What is stretching?

Stretching exercise is a kind of health care exercise. It helps to dredge lymph glands and relax joints, enhance the flexibility of the body, relax muscles, reduce sports injuries and fatigue, and if massage is added, it can also enhance blood metabolism. Stretching is not as easy to get hurt as equipment training.

Types of stretching exercises

Static tension

Elastic seismic extension

PNF stretching

Static stretching exercise

Static stretching exercise

This is extremely important for the prevention and recovery of injury. Static stretching should be carried out after exercise, and static stretching before exercise may limit the exertion of muscles and have limited effect on preventing injury. When doing static stretching, do it equally on both sides.

The following are common static stretching exercises:

Shoulder extension:

This is a simple and effective stretching action, especially stretching the muscles around the shoulder joint. This kind of stretching is especially helpful for weightlifting and throwing.

Exercise: Stand with your feet apart and hip width apart, with your knees slightly bent. Put your left hand on your body and bend your elbow slightly. Fix your right hand on the elbow of your left hand, and then tilt your left arm to your body until you feel the tension in your shoulder muscles. Switch sides and repeat the same action.

Upper back extension:

This simple stretching action is mainly to stretch the muscles of the upper back, which is especially helpful for throwing.

Exercise: Cross your fingers, palms outward, raise your hands to chest height, straighten your arms, lock your elbows, and push your shoulders forward.

Stretching of latissimus dorsi:

This stretching directly acts on latissimus dorsi, which is suitable for weightlifting, rowing and field events.

Practice: stand in front of a support that can support weight, grab it with both hands, lean back and bend your knees. Push your legs to the ground and pull your arms back.

Pectoralis major stretching:

This action is mainly to stretch the muscles on the upper edge of the chest, which can relax the muscles and increase the softness. This kind of stretching is also helpful to the recovery after throwing exercise training.

Exercise: Stand beside a stable upright support. After putting one hand on the bracket, keep the upper arm on the same plane as the shoulder. Push forward slowly until the chest muscles feel stretched.

Extension of iliotibial tract:

The iliotibial tract is a banded connective tissue located under the lateral thigh. Runners, walkers, gymnasts and dancers should often do this stretching exercise to prevent pain caused by inflammation around the knee (iliotibial tract syndrome).

Exercise: Stand up straight with your feet open and hip width apart. With one foot on the other, lift the other arm over your head to keep balance. Repeat this action on the other side.

Piriform muscle extension:

The piriformis extension in sitting position is more advanced than the iliotibial tract extension in standing position, because this action requires better flexibility of hip joint to perform correctly. For runners, walkers, gymnasts and dancers, this stretching action can prevent iliotibial tract syndrome.

Practice: Sit on the ground with your legs straight. Bend one leg and cross the other. Keep the crossed legs straight and flat on the ground. Hold the body steady with one hand, wrap the outside of the knee with the other hand, and then press it slowly until the iliotibial tract feels stretched.

Three-point stretching of quadriceps femoris;

The purpose of this action is to stretch the quadriceps femoris of thigh and increase the softness of knee joint. It is a relatively simple stretching action, suitable for any leg training.

Practice: A. Stand with your back to the bench or a stable support, bend your knees with one foot on the support, keep your body upright and raise your head. B slowly bend the knee joint supporting the foot and lower the body until the opposite thigh feels stretched. C. Support the feet and calves to push the body upward and return to the initial posture. Repeat stretching the other leg.

Stretching of hind leg muscles 1:

Any exercise involving repeated knee bending, such as running and flywheel, will cause tension in the muscles at the back of the leg. This stretching action helps to prevent injury to the muscles of the hind legs.

Practice: lie flat on the ground and straighten your legs. Lift one foot in turn, keep your knees straight and fixed, and then pull your toes to your body. If the softness is good, the thigh can be pulled closer to the body to increase the stretching strength.

Muscle stretching at the back of the leg 2:

This simple stretching action can stretch all the muscles in the back of the thigh, relax the tight muscles and relieve the pressure on the lower back. Stretch slowly, and avoid bouncing when the muscles are fully stretched.

Practice: lie flat on the ground and straighten your legs. Bend your left knee and slowly pull towards your chest until your muscles feel stretched. Let the back of your head touch the ground. Relax, then go back to the starting position and change sides.

Extension of adductor muscle group 1:

Stretching adductor muscle or groin muscle is a method for many exercises to keep hip joint soft.

Exercise: Keep your body upright and your hands akimbo. Bend the left knee so that it is directly above the foot, and keep the right leg straight and close to the ground. Move your body slowly to the left. Relax, then go back to the starting position and change sides.

Extension of adductor muscle group 2:

This stretching action will extend to the adductor brevis muscle. In addition, this action is easier to perform and can be performed anywhere.

Practice: Take a sitting posture, bend your knees, keep your feet relatively close to your body, and hold your feet tightly with your hands to ensure that your feet are tightly opposite. Slowly bring your knees close to the floor. When you reach the limit, keep your posture for a few seconds, and then return to the starting position.

Leg extension:

In sports that require rapid exercise (such as sprinting), people with tight calf muscles are at higher risk of injury. For example, you must do this stretching before running to avoid calf muscle tension.

Practice: stand in front of the wall about a big step, push the wall with both hands, and stand with your feet as wide as your hips. Kneeling posture: Bend your left leg forward, keep your left knee directly above your foot, and don't lean to one side. I feel the right calf muscle group being pulled. Stretch the left calf by changing sides.

Standing hip external rotation

In this stretching posture, a table must be used to stretch the gluteus profundus and iliotibial tract.

Exercise: Put your left leg on the table, bend your knees, and stand with your right leg straight on your toes. Lean forward until your left hip feels stretched. Hold this position for a few seconds, relax, and then change sides.

Top wall extension of knee:

This exercise is often used by rehabilitation doctors to evaluate the range of motion (dorsiflexion) of the ankle joint. At the initial stage of injury, the left and right sides can be compared, which can be used as a reference for the follow-up rehabilitation effect.

Practice: stand in front of the wall, with your left foot in front of your right foot, your left heel flat on the ground, and then bend your left knee. When the left knee touches the wall, translate the left foot backwards. Measure the distance from the left toe to the wall when the left heel leaves the ground. Swap places and make the same measurement.

Quadriceps femoris extension:

This stretching action can stretch the quadriceps femoris on the front side of the thigh. Because you must stand and stretch, you can also train your body posture and sense of balance.

Exercise: Stand with your back to the table. Put your left foot on the table and keep your thighs parallel. The hips are slightly backward, and I feel the quadriceps of the left thigh being pulled. Hold this position for a few seconds, relax, and then change sides.

Step stretching:

This action has an excellent effect on relaxing thighs and buttocks, especially for people who have been sitting for a long time. When doing this action, the hip joint should be as forward as possible to maintain balance.

Practice: A. Step on the high jump box or bench with your right foot, lean forward from the hip position, keep your back upright, keep your left leg straight, put your feet flat, and put your hands on your sides. B. Open your arms 90 degrees, then turn your body and turn your head. Pause for a few seconds at the end of the action, and then return to the starting position. After completing the required number of groups, switch sides.

Raise your arm and rush forward:

For people with stiff lumbar spine, this will be a good stretching action. It can stretch hip flexors, especially strengthen the training of iliopsoas muscle. The iliopsoas muscle is directly connected to the lumbar spine, so it is very important to maintain the softness of this muscle.

Practice: A. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands akimbo. The left leg lunges forward and bends at the same time until the right knee and the back of the right foot touch the ground, keeping the body upright and looking straight ahead. B put your arms above your head, your right arm is in front of your left arm, and your palms are crossed. When lifting, rotate your hips backwards.

Sleeper stretching:

Many people ignore the importance of stretching the posterior joint capsule of shoulder joint. In order to prevent shoulder injuries, especially shoulder crush syndrome, it is necessary to maintain the softness of this area. Therefore, this simple action can stretch the posterior joint capsule of the shoulder joint, with the goal of achieving the same range of motion for both shoulder joints.

Practice: The body lies on the left side, the head is supported by a pillow, the left upper arm extends parallel to the clavicle to the front of the body, the elbow is bent, and the left forearm points upward to the ceiling. B hold your left wrist with your right hand and slowly rotate your left forearm towards the floor. The goal is to make the left forearm flat on the ground. Hold for 20-30 seconds after the action, then return to the starting position and change sides.

Ice compress of quadriceps femoris:

Those who engage in contact or collision sports may have the problem of quadriceps injury. When this kind of injury occurs, it is very important to apply ice to quadriceps femoris in kneeling position, which can help the recovery of the injury.

Practice: Bend the knee, put the ice pack on the injured muscle, wrap the thigh and calf with elastic bandage or ice film, and fix the ice pack. The ice time is about 20 minutes. In the first 48-72 hours of injury, according to the severity of injury, ice can be applied twice every 1-2 hours.

Golf foot massage:

It is a good method to treat plantar fasciitis by massaging the soles of feet with golf balls. Start a gentle massage, and then gradually increase the intensity.

Practice: step the golf ball on the sole and move it back and forth along the sole. Through the foot, gradually increase the intensity of stepping on it, thus enhancing the effect of massage.