HEALTHY LIVING How Flexible Are You?
Regular stretching prevents injury and falls. :: BY LYNN ALLISON
F
lexibility is vital for a healthy life, especially as we get older. It’s not about the ability to
touch your toes or do a backbend, but about functional fi tness. Bending down to put on your socks
or tie your shoes, looking over your shoulder to change lanes, and reaching up to get a box of cereal from the top shelf in the grocery store are everyday activities that all require some degree of fl exibility.
“Flexibility is the ability to stretch
our muscles and connective tissue temporarily,” explains Balaguru Ravi, M.D., a board-certifi ed internal medicine physician and an expert in primary care sports medicine at the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston. “It’s important because fl exibility
helps prevent injuries, improves posture and balance, and gives us strength.
“Flexibility has also been shown to
help mitigate the risk of falls in older adults.” How fl exible you are and how
fl exible you can become are infl uenced by some factors that you can’t control. Women tend to be more fl exible than men, and age plays a role as well. Starting at age 30 or 40, fl exibility continuously decreases, with men losing more fl exibility than women. “We lose fl exibility as we get older
because of loss of water in our soft tissues and spine, increased stiff ness in our joints, and loss of elasticity in the tendons,” says Ravi. “Common signs and symptoms are
recurrent back pain, poor posture, loss of balance, and increased joint pain and stiff ness.” Research shows that the shoulders
and trunk tend to lose fl exibility more quickly than the elbows and knees. At any age you may be relatively fl exible in one part of your body and have a limited range of motion in another. “Flexibility is often overlooked,
but the benefi ts are universal and impactful — whether you’re a hard-working corporate executive, an athlete, or a weekend warrior, implementing a consistent stretching routine can have a positive impact on your life,” says Austin Martinez, vice president of training and experience at StretchLab, a California-based assisted stretch company. “Flexibility has a lot to do with how
your muscles move,” says Martinez, a certifi ed athletic trainer. “The fi bers of our muscles, which possess the properties of elasticity, deteriorate. “Think of a rubber band. You stretch
it and it will increase in length. Let go and it returns to its normal state, unchanged. Our muscles, however, change their makeup over time by replacing muscle fi bers with collagen, a natural substance found in joints and ligaments.” Collagen makes your muscles
less elastic and more rigid, leading to stiff ness, soreness, or immobility. That’s why the principle of “use it or lose it” applies to muscle fl exibility.
82 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | JULY 2023
RIDOFRANZ©ISTOCK
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