or fascia, but in many instances a branch of the sciatic nerve is caught up in a muscle,” says Robert Silverman, a chiropractor in White Plains, New York, and self-professed proponent of “freeing the nerve.” Flossing involves slow, repeated micro body movements designed to detangle nerve from muscle tissue. It looks like stretching and, when done under the supervision of someone well-versed in the technique, should elicit a release of pain and tension.
Cult New York yoga studio Sky Ting Yoga is about to host a workshop focused on the nervous system, while instructors at East River Pilates, a groovy oasis of white brick walls and potted cacti in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, regularly lead students in intense stretches designed to awaken the billions of nerve cells that stem from our spinal cord and transmit brain signals to our muscles. “You get to the place where you feel electricity running up and down your limbs,” studio owner Kimmy Kellum says. “The nerves are the part of the body that are setting your physical limitations. If they’re in healthy condition, they give your body permission to move deeper.” Meanwhile, Jared Kaplan, a private Pilates instructor in Manhattan, integrates nerve-focused “movement recipes” into nearly all of his training sessions.
When done right, it’s definitely not the most comfortable thing in the world. But unlike that other kind of flossing, just a couple of times a week will suffice.