0 11 Benefits of Stretching

Everyone can learn to stretch whatever your age. As our muscles become stiffer and tighter with age, our range of movement decreases. As this gets worse and worse it can become more and more of a hindrance to our daily life. I'm going to highlight the many benefits of regular stretching.

1. Increased Range of Motion/Movement

If done properly, stretching will increase the length of our muscles. Because of this, usual muscle tension is reduced and our normal range of motion is increased. This means that we experience better comfort, a greater ability to move freely, and a lowered risk of muscle and tendon strain injuries.  


2. Improved Blood Circulation

One of the main benefits that you will receive from stretching is increased blood circulation. The more you stretch the better the blood flow and supply of nutrients to cartilage and muscles increases.

3. Improved Flexibility

When we're young our bodies are very flexible. As we grow older though this becomes the opposite, and our once flexible bodies become more rigid and tight, in-turn becoming less flexible. As our bodies become less flexible our range of movement (point #1) decreases, this means that we become more susceptible to joint, tendon, and muscle injuries. So becoming more flexible means that we can help reduce the risk of injury(point #4).

4. Reduced Risk to Injury 

As mentioned in point #1, stretching regularly will increase our range of movement. As our range of movement increases, the distance our limbs can move before damage occurs also increases, meaning of course that our limbs and joints can move further before we do ourselves harm. It also lowers the risk of muscle and tendon strain measures.
This is vital in rigorous sports where you are going to be doing a lot of movement and fast switching of body positions. This is one of the reasons sports players have stretching in their training routines.

5. Increased Power

Stretching can actually improve our body's power. Before I explain how though I will quickly address the notion that if you stretch too much you will lose both muscle power and joint stability. The answer to this is if you do stretching properly and safely, you won't.

When we stretch we increase our muscles length, so we are also extending the distance over which they are able to contract. This sees an increase to our muscles' power (or a potential to anyway), in turn increasing our athletic ability. It also improves muscle control.

6. Alleviates Joint Pain

Stretching is not a cure for joint pain but will help to develop and tone muscles over time strengthening them, and is something that may help alleviate the pain that is experienced from the sufferer.

7. Reduces Post-Exercise Muscle Soreness

Some of you will know first-hand about muscle soreness and how a heavy exercise session can leave you sore and feeling a little worse for wear the day after. After a heavy exercise session or a session after not exercising for our while, our muscles can become tight, stiff, and sore, and can make day-to-day activities harder than they ought to be. 
This soreness and stiffness is often referred to as "post-exercise muscle soreness" and is due to micro tears (very small tears within the muscle fibres). Stretching after exercise can help reduce this soreness by extending individual muscle fibres, removing waste products and increasing blood circulation.

8. Reduced Fatigue

Fatigue is a problem for everyone, especially for those who exercise. Fatigue can be either physical or mental, stretching is going to help reduce physical fatigue. For every working muscle in the body (agonists) there are opposing muscles (the antagonists). Stretching regularly will help to improve the flexibility of the antagonists. If the antagonists are more flexible then the working agonists don't have to exert as much force on them, which will reduce the pressure of the working muscles, therefore causing each movement to take less effort.

9. Developed Body Awareness

Having an awareness of your body is never bad and can greatly help you in some circumstances. Stretching regularly will help you to have an awareness of what your body is capable of doing and what your limit to range of movement is - this will help you make decisions regarding what you can and cannot do physically and can in turn help you to avoid unnecessary injury. 

Now I see myself as a fit person. I go to the gym when I can, I walk with the dog everyday, and have always been lucky enough to have an athletic figure. So when it comes to questions of whether I am able to do something physically, in my head I always say yes I can do that. However, since starting stretching on a regular basis I've found that actually my range of movement isn't as great as I thought and I've found areas where I'm really lacking physically and if I push myself to hard in certain areas I could end up doing damage. If I hadn't of started stretching daily though, I would never have found out about these things.

10. Improved Posture

You'll be able to maintain better posture if your muscles aren't tight, which you can improve by stretching. As our muscles become stronger through regular stretching it will make maintaining good posture easier.
Doing stretching properly will develop a better awareness of your body (point #9) and will help you to notice when you are slouching or not maintaining posture - which will help you to keep up good posture.
If you want to read more about improving posture, then I'll direct you here: How to Improve Posture.

11. Developed Coordination

As you become better at stretching, you'll have a better control over your muscles which will improve your balance and coordination. Having better coordination will make you less likely to fall - lessening your risk to injury.