Denton County Living Well Magazine May/June 2018 | Page 22

The Importance of Stretching
By Julie Alvira, MD, MBA
W
hat happens when a
trainer has a client that
is 35 years of age with
the flexibility of a person
who is 70 years old?
One of the top fitness trends this year
is stretching. All of us have known
about stretching since we were kids in
PE class, but it wasn’t until recently that
stretching has become trendy.
Stretching has been associated with
yoga, but nowadays establishments
solely focusing on stretching are pop-
ping up everywhere. Luckily, we can
take advantage of summer season
and stretch outside in the company of
Mother Nature. Smell the flowers or the
salty scent of the ocean, feel the breeze
caressing your cheeks––inhale, exhale,
and you are ON! Think of stretching as
part of the workout for your brain rou-
tine where mind and body connect to
increase vitality and longevity.
How stretching can help you?
Besides relieving tension and stress,
and enhancing body posture, accord-
ing to a 2013 study by Harvard Medi-
cal School, the benefits of stretching
20
also include:
• keeping our muscles flexible
• increasing and maintaining range of
motion in joints
• increasing flexibility
• reducing the risk of injury
The American Academy of Sports Med-
icine (ACSM) recommends stretching at
least twice per week. The question lots
of people have asked me is, do I stretch
before or after exercise? My answer is,
“Both.” But, there’s a twist to the an-
swer. They’re different stretches to in-
corporate before and after exercise.
Before exercise, you should do dy-
namic stretching. After your work-
out, you should do static stretching.
Dynamic stretching, which is part of
a warm up, helps prepare our bod-
ies and joints for activity by help-
ing increase blood flow and muscle
temperature. The movements are dif-
ferent from static. Example: Before
squats you may want to dynamic
stretch the hip flexors, which are the
tightest muscles in the body.
Static stretching is better done in dif-
DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MAY/JUNE 2018
ferent angles and depends on the in-
tensity. You don’t want to stretch an
area with lots of intensity for a long
time because of muscle hypoxia.
The popular knowledge or general
guideline is to spend 30 seconds in a
stretch. That depends on a number of
factors including age, area, intensi-
ty, injuries, atrophy, scar tissue, and
muscle fatigue. If a person uses static
stretching in an area prior to a work-
out, it might translate into a decrease
in strength and power. Research on
this matter continues since it’s contro-
versial and there’re opposite views
on efficacy.
Advice: Remember, to gain lots of flexibil-
ity, time is your friend. Increased flexibil-
ity won’t happen in just one stretch ses-
sion in one day. It will happen over time.
Advice: Do not try to stretch when the body
is cold. You need blood flow to the areas.
Where can you stretch?
Stretch labs and studios across the nation
are becoming very popular. Their focus
is to educate individuals that stretching is
not just part of a yoga routine. If a person