I think we all know by this
time that warm-ups and stretching are necessary adjuncts to a good fitness
regime. Ideally, stretching should
reduce the risk of injury to the joints, muscles, and tendons. However, it is important to approach
stretching with caution, and if it doesn’t feel right you probably shouldn’t be
doing it. Betsy Nagelsen McCormack in her book “Fitness
over 40” cautions that if you aren’t careful you could do considerable damage
to your knees and back. At 40, 50 and
beyond it doesn’t take much abuse to make you fear the consequences. It is important to remember to stretch only
to the point of gentle tension and avoid any additional bounces, because you
could really hurt yourself.
Listen to your own body and if you are not
comfortable with what a trainer or instructor is asking you do it, don’t do
it. I know, this sounds rather
disrespectful but Ms. McCormack mentions “seven deadly stretches” in her book,
and I can remember doing every single one of them at one point or the other
during my fitness lifetime.
I don’t have pictures of
these stretches but I think you will recognize them from my descriptions. Do you remember the one called the “yoga
plough”? You may not recognize the name but
I think you will remember being stretched out (face upward) on the floor and then
being asked to throw your legs over your shoulders as you stretched to get your
toes to the floor behind your head. I
never thought that felt right, did you?
Just the thought of supporting the weight of your body on your neck and
shoulders sounds wrong. Did you know
that this movement could damage the vertebrae, stretch ligaments and even
injure the spinal cord? An older person,
and that is us, could even induce a stroke as the movement on the spinal cord
could cut off the blood supply to the brain.
Just the other day I did a
yoga video where the instructor sat back on his haunches (butt resting on the
heels). I tried it but it hurt and I
couldn’t sustain this position. Probably
just as well I just learned that this movement could damage the ligaments on
both sides of the knee and over time, could result in chronic knee problems.
The sit and reach is
next. I am not very flexible and I could
never get my head to my knees, but you know this one. You sit on the floor with your knees straight
out in front of you and then reach for your toes while trying to press your
forehead on your knees. This popular
stretch can cause lower back strain, especially if you try to bounce your way
down to your toes.
What could possibly happen
with the good old fashion toe touch?
Again, when you bend forward, the abdominal muscles don’t work and the
lumbar vertebrae are unstable.
Another exercise/stretch
that you have all tried is the stiff leg raise.
On the floor, raising your legs up and then lowering them slowly. If you do a double leg raise and your back
arches it means that your abdominal muscles are not strong enough. The arch means that your back is doing all of
the work, which means a strain to your lower back muscles.
Remember the wide stance
alternating toe touches. We were doing
this one as far back as grade school Phys. Ed.
This one is not only bad for your back but it can cause a groin injury.
I get a cramp when I do this
one, thank goodness. The single or
double inverted hurdler’s stretch is the one that you see runners doing. Picture yourself standing there balanced on
one leg, or sitting with one leg out in front of you while bending the other
leg up behind you…really stretching those quads. This is a bad idea because it can twist and
compress the knee cap and improperly stretch the medial ligaments of the knee.
Well that was an eye opener.
Stretching is important but we need to
do a little research so that we aren’t doing more harm than good. What’s left?
We’ll look at some acceptable stretches next time.
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