# How to stretch correctly

In most cases, stretching is a critical part of protecting your body.

- [Staying active](body-exercise.md) is critical, but aging almost guarantees that repetitive actions can create a type of brittleness in the body.

Stretching reduces the risk of long-term injury by expanding how far tendons, ligaments, and muscles can move.

- Trust your impulses you've had as a child and stretch whenever you've been sitting down for 10-20 minutes.

A few vital muscles are more likely to cause problems when they're not stretched out:

- The quadratus lumborum runs along the sides of the lower back.
  - Lay with your back on the floor and twist your hips until your opposite knee touches the ground.
- The hamstring is on the back of the knee.
  - Place your heel on an elevated surface and bend down to grab your elevated toes.
  - Lean forward on something while keeping your feet flat on the ground.
- The adductor longus connects the hip to the leg.
  - Spread your legs as far as possible, then bend to the ground.

## Good exercises

Aim for a daily stretch routine that covers your whole body:

- Stretch your arms out to the side.
- Lift your arms above your head.
- Grab your hip with one arm, then lift your arm above your head and past it, then repeat for the other side.
- Stand straight with your legs together and reach to the floor.
- Spread your legs and keep them straight, then reach to each leg.
- Grab a leg behind your back and lift it as high as you can, then repeat for the other leg.
- Crouch low with your legs resting on your knees and lift your ankles.
- Crouch low with your hands clasped inside your knees and extend your arms and knees outward.

If you need more, most yoga poses are simply variations of stretching.

- There's really nothing spiritual about the poses themselves.

## Focusing on problem areas

If you have stiffness in your shoulder or arm:

1. Lift your palm upward, then extend your arm.
2. Retract or pull your middle finger back to your shoulder.
3. Extend your arm with your palm facing outward, then rotate your palm back and forth.

If you sit down in a chair, your spine will slowly curve forward and create a hunch.

- When you look to your shoulder while standing, you should *not* see the back of your shoulder.
- To reduce a hunch while sitting or standing:
  1. Point your arms directly to your left and right, then bend your elbows to hold your hands upward at a right angle.
  2. Make fists and point your thumb backward.
  3. Try to make your hands move backwards toward your thumbs.
- To reduce a hunch with a door frame or wall.
  1. Position yourself near a door frame or corner of a wall
  2. Point your arms directly to your left and right, then bend your elbows to face your wrists at a right angle with your palms forward.
  3. Lean into the wall and let your wrists rotate backward.
- To reduct a hunch while doing something else passive (like watching TV):
  1. Lift your left arm over your head and cup your right ear.
  2. Do the same with your right arm over your left ear.
  3. Hold the position for at least a minute.

If you have back problems:

1. Get on your hands and knees on the floor.
2. Cross one knee over the other, straightening the crossed knee if you have to.
3. Lean away from the supporting knee.

To stretch your upper back:

1. Place your hands on your hips while sitting down.
2. While keeping your hands on your hips, bend your elbows forward and lean forward.
3. Press your elbows with the inside of your knees.

To avoid a double chin and forward head posture:

1. Cross your arms with your hands resting on your collarbone.
2. Lift your head as high as it can go.
3. Hold for at least a minute.

To relax your body via the parasympathetic [nervous system](body-systems.md):

- Pivot your torso while swinging your arms freely back and forth (the way bored children behave).

If you have sciatica (the hip's piriformis muscle is too tight):

- Most people try to stretch that muscle, but that's a misdirection from tightness in the knee and ankle.
- The most likely cause is because you injured your ankle, foot, or knee.
  - There are 33 joints in the ankle and foot, 2 in the knee, and 1 in the hip.
- To break the tension, it will hurt a *lot* the first few times you do it.
- First, break the tension near your toes.
  1. Interlace your fingers of your opposite hand in between your toes.
  2. Rotate your toes 20 times.
- Next, break the tension in the rest of your ankle:
  1. Stand with your left foot in front of the right, feet facing forward.
  2. Step forward with your right foot, then cross the foot somewhat and angle the right ankle to the left.
  3. Do this 20 times, then repeat with the other foot.