Top 5 Benefits of Stretching

Top 5 Benefits of Stretching

There are several benefits of stretching, and stretching needs to be a part of your fitness program.

Stretching, in its most basic form, is a natural and instinctive activity. People often stretch instinctively after waking from sleep or after long periods of inactivity.

As a form of exercise, stretching involves elongating a specific muscle or muscle group to its fullest length.

Here are the top five benefits of stretching:

1. Increases flexibility.

Flexibility is the degree to which an individual muscle will lengthen. Lack of flexibility causes your movement to become slower and less fluid and makes you more susceptible to muscle strains, ligament sprains and other soft tissue injuries. The most effective way to increase your flexibility is by stretching.

2. Improves circulation.

Stretching increases blood flow to the muscles. This increased blood flow brings more nourishment to the muscles and removes more waste byproducts from the muscles. Increased blood flow can also help speed up recovery from muscle and joint injuries.

3. Improves balance and coordination.

The increased flexibility that comes from stretching improves balance and coordination. Improved balance and coordination lowers your risk for falls.

4. Helps alleviate lower back pain.

Stiff and tight muscles in the lower back, hamstrings, buttocks and hips is one of the more common causes of lower back pain. Stretching these muscles will alleviate the pain.

5. Helps improve cardiovascular health.

Recent studies have found that stretching can improve artery function and lower blood pressure.

In conclusion, don't overlook the benefits of stretching. Make sure that stretching is a regular part of your fitness program.

Call today and setup an appointment for a stretching session, besides helping your body feel better you may be strengthening your heart. 801-703-8503

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

Fitworks Corrective Therapy

www.fitworksutah.com

The Important Relationship Between Flexibility And Health

The Important Relationship Between Flexibility And Health

How far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position - normally used to define the flexibility of a person's body - may be an indicator of how stiff your arteries are.

A study in the American Journal of Physiology has found that, among people 40 years old and older, performance on the sit-and-reach test could be used to assess the flexibility of the arteries. Because arterial stiffness often precedes cardiovascular disease, the results suggest that this simple test could become a quick measure of an individual's risk for an early heart attack or stroke.


Arteries should be elastic

Healthy blood vessels are elastic, and elasticity helps to moderate blood pressure. Arterial stiffness increases with age and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death. Previous studies have established that physical fitness can delay age-related arterial stiffness, although exactly how that happens is not understood. The authors noted that people who keep themselves in shape often have a more flexible body, and they hypothesized that a flexible body could be a quick way to determine arterial flexibility.

The researchers studied 526 healthy, non-smoking adults, 20 to 83 years old, with a body mass index of less than 30. They wanted to see whether flexibility of the trunk, as measured with the sit and reach test, is associated with arterial stiffness. The researchers divided the participants into three age groups:

• young (20-39 years old)
• middle aged (40-59 years old)
• older (60-83 years old)

The researchers asked participants to perform a sit-and-reach test. The volunteers sat on the floor, back against the wall, legs straight. They slowly reached their arms forward by bending at the waist. Based on how far they could reach, the researchers classified the participants as either poor- or high-flexibility.

The researchers also measured blood pressure and the speed of a pulse of blood as it flowed through the body. They measured how long the pulse takes to travel between the arm and the ankle and between the neck and the leg. They also measured aortic pressure in some participants and tested the participants for cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance.

The study found that trunk flexibility was a good predictor of artery stiffness among middle age and older participants, but not among the younger group. In middle age and older participants, they also found that systolic blood pressure (the peak pressure that occurs as the heart contracts) was higher in poor-flexibility than in high-flexibility groups.

What's happening?

Why would the flexibility of the body be a good indicator of arterial stiffness? In the study, the authors speculate on why this would be. One possibility is that there is a cause and effect: the stretching exercises that provide flexibility to the body may also slow the age-related stiffening of the arteries. The study found that arterial stiffness among middle age and older people was associated with trunk flexibility but was independent of muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness (as measured by performance on an exercycle). In addition, they cited another recent study that found that middle age and older adults who began a regular stretch exercise program significantly improved the flexibility of their carotids, a major artery found in the neck.

"Together with our results, these findings suggest a possibility that improving flexibility induced by the stretching exercise may be capable of modifying age-related arterial stiffening in middle-aged and older adults," Dr. Yamamoto said. "We believe that flexibility exercise, such as stretching, yoga and Pilates, should be integrated as a new recommendation into the known cardiovascular benefits of regular exercise."

Call today and setup an appointment for a stretching session. Besides helping your body feel better you may be strengthening your heart. 801-703-8503

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

Fitworks Corrective Therapy

www.fitworksutah.com

Stretching Reduces Fatigue as Well as Other Benefits

Stretching Reduces Fatigue as Well as Other Benefits

Stretching is a simple and effective activity that helps to enhance athletic performance, decrease the likelihood of injury and minimize muscle soreness.

Reduced Fatigue

Fatigue is a major problem for everyone, especially those who exercise. It results in a decrease in both physical and mental performance. Increased flexibility through stretching can help prevent the effects of fatigue by taking pressure off the working muscles, (the agonist). For every muscle in the body there is an opposite or opposing muscle, (the antagonist). If the opposing muscles are more flexible, the working muscles do not have to exert as much fore against the opposing muscles. Therefore each movement of the working muscles actually take less effort.

Added Benefits

Along with the benefits listed above, a regular stretching program will also help improve posture; develop body awareness; improve co-ordination; promote circulation; increase energy; and improve relaxation and stress relief.

Fitworks Corrective Therapy has been successful in helping clients improve their flexibility through a stretching program. Give Fitworks Corrective Therapy a call today to get a free stretching session and discover how your flexibility is doing. 801-703-8503.

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

Fitworks CorrectiveTherapy

Fitworks! Because it works!

www.fitworksutah.com

Stretching Increases Power and Reduces Muscle Soreness

Stretching Increases Power and Reduces Muscle Soreness

Stretching is a simple and effective activity that helps to enhance athletic performance, decrease the likelihood of injury and minimize muscle soreness. 

Increased Power

By increasing our muscle length we are increasing the distance over which our muscles are able to contract. This results in a potential increase to our muscles power and therefore increases our athletic ability.  This will lead to an improvement in our balance or our ability to control our muscles.

Reduced Post Exercise Muscle Soreness

We have all experience what happens when we go for a run or to the gym for the first time in a few months. The following day our muscles are tight, sore, stiff and it is usually hard to even walk down a flight of stairs. This soreness that usually accompanies strenuous physical activity is often referred to as post exercise muscle soreness. This soreness is the result of micro tears, (small tears within the muscle fibers), blood pooling and accumulated waste products, such as lactic acid. Stretching, as part of an effective cool down, it helps alleviate the soreness by lengthening the individual muscle fibers; increasing blood circulation; and removing waste products.

Fitworks Corrective Therapy has been successful in helping clients improve their flexibility because of musculoskeletal imbalances. Give Fitworks Corrective Therapy a call today to get a free stretching session and discover how your flexibility is doing. 801-703-8503.

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

Fitworks Corrective Therapy

www.fitworksutah.com

Source: The Anatomy of Stretching by Brad Walker

Improved Range of Movement

 

Stretching is a simple and effective activity that helps to enhance athletic performance, decrease the likelihood of injury and minimize muscle soreness.

Improved Range of Movement

By placing particular parts of the body in certain positions (proper stretching), we are able to increase the length of our muscles. As a result of stretching, general muscle tightness is reduced and an increase in range of movement is increased. 

By increasing our range of movement we are increasing the distance our limbs can move before damage occurs to the muscles and tendons. The more flexible and pliable muscles are, the further we can move them before a strain or injury occurs to them.

The benefits of an extended range of movement includes: increased comfort; a great ability to   move freely; and lessening of our chances to muscle and tendon strain injuries.

Fitworks Corrective Therapy has been successful in helping clients improve their flexibility. Give Fitworks Corrective Therapy a call today to get a free stretching session and discover how your flexibility is doing. 801-703-8503.

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

FitworksCorrective Therapy

www.fitworksutah.com

Source: The Anatomy of Stretching by Brad Walker

How Flexible are your Shoulders?

How Flexible are your Shoulders?

The Shoulder Stretch Test is a simple flexibility test to determine if the hands can be brought together behind the back.

• Purpose: This test measures upper arm and shoulder girdle flexibility.
• Procedure:
• This test is done in the standing position.
• Place one hand behind the head and back over the shoulder, and reach as far as possible down the middle of your back, your palm touching your body and the fingers directed downwards
• Place the other arm behind your back, palm facing outward and fingers upward and reach up as far as possible attempting to touch the fingers of each hand.
• The tester may be required to direct the subject so that the fingers are aligned.
• See if the subject can touch their fingers.
• Test the left and right shoulders.
• Comments: Do not conduct the test if you experience pain.

If your fingers can touch you have good flexibility.  If the fingers do not touch you need to work on increasing your flexibility in your upper arm and shoulder girdle.  If one side is more flexible than the other, you most likely have a musculoskeletal imbalance in your upper arm and shoulder girdle.

Call today to schedule a free posture evaluation to identify your muskeletol imbalances. 801-703-8503.

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

Fitworks Corrective Therapy

www.fitworksutah.com

Benefits of Stretching

  

Benefits of Stretching

As you age, your muscles tighten and range of motion in the joints can be minimized. This can put a limits on active lifestyles and even on your day-to-day, normal activities. Tasks that used to be simple, such as zipping up a dress or reaching down to tie a shoe or reaching  for a can off of the top shelf,  can become extremely difficult. A regular stretching program can help lengthen your muscles and make daily activities easier.

Everyone can learn to stretch, regardless of age or flexibility. Stretching should be a part of your daily routine, whether you exercise or not. There are simple stretches you can do while watching TV, on the computer, or getting ready for bed. If you are doing strength training exercises, stretch in between sets. It feels good and saves time from stretching at the end of the workout!

Stretching can end up giving you huge results! Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect from a regular stretching program:

• Reduced muscle tension
• Increased range of movement in the joints
• Enhanced muscular coordination
• Increased circulation of the blood to various parts of the body
• Increased energy levels (resulting from increased circulation)

Stretching is important for people of all ages! One of the greatest benefits of stretching is that you’re able to increase your range of motion, which means your limbs and joints can move further before an injury occurs. Post-exercise stretching can also aid in workout recovery, decrease muscle soreness, and ensure that your muscles and tendons are in good working order. The more conditioned your muscles and tendons are, the better they can handle sport and exercise, and the less likely that they'll become injured. 

Stretching comes naturally to all of us. You might notice that if you have been sitting in a particular position for a long time, you stretch unconsciously. It feels good! In addition to that good feeling, a consistent stretching program will produce large gains in flexibility and joint movement. Be kind to your muscles and they will be kind to you!

Information gathered from http://www.sparkpeople.com

Call today for a free stretch session or posture evaluation. 801-703-8503. 

Gary Rumel, Corrective Therapist

FitworksCorrective Therapy

www.fitworksutah.com