As we age or compensate for an injury, we tend to decrease our end range of movement to protect the joint or muscle. At some stage the brain has been given a message that this end range is going to be sore and cause inflammation, so the body is going to do its best to not let that happen and protect you. The trouble is the body doesn't know when the threat has gone.
Then we see people trying to restore their function by stretching. they're groaning in the Gym and pushing things as far as they can and what you are really telling the body is - I'm going to hurt you! So, what the body's going to do? it's going to protect it even more by restricting further and inevitably lower its threshold for pain at a neurological level if repeated. Now we're on a bad cycle.
At Juggler we suggest you do get in front of a mirror and look at how your body moves in all directions, and you will easily see at some level one side movement is not as good as the other or perhaps both sides. Therefore, we need to start getting the body to move further but without triggering a defensive mechanism.
So, before you stretch you must get muscles contracting and cells firing. Often one of the best things to do is purely put your muscle into a contracting state and hold for 10 - 15 seconds (no movement at all) and do this several times. Now that the body is ready to be moved a bit more, begin your stretch - but only for a short time. Focus on stretching well within your normal pain levels.
Try stretching that area five or six times a day but only for five minutes - always contract the muscle before you stretch. Keep this up continually for a period of a week or two, just get that muscle moving more and more and more but without any pain or any reason for the body to become hyper sensitized to end range pain.
The reason for doing this is to rid any compensatory gaits. Arthritis will begin when a joint no longer moves well. It's the body attempting to stabilize a joint. You don't need to go beyond a normal range and most of us merely looking in a mirror can work out where that range should be.
Today’s Challenge: Get brave, get your gears off stand in front of a mirror and start looking at how well you can move and all directions