How You Can Benefit from Stretching Your Calves

Our calf muscles are located on the backs of our lower legs and allow us to walk, run, jump, and flex our feet. Calf muscles also help us stand up straight and play a significant role in how we move our bodies. In general, stretching our calfs temporarily lengthens the muscle fibers, providing relief from the chronic tightness that occurs during our daily lives. We can stretch our calves in a variety of ways, but we like to use the ProStretch Calf Stretcher, featured in the video below! Specific benefits of regularly stretching our calves include:

Proper Standing Alignment and Gait

Regularly stretching our calves can reduce chronic tightness and help improve our body alignment. This occurs because we are able to better align our hips with our ankles.

Improve Circulation

In general, stretching improves circulation throughout the body and calf stretching in particular can help significantly with circulation throughout the legs.

Prevent Achilles Tendinitis, Shin Splints, and Plantar Fasciitis

Quite a few common (and painful) conditions occur largely as a result of continued overuse without taking the time to stretch and recover. Adding a calf stretch to your daily routine can pay dividends in the long run!

Decrease Back Pain

According to Katy Bowman in her book, alignment matters, when our legs are tight, our upper back tends to "whip" forward, which can cause the spine to curl over time.

While the above is certainly not exhaustive, we hope it motivates you to try a calf stretch out for yourself. Check out the ProStretch Calf Stretcher in the video below!

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