Muscles tend to shorten through daily activities which causes muscle imbalance and pain. Stretching improves flexibility which is important for your daily activities or chosen sports. The nervous system allows the muscle to stretch further, which improves function and reduces chronic pain.
Muscle strengthening provides support to your skeletal system. When you work on a muscle, the brain sends messages to the muscle to activate it. This gives a sensation of strength. Strong muscle enables your body to move more effectively before becoming tired. That also helps burn more calories in daily life.
Which one is better?
Strengthening would be more effective than stretching alone for injury prevention, stretching alone did not show any protective effect. Stretching could increase mobility which is important for many activities and sports performance.
When to use it?
Stretching programs result in enhanced motion due to an increase in stretch tolerance and changes in muscle qualities. If your sport or activity requires a large range of motion, the benefits of stretching could be significant.
However, stretching before exercises reduces peak muscle power and force output. To increase your flexibility for warm-up, incorporate twice daily stretches of 4 x 30-second holds for a minimum of 3 weeks.
We will offer a postural assessment so you can work and stretch to correct imbalances.
