Seems like with the Yoga boom on social media, stretching has become more recognized and more people are stretching these days. Good problem, but now we have a new problem, do we even know ‘why’ we are stretching? Because it feels good? Its common to hear, ‘my hamstrings are so tight so I stretch them, then feel a little looser, but a few hours later or the next day, I am back the same tightness. Heres the thing, if we feel ‘tight’ in certain areas of the body, this is our body’s way of communicating with us. Tightness can be perceived as ‘stiffness’ when in reality its a sign of over or underused muscle groups due to a compensation from a weakness/instability somewhere else.  Without reinforcing the stability components involved in stretching, your muscles will remain over or underworked, and therefore will remain ‘tight.’ For instance, if you sit at a computer for hours with a rounded forward posture, the muscles in the back become over lengthened and the last thing those muscles need are to be lengthened more. They want to be ‘shortened’ back to where they are suppose to be, i.e. – STRENGTHENED! So before you pay someone without a manual license i.e. a ‘stretcholist’ or a ‘trainer’ to stretch you, consider consulting a Doctor of Physical Therapy to provide you with a strength program.