Go on, stretch yourself

In April I attended a workshop on Effective Stretching, with the Middlesex School of Complementary Medicine. Most of us know the importance of stretching when exercising, but it is not just valuable for athletes, or during a workout. We all use our bodies, and can get tight muscles, and so can benefit from a regular stretching practice. In return for a little time and persistence to form new habits, you could reduce muscle tension and aches, feel more relaxed in your body, have greater body awareness and improve posture and body alignment.

Of course, this depends on performing stretches that are appropriate, and doing them correctly. Here are some of the top tips I picked up from the workshop, and one of the most useful stretches we learned.

Top tips

• When exercising, prepare with dynamic (moving) stretches, and cool down with static stretches. 

• Fit a few stretches into your daily routine – when you wake up feeling a bit creaky, after sitting or standing still for a long time, or when you have a few minutes waiting for the bus or while the kettle boils. 

• Don’t bounce in a stretch, or push passed your comfort point, both are ways to injure yourself. 

• Stretching is easier and more effective if you relax. 

• Do not hold your breath while stretching; maintain an easy flowing breath. 

• Hold static stretches for 10 to 15 seconds to maintain your flexibility; to improve flexibility, stay at the end point of your muscle’s elasticity, where you feel resistance (and before it hurts!) for 30 to 60 seconds. You may feel that after 15 seconds or so you are able naturally to move into a deeper stretch, but don’t force it.

Piriformis stretch

The piriformis is a muscle in the buttock, underneath the major gluteal muscles. It can become tightened, especially if we sit for long periods, which can cause discomfort in the buttock and lower back, and may also irritate the sciatic nerve causing pain down the leg. This stretch is therefore a good one if you work at a desk much of the time, or do a lot of driving.

• Start by sitting on the edge of a chair, with your feet flat on the floor.
• Raise one foot and place on the opposite knee, with your shin as close to horizontal as it comfortably goes.
• There will be a triangle formed between your thighs and raised calf; slowly lean forward, aiming your belly button into the triangle. Hold for as long as necessary.
• Release gradually and repeat on the other side.

Do this stretch daily, or more. It’s a good one to include in your regular breaks when working at a computer.


Be kind to yourself. Treat body and mind through compassionate, healing touch - visit Lucinda's website

Help yourself to a straighter, less painful upper back

So many people who come to see me for massage have tension, restricted movement and pain in their shoulders and neck. It’s a blight of the modern lifestyle, with hours spent sitting hunched over computers, or behind the wheel of a car. A massage can work out the knots and tightness, so you feel looser, straighter and much more comfortable for weeks, or even months. Without a change in habits, however, stiffness and pain creep back in.

Massage can help you feel looser,
straighter and more comfortable

Giving up the computer work, or long drives, may not be practical, but there are other steps you can take to lessen the impact of day to day life on your body and prolong the benefits of your massage (and reduce the discomfort when you come for your next treatment).

Try this exercise: Focus on the bottom corner of your shoulder blades (feel where they are with your hands if you need to). Have the intention of pulling those corners down and in towards your spine.

This is a very gentle, passive way of encouraging your upper back, shoulders and neck into a good, neutral position. Thinking about pulling your shoulders down, or back, can cause you to tense in your neck and shoulders, which defeats the purpose a bit.

It also helps bring your head up above your neck, rather than hanging forward. (If it still feels pushed forward, bring it fully up by looking horizontally and bringing your chin in; imagine a string from your crown floating your head upwards). Your head is pretty heavy, so if it’s pushed forward your neck and shoulder muscles are doing a lot of work to counteract that weight. That can cause, or add to, tension in those areas. Once your head is balanced on your neck, the weight is supported through your spine and the pressure is off your muscles. Much better!

Practise this alignment of your back and shoulders whenever you think of it, especially during activities that can put strain on the back like using a computer or driving. Every time you do it you take the strain off your muscles for a few moments and give them an opportunity to relax. With time and repetition, this neutral position becomes more natural and normal, until you realise you’re doing it without thinking. Congratulations, you’ve learned to look after your back and may have saved yourself future pain and discomfort. As an added incentive, by holding yourself straight you may look taller too.

Be kind to yourself. Treat body and mind through compassionate, healing touch - visit Lucinda's website

Treating neck ache and tension headaches

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the same experience keeps repeating, as if the universe wants you to take notice of something? Several times in the past couple of weeks I've treated clients with tightness in their necks that transfers into the scalp and causes headaches. This has prompted me to explain a bit about why this happens, and a simple technique you can use when it does.

Here's "the science bit"

At the back of your skull there's a ridge of bone called the occipital ridge. You can feel it by putting your finger on the back of your head and running it downwards until you feel it dip onto softer tissue. The ridge is most obvious just to the side of the central line, but runs across from ear to ear, just above the hairline.


This ridge is an area for muscle attachment. Muscles from the neck, and even the shoulder, run up and attach to it, and a band of muscle and connective tissue runs from here, over the top of the head, to the forehead. Any tension in the neck and upper back, whether from computer work, holding stress in the shoulders, an injury, or anything else, is therefore transmitted to the occipital area. From here it can pull on the tissue over the head all the way to the forehead. This is why a tight neck can cause tension headaches.


It is also why, during massage, we work on the soft tissue at the occipital ridge. This is true of Deep Tissue Massage, Indian Head Massage, Thai Massage; there's even an occipital move in Pulsing.


By manipulating the tissue, we can often release contraction in the neck and shoulder muscles, and in the scalp. This can ease any pain and discomfort.


You can also do this yourself, if your neck is tight or you feel a headache coming on.

• Put your index and middle fingers together, and place the tips at the back of your head, on the occipital ridge, pointing inwards.
• If you have long hair, it's easier to work from under your hair, and with it loose - tying hair up tightly can also contribute to headaches.
• Make a few small circles with your finger tips, then move them outwards a bit, still on the ridge, and repeat.
• Resist the temptation to press hard - just firm enough to move the skin, rather than just the hair, is fine.
• Continue until you get to the corner of the ridge under the ear; you can then make circles back towards the centre, or slide your fingers back and work outwards again.
• You can also do one side at a time if it's more comfortable, but try not to twist your head too much.

Of course, if you have an underlying issue elsewhere that's causing the problem, this technique won't address that. However, easing the tightness in the occipital area may relieve the discomfort until you're able to take more permanent steps, whether that's taking more frequent breaks from the computer, or getting a massage to release tension in the muscles throughout the neck, shoulders and upper back.


There's more about Lucinda's massage at www.lucindacracknell.co.uk