Why Stretching is so Important for Your Body by: Dr. Luz Dayrit, PT, DPT

It’s early morning, you’re in your bed still, waking up. You were sound asleep, so hard asleep that you didn’t even change positions throughout the night.

You point your toes, your arms reach upward, you yawn, breathing deep into your belly as you curl your back gently backwards on the cool sheets. A stretch.

In many ways, stretching is natural. You see it in infants, reaching their little fisted hands over their heads. You see it in dogs (hey there, downward dog!). You even see it in birds like chickens! They wake up, fluff their feathers, and push their necks forward in a salute to the morning.

You could say that stretching is instinctual, so it must have some importance, right?

Science would agree. This article by Harvard Health shows us why stretching is so very important, implying that sitting at your desk all day makes muscles sore and tight. As does stress, where you hold tension in your shoulders preventing natural, normal movement.

Fe-SiO, founded by a dynamic physical therapist team, knows the importance of stretching, and chose to make it a founding point (along with mindfulness) of the practice.

The goal is to hack your physical hard drive- both mentally and physically--so that you walk out feeling exactly like you do when you wake up after that deep sleep and a big, natural stretch.

In fact, you could even try one of Fe-SiO’s full-body stretches right now.

Remember, don’t push yourself until it hurts, just gently lean into the stretch and feel it, just like you would during those early morning stretches.

Here’s what to do:

Triceps stretch:

-Fold your right arm in a 90 degree angle and place your whole arm behind your head.

-Push your elbow gently backwards to feel a stretch down your triceps, lats, and into your shoulders.

-Hold this position for 30 seconds.

-Swap to your left arm and repeat.

Quadriceps stretch

Note: It’s okay if you need to hold onto the back of a chair for this stretch.

-Stand up tall, feet shoulder width apart.

-Using your right arm, reach behind you to grab your right leg.

-Pull your foot upwards, towards your glutes.

-Hold this stretch for 30 seconds.

-Swap to the other side.

Whole body stretch

-For this one, you need to start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart.

-Place you left foot behind you and dip down into a deep runner’s stretch (like in the image).

-Be sure your front leg is parallel to the ground, knee bent at a 90 degree angle.

-Once there, reach your hands up above your head, pulling your naval inward, and hold for 30 seconds for a full-body stretch.

-Gently place your hands on the ground and bring your back back to the front.

-Switch legs and repeat.

We here at FeSiO hope you enjoyed these simple stretching techniques.

On their own, they’ll help you loosen tight muscles and make you feel refreshed and reset, but with the full FeSiO mindfulness experience, with added sensory elements and someone to guide you through simple stretches, it’ll be even better.

We encourage you to click here to book your first appointment with FeSiO, and let us help you feel better.