The Sunday Sun, December 27 1998
Written Bt: Marilyn Linton

Bend and Stretch Reach For the Sky

You've drunk your last eggnog, gobbled up the cookies your kids left for Santa and eaten enough leftovers to feed an army when, suddenly, you realize the only thing you've exercised in the past month is your wallet.

So? It's payback time. Time to get back into some sort of exercise routine for that healthy 1999 you want to have. Ever thought of starting with something really, really brain-dead simple-like stretching?

"People, in general, do not stretch enough," says Jo-ann James, a personal trainer who owns Vital Steps, a lifestyle management/fitness facility on Avenue Rd. "People think it's too slow. They don't see the value in it. When they're doing aerobics, say, they feel like they're doing something. So the average person's muscles are not stretched enough."

Physical fitness experts say that stretching is the tarnished jewel in the exercise crown, dismissed and forgotten by zealots who are only interested in activities they can do faster, harder and longer. But times, they are a-changing: The Boomers are turning 50 and their muscles are tighter, tense and tired from years of wear and tear. "Stretching is not like cancer research that is taking the bulk of our funds these days," Chris Oswald, a Toronto chiropractor and co-author with Stanley Bacso of Stretching For Fitness Health & Performance (Sterling Books).

Oswald says the lack of research on stretching makes it difficult to know for sure what it does or does not do. But in his experience, those clients who've been taught proper stretching routines and have been following them over a period of, say, 10 years bounce back faster from injury and need less adjustment. "It only makes sense that when you get older you get stiffer," Oswald explains. "Your soft tissues lose elasticity with the aging process and a stiffer tissue is not going to absorb any kind of stress from movements such as sports."

He and others believe that warm muscles mean less injury. But, like James, Oswald believes most people don't know how to stretch. Most stretch before working out, but the right way to stretch is to warm up first. Take a minute to do some walking, then start your warm-up stretching. "People think they should pull the heck out of a muscle," Oswald says. "In the first six seconds you should feel a gentle pull. Gentle! But in the next 10 seconds you should feel that pull letting go - then for the next 10 seconds or so you should feel quite normal. "If you're pulling to he max, your fibres will tear and the joints underneath will take a beating. People who exercise like to feel sweat-that's work to them. But stretching is passive, not active. It's holding".

Oswald says some studies do show that flexibility can only be increased through stretching if you hold the stretch for 30 to 60 seconds - a lot longer than most of us would.
(one bit of advice: There are lots of stretching books around, and as much concern about "harmful" stretching. Choose a book written by an author who has worked in rehab or who is an expert on joints and muscles.)

While stretching won't do much for your heart or your abs, it will make a huge difference in the way you feel. And with your muscles stretched and warmed up, you might feel more able to follow through with the serious commitment needed for a more rounded exercise program. James says that she sees a tremendous need for stretching based just on the everyday assaults our bodies put up with. You work 10 hours at a computer or you're a pharmacist cradling a telephone and filling prescriptions all day; the muscles in your neck take a beating and you emerge, end of day, round-shouldered and concave-chested. Or you lift up your three-year-old (agony to your lower back) or shovel snow, vacuum and lug in a five-foot tree. No wonder your stiff!

"We're just beginning to see the repercussions of the backpack," says Karen Webb, a physiotherapist and author of Body Basics For Life (Birchcliff Publishing).
"Over the years, as kids carry their backpacks in a forward bent posture, they get rounded shoulders and a shortening at the front of their hip joints which alters the angle of the spine." Webb is pro stretching and believes in stretch breaks throughout the day.
"When you think about it, here's a body meant for action, and the workplace is set up for sitting. Stretch breaks improve circulation, reduce fatigue, stress, joint stiffness and the risk of injury," says Webb.

Oswald can go one better: For a simple stretch routine, do it while you're taking your morning shower.

"In Toronto, people are too busy to take 10 minutes to stretch. If you do it in the shower, then you win. The heat definitely relaxes your muscles," says Oswald.
(Make sure you have a shower bar to hold on to, then try some simple stretches: Toe touches, lunges, side-to-side head rolls. For more info on the shower stretch routine and an accompanying laminated card, contact Active and Innovative Inc. at 932-3800)
Any fitness instructor, physiotherapist or chiropractor can set you up with a beneficial stretching routine. After you've chosen your basic stretches, follow Oswald's top six rules for stretching: Warm up first; be gentle; hold the stretch for 30 seconds; do deep, rhythmic, abdominal breathing to improve circulation to muscle tissues while you stretch; do not bounce as you stretch; and both sides equally in order to maintain balance, enhance flexibility and reduce the risk of injury.

The bottom line, say experts, is listen to your body.

"It's all very common sense," says Webb. "Undo what your body's been doing. Do the stretching before you get the pain."