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atmosphear commented on an entry by vicky.x_©™ titled "Okay." regarding stretch every day:
It sounds that you did something very badly wrong if you have pain after stretching! I think you’re needing guidance so that you won’t break yourself, so let’s start with these questions:
- How and what were you stretching?
- How many seconds were you holding the positions?
- Were you moving (kind of back-and-forth) during the stretches?
- Did you warm up your muscles before stretching?
- Had you been exercising the same day?
- If you had, were you having time in between the exercising and the stretching?
As Ouiser was saying, in the morning we are very stiff and thus prone to break ourselves. Morning stretching can be very good, but has to be done with a pinch more caution.
Remember that pain is an indication of something going wrong. Never push the muscles way over their limits (this is where the pain comes from), since you’ll be just causing micro ruptures (straining) to your muscles and tendons, which will heal by scarring.
Ruptures are gaps in between the muscle cells. These gaps will be filled with scar tissue, which is less elastic than the muscles were before stretching them and also more prone for straining again. So, by stretching in a wrong way you will end up harming up yourself.
Start to listen to your body more: if you hold the muscle in a stretched position for over 30 seconds you will notice that the reflex holding the muscle (preventing the harm body thinks stretching is doing) disappears and the muscle actually begins to stretch. Do not move back and forth while performing long stretches, since that will be ripping the muscle cells causing the micro ruptures.