Help increase flexibility

[bob5483]

Hey everyone,

I am having a ton of back problems and I go see doctors, do therapy, etc. But my question is this does anyone have a great stretching routine for me that is full body. The doctors always just give me "few" thing I can do at home. What I want is an full routine along with how long I should hold each stretch. I am a lifelong athelete but always had trouble with tight hamstrings. I watch UFC and see how flexibile those guys are and its astonishing how much they can manuver. That is what I would like to work up to. Thanks.

[joey m]

Typically, to gain "flexibility", you have to do far more than stretching. In particular, if you have tight hamstrings, you will likely have weak and underactive glutes. You probably have improper firing patterns, which cause your body to recruit your hamstrings to do more duties than is appropriate. Simply stretching them may help a little, but you will need to work on regrooving your motor patterns and increasing strength and firing of your glutes.

[MasterD]

The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion is EXACTLY what you are looking for. You can buy the book at amazon.com. Steve also endorses it in his list of recommended books. It is about full body alignment and therefore eliminating the cause of all structural pain by doing stretches and increasing your flexibility.

[MasterD]

By the way by doing the exercises I completely eliminated the need for chiropractic care (because I was curious about my alignment). I went back one time and the chiropractor couldn't make any adjustments, besides from some small muscle tension massage in my upper back; I was just perfectly aligned.