FACTS
- Dynamic stretching is better when warming up.
- To increase range of motion, try PNF stretching.
- Stretching does not prevent muscle soreness.
- Stretching improves your flexibility.
- Stretching can decrease your risk of injury.
- Stretching increases blood flow to your muscles.
- Stretching throughout the day is a good idea.
- You should never bounce when you stretch.
- Stretch on both sides to keep everything balanced.
STATS
- Stretching is beneficial to the overall health of the body and plays a role in reducing musculoskeletal disorders among employees. MSD’s account for more than 600,000 injuries and illnesses and 34 percent of all workdays lost.
- Hundreds of thousands of workers sit at a computer or desk all day long. But experts say it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place – at the office, at school, or in the car; in front of a computer or in front of a television screen – it’s the overall number of hours spent sitting that matters most.
- Inactivity or being sedentary increases the pressure on spinal discs by about 40 percent more than standing, according to a 2009 report in Medical News Today.
- A study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that static stretching before a workout reduced participants’ strength in the squat by 8.36 percent, and reduced lower-body stability by 22.68 percent. A research review of 104 studies found that static stretching reduces overall strength in the stretched muscles by almost 5.5 percent.