The Importance of Regular Stretching

An article posted to Harvard Health entitled The Importance of Stretching spoke to a physical therapist to illustrate why incorporating stretching into our lives is beneficial.

David Nolan, a physical therapist at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that “A lot of people don’t understand that stretching has to happen on a regular basis. It should be daily”.

Stretching helps to keep the body and muscles flexible, which helps to maintain range of motion, and strong. It helps to prevent muscles from shortening which can cause pain and tightness.

Regular everyday tasks and circumstances like sitting in a chair all day can cause muscles to become tight, and this puts you at more risk for causing injury when you start moving around again and performing activities and exercise. By stretching regularly muscles are kept flexible which decreases the force that may be put on the muscles during activity.

While the idea of everyday stretching and finding a time to fit it into our daily lives can cause stress, David Nolan states how you don’t have to stretch every muscle in your body. He says how “The areas for critical mobility are in your lower extremities: your calves, your hamstrings, your hip flexors in the pelvis, and quadriceps”. Shoulders, neck, and lower back are also good areas to stretch according to the Harvard Health Article.

Implementing stretching into your daily life is an ongoing process to improve flexibility. It takes time to increase flexibility, and a key aspect is consistency in your stretching routine. Assisted stretching helps to build consistency into your stretching routine as you have a specific appointment to make sure you get your stretch in. It also helps ensure you get the most out of your stretches as a dedicated stretch therapist helps you through each of the stretches.

Source:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-importance-of-stretching

Photo: Unsplash User Kari Shea @karishea