S-t-r-e-t-c-h Those Muscles: It’s a New Way to Stay Healthy : Health: People who want to pursue normal activities well into their older years are learning that a simple regimen may help.
Banish from your mind images of pretzel-twisted yogis and super-elastic, impish Romanian gymnasts. Flexibility is about keeping what you have. If you make your moves around the highchair rather than the high bar, so much the better.
Staying flexible means you are able to continue enjoying your normal activities--whether picking up a child or paddling a kayak--well into your older years.
“Most of what you see, in terms of people becoming less and less flexible and less mobile, apart from specific diseases, is really under-use or disuse,” says Maria Fiatarone, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an investigator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.
Tai chi student Carol Noyes of Bloomfield, Conn., after several months of practicing the dance-like movements of the Chinese discipline that builds flexibility and balance, says, “It has really benefited me physically.”
“I’m sold on it,” says runner and bank vice president Dan Reese of New Fairfield, Conn., of his pre- and post-running stretching regimen.
Although it sells itself to those who work at it, flexibility training has long been thought to be the province of top-rank athletes.
The fitness craze that has occupied the news media for many years has focused primarily on aerobic workouts like running, cycling and aerobic dancing. (Never mind that only a minority of Americans ever participated in the so-called craze.) Aerobic exercise is essential, but two other elements are part of the American College of Sports Medicine’s most recent statement on minimum fitness: exercise that promotes strength, and flexibility.
The sports medicine organization’s recommendations regarding flexibility are a bit vague. Its statement says “a well-rounded training program, including resistance training and flexibility exercises, is recommended.” It recommends “an appropriate warm-up and cool-down which would include flexibility exercises.” But that is as specific as it gets.
The reason this august body did not nail it down a little tighter is that, although no one doubts the value of flexibility workouts, there have been few long-term studies of stretching-type exercise.
“I don’t think there have been good studies that follow people long-term,” says Michael Pollock, director of the Center for Exercise Science at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
“The general consensus is that flexing, done properly, is very important to do throughout one’s lifetime,” Pollock says.
As an exercise researcher, Pollock believes that you lose the motions you do not use. “The muscles just get tighter and shorter,” he says.
The way to use it--especially if you are new to stretching--is to take it easy and build up slowly. Cindy Griffith, physical therapist and interim director of the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Conn., recommends a handful of simple stretches for healthy adults that work large lower- and upper-body muscles. She recommends stretching hamstring, calf and quadriceps muscles as well as arm and shoulder muscles. (Inactive adults, the recently injured or the physically impaired should check with their doctors before beginning any exercise program.)
“Most people you talk to, they’re not very active, they think it’s going to be drudgery and time-consuming,” she says.
“But if you do a good flexibility program, just to keep your muscles stretched out, you’re less likely to have back problems. If you’re more flexible and less tight, your body has the ability to do more activity better, and with less stress.”
Griffith recommends that you warm up a little before you stretch by walking around a little. Other trainers suggest doing an activity that causes you to break a sweat before starting to stretch.
The great guru of stretching in America, Bob Anderson of Palmer Lake, Colo., says the key to knowing when and how to stretch is to know your own body. If you pay attention to your body, you can stretch without a warm-up, he says.
It is slightly offbeat advice, but it is coming from the author of the encyclopedic guide, “Stretching,” which has sold more than 1 million copies in the United States and is available in 15 languages.
Anderson, 47, who counts trainers, doctors and physiologists among his fans, has worked with professional and college athletes and runs a mail-order business that distributes books, videos, charts and equipment for exercise and stretching. He is a marathon runner and avid mountain biker.
In his book, he speaks of stretches creating a “mild tension.” In an interview, he was succinct about the correct sensation of stretching: “I feel it, but it doesn’t hurt.” If it does hurt, stop. (Anderson is not against a pre-stretch warm-up, but he believes that if the prospect of a warm-up is going to turn off those who could benefit from stretching, they’d be better off just doing the stretches--gently and carefully.)
Flexibility exercises should always be done in a slow, controlled movement, says Pollock. With high-speed movement, the muscle becomes more rigid to protect itself from over-stress, he says. Quick movements won’t provide flexibility and could cause injury.
Stretches should be held steadily without bouncing. And “ballistic” stretches--like the high-speed toe-touches once favored by the military--are bad news because they literally throw your body around without effectively stretching the muscles.
Anderson suggests a morning routine of six to 10 stretches for those who are simply trying to stay limber. “What I’ve told people is that not every stretch is sacred,” he says. If your knee smarts during a stretch, give it a rest and try another stretch. “The main thing is that you do a variety (of stretches),” he adds. And be relaxed, he says. Do not clench your teeth. Let your shoulders hang. Make sure the stretches you do work for you, says Anderson.
“A lot of it comes down to knowing yourself, which is a lot of what stretching is,” he says.
Those who have specific sports activities need to use stretches aimed at those activities. Doctors, sports trainers and physical therapists can help athletes target specific muscles for stretching, and Anderson’s book contains a sport-by-sport guide.
There is no age limit when it comes to limbering up. A few years back, a 75-year-old woman approached Anderson at a clinic he was giving in Columbus, Ohio. She reached down from her waist and placed her palms on the floor.
“Do you know why I can do that?” she asked a puzzled Anderson. “Because I do it every day.”
Anderson says the lesson is clear: Do a little every day. He notes that for many older people, physical demands get tougher. “They’re out playing golf more often. Their problem isn’t strength; it’s flexibility.”
The Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts is opening a health club designed specifically for senior citizens. Fiatarone, the investigator there, says that even older people who take yoga or tai chi see their range of motion increase with practice. “You can train yourself to be more flexible than you have been.”