Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm gonna show you 9 relaxing stretches for stiff
muscles.
So let's get started.
So I'm just gonna kind of start off with the neck and we're gonna go down.
For all of these stretches, you probably want to do them for about 20 seconds.
So this isn't like really stretch and hold kind of stretches, this is just to kind of
relax those muscles, especially when they are stiff and tight.
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So just to start off up at your neck, you're just gonna turn and do some head rotations.
So you don't have to hold it for 20 seconds, you can do a little pause if you want to,
but the whole motion all together is gonna be for about 20 seconds.
So you don't have to be exact counting out the 20 seconds, but just kind of getting those
stiff muscles moving and loosening them up a little bit.
So if you want to count, you could just do maybe 10 on each side and that'd probably
get you to about 20 seconds.
After that, then you're just gonna go into a side bend.
So now you're getting those muscles more on the outside.
So same things, this isn't really it's not a full stretch like we usually do, this is
just some relaxing kind of stretching to get those tight muscles, those stiff muscles worked
out a little bit.
So same thing, if you would rather just kind of count and do 10 on each side you can.
Or if you want to set a little timer and do maybe about 20 seconds, you can do that as
well.
So then we're gonna move into the shoulders.
So the next things is just doing shoulder circles.
So I like to kind of do them all one way you can do about 10 seconds one way, and then
after you get that stretched out, then reverse it.
So again still kind of that 20 seconds.
If you want to break it up so then you're just kind of doing a couple one way and then
going back the other way you can.
This is a really great way to kind of relax those shoulders and get them moving.
And then after that, you're gonna go into a shoulder squeeze, or a scapular squeeze.
These are the ones where you're just kind of squeezing everything back.
Not with your shoulders up squeezing, but just kind of relaxing everything down and
squeezing back.
And this kind of opens up the chest muscles.
Again you don't really have to do a pause at the end unless you want to, but just imagine
that somebody's hand is right on your spine in the back and you're trying to squeeze those
shoulder blades together to kind of pinch that hand in the back.
You can use your elbows if you want to, you don't have to.
If you feel like you're using your elbows more than you should.
Cause you really want to activate those muscles just kind of squeezing them back together
getting that nice squeeze.
So again about that 20 seconds.
Then you kind of want to get your trunk moving a little bit.
So just take your hands and kind of clasp them in front of you, and just start rotating
side to side.
So with this one, you can see my hips are going a little bit with it, but I'm not turning
my whole body.
I really want that stretch to be kind of that upper middle trunk kind of motion.
But again, just a kind of a smooth going back and forth.
Just to get that nice stretch.
So again if you just want to count side to side or if you want to set a timer then you
can do that as well.
So after you stretch out the trunk area, then you're gonna go into a hamstring stretch.
So with this one, you're just gonna kind of roll your body down.
So this is a little different than the traditional hamstring stretches where I always tell you
kind of keep your back straight and bend at your hips.
You can do it that way, or you can roll your whole body just to kind of get the back stretched
as well.
So if you want to start and roll all the way down as far as you can comfortably go.
Hold it 5-10 seconds.
You can roll back up, or if you want to do that traditional hamstring stretch and keep
that back straight and then just kind of slide your hands down your knees and your shin area.
And then get that stretch as well.
So getting that stretch in those hamstrings and then just kind of rolling back up.
So that whole process for about 20-30 seconds, you can probably do about 2-3 of them, but
just again you can do that nice roll if you want to.
Or you can keep that back straight and get it all nice and stretched out.
So now we're gonna kind of go back up to the trunk a little bit.
This time you just want to put your hands behind your head with your elbows out to the
side.
And then just do a little side bend.
So this is getting that whole side from your shoulders to your lats all the way down.
Even the QL a little bit which is the Quadratus Lumborum.
So again you don't have to hold the stretch unless you want to like a 3-5 second stretch.
You can do that, you can hold it or you can just continuously go side to side for that
total of 20 seconds kind of stretch.
And then to get a big whole body kind of stretch it out to relax those stiff muscles.
Start with your hands up high, make a big circle and come all the way down to your toes.
And then bring it all the way back up.
So just a nice getting every muscle along that chain just kind of nice and stretched
out.
If you want to follow with your eyes to get that neck into it a little bit as well, you
can do that.
But again see I'm not really holding anything, maybe just a little pause at the top, a little
pause at the bottom, but this is just kind of relaxing, stretching out all those muscles.
And then to finish, you're just gonna do 5 nice deep breaths.
You can do it with your chest, or if you want to do it with your diaphragm.
Your choice.
Sometimes at the end I like really opening up that chest.
So just taking those nice deep breaths.So you don't necessarily have to hold it.
As you can see I'm trying to expand that chest as I go.
So I'm going... breathing out like that.
So just doing about 5 just to kind of calm everything back down completely after you've
just stretched everything out.
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And remember, be safe (get nice and relaxed), have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.