By Laura Corcoran; RMT

Summer brings new joys and challenges! You may not have participated in some activities since last year.  Muscles and joints you haven’t used for a while can become sore and painful if you’re not stretching properly.

Try this: Get an elastic band or hair elastic and hold each end between your thumb and pointer fingers in each hand. Stretch until it feels like the band will snap! Then bring the band back to where you started. The ‘snap’ point or ‘end point’ of a stretch is not a point you should try to reach when stretching a muscle!  Remember this if you’re tempted to overstretch to avoid injury.

Stretching Tips

– stretch before and after activities
– don’t overstretch = don’t stretch to the ‘ end point’
– stretch slowly without bouncing and to where you feel a slight easy stretch
– hold the stretch for 15 -20 seconds
– breathing should be slow, deep, and rhythmical

In time, you’ll be able to stretch further and further but never to the ‘ end point’. Developmental stretching reduces tension and will safely increase flexibility.