Flexibility is vital for maintaining your ability to perform daily tasks and move with ease. In addition to improving your range of motion, being flexible can decrease your risk of injury and falls. Flexibility exercises (stretches) are essential for all age groups and can easily be incorporated into your day.
This article discusses flexibility—why it's important, how it benefits daily life, how to do it safely, and examples of flexibility exercises.
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So Flexibility Is Important, But Why?
Flexibility isn't just about bending over and touching your toes. Being flexible means that your joints have more range of motion, and you can move more freely.
Inflexibility causes structures in and around your joints to tighten and shorten. These structures include:
- The capsule around the joint
- Tendons
- Ligaments
- Muscles
- Skin
Cartilage—padding between bones in your joints—relies on the movement of your joints to get nutrients and stay healthy. Decreased flexibility can limit joint movement, which means your cartilage loses fluid. Less padding between your bones can cause pain—particularly in your weight-bearing joints (e.g., knees and hips) when you stand and walk.
Flexibility decreases with age, impacting your ability to perform daily tasks and participate in hobbies or other activities you enjoy.
12 Morning Stretches
Flexibility Benefits and Effect on Daily Life
Flexibility directly impacts daily activities—whether you're sitting or moving around. Tight muscles can cause poor posture and increase the risk of injury with movement.
Decreased flexibility in one part of the body can cause issues in other parts. For example, sitting in a chair for long periods can cause hamstring (back of the thighs) tightness. This can lead to a posterior pelvic tilt, which then affects the alignment of your spine. Poor spine alignment can lead to pain and issues with your lower back, neck, and shoulders.
Flexibility exercises also help decrease the risk of injury, whether playing sports, going for a jog, or doing daily tasks that require bending, reaching, and lifting.
Other benefits of flexibility include:
- Improved communication between your brain and your muscles to help coordinate movement
- Increased blood flow (circulation) throughout the body
- Increased production of synovial fluid, which provides lubrication in your joints
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How to Stretch and Become More Flexible
Aim to get your blood flowing before a stretch session for ideal results. A 10-minute walk or another form of aerobic activity should do the trick. Research shows that warming up before stretching increases muscle elasticity and reduces the risk of injury.
Stretching exercises help improve flexibility. Ideally, they should be performed daily, but you don't have to do them all in one session. You can stretch throughout your day, even if you're sitting in your chair at work.
When you're just starting out, aim to hold each stretch for 30 seconds. As you become more comfortable with stretching, increase the time to one to two minutes.
There are different types of stretches—static (holding one position for the duration of the stretch), dynamic (stretching while moving), and ballistic (bouncing). When your goal is to increase flexibility, perform your stretches statically.
Avoid bouncing, which can cause your muscles to tighten more and lead to injury. Stretch to the point of resistance or mild discomfort, but avoid pain. When you stretch, target the major muscle groups throughout your body:
- Back
- Neck
- Hips
- Shoulders
- Forearms
- Calves
- Ankles
Flexibility as You Age
Flexibility, along with muscle and bone mass, naturally declines with age. However, exercise has been shown to counteract these changes and extend the lifespan. As a bonus, exercise can also help control blood sugar, boost your immune system, and keep your mind sharp as you age.
How to Do a Pelvic Tilt
Exercises to Target Flexiblity With Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. In addition to physical symptoms, chronic pain can lead to:
- Disability
- Difficulty sleeping
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Decreased quality of life
Flexibility exercises and other types of exercise have been shown to help reduce symptoms of chronic pain. Stretching has also been shown to decrease the risk of falls and future injuries for people with chronic pain.
Physical activity helps you build strength and flexibility and can improve some of the underlying causes of chronic pain. Other benefits of exercise with chronic pain include:
- Improved strength
- Decreased fatigue
- Better sleep
- Decreased sensitivity to pain
- Less anxiety
- Improved mood
Consult a healthcare provider before exercising with chronic pain. Some activities, including stretches, could worsen your condition or increase pain. See a physical therapist for an individualized exercise program tailored to your specific health condition.
Summary
Flexibility is the ability to move your joints without restriction. Flexibility exercises help improve your range of motion. They can also decrease your risk of falls and injury during daily activities. Stretches improve blood flow to your joints and increase the production of synovial fluid to keep your joints lubricated. You should stretch daily and target major muscle groups throughout the body.
Flexibility exercises are beneficial for people with chronic pain. Improved mobility can lead to decreased pain and improved quality of life. Flexibility exercises also help combat the effects of aging on the body.
12 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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By Aubrey Bailey, PT, DPT, CHT
Dr, Bailey is a Virginia-based physical therapist and professor of anatomy and physiology with over a decade of experience.
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