The Importance of Stretching your Body

For those of us who don’t exercise, the idea of stretching couldn’t be further from our minds. Even the active amongst us tend to leave stretching for the last minute or just rush it . Sport professionals tend to be a lot better at stretching as they have it drummed into them by their coaches. Why? Because they know if their players don’t stretch they are more likely to pick up an injury and therefore not be eligible for selection.

Avoiding Injuries

Of course the chances of none sport players becoming injured is very unlikely, or is it? We generally won’t suffer from impact injuries in our day to day lives, but twisting, pulling and back pain are all out there waiting to get us when we least expect it. Can we avoid these potential injuries? The answer is not always, however, we give ourselves a much higher chance of an injury-free life if we stretch. The two main contributors to tight and shortened muscles are exercise and a sedentary lifestyle.

The Danger of Shortened Muscles

Shortened muscles are bad news because they become fragile and weak if taken beyond their short range of movement. This can lead to muscle damage. Short muscles can also add unnecessary pressure to the tendons in our bodies by constantly pulling on them. This can cause injuries like Achilles heal damage. Pressure on the tendons in our bodies can pull our bones out of their natural alignment causing bad posture and potentially leading to the spine being put under excess pressure. This can result in back pain and related injuries. Failing to stretch for long periods will put a lot of strain on our bodies and line us up for a whole range of injuries, which can only get worse the longer we leave it. Muscles don’t just shorten due to constant contraction from exercise; they also shorten if they are kept in a contracted position for long periods. The most common example of this is sitting, which a lot of us do for hours on end whether it be work, driving or relaxing - we are all guilty. This constant sitting directly shortens our hamstrings (located at the rear of our thighs), hip muscles and calf muscles (located at the back of the leg below the knee). Depending on our posture it can also affect upper body muscles as well. When these muscles are short they can, in turn, directly affect our backs, putting a lot of pressure on delicate bones and muscles and leading to back pain. Of course the cure is to stretch and stretch a lot. It will help keep muscles at their correct lengths, reducing pressure on your body and keeping injuries and pain at bay.

Looking Good

Another advantage of stretching is it helps to give your body a more toned look. It will allow your muscles to become larger in volume without bulging too heavily from your body. This in turn will help raise your metabolic rate which will allow you to burn more calories day to day. Great news!

Your Stretching Routine

Ideally you should be stretching every hour through the day. Especially if you are in a job where your muscles are contracted for long periods of the day. However performing stretches at work isn’t always possible and until society realises how important it is you would look a little strange in the office. So for the bold: stretch during the day, for the shy: 10 minutes first thing in the morning and 10 minutes last thing at night will be still beneficial.

Top Tips for stretching

Don’t stretch too hard. On a scale of 1-10, (1 being very comfortable, 10 being absolute agony) you want to stretch to a feeling of 6 to 7. It should feel like a slight pull on the muscles but certainly not painful.

Don’t "bounce" the stretch you can injure yourself by taking it beyond its comfort zone. By "bouncing" I mean short regular movements trying to force your muscle to stretch further than it wants to. You can damage the muscle by doing this.

The stretch should be concentrated in the main part of the muscle you are targeting. If you feel it at the ends of the muscles then you are pushing too hard and could be damaging tendons. Don’t take the stretch beyond the natural range of the body’s movement you can damage ligaments and damaged ligaments don’t mend easily.

For some basic stretching techniques click here If you would like to read more or ask me a question then please feel free to visit my blog at beebleblog.com