By Michael Roizen, M.D.
on
There have been lots of celebs who promote highly aggressive stretching routines: There was Madonna’s photo of her leg tucked behind her head; Jennifer Garner’s Instagram posts with her Pilates instructor; even Ruth Bader Ginsberg advocating full body routines. But we’re talking about passive stretches today.
That’s the kind of stretching you do with assistance from another person, a door frame, a towel, or stretchy band (you get the idea) while you hold the stretch position quietly for a minute or more. Not only does that provide effective relief from tight muscles, tendons and ligaments, it helps preserve blood vessel functioning when done before you vigorously exercise.
A study presented at the American Physiological Society’s annual meeting had participants put their foot in a splint to stretch their calf for five minutes, then rest for five minutes — and repeat that four times — before or after they went for a run. The result was that the passive stretching before running helped their bodies (after exercising) restore tissue oxygenation to pre-exercise levels and their blood vessels open up, improving blood flow. The post-exercise group who hadn’t done passive stretching had a significant reduction in their body’s ability to replenish muscles and other tissue with oxygen. This showed that passive stretching can help folks recover after exercise. So, for demonstrations of passive stretches, check out https://health.clevelandclinic.org/passive-stretching. And a quick note: While we don’t have irrefutable data that stretching keeps you able to exercise in the long term, I believe it does.
Health pioneer Michael Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic and author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. His next book is “The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow.” Do you have a topic Dr. Mike should cover in a future column? If so, please email questions@GreatAgeReboot.com.
(c)2023 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
(c) 2023 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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