Stretching:Flexibility

Muscles, ligaments and joints require regular movement otherwise they will become stiff and inflexible and cause injury.  Flexibility is the ability to move joints and muscles through normal range of motion and is an important fitness measure.  We lose flexibility as we age, therefore stretching keeps muscles supple, preparing your for movement, helping you make the daily transition from inactivity to activity without undue strain.  Stretching is easy, but when done incorrectly, it can actually do more harm than good.

In addition, a flexible body is more efficient, it is more easily trained to strength and endurance, enjoys greater range of motion, which maximizes balance, coordination and mobility.  Stretching also helps keep muscles loose, which allows you to maintain proper posture and makes us less prone to injury, recovers from injury more quickly and feels better.

Various muscles of the spine serve very different purposes: some are position sensors, some act as stabilizers and others work to create powerful movements. Understanding spinal function has helped us develop more effective exercise programs which train the various trunk muscles for their special functions. One of the first steps to a program is stretching the muscles and only a relaxed muscle will allow itself to be stretched. Our objective is to reduce muscular tension, thereby promoting freer movement---not to concentrate on attaining extreme flexibility, which can lead to over stretching, instability and injury.

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