Stretching: How It Benefits Chiropractic Patients
By Sara Butler
Staying flexible is important because as you get older, your muscles tighten – it’s just a natural part of becoming more mature. But it can also cause some problems if you don’t counteract it with stretching. Here are some of the benefits you can glean from stretching regularly in-between your chiropractic visits!
It Keeps Your Spine in Line
The muscles in your chest, lower back, and shoulders can impact the alignment of your spine. If any of these muscles are tight, it can lead to joint pain and dysfunction. Quite often, when a muscle becomes tight, it doesn’t do it in a symmetrical way. This means that one side of your body can be pulled higher than the other as your body attempts to compensate for the tightening of the muscles. Stretching, when combined with regular chiropractic care, can help to prevent this problem, ensuring good spinal health.
Improved Range of Motion and Flexibility
It’s no secret that stretching helps to improve flexibility – that’s a given. Understanding how stretching benefits that and range of motion isn’t hard to understand. What many people don’t do is make a connection between their loss of range of motion and flexibility and injuries such as back pain. Stretching helps to make you more flexible, which then makes you less prone to becoming injured.
When your muscles are flexible and have proper range of motion, then they will work more effectively. Just make sure you listen to your body as you perform your stretches, since some people have been guilty of attempting to stretch too far and cause an injury in the process.
Relieve Stress
Stress is something everyone deals with, but it’s also something that you should make sure you’re dealing with effectively. Stretching is a great thing to add to your stress-busting regimen. Just the act of stretching and breathing relaxes your body and mind, getting more oxygen to your brain and internal organs. The best part is it requires no special equipment. You can pretty much do it anywhere at any time and reap the benefits!
Stretching has many fantastic benefits. If you’re at a loss as to what kind of stretches you should be doing, discuss it with the chiropractors at The Joint Chiropractic. They can offer you a personalized consultation about stretching to keep your body healthy and flexible!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic.