By Dr. Heather A. McCarter
Reduce your pain and improve healing with simple stretches that can
be incorporated into your everyday life. You don't have to take but
20, 30, or 60 minutes of your day to achieve a life with less pain,
improved range of motion, and a better sense of well-being.
Many of us live life under continued stress at work, home...even
in our social lives. We spend the entire day running from one agenda
to the next trying to keep up with our calenders, time schedules,
kids, partners, and obligations. By the end of the day the weight
of the world rests on our shoulders, only to wake up the next day
to do it all over again. Many of us also take time to blow off steam
by working out at a gym, taking yoga classes, walking or running,
amongst other forms of exercise. But, do you stretch?
Stretching your muscles provides a myriad of health benefits that
help your body function better and help reduce stress from day to
day living. We spend entire days contracting our muscles-whether sitting
at a computer all day, taking care of kids, working manual labor,
sitting/standing all day, etc. Rarely, however, do we take the time
to stretch the muscles in our body that we spend a lifetime contracting.
By stretching the muscle you release tension within the muscle and
within the joints that these muscles traverse. By releasing pressure
in the muscle and joint, you prevent deterioration, or arthritic changes,
from taking place in these joints because you have released the pressure
from the tight muscle.
Stretching helps the muscle come alive again-allowing for blood to
bring in fresh oxygen and nutrients to the areas of the muscle that
have been so tight that these nutrients were unable to penetrate the
tissue prior. Toxins are released, joint pressure is released, and
in turn, your pain levels are reduced. Joints no longer grind, your
muscles have room to breath and function, and your body is able to
function much more efficiently with the removal of toxins, improved
range of motion, and its new supply of nutrients.
Dr. Heather McCarter is a chiropractor at McCarter Chiropractic
Health Center, along with her father Dr. Joseph McCarter. Any questions
or inquiries can be directed to
drheather@mccarterchiropractic.com
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