Hello doctor, How flexible should a normal person be? I have been stretching two times a week for four years and I have not improved at all. In fact, I have become worse. I do winter guard and we stretch for about 25 minutes before practice. Our show this year is called meditation and we all have to pick a yoga pose, but I cannot do most of the yoga poses because I am inflexible. I have found only two that I can do. Also, I had hip dysplasia when I was born, but I wore a Pavlick brace and they said it corrected it. Could that have something to do with it?
Hello. At the outset, one’s flexibility should decrease muscle soreness, prevent joint and muscle injuries, improve performance and range of motion after his/her normal physical activities. It is not important to touching the foot on the head. But you supposed to perform yogasanas as you mentioned, I give you few tips to follow. Poor postural habits and our daily movements result in reduced joint mobility. Stretching exercises improve a good range of motion and prevent joint stress injury as well. Stretching exercises gives enough relaxation both physically and mentally. 1. Take a hot full bath before starting your physical exercise. 2. Drink warm lemon honey water after 20 minutes of your bath. 3. Go for 10 minutes walk and 10 minutes jog. 4. Start your exercises with joint exercise (all joints). 5. Start stretching exercises after the joint exercise. 6. Then start suryanamaskara practice for six rounds. 7. There are so many yogic postures to improve flexibility for beginners (child’s pose, bound angle pose, fire log pose, cow face pose, downward-facing pose, extended cat pose, extended triangle pose, etc). Do practice six to ten times each and every poses daily. 8. Consult a nearby acupressure consultant to improve flexibility pressure points and reflex pressure points. 9. Less your solid intake and increase liquid diets like fruits and vegetable juices. 10. Drink hot milk with added jaggery. 11. Include flax seeds and walnuts daily. 12. Early to bed and start your practice early in the morning. 13. Avoid all kinds of stimulants. I hope your flexibility will increase soon. Follow after a month.