Exercise is Medicine™-Flexibility-Aerobic Exercise

Remember that you should stretch warm muscles and not cold ones. Always do some light warm up exercises before trying to stretch those muscles.

You may find that your range of motion of many of your joints decreases as you age. This is due to

• Inactivity
• The sticking together of connective tissues
• The thickening of the linings of your joints
• And the increase of fibrous tissue around your joints

You can help to avoid this decrease in your range of motion by regularly doing flexibility exercises. As a general guideline, you should be able to

• Raise your arms over your head 180 degrees
  
• Bend your elbow 145 degrees
• Tilt your neck 45 degrees to either side
• Arch your back 30 degrees
• Rotate your hip 45 degrees
• And extend your knee 0 degrees in a straight line.

For an explanation and illustrations on how to do various flexibility exercises, click on Flexibility Exercises.

Charles