Stop Trying To Touch Your Toes!!!

Public Service Announcement: If you're very tight in your legs and hips you must immediately stop trying to touch your toes!

Did you know that the spine is the most flexible part of most bodies? It’s very good at using its flexibility to cheat for the less flexible parts of the body, even to its own detriment.

I’ve worked with too many people recovering from bulging discs because they were stretching inappropriately. They bought into the toe-touching craze, some of them even bouncing with their torso to get there. All that does is put incredible strain on the spine without lengthening the legs much. This can lead to the almost inevitable outcome: a herniated disc.

Recovery for a herniated disc can be a long process. I’d rather teach you how to get a good stretch and protect your back at the same time.

Not only is this gentleman putting too much strain on his lower discs, but he’s also not getting a good stretch through his hips and legs. It would be far better for him to sit up and bend his knees until he can get his back straight, and then hinge forward at his hips with a long rather than rounded back. 

Does doing this look as cool as touching his toes? No. But he definitely won’t look cool when he’s hobbling around with a back brace to support his herniated disc.  

A much better way to safely stretch tight legs is to do like this woman:

She's keeping her back in a safe, neutral position and actually stretching her legs and hips.

By lying on her back, she removes the cheat from the spine, keeps her back safe, and makes her legs do the stretching.

My favorite way to stretch the legs (especially for anyone with back pain, tight legs, or tight hips) is this “Legs Up the Wall” sequence:

Check out how to stretch the legs and hips safely and effectively while standing:

Even if you don’t have a yoga practice, I highly recommend you try the exercises as I show them here.

When we remove the cheat from our standing poses, we get an amazing opening in the hip and leg muscles, strengthen our core muscles, and lengthen and support the spine.

For those of you with a yoga practice, you may be surprised to learn that you are likely using your spine inappropriately in your standing poses. Watch this video to see what you might be doing wrong as well as how to fix it: