Try this Salute the Sun Stretch. Do just one or two breaths
per position and repeat several times. Do not worry if you cannot do it like
the pictures. You’ll improve with each repetition and before long you will look
(more) like the picture
Stretching – Something
people know they “should” do. Most people don’t like it and try to get it over
as fast as possible.
The fact is stretching before an activity is the best and
most proven way of preventing injuries. Keep in mind that the word “activity”
really means “life” and “injury” in slow motion is “getting old”. For that
matter we could equate life with flexibility and age with stiffness.
The purpose of this talk is to show you that the benefits of
daily stretching for outweigh the reasons not to. You do not have to stretch
and it will not kill you. That is the problem because there is almost never an
urgency to do so. By not stretching we get even tighter and less likely to want
to stretch.
So… what does stretching do? The bones that make up our
arms, legs, back, neck, shoulders, and pelvis are held together with:
1.
Muscles – they do the work.
2.
Tendons – they connect the muscles to the
bones.
3.
Ligaments – they connect bones with other
bones.
Muscles act in pairs; one pulls a bone in one direction,
while the other of the pair pulls it in the other direction. The tension on
each side should be even so that our bodies are balanced. Stretching will help
“re-set” this balance.
Here is how that works. Muscles have stretch receptors in
them. When a muscle feels some stretch, it automatically relaxes. If the muscle
being stretched does not relax it will pull or strain which is a polite way of
saying that it rips.
Healthy muscles are able to tighten when called on to do so
and then when done they should relax into a normal tone (which by the way
should not be completely limp). With an overload of work, muscles will stay
tight and pull back against a stretch causing stiffness in motion and potential
injury. By having a regiment of stretches that are done regularly the muscles
move in a balanced and uninhibited fashion.
When moving the body feels good. We want more of it and this
helps our heart, lungs, digestion and many other seemingly unrelated areas of
our health.
Ligaments – In
general we do not want much stretch to occur in the ligaments as they hold the
bones together. For instance, a whiplash injury will overstretch the ligaments
holding the bones of the neck in proper alignment. With the ligament too loose
the bones do not move well together and there will be grinding, lack of normal
motion, and pain. An overstretched ligament is called a sprain.
Tendons – They
attach muscle to bones and work together with muscles. Tendons have their own
stretch receptors similar to muscles. When we stretch muscles the tendons get
stretched too. The stretched tendon relaxes which will reset the tension on it
so that it is in balance with the muscle and tendon whose job it is to pull in
the other direction.
When I lift my right leg to walk, dozens of muscles (not in that
leg) engage in order to support the raised leg, the leg on the ground and to stabilize
the spine so that balance is maintained. That is just one leg raised and we do
this with alternating legs hundreds or thousands of times each day without a
single thought. However with just one muscle not working well in conjunction with
all the others and we have stiffness, pain, and dysfunction.
So given that stretching is the best and most
proven way to prevent injuries, would you agree that it is time to add stretching
to your daily routine? Fortunately I have a great stretching routine. In less
than five minutes per day you can stretch the main muscle groups while
improving your breathing, digestion, circulation and balance.You can do it! Stretch today!
Dr. Jeff Levine, D.C.
