Should I stretch?

Most people when realizing that they can’t touch their toes come to grips with the fact that they may need to stretch. In some cases flexibility can cause lower back pain. I will isolate this discussion to the times that it DOES cause lower back pain and in the next newsletter I will tell you when stretching is a waste of time.

While looking into a full-length mirror if you were to bend down to touch your toes, if you notice that your lower back is not 90 degrees to the ground, you will benefit from stretching. What happens is that if the back of your legs are inflexible, your lower back will get strained repeatedly when you bend forward. Repeated sprains to your back can lead to early stage arthritis and decay of the discs. This is the reason why you want to stretch.

To improve the length of the back of the legs, it is important to stretch a little bit seven days a week than to stretch aggressively but infrequently.

To stretch the back of the leg without harming the lower back, you need to learn to bend from the hip. The position to do this is either standing with the stretched leg up on a chair, or lying on your back and pulling the leg up to the sky.

If you hold this position for 60 seconds in a relaxed position, you will find that over time you will gain greater flexibility.

How long does it take to get “flexible?”

For some people it can take forever because of the elasticity of their entire body. Most people will notice a difference in flexibility within two weeks. It’s important to stretch daily if you want to get quick results. In addition to this, you must continuously stretch in order to maintain the flexibility.