KEEPING FLEXIBLE

Flexibility refers to the ability to maintain a wide range of movement about the joints of the body. When they are not stretched regularly, muscles and tendons become tighter and the range of movement around the joints decreases. The implications for postural alignment are wide-reaching, because if one muscle is pulling tighter than another, bones can be moved out of alignment. Sooner or later you experience pain in one or more joints.

Crook backs go well with tight back, buttock, hamstring, hip flexor and calf muscles. Crook necks and shoulders also benefit from stretches that are focussed on parts of the body lower down - as per our belief that the site of the pain is probably not the site of the cause of the pain.

Loosen and strengthen muscles attached to the pelvis so that you stand in a better posture and you may well find your neck and shoulders start to feel better.

By far the greater proportion of people who complete our Musculo-skeletal Risk Factor Profile do not have a regular and systematic flexibility (or strength) training program. Is it any wonder then that at least 30% of adults have some form of musculo-skeletal dysfunction.

ONE MINUTE FLEXIBILITY TRAINING PROGRAM

I recommend the one minute flexibility training program for people with crook backs and necks. What this means is that you need to do each exercise for at least a minute to get any benefit from it. If you can stretch for longer, so much the better.

The reason for this is that it takes a muscle at least a minute to get the message that it's safe to loosen up.

The reason for that is that if you were walking across a slippery floor and you slipped you wouldn't gracefully do the splits. You'd tighten up. Likewise the first reaction to a muscle to being loosened is to tighten up.

So, give it time, plenty of time to loosen up.

Many of the exercises will enhance joint function if you stretch for two or three minutes. If you have a really crook back and sore shoulders you'll get better value from your flexibility training program if you spend a couple of hours at a time doing the exercises over and over again.

Go to the Global Back Care website purchase a copy of the ebook, Fix Back Pain. If you do the recommended exercises regularly and systematically there is a good chance that your back, neck and shoulders will feel better. A minute a day spent on each exercise can make a huge difference.

If you're having trouble finding time to do your stretches I suggest you do them while you're watching television. That way you can take your time and spend as long as you like doing them.

I also recommend isometric stretching as an effective way of loosening tight muscles and have included some isometric neck stretches in the Fix Back Pain ebook.

John Miller