Stretching and Flexibility for Real Life

Dr. Bookspan's training methods, used by military and top rehab centers around the world,
are so successful that she has been named "The St. Jude of the Joints."

Stretches That Make You Tighter
After rounding forward all day over the computer, desk, steering wheel, handlebars, and backpack, more forward rounding is not a healthful or needed stretch.

The problem is that many people do most or all of their stretches by bending forward. They touch toes, bring knee to chest, hang forward at the waist, bring arm forward over the body, lunge forward, and other forward bending stretches. The back pain articles on this web site describe the problems that all this forward bending causes to the muscles, bones, and discs of your back.

All the forward stretching does stretch your back, but the muscles back there are already too long and overstretched. The muscles in front - in the chest and the front of the shoulder get shorter and tighter.

After bending forward over a computer all day,
you don't need more forward bending as a stretch

The result is very common - many people lack flexibility needed to simply stand up straight. This often results in chronic low-grade aches, injury, and wear and tear from habitual unhealthy positioning.

Can you lie down flat face up without a pillow under your head or knees and be comfortable?
Stand against a wall with the back of your head, shoulders, hip, and heels touching, as in the figure at far right in the drawing below.

You can test your posture and correct it when you pass a doorway or take an elevator

1. Are your back and shoulders too rounded forward, or your hip too tight in front to comfortably stand against the wall (first figure at left)?
2. Do you overarch your lower back or lean back (second figure from right)?
3. Does your head chin jut forward or lift up (first three figures from left)?
4. Do you have to overarch the lower back to touch your head (#4)?
5. Straight position should feel natural. If not, use the two stretches that follow.

Good Stretches for Your Real Life
To have the upper body flexibility just to stand up straight, use two main stretches:

1. Chest (pectoral muscle) Stretch. Face a wall with one arm bent to the side. Elbow at around ear height. Inside of arm touches wall. Turn your body away from the wall so that the wall gently braces the elbow back. Feel the stretch in the front chest muscles. Don't hunch or tighten the shoulder. Hold a few seconds on each side. Drop arms and test by standing against the wall again. Muscle length should now be more comfortable, making it possible to stand straight, with heels, hip, back and the back of the head touching. Do this first thing in the morning, before exercise, and throughout the day to restore healthy shoulder and head positioning.

Use a wall or doorway to gently pull your elbow back until you feel the front
of your chest stretch pleasantly Hold a few seconds and switch sides.

2. Trapezius (top of shoulder) Stretch. Stand straight, placing one hand behind the opposite hip, as if in an opposite pants pocket. Tilt head toward the hand, stretching the side of the neck, body and, as you slide the other hand down toward the knee, the side of the hip. Keep the back of your head and body against a wall at first to learn where straight position is.Do both sides for a few seconds each. Keep breathing. Don't lean forward. Try the "wall stand" posture check again. It should become even more comfortable and possible.- Whole Body Stretch. Lie on the floor flat on your back without a pillow. Don't lift your chin or arch your back. Practice relaxed straight posture.

Restore Muscle Length To Make Healthy Posture Comfortable and Possible
When lying on your back the floor (or other flat surface), can you lie comfortably without lifting your chin or craning your neck?
When lying on your back the floor (or other flat surface), can you put your arms on the floor over your head without arching your back and lifting your ribs?
When lying on your back the floor (or other flat surface), can you bend your elbows with hands against the floor, as if in "a stick-up?"
Many people are so round-shouldered that this is uncomfortable or impossible. Use the two stretches above.

More Good Stretches
Of many good stretches, main areas to stretch for health and posture are the anterior shoulder and chest as described above, plus the the ones that follow:

Upper Body
3. Upper Back Stretch. Lie on your back with a small roll, pillow, or soft log-like support vertically between your shoulders. Retract shoulders to the floor over this roll without arching your low back. Click Quick, Feel-Good Upper Back and Chest Stretch to see this stretch featured on my health column The FItness Fixer.

4. Upper Back Extension. Lie face down, hands at sides, and off the floor. Slowly lift your upper body a few inches, then lower. This upper back extension is an effective postural strengthener that combines range of motion. As you progress, move your hands to the side, then overhead. Back extension is important to teach your back muscles how to hold themselves up, not rounded. It is a good exercise because it also unloads the discs while working the muscles. Bending forward loads the discs. back extension is a far better exercise than standing on knees and hands, and lifting one leg and arm.

Hip and Thigh
Tight muscles in front of your hip, common in people who sit a lot, change the normal angle of your hip and low back, inhibiting normal standing, walking, and running, adding a large share of low back pain. Look at fitness magazines and see that many people are pictured bent forward at the hip when standing. This is bad posture and a tight hip.

5. The lunge, described in the full-length back pain article is an important functional stretch for the front of the hip and thigh, Achilles tendon, and foot. Tuck your hip under without leaning back to feel the stretch in the hip flexor (muscle that bends your hip forward). This is the muscle that gets very tight from sitting and doing hip bending exercises like Pilates.

Keep weight over both legs (happy first drawing)
not leaning over front knee (second figure who is not happy)

6. Hip. TIght front hip causes many problems. A quick feel-good stretch for the front of the hip is to lie face up on a bed or bench with hips right at the edge. Let legs stretch downward off the beg, feet dangling and feel the stretch in the front of the hip (not lower back).If lower back pinches, you are arching. Stop arching by pressing lower back more toward the bed. Feel the stretch move to front hip. Click Fast Fitness - Quick Relaxing Hip Stretch to see this stretch on the fitness column:

To stretch the deeper front hip muscles, lie face up on the floor with both knees bent, both feet on the floor. Cross one ankle on the opposite knee. Gently press the crossed knee away.

To stretch back hip muscles, cross ankle as above Notice which direction the raised foot is facing. Slide the other foot (the one on the floor or bed) and knee in that direction. To see this stretch on the fitness column, click Fast Fitness - Better Posterior Hip and Piriform Stretch
For this same stretch in a chair, sit up, one ankle crossed over other knee. Press the crossed knee down. Arch your entire back and lift your head up, chin in as you lean slightly forward.

7. Lower Back Extension. An effective low back and hip strengthener that includes a functional stretch is prone (lying face down) back extension. Lie face down, hands under chin or at your sides. Slowly lift legs a few inches, then lower. Keep knees straight. Or start by doing one leg at a time, then progressing to both. Lower back extension is a good way to help your hip muscles lengthen while working. Most people only bend forward at the hip to exercise, making a tighter hip, more likely to hurt. Back extension has the benefit of unloading the discs. Bending forward puts much load on them. Extension relieves this. This is one of several reasons why back extension is a far better exercise than standing on hands and knees and lifting a leg and arm.

8. Quadriceps Stretch. To stretch your quadriceps (front thigh muscles) while standing, hold one foot behind you. Tuck your hip. Arching the back will lose the stretch. To protect the knee, push your foot away into your hand, don't pull your foot in to your behind.
- To stretch your quadriceps lying down, curl on one side, both knees bent in front. Extend the top leg behind you, foot in hand. Keep the bottom knee bent in front.

9. Hamstrings
It's well documented that bending forward from a stand overloads your low back structures. It doesn't become healthy by calling it a stretch.
- To stretch your hamstrings without pressuring the discs in your back and neck, lie on the floor and lift one leg pointing to the sky. Keep the other leg straight and flat on the floor. Keep your shoulders and neck relaxed on the floor. Don't round your back and call it a leg stretch.

Trainers often say to bend the bottom leg to "protect" your back,
but you lose a good stretch that way, and can easily protect your back
by using your own muscles to properly position yourself

- Notice if your anterior hip is so tight that the leg on the floor lifts too. Stretch your anterior hip with lunges, described earlier, so that you can stretch your leg without straining other parts.

- To stretch both legs at the same time, lie supine with both legs overhead. Keep the low back and hip on the floor. Arch your low back to lengthen the stretch. Bend your ankles to stretch even more.

- To stretch your hamstrings while standing, face a bench or chair and prop one foot on it directly in front of you. The key to this stretch is to keep the standing foot straight forward, not turned out. Keep the foot on the support toe-up. Drop the hip of your lifted leg down and square with your standing leg. Arch your low back slightly to lengthen the hamstring, without rounding your back.

Achilles and Foot
Tight hip, calf, and Achilles contribute to walking "duck-footed" or toe-out. The resulting change in gait and stance may wear on ankles, knees, hips, and big toe, and contribute to bunion formation. Tight feet add to plantar fasciitis.

10. Try the lunge described the back pain article. Stand up, feet apart. Slide one foot comfortably back, keeping the foot straight not turned out. Bend knees to dip toward the floor without touching the floor. Don't let your front knee come forward. Keep front knee over ankle. Don't arch your back. Tip your hip under to prevent arching and straighten your posture. Don't lean back. Keep the hip tucked and back foot straight, not turned outward.

11. Wall Achilles. A common Achilles stretch is lunging against a wall. It is one of the most ineffective ways to stretch the Achilles tendon, especially when done with the hip bent and your behind protruding in back instead of tucked under. The hip tuck is described in the article on How To Use Abs. A far better Achilles stretch is the Wall Achilles stretch. Stand facing a wall at arm's length. Arm's length away will seem too close but it is not. With both feet facing directly straight forward, not turned out, put one foot up against the wall at knee height. Stand up straight, not bending forward, and without curling your back or hip under. Keep your back foot straight, not turned out or the stretch is lost and your knee bears the pressure.

The Wall Achilles stretch is more effective than the standard "lunge and lean." Press your heel against the wall. Stand straight. Look down to make sure your standing foot is straight forward, not turned out, not even a little.

12. "Downward dog" is an effective multi-joint stretch with body weight supported on hands, protecting the back. Put your hands and feet on the floor, hands far forward of the feet like starting a push-up, with weight mostly on hands. Keep your feet where they are, and lift hips up in the air pushing backward until your heels relax to the floor. Arch your back, rather than letting it round or hunch. Relax your head down. Keep your feet straight, not turned, weight on soles, not arches. Push your fingers forward with straight, not locked elbows. Keep your hands and feet far apart, with weight on your arms. You probably have seen dogs and cats stretch this way.

13. Daily Positioning Gives a Built-In Stretch. During daily walking and movement, don't let your body weight fall inward on your arches, keep weight on the sole of the foot. Sagging arches is a stretch, but a bad one that you can avoid. Point your toes straight ahead. This prevents uneven and unhealthy stretch forces that gradually deform your feet, ankles, and knees. Make sure straight leg posture continues through your knee and hip, to prevent straightening your foot from overstraining another part.

Easily Avoid Stretching Injuries
Just as not all foods are necessary or healthy, neither are several common stretches:

Shoulder stands and "the plow" in yoga, force your spine into extreme bending (flexion), promoting the common poor posture of forward head and round shoulders. Pressure on the long ligament of the spine may cause overstretch it. Overstretched ligaments do not return to normal length and cannot hold your vertebrae or discs in positions. Chronic high bending force may eventually degenerate and herniate cervical discs and promote bone spur.
A common shoulder stretch involves bending forward with your arms lifted behind you with clasped hands. The resulting unsupported forward bending promotes disc degeneration and herniation. The forced shoulder overextension overloads the shoulder capsule.
Stop pulling one arm in front of your body. It is The Stretch You Need The Least
The "hurdler's stretch" (sitting with one knee rotated and bent laterally, pictured at the beginning of this article) and yoga knee stretches involving lying back on folded, rotated knees, forcibly over-lengthens the ligament on the inner side of your knee (medial collateral ligament). Highly flexing the knee under load also puts high pressure on your kneecap.- Don't let anyone sit on, or press your back into rounded position.
Don't "butterfly" knees (flap up and down vigorously) when sitting with bent knees and soles of feet touching. Don't let anyone stand on or push your knees to help you stretch.
When leaning back to stretch, whether standing, sitting, or lying, keep your chin in, don't crane your neck. Stretch by reversing the outward curve of your upper back (thoracic kyphosis) to an inner curve, not craning your neck and pinching and pressuring discs, and promoting poor neck posture.
When sitting cross-legged, look to see if you are bending your ankle sideways/upward. Straighten your ankle and the stretch will move more to the hip. Stretch from the hip rather than bending your ankle upward. Overstretching ligaments on the side of your ankle leaves the ankle prone to sprains.
Remember that slouching is a stretch – but a bad one. Your back and neck become overstretched, weak, and rounded. Many people stand and sit round-shouldered with forward head and poor low back posture all day. Don't compound the problem with continued forward stretching.
Stretch muscles not joints. Don't force joints into such ligament laxity that they no longer "seat" properly.
When stretching one area, don't strain another. When you stretch hamstrings, don't substitute craning your neck and rounding your shoulders. When you stretch the front of your thigh by holding a bent leg behind you, don't arch your back. When stretching arms overhead, stretch from the shoulder, not from arching your back.
Strengthen, rather than just stretch. Overly loosened joints can become unstable. Unstable joints slowly wear and tear. In a sudden situation, weak, loose joints are predisposed to pulls or dislocation.
Slouching really isn't good. Keeping muscles in lengthened positions weakens them. Chronic slouching and long sitting weakens the muscles of your back and hip.

Use good healthy stretching, described in this article, to regain needed muscle length for healthy positioning. That is how stretching can benefit you in your daily life.

Try these easy principles when you stretch and see how to feel better starting now.

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