Stretching Does Good and Feels Good!

Stretching is the unsung hero of a workout or sports activity. Performed before starting your workout, in the middle or at the end, the main role of stretching is to increase your range of motion and flexibility.

During strength training your muscles contract or shorten, and stretching helps to return the muscle back to its pre-workout length by making your soft tissues, such as ligaments, longer by decreasing stiffness.

An integral aid to improve your performance in the sporting arena, stretching can alleviate soreness after exercise, and crucial for active people, significantly lowers your chance of injury.

Stretching is often such a natural part of our workout routine that we do it automatically, but there are two classes of stretches that provide slightly different benefits.

Dynamic stretching

Dynamic stretching improves speed, agility and acceleration through controlled movements that prepare your muscles, ligaments, and other soft tissues for performance.

These functional and sport-specific movements are best integrated into your warm-up for around 10 minutes.

By actively tightening your muscles and moving your joints through their full range of motion throughout the stretch, you’ll benefit from increased muscle temperature and decreased muscle stiffness.

Examples of dynamic stretches include the knee cradle, buttock kick and the scorpion, encompassing both standing and lying down stretches.

Static stretching

As the name suggests, this form of stretching involves standing, sitting, or lying still. Helping to improve overall flexibility, it can be used as part of your cool down routine to prevent injury.

Static stretching works by holding a single position for 20 to 30 seconds, moving a muscle as far as it can go without getting to the stage where you feel pain. Repeating these two or three times will give you the maximum impact.

Popular static stretches include the upper back stretch, shoulder stretch, and calf stretch.

Next time you’re warming up, stretching during or after physical activity, you’ll be thankful for these exercises. You’ll see improved performance and enhanced ability to do daily activities, plus you’ll decrease your risk of injury - all in less than 10 minutes!

To find out more about how our team can support you with your health and wellbeing, make an appointment with one of our experienced physios today.