Alexandria Wyckoff
Stretching the various parts of your body is essential to maintaining your overall wellness. Other than maintenance, stretching benefits include avoiding injury, improving performance, and facilitating comfortable movement as you age. However, there is a right and a wrong way to stretching, and sometimes those common stretching mistakes can really hurt your muscles. Make sure to follow these tips to avoid common stretching mistakes and keep your body happy and healthy.
6. Not stretching often enough
Starting our list of common stretching mistakes is not stretching often enough. Stretching is important to everyone and can help maintain flexibility and mobility in joints and muscles. Avoiding stretching can cause muscles to shorten, limiting movement and increasing stiffness and discomfort. For those who struggle with chronic pain, it can help ease the pain and provide some relief.
5. Stretching injured muscles
Fifth on our list of common stretching mistakes is stretching an injured muscle. While it may seem that stretching will help with the pain, that’s not true. It will actually prolong the healing process and keep your body in pain longer. Ideally, injured muscles need a break to heal correctly. Instead of stretching, rest and apply heat or ice to the injury to recover.
4. Holding your breath
Next on our list of common stretching mistakes is holding your breath. While it may seem like a small part of stretching, conscious breathing makes stretching more effective. Some people may unknowingly hold their breath while stretching, causing the muscles to be tense and resistant. By breathing through each movement, blood flow brings oxygen to the muscles and allows them to relax into the stretch.
3. Bouncy stretches
Rounding out the top three common stretching mistakes is bouncing during the stretch. If you bounce too vigorously during the movement, it can quickly lead to a pulled muscle. The back-and-forth motion can trigger the muscle to tighten itself, defeating the purpose of the stretch. Instead, gradually lean into the stretch. Hold the stretch and allow your muscles to relax and stretch, then repeat the motion to continue increasing your range of motion.
2. Not warming up
Second on the list of common stretching mistakes is not warming up. While it may seem confusing, as stretching is often seen as the warm-up before physical activity, you do actually need to warm up before stretching, too. A pre-stretch warm-up helps increase the body’s core temperature to make the muscles more receptive and increase blood flow to each one. This warm-up can include jogging in place, jumping jacks, or a brisk walk.
1. Improper techniques
Last but not least on our list of common stretching mistakes is improper technique. Using the right stretch to release your muscles is crucial, and using the wrong type of stretch at the wrong time can lead to more pain, a pulled muscle, or other issues. Instead, decide between dynamic stretching or static stretching, or research which stretches are best suited to your fitness level and the activity you will be completing.