Cathal BarryThe benefits of regular stretching
Stretching very often takes a back seat to most exercise regimes.
Although studies about the benefits of stretching are mixed, stretching may help you improve your joint range of motion, which in turn may help improve your athletic performance and decrease your risk of injury.
Stretching can help improve flexibility, and, consequently, range of motion in your joints. Better flexibility may improve your performance in physical activities or decrease your risk of injuries by helping your joints move through their full range of motion and enabling your muscles to work most effectively. Stretching also increases blood flow to the muscle.
Stretching, in its most basic form, is a natural and instinctive activity. People often stretch instinctively after waking from sleep or after long periods of inactivity.
As a form of exercise, stretching involves elongating a specific muscle or muscle group to its fullest length.
Here are the top five benefits of stretching:
*Increases flexibility
Flexibility is the degree to which an individual muscle will lengthen. Lack of flexibility causes your movement to become slower and less fluid, and makes you more susceptible to muscle strains, ligament sprains and other soft tissue injuries. The most effective way to increase your flexibility is by stretching.
*Improves circulation
Stretching increases blood flow to the muscles. This increased blood flow brings more nourishment to the muscles and removes more waste by-products from the muscles. Increased blood flow can also help speed up recovery from muscle and joint injuries.
*Improves balance and coordination
The increased flexibility that comes from stretching improves balance and coordination. Improved balance and coordination lowers your risk for falls.
*Helps alleviate lower back pain
Stiff and tight muscles in the lower back, hamstrings, and hips are one of the more common causes of lower back pain. Stretching these muscles will alleviate the pain.
However, before you plunge into stretching, make sure you do it safely and effectively. While you can stretch anytime, anywhere — in your home, at work, in a hotel room or at the park — you want to be sure to use proper technique. Stretching incorrectly can actually do more harm than good.
Although the benefits of stretching are many, it is not for everyone. Conditions in which stretching should be avoided include:
*Acute muscle strains
People who have suffered an acute muscle strain should avoid placing further stress on the muscle through stretching activities.
* Fractured bones
After breaking a bone, the fracture site needs time to heal. Stretching muscles that surround this injured area can place stress on the bone and prevent it from healing as well as further displace the break
*Joint sprains
As with fractures, sprains need time to heal and stretching too early in the injury will delay this process.