Stretching

“ Then point the toes down and stretch upper leg muscles; relax; then stretch under leg muscles by stretching heel out. The patient will feel the exercise as far as the shoulders, and should be careful not to lift the body from the floor at first. When patient can hold stretching exercise for a minute then lift first the right, then the left leg, and take same exercise until the person can give a quick little kick for, say, twelve times, as the leg is straightened. ”

“ In applying extension to the thigh, for example, the bands should be fastened at the ankle and above the knee, these stretching in the same direction, another band to be passed by the loins, and around the armpits, and by the perineum and thigh, one end passing up the breast and the other along the back, these all stretching in the same direction and being fastened either to a piece of wood resembling a pestle or to an axle. ”

“ So a method that straightens knees, hips, spine, and shoulders, or combats the school-desk attitude, is a most salutary contribution to a great and growing need. In the very act of stretching, and perhaps yawning, for which much is to be said, nature itself suggests such correctives and preventives. ”

“ We cannot attempt to give exercises in stretching, as the variety open to the student is so great that he should not require to have illustrations given him. Just let him give way to the mental idea of a good, restful stretch, and Nature will tell him what to do. ”

“ It has long been known that a contracted muscle can be stretched to a given extent by a smaller weight than is required to stretch it when it is at rest and not contracted. This has led physiologists to say that by contraction the elasticity of the muscle is diminished in amount while it is still perfect; that is to say, a contracted muscle is easily stretched, and when the stretching force is removed, it returns at once to its former length. ”

“ Supposing that, somehow, the first operation had been the cause of the cure, we repaired to the house as requested, and, after Dr. Peaslee had etherized her, I operated by stretching: the contracted muscles. I found the shoulder in much the same plight as the other had been three years before, though the muscles were not quite so rigid, and I could overcome them without much difficulty. ”

“ Stretch′ing-frame, a machine for stretching cotton rovings before being spun into yarn: a frame on which starched fabrics are dried; Stretch′ing-ī′ron, a currier's tool for dressing leather.—adj. Stretch′y, apt to stretch too much: liable to stretch one's self from weariness. ”

“ Peculiar Movements.—The points to be considered under this heading were included in the investigation as it was felt that movements involving continued use of one foot, while the full weight rested on the other, as in working a treadle, or frequent stretching might exert a harmful effect during adolescence, whilst they might be quite innocuous for adults. ”

“ In cording the neck, do not stretch it; hold the cord tight. The waist must, on the contrary, be pulled well when the cord is put on, or it will never fit; it requires much stretching. The fit of the body often depends on the finishing. ”

“ No one has ever stretched—we boldly assert this—without the subsequent relaxation, which, quite apart from the relief of a cramped position that stretching gives, gives rest to the body. Similarly, also, every sedentary brain-worker will find that he works best when he is most unconscious of his body, when the energy which would be employed in bracing limbs is left unoccupied for the brain to make use of. ”

“ As lead is practically inelastic, every stretch remains, and every stretch diminishes the capacity for further stretching; the lead thus stretched at one frost is less able to stretch again, and has lost some of its original tenacity. ”

“ Stretch′er, anything used for stretching, as gloves, hats, &c.: a frame on which a painter's canvas is stretched by means of wedges forced into the corners: a frame for carrying the sick or dead: a footboard for a rower; Stretch′er-bond, a method of building in which bricks or stones are laid lengthwise in successive courses, the joints of the one falling at the middle of that above and below; Stretch′ing-course, a course of bricks or stones having all the faces outward ”

“ The flexor muscles on account of the position in sitting and because of a lack of expansive activity, often become too short. They can be extended only by activity of the extensor muscles. The stretch is the special and instinctive action of the extensor muscles in response to a distinctive demand for freedom of the organs, or harmony of the whole myological mechanism. It is also, as has been said, closely connected with the circulation, and the activity of the vital organs.
There is no more important exercise than stretching. Its neglect is one of the strange things in training. ”

“ But by stretching an object it is diminished in breadth and depth, while it increases in length; hence it becomes thinner; so that the Mind readily makes the transition from the primitive conception of stretch to that of thinness, indicated by the English word, and by the Sanskrit tanu, and the Latin tener, tenuis. Thinness, again, is allied to slimness, slenderness, fineness, etc.; ideas which are involved in the conception of delicate, and furnish an easy transition to it. ”

“ But my idea in using these words is that flexibility, suppleness, grace and freedom of movement are all covered by "limbering," while "stretching" is intended to convey the idea of a proper fitting of the body and limbs for the various forms of kicking that are absolutely essential in modern stage dancing. Some people get the idea that stretching exercises will lengthen the64 body or limbs. ”

“ In over-stoutness of late middle life, accompanied by good health, it is essential to use first fairly active increasing extensor movements with elasticizing measures, active and passive stretchings, loosening up of the hip joints particularly, and above all, thorough drill in regaining proper attitudes. ”

“ To begin with, I shall draw a man such as lads draw on walls, a line for each arm, another for each leg, with the fingers longer than the arm. Long after, one or other of us will notice this lack of proportion; we shall observe that the leg is thick, that this thickness varies, that the length of the arm is proportionate to the body. In this improvement I shall either go side by side with my pupil, or so little in advance that he will always overtake me easily and sometimes get ahead of me. ”

“ Hind legs lengthened, joints reversed themselves, and bare knees bent as human feet dragged themselves through fragments of brown leaves over the ground and a human thigh gave a final contraction, stilled, and then one leg fell out straight again. ”

“ When you have in this manner ascertained the utmost distance to which you can stretch and from which you can recover, without scraping the hands or altering the position of the feet, you just stretch as far forward as you possibly can end, while supporting the body with one hand, chalk a line on the floor with the other. ”

“ As soon as, by this movement, this foot has passed the other, it must be extended on the leg, and the leg upon the thigh, and in this manner, by the lengthening of the whole member, and without being drawn back, it reaches the ground at a distance in advance of the other foot, which is more considerable according to the length of the step, and it is placed so softly on the ground as not to jerk or shake the body in the slightest degree. ”

“ Where the leg, for instance, has been lost, they feel as if the foot was present, but as though the leg were shortened. If the thigh has been taken off, there seems to them to be a foot at the knee; if the arm, a hand seems to be at the elbow, or attached to the stump itself. ”

“ Since nature has provided the stretch seemingly as the antidote for abnormal position, and especially abnormal position during sleep, in the programme of exercises it would seem most necessary to centre around some careful and scientific use of stretches. ”

“ There are three phases in this natural development: Angular, circular and spiral. The human form poised squarely on both feet is the spiral, the head a convexed curve, the body a concave curve, and the legs a convexed curve, like a wave line. To preserve this spiral line of changing curves, the weight is always thrown against the strong side so as to develop the weak side and maintain an equilibrium. Standing should be principally upon the balls of the feet, and the exercise should be to incline the body to and from the opposite curves. ”

“ Science has carefully explained the stretch, but men seem to refuse to take the lesson. The [Pg 21] stretch extends the body so that the veins, where congestion is most liable to take place and where pressure of blood is weakest, are so elongated that the blood flows more easily from the arteries, where the pressure is strongest, through the veins back to the heart and circulation is equalized and stimulated. ”

“ When fatigued with long standing it naturally rests itself on this side, the weight falling on the right foot, which loses its arched form and becomes elongated, while the length of the limb is sensibly diminished. I have seen cases in which the right leg has become much shorter than the left, entirely from persistence in this inelegant habit. A short time ago a child was brought to me whose foot was quite flattened, every vestige of its arches having been destroyed ”

“ The harmonious extension of all parts of the body should be emphasized. All stretches are truly conducive to sleep. They allow life to permeate through the whole body. The exercises, before going to sleep, should be less rigorous unless there are constrictions and these should be removed by simultaneous and sympathetic co-ordination of all parts of the body rather than by vigorous movements.
After any local movement the stretch should be renewed and the affirmation made of some thoughtful and beautiful idea—as love, joy, peace. ”

“ Flexion and Extension.—The muscles are, for the most part, so arranged in pairs, or corresponding sets, that when motion is produced in one direction by one set, there is, opposite to it, another muscle, or group of muscles, which brings the limb back to its place. When they act alternately, a to-and-fro movement results. When a joint is bent, the motion is called flexion ”

“ He lifts us to a sitting posture, places himself behind us, and folds his arms around our body, alternately tightening and relaxing his clasp, as if to test the elasticity of the ribs. Then seizing one arm, he draws it across the opposite shoulder, until the joint cracks like a percussion-cap. ”

“ The only fault I find with him is that he is not long enough from the knee to the foot, and the thigh seems too long. I like the greater length to be from the knee to the foot rather than from the knee to the hip. ”

“ In considering the proportion of the limbs to the body—if, even in a young woman, the walk, though otherwise good, be heavy, or the fall on each foot alternately be sudden, and rather upon the heel, the limbs though well formed, will be found to be slender, compared with the body. ”

“ In lifting the patient on the stretcher it should be laid with its foot to his head, so that both are in the same straight line; then one or two persons should stand on each side of him, and raise him from the ground, slip him on the stretcher ”

“ Every ounce of elastic force in the great, muscular frames was called into action, and there was a profusion of strange, strong language that literally made my flesh to creep, and my hair to stand on end. ”

“ To this every-day feat opposes itself the weight of the body simply, a thing of three dimensions, height, breadth, and thickness, while the ability to accomplish it resides in the cross-section of the muscles of the knee, a thing of only two dimensions, breadth and thickness. ”

“ If the size of the thighs be not large, the haunches as it were increasing till they reach their greatest extent at the upper part of the thigh, which anteriorly rises as high as the mons veneris, and if the knees do not approximate.
18. If the arms and the limbs be not relatively short, if they do not taper greatly as they recede from the trunk, and if the hands and feet be not small; because, it is the vital system and the trunk, which is by far the most important part in the female. ”

“ They walk without swinging of the shoulders;—the perfectly set torso seems to remain rigid; yet the step is a long full stride, and the whole weight is springily poised on the very tip of the bare foot. ”

“ This impetuous motion is accompanied by an instantaneous extension of the body which had bent itself, like a spring or bow, along the back, the joints of the thighs, knees, and feet, and is let off obliquely, that is, upwards and forwards; so that the disposition of the body tending forwards and upwards, makes it describe a great arch when it springs up, which increases the leap. ”

“ Now this has an important bearing on the problem we are going to investigate, for the weight of our body falls on the foot, so that only about one-third of the lever—that part of it which is formed by the heel—projects behind the point on which the weight of the body rests. ”

“ When, however, the foot is allowed to hang free, the curvature of the arch is increased. At every step in walking, also, when the foot is raised from the ground, the curvature immediately becomes greater through the action of the muscles. ”

“ He should rest the whole weight of his body on the right leg; the other, just touching the ground, at the distance at which it would naturally fall, if lifted up to shew that the body does not bear upon it. ”