Important Reasons to Stretch

Do you have lower back pain? Are you unable to stand upright because of stiff lower back muscles? Has your mobility declined? Do you have difficulty kneeling to tie your shoes? If you said yes to these questions, then you need to incorporate stretching into your daily routine.

Causes

● Lack of use of our tendons and ligaments cause them to become tighter and pull our bodies out of alignment. This misalignment results in pain in the spine, groin, knees, calves, and arches.
o When it is time to be more physically active or perform a physical task, you may feel weak, strain a muscle, damage your spinal cord, or cause moderate to severe joint damage.
● Keeping muscles flexible, strong, and elongated is important for maintaining the healthy movement of joints.

Symptoms

o Sitting for prolonged periods of time can increase tension in the neck, shoulders, lower back, hips, quadriceps, hamstrings, knees, and calves.
o Sitting for extended periods of time can also cause the psoas muscles to tighten, resulting in moderate to severe pain in the lower back, hips, and groin.
o People may have difficulty standing upright, have sensations of stabbing, piercing pain in the lower lateral lumbar spine, and experience tightness in their groin while walking.
▪ If this occurs, please perform the psoas release stretches that can be found by clicking on the link below four times per day.
▪ Please try to stretch during your breaks.

Treatment

● If you are unable to release the psoas muscle on your own, please ask your general practitioner or primary care physician for a referral to physical therapy.
● Physical therapy
● Muscle relaxers
● Stretching daily
● Heating and ice packs
● Stretching four times per day, especially for people who have sedentary jobs
● Stretching your entire body daily for at least 15 minutes will keep your muscles and joints flexible.