Stretch and Roll Out of Pain
We all have our own aches and pains but we shrug them off as just old age, wear and tear and assume it can not be fixed, but you’re wrong, it can. Most aches and pains are due to bad habits on posture built up over time, sitting incorrectly for long periods of time being the most common. We are now in an era where the majority of us spend most of the day sat at a desk and most of the evening sat in front of the telly. We end up with our shoulders slightly rolled forward which pushes our neck forwards, this then inevitably leads to neck pain. Our hamstrings become tight, weak and inactive, same goes for our hip flexors. We are sat on our bums all day which shuts off your Glutes putting your pelvis out of line which inevitably leads to lower back pain.
You can see how all these problems occur and cause pain right?
All of these bad habits and positioning from sitting really puts a strain on your posture and we are seeing a huge increase in lower back pain. An estimated 31 million American’s suffer with back pain and is the second most common reason for seeing a Dr behind respiratory infections. According to global burden of disease 2010 lower back pain is the single leading cause of disability. Most cases can be fixed by simply stretching and releasing tight muscles, I have worked with clients who have suffered with lower back pain, some simple stretching, foam rolling and strength work really made the difference.
You are probably wandering can stretching and releasing actually cure my bad ________ (insert word) hip, knee, back, neck etc etc that I’ve had for the past 4 years? Potentially yes it can, even if it doesn’t cure it it can make it a lot less painful.
Take one of my clients for instance he said he suffered with a bad knee for years and accepted thats how it had to be. At the end of a class I said why don’t we try something to fix it, I took him through a mobility/stretching exercise he saw a small slight improvement instantly. Then I took him through a foam rolling exercise for 2 minutes and asked him how he felt, and he couldn’t believe he was able to get off the floor without any pain. That was just one session and about 10 minutes of his day to relieve pain he had for years. Obviously he would need to regularly maintain it by doing these exercise but 10 minutes helped reduce his pain instantly.
When our muscles become tight something has to give in our bodies, lets take the I.T Band (Iliotibial Band) for instance. This ligament is used to stabilise the knee when running and walking, when this band becomes tight it pulls on your knee causing pain. (This is the problem my client had above due to lots of running). So by stretching and releasing knots from this tendon your knee is no longer being pulled on and becomes pain free.
Equally if you have back pain this is can be caused by weak and tight hamstrings and hip flexors. Tight hamstring pull on your pelvis causing them to tilt putting strain on your back. Your hip flexors run through your hips and attach onto your lower spine these pull you into a tilted forward position, again pulling on your back. A simple daily hamstring and hip flexor stretch can really reduce this pain and take off the pressure of your back being pulled on.
Stretching and mobility is one of the most avoided parts of training and yes this applied to me to hence my prolonged injury. Yet it is such an important aspect of a healthy and fit body I had to find this out the hard way, please don’t do the same. Start stretching for 30 minutes a week this will make such a big difference and help you take one step closer to becoming pain free.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and thank you so much for reading :)
If you have any other questions you can contact me through my facebook page The Lemon Frog Fitness Company, my Instagram @lemon_frog_fitness or email louis@lemonfrogfitness.org.