Keeping muscles limber is important for healthy movement, avoiding injury, and aging well. Here’s how to get started today.
By Jessica Migala – Medically Reviewed by Samuel Mackenzie, MD, PhD
The call to stretch is about far more than getting limber enough to touch your toes. “Stretching can improve hip, pelvic, neck, and shoulder movement to support functional, everyday movement of your body,” says Brian Dorfman, a kinesiologist and owner of Dorfman Kinesiology in Morro Bay, California. In other words: Stretching is one part of staying physically active that helps you age well.
Aging is characterized by having rigid muscle tissue and compressed joints, Dorfman says. Stretching, on the other hand, helps create more elasticity in muscles and maintain extension in joints to promote your ability to move and be active well into your later years.
A regular stretching routine improves flexibility, helping you maintain full range of motion and full use of the muscles, according to Harvard Medical School. Tight muscles that are limited in mobility are also more prone to pain, strains, and injury.
f you’ve shoved stretching to the wayside, you’re not alone. “I realized…that I hadn’t done anything that would improve muscle recovery and relaxation, which was increasingly becoming more important as I looked to stay active as I aged,” says Jennifer Ashton, MD, chief medical correspondent of ABC News writes in her book The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter — One Month at a Time. She challenged herself to make stretching a regular part of her day. After all, it was something she could do anywhere and doesn’t require any (or much) equipment to make it happen.
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