Should You Stretch?

Usually, you stumble onto your lack of motion. You reach for something high, just out of an easy reach and feel tightness in your shoulder; you bend down to pick something up and notice your lower back feels tight or stiff; you back the car out of the driveway and find it tough to turn your head far enough to really see behind you.

So, naturally, you begin to wonder if you should stretch something, somewhere, to improve your mobility.

Mobility is using your available motion and flexibility is just one mobility characteristic. It’s one of the factors that influences how easily and efficiently you move.  A person who demonstrates flexibility has pliable muscles that can be repeatedly stretched, actively or passively, without injury.

However, you can be flexible yet have reduced mobility because you can’t use the motion you have. This usually comes from weakness or lack of coordination.

So, you may not be able to reach above your head because you lack strength in certain muscles to fully coordinate the movement. It may feel as if you’re tight when actually you’re weak. If you start stretching areas that feel tight when they’re not, you’ll not only waste your time, but you could make the situation worse.

When you combine flexibility with strength and coordination you’ll get well controlled, smooth, and even elegant motion. You’ll move easily, not feel tight or off balance or struggle to complete the task. And to maintain this mobility, you have to use it regularly. If you don’t, your body will adapt and you will lose both flexibility and strength.

You need to focus your efforts on mobility / flexibility when you lack normal, pain-free passive movement of a joint or joints. You need to strengthen when you have normal passive motion but cannot move through that available motion.

Most people need to increase flexibility of and strengthen the shoulders, upper back, hamstrings and hip flexors and to a lesser extent the ankle and lower back. The reason is that most people’s lives do not require regular use of the entire range of motion of those body regions. Most people sit, work on a computer or at a desk and rarely make full use, for example, of reaching over head or 80 degrees of hamstring flexibility. Then, occasionally, they demand more mobility from their joints than they possess and run the risk of injury.

Remember that most injuries result from a physical demand in excess of physical capacity and that includes mobility.

So, here’s a quick test for balance, flexibility, and mobility of the trunk and lower body.

It’s from Yoga. The Warrior III pose.

Can you get into the position? Ideally our leg, trunk and arms form a straight line (and in this picture,  the leg and arms are a bit low). And if so, hold it for five, slow breaths?

Note where you feel tightness or immobility. Those are usually the areas that need attention.

If you can’t get do this, you can use elastic bands to support you (notice how much her posture improved). The idea here is to let the band do some of the work. I think you’ll be surprised at how much better you get at holding the pose and how much your overall flexibility and balance improves.