Dr. Jolie Bookspan

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Flexibility training is often thought to reduce injuries. But the actual number of injuries may show that stretching isn’t as preventive as hoped. The reason seems to be how people stretch, and then how they move during exercise and daily life.

Stretches That Make You Tighter
After rounding forward all day over the computer, desk, steering wheel, handlebars, and backpack, more forward rounding is not a healthful or needed stretch.

The problem is that many people do most or all of their stretches by bending forward. They touch toes, bring knee to chest, hang forward at the waist, bring arm forward over the body, lunge forward, and other forward bending stretches. The back pain articles on this web site describe the problems that all this forward bending causes to the muscles, bones, and discs of your back.

All the forward stretching does stretch your back, but the muscles back there are already too long and overstretched. The muscles in front - in the chest and the front of the shoulder get shorter and tighter.

 

After bending forward over a computer all day,
you don’t need more forward bending as a stretch

The result is very common - many people lack flexibility needed to simply stand up straight. This often results in chronic low-grade aches, injury, and wear and tear from habitual unhealthy positioning.
Test Yourself
Stand against a wall with the back of your head, shoulders, hip, and heels touching. Are your back and shoulders too rounded to do this? Does your chin jut forward or lift up? Do you have to arch your back to touch your head? Is your hip so tight that your back is uncomfortable to stand straight? Can you lie flat without a pillow under head or knees?

You can test your posture and correct it when you pass a doorway or take an elevator

Good Stretches for Your Real Life Needs
To have the upper body flexibility just to stand up straight, you need two main stretches:

- Chest (pectoral muscle) Stretch. Stand upright near a wall. Notice the positioning of your hands and note if your thumbs point toward each other. This turning-in of your arm bone usually indicates shortening of your chest (pectoral) muscles. Note that trying to hold your arms with thumbs facing forward may feel tight or unnatural, because tightness prevents it. Face the wall and pull one bent elbow behind you. Turn your body away from the wall and use the wall to gently pull the elbow back. Feel the stretch in the anterior chest muscles. Don’t hunch or tighten the shoulder. Hold a few seconds on each side. Drop arms and observe thumb positioning, which this stretch corrects by lengthening the previously tight anterior chest. Test by standing against the wall again. Muscle length should now be more comfortable, making it possible to stand straight, with heels, hip, back and the back of the head touching. Do this first thing in the morning, before exercise, and throughout the day to restore healthy shoulder and head positioning.

Use a wall or doorway to gently pull your elbow back until you feel the front
of your chest stretch pleasantly Hold a few seconds and switch sides.

- Trapezius (top of shoulder) Stretch. Stand straight, placing one hand behind the opposite hip, as if in an opposite pants pocket. Tilt head toward the hand, stretching the side of the neck, body and, as you slide the other hand down toward the knee, the side of the hip. Do both sides for a few seconds each. Keep breathing. Don’t lean forward. Try the “wall stand” posture check again. It should become even more comfortable and possible.- Whole Body Stretch. Lie on the floor flat on your back without a pillow. Don’t lift your chin or arch your back. Practice relaxed straight posture.

. Stand straight, placing one hand behind the opposite hip, as if in an opposite pants pocket. Tilt head toward the hand, stretching the side of the neck, body and, as you slide the other hand down toward the knee, the side of the hip. Do both sides for a few seconds each. Keep breathing. Don’t lean forward. Try the “wall stand” posture check again. It should become even more comfortable and possible.- Whole Body Stretch. Lie on the floor flat on your back without a pillow. Don’t lift your chin or arch your back. Practice relaxed straight posture.

Can you put your arms straight out to the side on the floor without arching your back? Can you bend your elbows with hands against the floor, as if in “a stick-up?” Can you hold upper arms against your ears, still touching the floor without arching your back? Many people are so round-shouldered that this is uncomfortable or impossible. Use the two stretches above.

More Good Stretches
Of many good stretches, main areas to stretch for health and posture are the anterior shoulder and chest as described above plus the two extension exercises that follow, the hip, hamstrings, and feet.
Anterior (front) Shoulder and Chest.
Tight, rounded chest and shoulders contribute to neck pain, shoulder and upper back pain, and shoulder pain. Here are easy stretches you can do during the day:

- Upper Back Stretch. Lie on your back with a small roll, pillow, or soft log-like support vertically between your shoulders. Retract shoulders to the floor over this roll without arching your low back.

- Upper Back Extension. Lie facedown, hands at sides, and off the floor. Slowly lift your upper body a few inches, then lower. This upper back extension is an effective postural strengthener that combines range of motion. As you progress, move your hands to the side, then overhead.

Hip and Thigh
Tight muscles in front of your hip, common in people who sit a lot, change the normal angle of your hip and low back, inhibiting normal standing, walking, and running, adding a large share of low back pain. Look at fitness magazines and see that many people are pictured bent forward at the hip when standing. This is bad posture and a tight hip.

- The lunge, described in the full-length back pain article is an important functional stretch for the front of the hip and thigh, Achilles tendon, and foot. Tuck your hip under without leaning back to feel the stretch in the hip flexor (muscle that bends your hip forward). This is the muscle that gets very tight from sitting and doing hip bending exercises like Pilates.

Keep weight over both legs (happy first drawing)
not leaning over front knee (second figure who is not happy)

- Bridging. Lie face up with bent knees. Lift hips from the floor until the crease straightens where your body meets your legs.

- Figure Four. To stretch the deep hip muscles, lie face up on the floor with your knees bent, both feet on the floor. Cross one ankle on the opposite knee. Gently press the crossed knee away. Lift the other foot from the floor. Hold briefly, then drop both legs to each side gently. Repeat with other ankle crossed. For this same stretch in a chair, sit up, one ankle crossed over other knee. Press the crossed knee down. Arch your entire back and lift your head up, chin in as you lean slightly forward.

- Lower Back Extension. An effective low back and hip strengthener that includes a functional stretch is prone (lying face down) back extension. Lie face down, hands under chin or at your sides. Slowly lift legs a few inches, then lower. Keep knees straight. Or start by doing one leg at a time, then progressing to both.

- Quadriceps Stretch. To stretch your quadriceps (front thigh muscles) while standing, hold one foot behind you. Tuck your hip. Arching the back will lose the stretch. To protect the knee, push your foot away into your hand, don’t pull your foot in to your behind.
- To stretch your quadriceps lying down, curl on one side, both knees bent in front. Extend the top leg behind you, foot in hand. Keep the bottom knee bent in front.

Hamstrings
It’s well documented that bending forward from a stand overloads your low back structures. It doesn’t become healthy by calling it a stretch.
- To stretch your hamstrings without pressuring the discs in your back and neck, lie on the floor and lift one leg pointing to the sky. Keep the other leg straight and flat on the floor. Keep your shoulders and neck relaxed on the floor. Don’t round your back and call it a leg stretch.

Trainers often say to bend the bottom leg to “protect” your back,
but you lose a good stretch that way, and can easily protect your back
by using your own muscles to properly position yourself

- Notice if your anterior hip is so tight that the leg on the floor lifts too. Stretch your anterior hip with lunges, described earlier, so that you can stretch your leg without straining other parts.

Don’t crane your neck or let your bottom leg be pulled up

- To stretch both legs at the same time, lie supine with both legs overhead. Keep the low back and hip on the floor. Arch your low back to lengthen the stretch. Bend your ankles to stretch even more.

- To stretch your hamstrings while standing, face a bench or chair and prop one foot on it directly in front of you. The key to this stretch is to keep the standing foot straight forward, not turned out. Keep the foot on the support toe-up. Drop the hip of your lifted leg down and square with your standing leg. Arch your low back slightly to lengthen the hamstring, without rounding your back.
Achilles and Foot
Tight hip, calf, and Achilles contribute to walking “duck-footed” or toe-out. The resulting change in gait and stance may wear on ankles, knees, hips, and big toe, and contribute to bunion formation. Tight feet add to plantar fasciitis.

- Try the lunge described the back pain article. Stand up, feet apart. Slide one foot comfortably back, keeping the foot straight not turned out. Bend knees to dip toward the floor without touching the floor. Don’t let your front knee come forward. Keep front knee over ankle. Don’t arch your back. Tip your hip under to prevent arching and straighten your posture. Don’t lean back. Keep the hip tucked and back foot straight, not turned outward.

- Wall Lunge. A common Achilles stretch is lunging against a wall. It is ineffective when done with the hip bent and your behind protruding in back instead of tucked inward. Bring your hip forward, as if trying to touch it to the wall. Keep your back foot straight, not turned out or the stretch is lost and your knee bears the pressure.

- “Downward dog” is an effective multi-joint stretch with body weight supported on hands, protecting the back. Put your hands and feet on the floor, hands far forward of the feet like starting a push-up, with weight mostly on hands. Keep your feet where they are, and lift hips up in the air pushing backward until your heels relax to the floor. Arch your back, rather than letting it round or hunch. Relax your head down. Keep your feet straight, not turned, weight on soles, not arches. Push your fingers forward with straight, not locked elbows. Keep your hands and feet far apart, with weight on your arms. You probably have seen dogs and cats stretch this way.

- Daily Positioning. During daily walking and movement, don’t let your body weight fall inward on your arches, keep weight on the sole of the foot. Sagging arches is a stretch, but a bad one that you can avoid. Point your toes straight ahead. This prevents uneven and unhealthy stretch forces that gradually deform your feet, ankles, and knees. Make sure straight leg posture continues through your knee and hip, to prevent straightening your foot from overstraining another part.

Avoidable Stretching Injuries
Just as not all foods are necessary or healthy, neither are several common stretches.

- Shoulder stands and “the plow” in yoga, force your spine into extreme bending (flexion), promoting the common poor posture of forward head and round shoulders. Pressure on the long ligament of the spine may cause overstretch it. Overstretched ligaments do not return to normal length and cannot you’re your vertebrae or discs in positions. Chronic high bending force may eventually degenerate and herniate cervical discs and promote bone spur.

- A common shoulder stretch involves bending forward with your arms lifted behind you with clasped hands. The resulting unsupported forward bending promotes disc degeneration and herniation. The forced shoulder overextension overloads the shoulder capsule.

- The “hurdler’s stretch” (sitting with one knee rotated and bent laterally, pictured at the beginning of this article) and yoga knee stretches involving lying back on folded, rotated knees, forcibly overlengthens the ligament on the inner side of your knee (medial collateral ligament). Highly flexing the knee under load also puts high pressure on your kneecap.- Don’t let anyone sit on, or press your back into rounded position.

- Don’t “butterfly” knees (flap up and down vigorously) when sitting with bent knees and soles of feet touching. Don’t let anyone stand on or push your knees to help you stretch.

- When leaning back to stretch, whether standing, sitting, or lying, keep your chin in, don’t crane your neck. Stretch by reversing the outward curve of your upper back (thoracic kyphosis) to an inner curve, not craning your neck and pinching and pressuring discs, and promoting poor neck posture.

- When sitting cross-legged, stretch from the hip rather than bending your ankle upward. Overstretching ligaments on the side of your ankle leaves the ankle prone to sprains.

- Remember that slouching is a stretch — but a bad one. Your back and neck become overstretched, weak, and rounded. Many people stand and sit round-shouldered with forward head and poor low back posture all day. Don’t compound the problem with continued forward stretching.

- Stretch muscles not joints. Don’t force joints into such ligament laxity that they no longer seat properly.

- When stretching one area, don’t strain another. When you stretch hamstrings, don’t substitute craning your neck and rounding your shoulders. When you stretch the front of your thigh by holding a bent leg behind you, don’t arch your back. When stretching arms overhead, stretch from the shoulder, not from arching your back.

- Strengthen, rather than just stretch. Unstable joints slowly wear and tear. In a sudden situation, weak, loose joints are predisposed to pulls or dislocation. Chronically holding a muscle in a stretched position weakens it. Chronic slouching and long sitting weakens the muscles of your back and hip. Hard stretching just before an athletic event may reduce the tendinous stiffness that helps elastic recoil during high exertion, possibly reducing maximum strength.

Use good healthy stretching, described in this article, to regain needed muscle length for healthy positioning. That is how stretching can benefit you in your daily life.

Try it and see how to feel better now.

For More Stretching
Try our fun class “Stretch and Feel Better.”