Exercise - Stretch Before Exercising - Hystersisters Hysterectomy Article

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Exercise - Stretch Before Exercising

Exercise - Stretch Before Exercising

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Why do fitness experts always tell us to stretch before exercising?

Research indicates that stretching before exercise does protect against muscle injury. Fitness experts have debated this for years, but a paper was recently presented describing a study on the cellular level of mice. If the muscle was stretched first, gentle "passive" stretching, then special injury-preventing cells showed up among the muscle fibers. It's best if done just before vigorous exercise.

Specifically, the study on mice showed that passive stretching released the protective anti-inflammatory chemical. Pushing a stretch to the extreme or "bouncing" did not release the protective chemical. If it hurts or it tears, it's not the kind of stretching they were studying.

Also, the gentle passive stretching needed to be done before vigorous exercise in order to be protective; that is, you want to release this chemical into the muscles that you are going to tax before you tax them. Stretching after exercise did not release this particular chemical. "Vigorous" obviously means something different for everyone, depending on fitness.

Warm up before the stretch and cool down were not covered in this study. Neither apparently were relevant to the release of this particular chemical. That doesn't mean that they are irrelevant, just not part of this particular chemical interaction.

It was good to know that there was hard evidence that a particular kind of stretching does indeed help prevent soreness and is worth doing—not just for fit athletes, but for anyone taxing their muscles—even if that is walking or beginning weights. Soreness stops a lot of people who start exercise and aren't fit, and this seems a way to minimize it and keep on track.

There is another argument for warm-ups according to a preventive care specialist on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine: Sudden all-out exercise floods your body with stress hormones and lowers immune response, so you can get more colds and flu, etc. Five to ten minutes of warm-ups (walking etc.) also lowers blood pressure, increases blood flow to the heart, and allows you to work out longer and burn more calories. Warm-ups may even help prevent exercise-induced headaches. They may also help muscle cells metabolize blood sugar.

So, warm up your whole body with walking or other gentle aerobic activity; then gently stretch the muscles you're going to use (hold each stretch for at least 60 sec for the best release); then do something that's strenuous for you.

This content was written by staff of HysterSisters.com by non-medical professionals based on discussions, resources and input from other patients for the purpose of patient-to-patient support.

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Find A Doctor Near You

Amie Napier, M.D. Medical City Hospital 7777 Forest Lane Suite A331 Dallas TX 75230 9725667760	Kimberly Newman, M.D. 10030 Edison Square Drive Suite 100A Concord NC 28027 704-403-7670	Jennifer Hayes, M.D. Visionary Centre for Women 2695 Ulmerton Rd Clearwater FL 33762 727-540-0414
Mayra J. Thompson, M.D. 5323 Harry Hines Blvd Dept OBGYN Dallas TX 75290 214-645-3888	Sean Kossari, M.D. 14901 Rinaldi Street Suite 320 Mission Hills CA 91345 818-365-1616	Bret Lewis, M.D. 5780 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd., Ste 295 (#2 Location) 11975 Morris Rd., Ste. 310 , Alpharetta, GA 30004 Atlanta GA 30342 404-255-3633
Susan Carter, M.D. North Colorado Medical Center/ MCR 1800 15th Street, Suite 220 Greeley CO 80631 970 353 1335	Jon Nielsen, M.D. 9825 Hospital Dr. Suite 205 Maple Grove MN 55369 763-587-7050	Mini Somasundaram, M.D. 4845 Knightsbridge Boulevard Suite 220 Columbus OH 43214 (614) 583-5552

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