4 minute read
Kick Tightness to the Curb
BY TAMMY UYEDA, BSc(PT)
Iremember the first time it happened. It was only a month and a half into lockdown. After a morning full of online tele-health clients I went to stand up from my chair. Suddenly, the front of my hips protested. My low back protested. My joints groaned as I willed my lower body to release me from the tight grasp that threatened to keep me frozen in a Gollum-like stance. A grunt escaped my throat reminding me of my grandpa getting up after teatime. Whaaat?!
Stretching instantly helped me to regain my fluidity, but over the weeks to come I started to notice a new tightness and ache to the back of my hip niggling away at me. The effects of stretching were frustratingly temporary. Other odd stiffnesses started to become a part of my daily life and I suddenly felt…older.
After a couple of weeks of going around the tightness and stretching merry-go-round with no real lasting benefits, the realization hit me…I had grown weaker. Even though I was spinning/running and stretching almost daily, I had not performed much in the way of regular, resisted, or weighted activity in nearly two months. My physical life, like most everyone else’s, had been significantly altered and the heaviest thing I was now lifting was a basket of groceries once every two weeks.
This new stiffness and tightness was my body’s way of sending me a warning—and I was now ready to act. TIGHT AREA 01 Hip Flexors You feel stiffness at the front of the hips or low back when standing from prolonged sitting.
STRETCH: Seated Hip Flexor Stretch
Side sit on a chair. Extend one leg behind you while reaching above your head. Feel the stretch to the front of your hip.
STRENGTH EXERCISE: Banded High-Knee Marches
Place a mini-band around your feet. March slowly, bringing your knee up to waist-level while pulling your foot toward your shin.
TAMMY UYEDA, BSc(PT) is a clinical Physiotherapist, certified group fitness instructor, and owner of FitSpark Health. She is passionate about motivating and inspiring people to live an active lifestyle and can usually be found shuttling her three pre-teen and teenaged sons between soccer fields. She shares workouts, exercise tips, and her favourite fitness-related finds on her Instagram page.
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TIGHT AREA 02 Pectorals/Chest
You feel pinching at the front of shoulders, and have tightness in the upper back.
STRETCH: Open Book Stretch
Lie on your side with your top knee bent to waist level. Anchor the knee with the opposite hand and reach back to rotate through your torso with your top arm.
STRENGTH EXERCISE: Banded External Rotations
Stand with a mini-band looped around your hands, palms facing up. Elbows stay by your sides as you rotate your hands outward, pulling against the band. Hold briefly then return to start with control. Repeat.
Open Book Stretch Banded External Rotations
TIGHT AREA 03 Hamstrings You have an achy low back while standing and stiffness when you bend forward.
STRETCH: Standing Hamstring Stretch
Take a small step forward and straighten the front knee. Keep the rear knee bent as you fold forward from the waist and increase tension to the back of your leg.
STRENGTH EXERCISE: Single Leg Bridge
Lie on your back with knees bent, both feet flat on the floor. Grasp one leg and hug it toward your chest. Push through the heel of the other leg to lift your hips a few inches off the floor. Alternate sides and repeat.
Tight Doesn’t Always Mean Short
It is a common assumption that if a muscle is tight that it is simply short and needs to be stretched to relax it. More often than not, it’s not that simple.
Muscle tightness is more often the symptom of two other key causative factors: 1. weakness in that muscle group and/or 2. over-compensation of a secondary muscle doing the job of a primary one. Think: The biceps lifting the jug of milk up to the counter by bending the elbow (correct action) versus the upper trapezius shoulder muscles shrugging the jug up onto the counter (compensatory action). Stiff neck muscles anyone?
Stretch and Strength
Stretching is one of the most powerful tools we have to unlock tightness, but by strengthening the weak muscle or activating the primary muscle groups again you are boring down to the root of the tightness for a longer lasting result.
For each stretch, take three deep breaths. Release tension with each exhale. Repeat going further into the stretch with each exhale.
For each strength exercise, perform enough repetitions that you feel you might be able to do three more if you had to, but stop and rest at that point. Repeat for two or three sets, three times per week.
If you are not sure what to stretch or strengthen, see your physiotherapist or health care provider for an assessment and exercises specific for you. As for me, banded, weighted squats were my ticket to hip and buttock happiness and resisted exercise is back in my weekly routine.