Use Stretching Exercises to Help Promote Healing

Stretching is known to help prevent injuries and to increase oxygen supply to the muscles. If some type of injury, such as a strain or sprain has happened to you, stretching exercises can help you heal faster. Even if you've just trained a little bit too hard in the gym, stretching after working out helps you heal and recover from too much exercise.

Stretching exercises are used in rehabilitation

Stretching exercises can often be done at home, although they are used by physical therapists for rehabilitating more serious injuries. If someone has had surgery on the hip, knee, shoulder, or other area, stretching exercises are an important part of healing and getting life back to normal. If an injury is not serious enough to seek medical help, exercises that focus on stretching may be enough to heal the body. If you slip and fall and your hip is sore, stretching the muscles may help. Lie down on a flat surface and mimic the movements of making a snow angel by moving the legs sideways and back about ten times. Another stretching exercise that promotes healing is to stand, hold onto the back of a chair, and lift each leg straight out to the side to stretch. This should be done five or ten times on each side as well. When the muscles surrounding any joint are strengthened, they help the join heal much faster.

Stretching exercises for the back and shoulders

Stretching exercises can do wonders to heal the back and shoulders. One exercise is to lie down on a flat surface and place the arms above the head. Then, join your fingers together and stretch both your arms and legs as if you are pulling your body from your hands and feet at the same time. To help with shoulder pain or to speed recovery from tendonitis or another condition, stretching exercises are often recommended by doctors. Shoulder shrugs are done by shrugging the shoulder and holding it in place for five seconds. Towel stretches are also helpful. To do these, simply put a towel over your shoulder that is not injured. Reach behind the back to grab it with your hand on the side of your injury. Those with sciatica know how severe the pain of this lower back condition can be. To eliminate the pain that radiates down the leg, a stretching exercise that is very effective is to lie down, bend the knees while keeping the feet flat, and then cross the leg affected by sciatica pain over the other leg. Then, grab the crossed knee with the palms of the hand and stretch the knee back. This should be done five or more times.

Exercises for osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a very common condition, but stretching exercises can help in rehabilitation if you have had knee surgery or replacement, or even if you just have occasional pain in the knee. Stretching the hamstring muscles by standing straight and bending with the palms towards the floor will strengthen these muscles.