Subscribe to our newsletter. A lack of flexibility may also restrict muscle strength, cause undue stress, and can result in injury. Even for non-dancers, stretching is beneficial, providing relief from everyday tensions and improving posture. But there is a right way and a wrong way to stretch.
Muscles exert force by pulling and are attached by tendons to the bones.
In order to stretch a muscle an opposing force needs to be applied to move the limb in the opposite direction. This force can be applied by gravity, by a stretching partner or by the contraction of an opposing muscle. The muscles on which you place the greatest demands are the ones that are in greatest need of stretching. It serves no purpose to stretch a muscle beyond its optimum length. Too much flexibility without muscle strength makes joints unstable.