Since many of us are
pole dancers at Flexines, we all stretch in the hopes that, one day, we'll nail our favorite moves, like Scorpion or Extended Allegra. Stretching has had some other benefits for me, and I hope that sharing them with you might help you enjoy your stretching a bit more.
Stretching & Decreased Back Pain
I spend a lot of time online. Seriously. I work, play, go to school, and stretch here, among many other things. Add that to school days, couch potato time, and my nasty little habit of carrying a side bag, only on my right shoulder, and it is no surprise my lower back knots up. Before I used to have to weedle hubby into massaging out the knots--quite the chore for him because the entire time I squirm and scold him that it hurts lol :) Muscle relaxers work quickly, but I don't like to depend on medication. Tylenol Precise heat patches work amazingly, but take time to heat up.
Enter stretching.
Not leg stretching, that seemed to get my back going right away. Aerial Gypsy recommended, maybe scolded a bit (haha,) that I should stretch
everything. I half listened and it helped tremendously. I find that back stretches that stretch me backwards, such as cobra or pidgeon stretch (pushing back,) worked faster than pills and helped longer, if I did enough repetitions. A good self-massage method utilizes your
pole. Sit with your back to the pole and roll your back
hard into your pole. Try from side to side and top to bottom to pinpoint the knot, then push into that spot to knead it out.
Anastasia's Pole Art 2011 video was featured in the little YouTube stalker-like "recommended for you" column. She was my first definition of poling, with tricks, and she is the first one that made me love pole dance. (Emotioncatcher made me want pole dance and believe it was possible.)
