Importance of Stretching

Blog

08.18.08

Importance of Stretching:

If you have ever come into the office for treatment you already know how much I emphasize the importance of stretching.  Stretching is necessary to improve our flexibility. Flexibility is the range of motion that is available to a joint or joints. Flexibility is important for many different reasons. It improves muscle balance around a joint, thus improving posture. It reduces the chance of injury when playing a sport or in every day activities. It increases the blood and nutrient supply to muscles and cartilage, thereby also reducing muscle soreness after training. The benefits of stretching are limitless.

I want to review some of my favorite stretches with you. The first one is a piriformis stretch. Lie on your back; make a figure four with your legs. Grab the opposite thigh than the one that is bent and pull toward your chin. Hold this position for 10 seconds and switch to the other leg. The piriformis muscle is a very over-worked and under stretched muscle. Given that the piriformis muscles lies close to the sciatic nerve, it causes severe pain and debilitating symptoms when spasmed. 

The rhomboids are the muscles that attach the wing bone to the spine. If they are poorly strengthened and can cause our shoulders to roll forward due to over contracted pectoral muscles. A great rhomboid isolation stretch is a Wall Press with active Contraction of the Rhomboids. Place your arms a little further apart than shoulder width; press down to stretch the pectorals while you actively press your shoulder blades together. Hold this position, actively contracting rhomboids. I tell patients to imagine they are holding a highlighter between their shoulder blades.

Stretching should not be done as a warm-up to an activity as you could injure your muscles if stretching them when they are cold. At least 3 to 5 minutes of cardiovascular training is recommended to warm up the muscles sufficiently. Each major muscle group should be stretched slowly and with control, holding each stretch for 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 60 seconds. Hold each stretch at the point of mild tension or tightness, not to the point of pain.  
It is important to stretch after doing any physical activity. When muscles perform any exercise, they tighten and shorten as a result. Stretching them out helps to restore and improve their length. When doing strength training, you could stretch each muscle group directly after performing each set.

Though I love stretching, there are times that stretching is not going to aid with healing of the muscle. Avoid stretching if you experience any of the following:

• Following muscle strains or ligament sprain
• When joints or muscles are infected, inflamed or hurt
• After a recent fracture
•  When sharp pains are felt in the joints or muscles. 

Happy Stretching,

Dr. Lindsey