Stretching

Over the past 8 months or so I have tried many different types of stretching to attempt to alleviate my injury.  Much of the reading I have done has focused on the lower body from the calf down to the toes; and although I do agree that there is great importance in stretching that area, I believe that there is more of a total body connection to injuries.  Our entire bodies are connected by muscles and tendons that push and pull constantly.  I do want to make it clear here as well that I think Chiropractors are a bunch of quacks.  There is however, some value in what they learn as far as body balance with muscle and tendon strength, joint flexibility, and total body health.

As far as flexibility goes, I have never been very flexible.  Perhaps it is because I was a tall child and am still considered tall that my muscles and tendons are under more tension than the average person.  It could just be the way I hold my body and which muscles, tendons, and ligaments I use for balance, walking, running, biking are slightly different than the normal person.  Who knows.  All I can say is that I was the most flexible during my years as a competitive swimmer where I was training 30+ hours a week.  I contribute that to a few things.  First, my coach stressed stretching before and after each workout. Second, swimming is a full body workout where you are flexing and stressing every muscle you have so there was a balance achieved when training.  Third: the cross training that was done during our dryland workouts helped build stabilizer muscles that contributed to overall fitness. 

For stretches I have done both static and dynamic stretches for the upper and lower body.  The lower body stretches are for the quads, hamstrings, hip flexors,  Iliotibial band, calfs, achilles, plantar fascia, toes and as much else inbetween as possible.  The upper body stretches are more limited to shoulder and back flexibility, with chest and neck included.  

In addition to the stretches above it is very important to have a strong core for balance and reduced strain on your other muscles. This is accomplished through abdominal workouts.  A good one to try is plank exercises.