How To Build Stretching Into Your Daily Routine

If you’ve ever seen a musculoskeletal (MSK) practitioner such as a Physiotherapist, Chiropractor or Massage therapist for any pain or niggles, it’s highly likely that, alongside the hands-on treatment you received, you were probably advised on a small handful of stretches to do at home. And with the wonders of the internet a simple search on “stretches for low back pain” will deliver hundreds of thousands of (mostly) useful stretches that you can do to help yourself. In this blog post we are going to look at some of the benefits of stretching and how to build stretching into your daily routine.

Why Is Stretching So Important?

Stretching is good for almost everyone. If you sit for prolonged periods of time at a desk, or in the car then giving your tissues a good old stretch will help to counteract the static positions that you find yourselves in day to day. 

If you exercise or train regularly then you no doubt know that you should be doing some form of regular stretching throughout the week to help with your recovery.

Stretching has a high number of benefits for your body. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Increased blood flow to flush out toxins and keep you healthy and energised
• Encouraging your joints to stay mobile and lubricated
• Lengthening of tight muscles that have been ‘stuck’ in certain postures all day
• Relaxation of muscles that may have been overworked through exercise or training
• Encouraging healthy digestion by allowing space and movement for your internal organs
• Improving your posture by mobilising and thus ‘resetting’ your skeletal system

Building The Stretching Routine

Be honest, if you have ever been given a series of stretches to do by yourself, have you stuck diligently and consistently to them? Probably not (myself included!). Many of us may have a go at some of the stretches once or twice, maybe even for a week or two. But it seems so easy to let it slide out of your routine until you feel your pain or tightness creeping back in again, and likely need to see your practitioner for more hands-on work for the same issues repeatedly.

Whilst many people love to regularly see their Chiropractor or Massage therapist for top ups even once they’re out of the initial struggle of acute injury, it’s common that people will let their own mobility slide.

BUT did you know that performing your own stretching at home between appointments will actually prolong the benefits of your treatment and will often allow the therapist to then work on other important and associated areas to progress you even further to full fitness and health.

When it comes to looking after your own health it’s important to remember two things:

1. Nothing worth doing is easy, there will always be an element of effort required.
2. Consistency trumps intensity everytime. Focus on a daily habit that is achievable for you and work at sticking to it. If you miss a day then jump back on it the next day. Where stretching is concerned just 5-10 minutes a day is often all that is required to build this habit.

Why Is It So Hard To Stick To A Stretching Routine?

Here are 3 common barriers that hinder our compliance to sticking with regular stretching and how we can help at SYNERGY:

1. You aren’t sure what to do – At SYNERGY, your therapist will take the time to go through a short plan with you and will explain to you the reasons for each stretch. And, if you’re serious about your fitness, you can book an appointment with one of our MYO-REHAB therapists to go through a concise but specific sequence of stretches tailored entirely to your needs and requirements. We communicate in-house in order to provide the safest and most effective session for you.
2. You don’t have time to stretch for ages each day – We make a point of keeping your at-home programmes as concise as possible. We understand that you have many other priorities in your day-to-day life and likely do not have the leisure of spending an extra hour in the gym every day to stretch and recover! The beauty of consistency is that it actually doesn’t require much time at all in one go. As long as you tick off your stretches in a ‘little and often’ approach, you will make as many gains (if not more) than you would spending a long time stretching once or twice a week.
3. You forget what the stretches are and how to do them – Our therapists at SYNERGY can provide a detailed programme of your stretches to do at home so that you have cues and reminders on not only the stretch, but what you’re aiming for with each one. This is to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your time spent on your recovery at home.

So, no excuses! You know the huge benefits of stretching, and we know how to deliver the best stretches to you in the most time-effective way. Ask one of our therapists about how you can enhance your treatment at SYNERGY by adding your very own short stretching regime to your recovery!