Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy: Valentine Special#links

Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy: Valentine Special#links

To Reach Your Goals - One Must Stretch

Exercise is a three-step process: stretching, exercising, and abdominal strengthening. Stretching prepares you for the work of exercise, and is done first — before anything else — gently and gradually.
You may be tighter than usual on a particular day. This is not important — you should never try to stretch to where “you think you should be”. Just stretch, making sure to pay attention to what you’re doing. It’s easy to injure a muscle if you’re thinking about something else, or if you’re rushing, trying to squeeze in some stretching before dashing off to the gym.
Every day I remind my clients to stretch and spend some portion of our session demonstrating on them or for them simple Range of Motion (ROM) exercises that will release/reduce chronic muscle tension, increase their flexibility and improve circulation.
Some simple ROM moves you can do before you even get out of the bed in the morning include:

• Massage your pectoral attachments at the clavicle (collar bone) with the opposite hand and then extend the working arm out to the side and let it drop over the side of the bed; this stretches your chest muscles and allows your shoulders to drop back to their normal position -- repeat for the other side.
• Lift one knee toward the "same-side" shoulder (it does not have to touch, just till you feel the stretch) and then move the knee towards the "opposite-side" shoulder; let hip relax by returning the knee to a 90-degree angle with the foot next to the inside of the other knee which straight and laying flat; now allow the knee to fall outward; this will open your hips and stretch your inner thigh -- repeat sequence with the other leg.
• Lift both knees to you chest and gently rock your legs from side to side; this opens up your lower back where so many of us feel our tension.

Stretching helps us not only reach physical fitness and health goals, but also emotional and intellectual goals. (Go with me on this one.) Poor health can make it difficult to interact with others, create or perpetuate self-sabotaging inner dialogues, and lead to depression.[1, 2, 3]. It's hard to focus on learning something new (whether at school or work) if you are distracted by low back pain or chronic headaches. Sometimes the pain is so constant we no longer consciously acknowledge it - it registers instead as fatigue or stiffness or irritability -- and who wants to be around that?
Start your day by stretching. You can do it before you get out of bed or even in the shower [4]. If you're feeling ambitious, exercise! It will help you wake up, shake the "cobwebs" away and prepare you for the day ahead.

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Sources

1. Postnatal depression across countries and cultures: a qualitative study" The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 184: s10-S16, © 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
2. "Sustained sleep deprivation impairs host defense" C. A. Everson, Clinical Psychobiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
3. "Depression and insomnia: questions of cause and effect" L Lustberg, CF Reynolds - Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2000
   "Research and treatment approaches to depression" ML Wong, J Licinio - Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2001
4. "Quick Start For The Slow Season" Sigal Meyuhas, aplaceofwellness.blogspot.com, Jan 2010