Stretching the Kinks Out
By Ann Weber
Why do we stretch? Because it feels great!
But stretching doesn’t just feel good. It’s healthy, too! Stretching helps keep your muscles in peak condition. Proper stretching—gently extending your muscles toward full-length—has these positive health benefits:
- Improved circulation. Through increased blood flow, stretching brings nutrients to your muscles and flushes out toxins
- Increased flexibility. Stretching loosens your tendons and ligaments, which frees your joints to move easier and with less discomfort.
- Injury prevention. Healthier, toned muscles help your body perform properly during activity, reducing the risk of harm.
- Better sleep. Stretching eases stress and releases muscle tension in the tightest areas of your body—your neck, shoulders, back and hips—which helps you sleep better.
With summer activities in full swing, stretching both before and after exercise is key to maintaining your health and avoiding injury. Before activity, gentle stretching helps warm up your muscles. After exercise, stretching helps cool and lengthen your muscles.
Stretching can be part of your workout or it can be a workout all on its own—think yoga and Pilates. Or you can embrace a more passive form of stretching: massage therapy. Both stretching and massage release tight spots by lengthening your muscles.
When muscle fibers tighten, the proper exchange of fluids and nutrients are blocked. Stretching, like massage therapy, helps keep your muscles and joints supple by releasing tense muscles and stimulating blood supply. This helps your muscles stay healthy and flexible, protecting you from injury and speeding tissue repair.
"You get into trouble when the muscles get tight and other muscles ’take up’ for that area and work as they were not designed to do,' golf legend Lee Trevino recently told 'Massage Therapy Journal.' Massage therapy, which Trevino has made a consistent part of his life for more than a decade, has 'improved my performance and increased my longevity as a professional athlete,' he says. Because stretching and massage are a workout for your body, pay attention to your limits. Resist the temptation to overstretch. Stretch only as far as comfortably possible—not to the point of pain. If you’re receiving a massage, let your therapist know how much pressure is comfortable as the tight spots in your muscles are released.
If it’s been awhile since your muscles have been stretched, you could feel slightly fatigued or sore the next day. This doesn’t happen to everyone, but it’s normal. And the more you stretch, the less likely you’ll feel any discomfort afterward. (If you have health problems or back injuries, check with your doctor before making any changes in your stretching and exercise program.)
Stretching and massage stimulate your body’s cleansing systems to eliminate toxins (like lactic acid) that are stored in your muscles. How do you take out the trash your body collected? Drink water! If you don’t flush out the waste products that are released by stretching the tissues, you could feel achy later. So drink up—and stretch away your aches and pains!
About the author:
Ann Weber is a Cincinnati licensed massage therapist specializing in corporate chair massage and massage.
Book Review
The Seitai Method: A Holistic Approach to Staying Healthy through Stretching and Body Alignment: A Self-Treatment Guide
By Kuniaki Imoto
Though a relatively recent form of treatment, Seitai integrates the secret techniques of ancient therapies to activate the natural healing power of the human body. With over fifty years of experience, the author has adapted and developed the essence of this practice into a unique, innovative method.
The human body has the power to restore itself naturally to its normal condition from illness and injury without external interference. The role of the Seitai practitioner is to examine and treat the body's skeletal frame and muscles in order to eliminate any factors that weaken or obstruct the body's natural healing power. Seitai techniques are based on a combination of traditional Japanese healing therapies.
Throughout his fifty years of experience with Seitai, the author has adapted his own discoveries and ideas into a unique form of treatment in accordance with the changes he has witnessed occurring in the human body during the course of his practice. The Seitai approach to staying healthy will be both innovative and compelling for the Western reader, who will in time come to regard it as an essential, commonsense practice for maintaining the body's health.
With many detailed photographs illustrating comprehensive physical exercises, the Seitai Method shows readers how to treat themselves for a variety of disorders, from common ailments such as stiff shoulders, toothaches, and colds, to more serious diseases such as asthma and tonsillitis, as well as debilitating conditions like obesity.
The author also deals extensively with general measures for maintaining overall physical and mental health. The Seitai Method will be an invaluable resource for anybody interested in a fresh holistic approach to maintaining a healthy body.
Book Summary from www.amazon.com
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Kuniaki Moto was born in 1944 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. His father was a Seitai teacher and practitioner, introducing Kuniaki to Seitai treatment at the age of five. After becoming a qualified acupuncturist in Japan, Kuniaki was dispatched by the Japanese government to practice and teach acupuncture in Germany and Switzerland, and during this period he deepened his knowledge of Western medical science. It was here that he came to the conclusion that among all the various therapies he had encountered, Seitai was the most effective. After returning to Japan, he founded his own branch of Seitai treatment, Imoto Seitai, which he has practiced all over the world ever since. He has established Seitai educational institutions in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, and Fukuoka, in order to hand down his skills and philosophy to future generations. He contributes to many magazines and has published more than ten books in Japanese.
Motivational Tips
Exercise of the Month
Exercise Description:
Plank Knee-ins
Area Targeted:
Core
Instructions:
1. Start by getting on your hands and knees in a push-up position.
2. Keeping your abs tight and your trunk parallel bring one knee in towards your chest.
3. Return the foot back to the starting position and repeat with the other leg.
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Search online for values in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
