Stretch Your Way To A Pain Free Life

Dr. Doug - Chiropractor
Feb 4, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Feb 20, 2025

Dr. Doug - Chiropractor in Brampton - Voted Best Chiropractor 2024

Person stretching to feel healthy with arms above head. — Are Your Muscles Short, Stiff and Tight? Stretch!

Stretching...The Forgotten Part Of Your Routine!

Stretching is an important daily activity to maintain muscle health and good mobility. Athletic people need to stretch a lot and others who are more sedentary need to stretch, too… maybe even more!

Stretching Keep Muscles Elastic

For people who exercise, it might be the forgotten part of their workout. When you work to strengthen your muscles they also become tighter. To counter this ever increasing muscle tightening and keep a good range of motion you need to stretch. Stretching improves the elasticity of muscles, which helps to prevent injury.

Sedentary People and Muscle Memory

For people who are less active, one issue is “muscle memory.” Staying in one position, like sitting at a desk, allows muscles to get used to being short. Over time, the muscles assumes this is the “normal” length. Sitting shortens hip flexors (front of the hips). When trying to stand, you might feel that you can’t straighten up all the way. Your hip flexors are trying to maintain this shorted position.

Effective Stretching

You need to get into a specific position to stretch a particular muscle. Stretching should be done in a way that doesn’t feel painful. Holding a stretch too long may cause the muscle to go into a protective mode, and rebound to an even shorter position. A comfortable stretch should be held between 20 and 30 seconds. Faster stretches feel good, but do not create a lasting effect. Also, remember that stretching is safer and more effective if your muscles are warmed up. Walking or other gentle movements are enough to warm up before you stretch.

Did you know that there are about 600 muscles in the human body?

Determining which muscles need stretching involves a bit of detective work, so getting a personalized stretching plan from Dr. Doug is a very good place to start.