shorten and tighten, restricting your flexibility. By the time you hit your mid-twenties, your bones begin to harden and your joints have already set in place. This is not bad in any way. It also means that you’re less likely to have any dislocated joints throughout your life. However, your movement becomes slower and not as smooth. You find it much more difficult to do common tasks that were easier at a younger age. Flexibility is also the key to good posture. Many times you rely on some sets of muscle more than others. This causes these muscles to become stronger. When this happens, you’re posture is affected. The body is not aligned correctly which may cause injury down the road. Many simple routines of stretching can correct this misalignment and make you feel much better.Before going right into a stretching routine, it is good to know exactly what you are doing to your muscles fibers and tendons. First of all, our muscles are made up of many little fibers called myofilaments. As a muscle contracts, the area of overlap between the different sizes of myofilaments increases. As it stretches, this area of overlap decreases, allowing the muscle fibers to lengthen. Once the muscle is stretched to its limit, additional length is gained through the surrounding tissues. As the tension increases, the fibers in this tissue align themselves along the same line of force as the tension. Hence when you stretch, the muscle fiber is pulled out to its full length, and the connective tissue takes up the remaining slack. When this occurs, it helps to realign any disorganized fibers in the direction of the tension. Doing this not only increases the range of motion, but it also helps to heal damaged tissue in the muscles and tendons. When a muscle is stretched, some of its fibers lengthen, but others do not. The length of the entire muscle depends on the number of stretched fibers. This is also true when a muscle is contracted....
