Is stretching beneficial to my health? There are many long-held beliefs that daily stretching will increase flexibility, decrease the risk of injury, and improve your overall state of mind. While there still needs to be more research to determine all of the potential benefits that stretching can provide, there is some early indication that stretching does help individuals in several different aspects. Although stretching does not provide miracle results that we have long believed, exercise has proven to provide multiple benefits for your mind and body.
The quick answer to the question is that stretching is beneficial for you in many aspects and it’s always a good idea to incorporate stretching into your normal fitness and exercise routine. Whether you’re going through physical therapy or trying to get back into shape, stretching can help ensure that you reduce your risk for injury and avoid some of those nasty aches and pains that can come from putting your body through too much too fast. No matter their background, all individuals can gain some benefits from stretching. You don’t have to be a superstar athlete to find stretching useful, as it can benefit individuals from all fitness and activity levels.
Stretching isn’t mandatory, but it can be a great way to help you reduce some of those injuries we’ve outlined earlier and increase your range of motion before you perform strenuous activities. When you have a better range of motion, you’ll decrease the chances that you sustain injury from poor form. When evaluating whether or not you should stretch, you should always try to pair it with exercise, as the two go hand in hand.
The great thing about stretching and exercising is that you don’t always need equipment and you can move your body anywhere! We’ve helped put together some helpful insights for both stretching and exercising to highlight some key insights and answer the common questions you might have regarding stretching, the potential benefits that can be garnered from stretching, when you should stretch to get the optimal benefits, and more.
According to a study conducted in 2014, it’s most likely not our actual muscles that will elongate when becoming more flexible, but rather our willingness to tolerate the discomfort of elongating our muscles during physical activity. Essentially, researchers believe that stretching is the act of training the nervous system to allow your muscles to stretch a bit further because we are accustomed to the uncomfortable feeling.
There have been misleading articles stating how stretching right before a workout can increase performance and reduce injuries. Due to conflicting research, there is no definite proof that stretching is correlated with flexibility and enhanced physical performance. While the evidence isn’t clear yet, at this time there is some suggestion that it could potentially improve flexibility and performance in some form or another.
While stretching won’t help you gain flexibility seemingly overnight, you can train your muscles to be more comfortable with muscle stretch as part of the physical activity you engage in. For instance, your muscles might be tight because you don’t regularly engage in any form of physical activity or you’re recovering from a recent injury. In those scenarios, gradually stretching and training your muscles to become more comfortable over time could help you improve your flexibility and increase your range of motion.
The important thing to note in regards to developing enhanced flexibility from stretching is that it often takes a long time, anywhere from weeks to months to showcase meaningful flexibility changes. That’s why you need to focus on being consistent with your stretching routine if you’re looking to increase your flexibility, as many individuals can often become discouraged when they don’t see any results after only stretching for a short time. As you increase your consistency and continually add stretching to your routine, you should start to see some positive results down the road.
We’ve all heard that the combination of a healthy diet and exercise are the keys to living a long and healthy life. Looking at exercise from a factual basis might actually provide us with more positive benefits we weren’t aware of.
According to research conducted by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, exercise is described as, “the closest thing to a miracle cure” for many different reasons. Studies show that exercising 5 days a week at a minimum of 30-minute increments bring incredible benefits like prevention from: dementia, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and some cancers. Due to regular exercise, the risk for all of these diseases can be reduced by at least 30%!
Evidence shows that an exercise session is productive if a person is slightly out of breath and has an elevated heart rate. Our body understands that when we exercise, we are essentially simulating a ‘fight or flight’ response from our body. When the workout is complete and we have made it through, the biology inside our bodies begins to recover.
While the evidence isn’t conclusive yet, there is some early indication that stretching can help athletes or individuals improve their exercise performance. There are some early signs that suggest stretching before and after your workout can help with some important exercise activities including but not limited to your ability to loosen up the muscles so they’re prepared for a strenuous workout, increase blood flow and oxygen to muscle groups, and more.
While stretching might not help you add an extra ten miles to your marathon training session, it can help you decrease your potential injuries and help you train a little bit longer because your body is more prepared for the physical activity.
When you incorporate stretching into your pre-workout and post-workout routine, you can also help spur on that recovery period after your strenuous workout. When you incorporate pre-workout stretches into your exercise routine after a light warmup, you’re helping your body prepare for some of the upcoming physical activity its about to engage in. Stretching before and after your workout can also help keep your body loose as it begins the recovery process.
The last thing you want to happen is to engage in a rigorous workout and then have your body tighten up. You could be setting yourself up for a potential injury in the event that your body and muscles tighten up after a strenuous workout. Stretching after a workout will help you cool down your body and let it know that the workout has ended and it can begin the recovery process smoothly.
Many people who spend multiple hours at a desk working all day frequently complain of back pain and headaches due to poor posture and the lack of use their muscles receive while being sedentary for a period of time. In fact, over 66% of Americans have experienced back pain – how can we remedy this? Sometimes we don’t realize that our body needs care and attention when we are preoccupied sitting or working all day. Working can oftentimes be sedentary and stressful; adding exercise and some stretches into our routine can decrease anxiety and help relieve stress throughout the work day and work week.
According to the Mayo Clinic, researchers found that individuals who sat for more than eight hours a day had a similar risk of dying to those who are obese or smoke. What does this mean? This means that we should make efforts throughout the day to get our body moving and our blood pumping. It is recommended to take a break from work around every 30 minutes to mobilize your body.
There are several simple stretches you can do throughout the day to just get the blood moving and avoid feeling like you’re stuck in the same sedentary rut that you’re in all day. Stretching throughout the day can also help you relieve some of that built-up tension and tightness that can occur when you’re sitting at a desk all day and you haven’t moved much. Don’t be afraid to use your breaks throughout the day to do a light stretch here and there to get that blood moving.
The first step to adding stretching to your regular exercise and physical activity routine is to make a commitment to stretch both before and after your workout. Pre-workout stretches and post-workout stretches will help ensure that your body is ready for the upcoming physical activity and able to cool down once you begin the rest and recovery phase.
The first step to getting ready to stretch is to ask your physical therapist what stretches they believe you should implement. If you’re already in one of our treatment programs, they’ve most likely informed you on some useful stretches that you can do. If they haven’t, don’t hesitate to ask. Our physical therapists are always interested in providing the best knowledge and tips they can to help ensure that you’re safe when exercising or performing any type of physical activity.
The next step to starting to stretch is to make sure that it becomes a staple in your routine. As we’ve outlined earlier, stretching every now and then on an infrequent basis won’t provide you with much benefit. Instead, you should try to stretch both pre and post-workout to get the strongest benefits.
Just like all types of exercises, there are different types of stretches that you can conduct, and they’re not all the same. Some of the different types of stretches include:
Some of the most common stretches you should expect to perform are static and dynamic stretches, as these stretches help to improve your flexibility, increase your range of motion, and help to build strength in those muscle groups over time.
Due to the positive benefits exercising provides, it’s important to understand what exercising at “the right intensity” means for you. In the same regard, you need to know what kind of stretches are going to do what and the proper intensity you should strive for when you stretch. You don’t want to stretch too severely and then hurt yourself in the process, and the same can go for when we exercise. When we exercise at the right intensity, biologically, we are normalizing our body. Essentially, by exercising, you are stimulating the systems in your body to return back to the way they are supposed to work naturally.
When determining the right workouts and stretches for your body, consulting a physical therapist and listening to what your body needs is beneficial. Everyone has different mobility and flexibility goals, and it’s best to consult with a qualified healthcare professional when trying to determine what kind of workouts, exercises, and stretches you should add to your routine.
If you are curious about how to improve your body mobility, setting up a meeting with your physical therapist is a great first step to feeling your best. Contact your local Results Physiotherapy clinic and our therapists will work hard to assess your needs and create a personalized body treatment plan for you. We also provide helpful at-home physical therapy and telehealth via virtual therapy sessions to enjoy in the comfort of your own home.
Our expert team of physical therapists understand the importance of range of motion within the body and that all parts of the body function together as a whole. We take our time during our one-on-one treatments with patients to fully understand their mobility, flexibility, and pain areas. After assessing the range of motion of our client, we use a hands-on manual therapy approach to get to the root of the pain. We have found great success and speedy recoveries with our patients because we combine exercise and education with our manual therapy approach. The combination of these tools help our patients get back to living pain-free!
