How to Know if Stretching Your Spine Is Working?

Stretching your spine helps keep it healthy and strong, which is critical to good health. You'll know if stretching your spine is working when your posture improves, your back feels healthy and upright, and your abdominal muscles get stronger. For best results, you should stretch all your major muscle groups -- upper and lower legs, glutes, and back muscles -- every day for optimal health. Perform stretches correctly so that you don't injure yourself.

  1. Achieving Good Posture

    • In general, stretching your spine will improve your posture. Good posture means your abdomen is engaged, and there's no curve in your low back. Your shoulders are relaxed and stacked over your hips. The backs of your ears are in line with your shoulder blades and the top of your head lifts up toward the ceiling. People comment, "You've got great posture." Stretching your back helps to create muscle memory for good posture so that it becomes intuitive in everyday life.

    Impact of Poor Posture

    • When you have poor posture, your vertebrae move out of alignment, placing pressure on your intervertebral discs. Under strain, the discs cannot receive the fluids and nutrients they need to stay hydrated and nourished. This can lead to problems like degenerative disc disease, disc hernias, nerve damage and chronic back pain. Poor posture also causes you to lose flexibility, strength and muscle memory needed to support a strong, healthy back. Stretching your spine can relieve the pressure on your intervertebral discs and train your muscles to support good posture.

    Stretching Your Major Muscles Regularly

    • To maintain a healthy back, you should stretch your major muscle groups every day 30 to 60 minutes. If you have limited time, stretching once or twice a week is also beneficial. Stretching the major muscle groups is important because they all work together to promote good posture and a healthy back. For example, having tight hamstrings will pull on your lower back and potentially create back pain. Also, having tight pectorals and shoulders causes you to hunch over, which places strain on your back.

    Safety Tips for Stretching

    • The most common mistakes people make when they're stretching is not keeping their joints aligned and their back straight, which can easily cause injuries. For example, you should keep your knees stacked over your ankles to avoid straining your knee joints. When you're doing any type of forward fold while standing or sitting, you should keep your back straight to prevent stressing your vertebrae. If your hamstrings are tight, bend your knees and rest your belly on your thighs to keep your back straight.