Implementing a daily stretch and flex is crucial to avoiding injuries!
Daily physical work can take a toll on your body. Constantly going up and down a ladder, carrying lengths of pipe, digging a ditch, operating a press, or simply dealing with the elements makes it difficult to stay healthy and pain-free. Luckily, there is a simple process you can follow to help you avoid injuries. Implementing a daily stretch and flex has several benefits. Stretching before exercise or physical work keeps muscles strong, healthy, and flexible. And, this procedure costs you nothing to implement. All you have to do is assign a leader each day to lead 5 to 10 stretching exercises before the day begins.
You may be asking, how long should the stretch and flex take?
No more than 5 to 10 minutes.
What happens if we don’t stretch before we exercise?
Muscles become short and tight without stretching. We need flexibility to keep a range of motion . Tight muscles equal injured muscles. Injured muscles lead to injuries in your joints because they simply don’t have the strength to support your joints. Therefore not stretching will increase your chance of injury.
Implementing a daily stretch and flex process has the following benefits:
- Warms up the body
- Promotes blood flow
- Distributes nutrients
- Helps prevent injury
- Increases your range of motion
- Promotes long term mobility
When should we conduct the daily stretch and flex?
Most companies prefer to perform the daily stretch and flex at the start of each shift. This makes sense because you will help stimulate blood flow by stretching. By stimulating the blood flow you are helping improve the performance of that employee physically and mentally. Consider this, if it only takes 5 minutes a day, but increases your crews productivity by ten percent, is it worth it? That is up to you to decide.
Does your company have a stretch and flex program? If not, what is stopping you from starting one?
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