8 Full-Body Stretches to Add to Your Daily Routine

Do you struggle with a stiff neck when you wake up or strained muscles after a workout? Stretching each day can help you alleviate aches and pains and prevent injury by boosting your flexibility and keeping your muscles limber.

Benefits of Daily Stretching

• Improve your flexibility: Frequent stretching increases the range of motion in your joints and muscles, which improves flexibility over time. This makes it easier to comfortably perform everyday activities like bending, reaching, or walking. Maintaining flexibility is especially important as we age to prevent stiffness and mobility issues.
• Reduce muscle tension: Stretching helps release built-up muscle tension from strenuous activities, exercise, or being sedentary for long periods at your desk job. It also prevents muscle strain and alleviates discomfort by relaxing tight muscles and remedying the effects of poor posture or repetitive movements.
• Enhance your posture: Stretching promotes better posture by contributing to a balanced body alignment and reducing the strain on your spine and surrounding muscles. Consistently stretching can help prevent back, neck, and shoulder pain caused by poor posture.
• Boost your mental health: Stretching encourages deep breathing and mindfulness, which helps reduce your stress levels, clear your mind, and improve your well-being. Stretching also helps increase your blood flow and boost your focus and energy throughout the day.

8 Daily Stretches to Try

1. Cat/cow: Get on all fours with your hands even with shoulders and your knees directly below your hips. Inhale and curve your spine upward, lifting your chin and chest. Exhale and pull in your abdomen, arch your back, and lower your head and hips. Repeat five times.
2. Child’s pose: While on all fours, sink your hips back toward your heels. Lean forward and rest your forehead on the floor. Lay your arms beside your legs, palms up. Inhale and exhale several times.
3. Knees to chest: Lay flat on your back, and raise one knee to your chest, holding it in place with your arms. If comfortable, you can do this stretch with both knees at once. Hold for 30 seconds.
4. Spinal twist: While lying on your back, raise one knee and gently roll it over to the opposite side, making sure both of your shoulders stay in contact with the floor. If comfortable, stretch one arm out to the side, in line with your shoulders, and slowly turn your head to face your stretched arm. Inhale deeply, hold the stretch for 15 seconds, and repeat for the opposite side.
5. Neck stretch: With your shoulders relaxed, move your left ear toward your left shoulder, using your left hand to gently guide your head. Hold the stretch for 10 seconds and repeat on the other side.
6. Side stretch: Standing with your feet hip-width apart, clasp your hands above your head. Lean your body to one side, pause, and return to standing straight. Repeat 10 times on each side.
7. Shoulder rolls: Stand with your arms by your sides and feet shoulder-width apart. Gently rotate your shoulders forward in large circles for 30 seconds. Repeat the same movement backward.
8. Standing quadricep stretch: Stand straight next to a wall, and place one hand on the wall for balance. Bend the knee farthest from the wall and grab your foot with your same-side hand. Pull your foot gently toward your glutes and hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

Improve Your Flexibility with Outpatient Physical Therapy

If you need a little extra help boosting your flexibility, improving your posture, or increasing your mobility, outpatient physical therapy might be right for you. At Christian Health’s Outpatient Rehabilitation, our highly skilled interdisciplinary team uses innovative approaches to help you meet your goals. For more information about outpatient physical therapy, please call (201) 848-5518 or visit ChristianHealthNJ.info/Rehabilitation.