Mark Gerard's Therapeutic Massage

A lot of my clients think they only need to stretch before or after exercising. Not true!

We all want to maintain flexibility all day long, right? Even on days that we don’t exercise, it’s important that we’re able to move with comfort and ease, whether we’re climbing stairs, tying our shoes, or reaching to the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet for that seldom-used casserole pan.

Some practitioners call daily movements like these “activities for daily living,” or ADL. Simply put, they are tasks that we ask our bodies to perform every day without thinking much about it. We often take our ability to perform them for granted. When we can’t perform them, though, life gets frustrating.

Most often, it’s the elderly whose range of motion becomes severely impaired. But if you don’t stretch at least once a day – even twice a day – your motion can become limited at any age. So I encourage my clients to optimize their range of motion.

Ignoring your body’s need to stretch can also lead to injury. A stretched muscle is a relaxed muscle. That means it’s more pliable. Flexible muscles can support your movements more easily, especially those quick and unexpected movements that you don’t see coming. When was the last time you tripped on a curb or a throw-rug? Your body had to react quickly to regain its balance. If your leg and lower back muscles are tight as a stretched-out rubber band, they’re likely to tear as you work to right yourself.

There’s more than one way to stretch

There are two types of stretching: static and dynamic. As its name implies, the muscle is at rest during static stretching. This is the kind of stretching we’re all familiar with from high school gym class: sit on the floor and reach for your toes to pull on your hamstrings, or lift your heel up to your butt to get a good quad stretch. I’ve seen a lot of people “bounce” in these stretches, but this doesn’t give the muscle an opportunity to relax. For a static stretch to be effective, you need to hold it for 15-30 seconds. And you only need one stretch per muscle; there’s no additional gain in stretching the same muscle multiple times during one session.

It’s common for people to think they have to tighten the muscle as they stretch it. In reality, to get the maximum benefit, relax into the stretch. You’ll be amazed by how much looser the muscle feels. Also keep in mind that static stretches are best performed after exercise, not before. Why? Because when you stretch a muscle, you relax it a bit. When it’s relaxed, it becomes a little weaker, which can undermine your workout.

Then there’s dynamic stretching. These are the stretches that energize your body, increase blood flow to your muscles, and give you a boost of power. While these movements are more useful to athletes, anyone can benefit from them. Think of them this way: while static stretches increase flexibility in your everyday activities, dynamic stretches will help you if you’re a weekend football or basketball player. And the beauty of them is that they are also taken straight from your high school gymnasium. Jumping jacks, squats, high knee raises, and lunges are all examples of dynamic stretches.

Ask me about how stretching can help you specifically next time you come in!