The Benefits of Stretching for Complete Wellness
by Tracey
Roizman, DC, DACBN
Wouldn’t life be a lot simpler if we could go inside our bodies
and tune them up or change the oil the way we do to maintain our cars?
While we can’t flush out our engines the same way we can with our cars,
it is quite possible, however, to adopt some very simple lifestyle
practices which will help keep the fluids clean and all of the systems
functioning smoothly. Being healthy starts from the outside in, and to the
trained observer your outer structure is a precise reflection of your
internal functioning. Thomas Edison once stated, “The medicine of the
future will be directed toward the care and maintenance of the human
frame.”
Edison
recognized that the interrelatedness between the structure of the body and
its function is a fundamental aspect of health. In this article we will
focus on one component of a simple, healthy lifestyle: stretching.
Stretching benefits the human frame tremendously. Stretching
releases stress and tension, promotes relaxation and increased sense of
well being, provides greater range of motion, improves muscle tone and
function, improves circulation and organ function, prevents occupational
and sports injuries, rehabilitates existing injuries, quickens reflexes
and response time, and improves athletic performance. Whew, that’s quite
a list! So, how does such a simple activity, done in as little as fifteen
minutes a day, provide so much benefit to the body? Here’s how:
When properly stretched, muscles have better nerve supply, better
circulation and therefore better oxygenation and nutritional status than
unstretched, tense and neglected muscles. At the places where the muscles
attach to the bones there are nerve receptors, which provide feedback
information to the brain as to what each individual muscle is up to.
Stretching activates these receptors, causing them to send some input to
the brain and therefore the brain is forced to be aware of and pay close
attention to them. Or, to use a computer analogy, the stretching muscle is
brought up on the brain’s active screen. This is very important, since
the activities and responsibilities of the brain are enormous and quite
complex and it is convenient for it to ignore one thing in order to take
care of something else that might be demanding more attention. And we all
know about that in the scheme of our lives, don’t we?
Activating the nerve receptors and making the body more aware of
where all of its parts are leads to improved coordination, quicker
reflexes, better performance in athletic endeavors, and most importantly,
decreased susceptibility to slip and fall accidents, twisted knees and
ankles, frozen shoulders, and the back “going out”. Moving the body
gently throughout its various ranges of motion also helps to improve
circulation to the internal organs, acting as a sort of internal massage.
This translates to improved function of these organs.
Aside from its physical benefits, stretching acts to release mental
and emotional stresses. Simply put, we can’t hold stress in our bodies
if we don’t give it a place to stay. Our bodies store stress in many
ways, but most commonly as muscle tension. The muscles develop a habit of
remaining tense and tight from the postures, which we habitually keep
Benefits of Stretching, pg. 2
them in. We sit in a car, we sit at a desk, or we sit
at a table, on the sofa, etc. This fairly accurately describes the normal
physical activities of most of us throughout our average day. By taking a
few minutes to stretch the muscles and take them out of their normal
contracted positions we are essentially retraining the nervous system,
showing it a different way to behave. By gently taking the muscles into
relaxation we are also getting them to release their various accumulated
tensions. This is, in part, why certain forms of body work, such as
massage, yoga and stretching, chiropractic adjustments, deep breathing
techniques and other similar practices are so useful for relieving stress.
How long does it take to effectively stretch a muscle? Not long. A
few seconds or up to 30 seconds depending on which authority you read,
with a slow gentle sustained method being preferable at all times to a
rapid callisthenic style. If you hold a stretch for too long, or it you
stretch a muscle too aggressively, the muscle will react by contracting to
protect itself from tearing, and the beneficial effects are lost. This is
an area where over zealousness, impatience, or aggressiveness will be
hazardous.
Now that you know the why’s of stretching and are prepared to
begin, let’s talk about turning intentions into actions. Try this: start
out by doing a simple hamstring stretch each morning. The hamstring is the
muscle at the back of your thigh. Do this and no more, every morning
without fail before you start your day. Take a shoulder width stance with
your feet, keep your back straight and bend forward hinging at the hips.
Depending on your individual flexibility you might reach comfortably to
rest your hands on your thighs or lower legs or you may want to support
your upper body by holding onto the back of a chair. While in the stretch
breathe deeply in and out a few times, allowing your upper body to rise
slightly with the inhalation and sink back down as you exhale. This will
feel wonderful and take away some of that morning stiffness.
After doing this for a few days or a couple of weeks the rest of
your body might begin to take an interest in also doing a little bit of
stretching. At this point you nave several choices. You can buy a book or
a video, or you can attend a stretch or yoga class to learn a range of
safe and effective stretches for the entire body. Whichever you choose, it
is most important to be mindful of proper technique so as to derive the
greatest benefit. And remember that while you are becoming more flexible
your general health and wellness are also stretching to new levels.
