Ditch The Stretch! Confessions of an Anti-Stretcher

I think the most common thing that people say to me when I first meet them is this:
"Why am I still hurting and tight, even though I'm doing everything right?"

This “Right List” almost always includes: stretching.

They are frustrated, suffering with all kinds of different issues like-

• toss, and turn at night and can't sleep well
• hurt during or after doing exercise
• can't wear certain shoes
• feel stress in their neck and shoulders
• can't stand for long periods
• can't drive around town without feeling tortured
• have stabbing pains when they move the wrong way
• feel like a tin man getting out of bed in the morning
• diagnosed with arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, and inflammation
• ETC ETC ETC

Do you relate to any of these? I have so many more examples but I don't want to
write too many words.. I know you are busy.

So what's the deal?
First of all .... I want you to know - IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT
You are following the current narrative and it just doesn't work.

How do I know this?
Because I've spent the last 30+ years helping people get out of pain,
and I've learned a few things along the way. To date I've done over 70,000 treatments
because frankly I was obsessed with figuring out how to get lasting pain relief, not just for others but for myself. I believe there is a solution to every problem. The key is to never give up searching. If you are reading this now I believe you are that kind of person.

Ok so here comes my confession..
Ever since I can remember I believed if
people just stretched more they would become stretchier.
When I was growing up I was a gymnast.
I was born uber flexy so I'd just wake up and jump into the splits..
literally jump up in the air and into the splits.. no problem.

Well, some girls on my gymnastics team were not so bendy.
We were told if they just stretched really hard they would become like me.
We would sit, stand and push them into position - No pain, no gain.
They would inevitably get strain, sprain and tears..
I thought they were just unlucky. (I'm sorry if I stretched you too hard).

Then in my early 20’s later I became a massage therapist.
It was at that time I became a professional stretcher. I was trained in all kinds of stretching: hyperbolic, static, active, ballistic, and many others. I was taught that people’s muscles would become looser, more flexible and pliable which would result in less pain.

As I worked on a lot of people I started to observe things, and my certainty that this was so necessary and awesome for the body started to crumble.

I remember lugging my table up the foothills in Boulder, Colorado,
so I could stretch all the elite runners .. however,

1. The stretchy ones enjoyed the stretching however it didn’t add much to their overall flexibility. Their muscles felt about the same every time. (note: everyone can be overstretched but we will get to that later).
2. The tighter/stiffer ones wanted the stretching, even if it wasn’t super enjoyable because they believed if they got the right stretch they would feel less stiff, and increase their range of motion. However, that group always felt stiff to the touch and had way more of what I call “T & T” Tendonitis and Tears (in the muscles) including other conditions such as Sciatica, Plantar Fasciitis, and knee pain.

This got me thinking .. Maybe stretching wasn’t so great. But I continued because it was expected, and well, it was just so ingrained in my psyche. I got into my work because I had a lot of pain from many car accidents, and falls, and everyday I stretched myself, and did little holding routines. Every morning I woke up feeling stiff, and did a bunch of stuff again. I hated being stuck in a never ending cycle but just figured this is what we all have to do.

Then One day MANY years later I had an AHA moment… (after decades of stretching thousands of clients utilizing all the different kinds of stretch techniques).

I remember like it was yesterday. I was standing at the counter at my center looking out the window, and I had a thought. I thought.. holy moly .. I don’t have any discomfort, pain or stiffness anywhere in my body.. (just felt a bit tired from doing 90+ treatments a week like a crazy person). AND .. I hadn’t stretched, AT ALL and was training sporadically and poorly. I was just overworking

My work at this point was super effective, but I thought maybe “holding the treatment” had to do with something else? Like was it as important not only what to do but WHAT NOT TO DO?

Could it be that people were actually stiff and tight because they were inadvertently frightening their muscles by moving them out of their natural range of motion?

Was the act of trying to get “stretchier” by hard stretching actually making people more tight?

The short answer is YES !!

As I write this I’ve gathered A LOT of data on clients with this new perspective.

But before we go any further I need to clarify 3 things:

1. When I speak of stretching I don't mean just reaching up to the sky and squiggling your arms back and forth, or flowing through a yoga routine,yoking your breath and body together with movement and focus, or moving the parts of your body to warm up for your morning run.
2. I mean stretching with the intention of really pushing, pulling your limb,head or foot.. farther than it wants to go, and telling yourself if you just push a little bit harder, soon you'll be all loose again.
3. If you have no discomfort, tightness or pain anywhere, and you enjoy stretching then carry on. I’m speaking to those that are hurting, tight and in pain.

When I type those words, all these images come to my mind of past clients, who even though what they were doing was NOT WORKING were adamant that their way was the right way because that group of people called "THEY" told them they had to stretch to get better.

I remember Lilly Anne (not real name to protect identity)
She came in diagnosed with severe Sciatica pain. She suffered with it for years, and she told us that she had “tried everything” and “everyone” but the pains were getting worse and worse.

She received a few treatments and was amazed that her sharp nerve pain in her ass traveling down the leg was much, much less, and she actually slept through the whole night.

Then on the fourth visit she screamed "Oh it's back! My Sciatica disease is back!"

So the first question out of my mouth was "did you stretch?”

She responded "Yes! I stretched like this!” .. She then proceeded to pull her leg way over to the side, then lifted her leg and pressed her shin bone into her nose, then bent her knees and squeezed them hard to her chest.

I yelled "what part of DON'T STRETCH didn’t you understand?”
I think that included a @#$#%#$% word in there because I was pretty frustrated.

She yelled back "You are an Anti-Stretcher! You are going against the WAY!
We laughed, and then she looked at me perplexed.
She said "I just can't get it through my head that there could be another way because "everyone" says that stretching is the only way to make the body more flexible, looser and out of pain,"

I looked her in the eye and said "so, how's that been working out for you?"
She said .. “it’s not.”

So I’ll ask you now what I asked her then .. would you like to learn why?
If you do .. then please click on my blog: #1 Reason Your Muscles Get Tight