Why stretch? These small exercises, performed daily if possible, only have benefits for our health:they allow the supply of nutrients to our muscles, which are sometimes sore from work or poor posture, and reduce tension. On the well-being side, stretching improves the flexibility of the body and aims to eradicate possible tensions and aches. Instructions in 3 points.
It is advisable to adapt each exercise to its level, and above all not to force if a stretching is unpleasant for you:the goal is absolutely not to hurt yourself, but to "play" with the pressure according to your tolerance and, possibly , adapt later when the movement becomes easier.
Leave aside any exercise that would be inconvenient for you and think, ideally, of stretching painful body parts several times a day if you have the opportunity. Otherwise, taking a "stretching break" is not useless:it takes a few minutes at most and the game is worth the effort, especially at the office between two photocopies in order to give yourself time to relax your muscles.
For the neck and shoulders area, which often bears all the tension due to hours in a row spent with your eyes glued to a screen, it is important to perform rotations and "rolls" regularly to release these parts of the body. Thus, for the neck, turn the head gently to one side then the other without moving the shoulders:keep each position for 3 to 5 seconds, repeat three times on each side. Then roll the shoulders back and forth in a circular motion and repeat 5 to 10 times:this helps to relax the posterior deltoids, muscles on the outer side of the shoulders that absorb tension and tend to round in bad posture .
In sports practice, stretching practiced during warm-up is usual. However, it is not mandatory or not at all recommended to perform these exercises systematically before intense practice:in fact, recent studies show that they do not reduce the risk of injury and do not participate in muscle recovery after exercise. effort.
In reality, stretching prior to sport causes a phenomenon of inhibition of sensitive muscle receptors, and increases the level of creatine (responsible for body aches). You have to see stretching as a complementary training, daily or weekly in the form of sessions of 10 to 30 minutes.
