If you improve your flexibility and stretching ability, you will improve your strength, balance, stability and more.
Individuals who build and maintain a strong and flexible core will have:
- increased strength
- increased balance
- increased stability
and more importantly, they have a much lower risk of injury. There is one, often hidden, benefit that many do not see:
Increased righting reactions/speed – we become more physically and naturally able to correct ourselves, and this helps to prevent damage.
For example, if a person who doesn’t have a strong, active and flexible core trips over a pebble, the chance of them hurting themselves with impact is higher than a person who has a strong, active and flexible core, because he or she will be able to react and correct faster.
The difference can be staggering, i.e.
- 100% full impact versus
- 0% to anything less than 100% impact.
And that’s the importance of developing a strong core, working with our senior physiotherapists in combination with our clinical Pilates instructors.
CUSTOMIZED FLEXIBILITY AND STRETCHING PHYSIO
Building, improving and maintaining your flexibility is crucial to improve
- Muscle strength
- Muscle endurance
- Muscle performance.
This is not ‘just’ relevant to only sports people or athletes, though they will probably benefit the most from this.
The reason for this is because all of us are created to move. And movement happens with a complex combination of brain-muscle-joint movements. That’s why building and having supple and flexible muscles and joints will improve your movement.
Sounds simple, but it has very far-reaching benefits.
To illustrate:
Example #1:
Imagine your left leg is tied to your right leg. Depending on the length of the rope between both legs, it can be very hard to walk, much less run.
Inefficient and a high risk of injury by falling, right?This is similar to how we may walk if the muscles and joints of our legs and back are tight or injured.
Example #2:
Imagine you have your legs tied as per Example #1, and say you have responsibilities.
Maybe you’re a parent, and you need to carry your kid – would it be safe? Would you trip?
Maybe you’re an employee – can you work efficiently and effectively?
Maybe you enjoy jogging – can you jog safely?
That’s a simple example of the importance of flexibility and stretching.
Relaxed and normal-length muscles will be able to contract more, creating more force and power for better movements, compared to a similar muscle that has been shortened because of
- underuse
- a prolonged shortened position
- the presence of trigger points.
Our senior physiotherapists in Phoenix Rehab are cherry-picked for their experience, passion and clinical outcomes. They will not only take their time to assess and understand you and your health, wellness and clinical needs, they will create for you a customized combination of
- exercise therapy
- deep tissue release therapy
- stretching and flexibility training physiotherapy
to help you build and maintain supple, flexible and strong joints, bones and soft tissues.
Exercise physiotherapy to improve the flexibility of soft tissues, muscles and joints will be a mix of
- active exercises
- passive exercises
- electrotherapy
combined with deep tissue release therapy to treat shortened and tightened muscle knots due to improper posture, improper/awkward positioning and injuries. We may also prescribe dry needling for very tight muscle knots, and acupuncture for general well being.
We advise our patients to be proactive in building and maintaining their health, fitness and wellness. Don’t wait till something is injured or you’re in pain before you see a physiotherapist, which is what most people tend to do.
Our senior physiotherapists can help treat and facilitate your flexibility and fitness needs. Contact us for a no obligation consult by phone, WhatsApp or email, or you can even swing by to take a look at our clinics and connect with us personally (do contact us to schedule this in advance, so we can provide you 1-1 attention).
