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We all wanted to grow up to be big and strong, but sometimes it’s not enough for our health to build muscle to achieve our fitness goal. It’s also important to think about flexibility and mobility, too. Stretching can help! With a body full of muscles, the idea of daily stretching may seem overwhelming, but we don’t have to stretch all our muscles every day.

Stretching your calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, shoulders, neck, and lower back can all be beneficial, but stretching once today won’t magically give you perfect flexibility. However, stretching for 10-15 minutes 3-5 times a week, or daily even, when done correctly, could help improve range of motion.

We should all stretch some to help protect our mobility and independence, as stretching can help the muscles remain flexible, strong, and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain the range of motion in all our joints. Without it, the muscles can shorten and become tight. Then, when you call on the muscles for activity, they are unable to extend all the way and that could potentially cause joint pain, strains, and muscle damage.

But how do we stretch our muscles without hurting ourselves? It’s important that we learn how to stretch properly. First, remember that stretching shouldn’t hurt, if you do feel pain, there may be an injury or damage. You should stop stretching that muscle and talk to your doctor. It’s good to take slow deep breaths while stretching, deep breathe into your stretch, and hold for 30-45 seconds, and finally breathe out and release. Remember not to bounce during your stretch, as that could cause injury. You’ll feel some tension during a stretch, but again you should not feel any pain.

It’s important to stretch before and after working out. A good warm-up for our muscles is about 5 to 10 minutes of light stretching before, to prepare our bodies. Post-workout, 5-10 minutes of light stretching can help your muscles cool down and relax. It can be beneficial to stretch after any kind of workout, including aerobic and weight-training workouts. And if you don’t exercise as often as you’d like to, that’s okay! You can still benefit from stretching, even without working out.

Questions about what stretches could help alleviate your muscles the most? To find a list of our recommended stretches, visit our Resources page, ashevilleartofchiropractic.com/resources/ or, come visit Doc! He can assess your muscle strength and help tailor a stretching program to better fit your needs. Feel free to give us a call at (828) 575-9631, or stop by and see us at 606 A New Leicester Hwy, in Asheville NC!