These 8 Stretches Can Help You Age Better, According to Physical Therapists

We’re often reminded to stay active, eat whole foods, and get enough sleep to support healthy aging. However, one essential element is often overlooked: stretching. Healthy aging isn’t just about staying active; it’s also about maintaining flexibility and mobility over time. According to physical therapists, regular stretching plays a critical role in supporting joint health, posture, circulation, and balance, all of which become increasingly important with age. Incorporating a variety of stretches into your routine can also help relieve stiffness from prolonged sitting, reduce discomfort, and improve how the body moves during everyday activities, such as playing with children or walking the dog.

To find out which stretches best support healthy aging, we spoke with Jonathan Aprea, a licensed physical therapist at KineticPro Performance, and Sherrice Rose, a licensed physical therapist, pilates instructor, and owner of Potentia Therapeutics. Ahead, we share stretches designed to promote flexibility and mobility, and support healthy aging, no matter your stage of life.

Meet Our Expert

• Jonathan Aprea, a licensed physical therapist at KineticPro Performance

• Sherrice Rose, a licensed physical therapist, pilates instructor, and owner of Potentia Therapeutics

Related: Want to Live Longer? A New Study Finds These Small Changes Make a Big Difference

Stretches That Can Help You Age Better

1. Childs Pose Stretch

Begin in quadruped position (on all fours, with your hands under your shoulders, and your knees directly under your hips), then sit back into your hips, bringing your hips toward your heels. Exhale into the stretch as you reach your arms forward, lengthening your arms and back, and deepening the stretch as your chest relaxes to the floor, explains Rose. Hold for 30 seconds with active breathing. Repeat as needed.

• Target Areas: Spine, latissimus dorsi, and shoulders

• Benefits: Improves mobility and flexibility

Tips

For a deeper stretch, reach as far as you can to the right and then as far as you can to the left, Aprea suggests. “You may find that this stetch reduces back stiffness,” he says.

2. Cobra Stretch

For this stretch, Rose says to begin lying prone and place your hands or forearms under your shoulders at a comfortable position. As you inhale, lift your chest and extend your upper body off the floor, moving into your hands or forearms while maintaining contact with the lower rib cage. Allow the shoulder blades to engage back and down to create more expansion through the chest. Hold with active breathing for five to 10 seconds, and repeat three to five times, or as needed.

• Target Areas: Pectorals, abdominals, and spinal joints

• Benefits: Improves spinal and chest wall muscle flexibility and extensibility, and improves digestion

3. Doorway Stretch

In a doorway or doorframe, place both hands above shoulder level on each side. Keep your chest upright, and feel the stretch through your chest. “You should not have any front of shoulder pain during this stretch,” Aprea notes.

• Target areas: Pectoralis major and pectoralis minor

• Benefits: Many people spend much of the day at desks or in hunched postures. Maintaining adequate chest mobility and muscle length can improve shoulder function and help prevent maladaptive movement patterns, he explains.

• Modification: Lower your arms until the position feels comfortable, or perform the stretch using one arm at a time if using both feels too intense.

4. Lateral Trunk Stretch

Start by standing or sitting at a comfortable level. Inhale as you reach your arms overhead, then grasp your right wrist and side-bend your torso to the left as you exhale, Rose explains. Hold for five to 10 seconds with active breathing. Inhale to return to center, then grasp your left wrist and side-bend your torso to the right on the exhale. Hold for five to 10 seconds with active breathing. Repeat one to three times per side, or as needed.

• Target Areas: Latissimus dorsi, quadratus lumborum, triceps, intercostals, and obliques

• Benefits: Improves posture, spinal mobility, and breathwork

5. Wall Hamstring Stretch

For the wall hamstring stretch, begin by lying on your back with your bottom as close to the wall as possible. Support your head with a pillow, if needed, for comfort, Rose suggests. Gently place your legs up the wall, extending your knees and reaching your heels toward the ceiling. Extend your knees only to a comfortable range, keeping them slightly bent if a full extension feels intolerable. Use slow, active breathing as you relax into the stretch, exhaling and allowing your legs to settle deeper as the stretch increases.

• Target Areas: Hamstrings, gluteal muscles, and sacral muscles

• Benefits: Improves hamstring length tension, neural mobility, including the sciatic nerve, and helps unload the low back and sacrum

• Modifications: Try a straddle wall stretch based on comfort and flexibility. Adjust the position according to your stretch and pain tolerance.

6. Supine Pilates Twist

Lie on your back with your core gently engaged as you relax on the floor. Use active breathing, inhale as you reach one hand to the opposite knee, then exhale and guide the leg into an assisted lower trunk twist to the opposite side, Rose explains. Hold the position with active breathing, inhaling and exhaling as you deepen the spinal twist. Keep the opposite shoulder blade and arm anchored to the floor while maintaining core engagement and control throughout the stretch. Repeat three to five times, then switch sides.

• Target Areas: Gluteal muscles, lateral trunk, paraspinals, obliques, and IT Bands

• Benefits: Improves spinal mobility, lateral trunk extensibility, and posterior hip extensibility

• Modification: Guide both legs to one side instead of twisting one leg at a time.

7. Downward Dog

Start in a quadruped position. Using active breathing, exhale as you roll up and rise onto your feet, forming an inverted “V” shape. Move your weight from your toes to the balls of your feet and toward your heels as you lift your hips up and back. Press your hands firmly into the floor, and lower your heels toward the ground if you can do so safely and comfortably, says Rose. Keep a slight bend in your knees to reduce strain and improve ease of movement. Hold for five to 10 seconds, or to tolerance, then return to all fours. Rose suggests repeating this stretch three to five times, or as needed.

• Target Areas: Hamstrings, calves, foot intrinsics and arches, low back, latissimus dorsi, spinal paraspinals, and posterior neck muscles

• Benefits: Improves flexibility, postural restoration, relaxation, and increased circulation

8. Cat – Cow

The cat-cow exercise starts in a hands-and-knees position. “The ‘cow’ part of this exercise involves rounding down the spine into extension, allowing the shoulder blades to retract (squeezing the shoulder blades together),” Aprea explains. “Then, from that position, the ‘cat’ portion involves performing the exact opposite. That means you want to round your back upwards as much as you can, spreading your shoulderblades apart as much as you can as well.”

• Target areas: Spine, shoulders, and shoulder blade movement

• Benefits: Promotes healthy spinal movement and improves mobility through spinal flexion and extension. “You can think of this as a WD-40 exercise for your whole upper body,” he says.

• Modification: Perform the movement standing with your arms outstretched against a wall.

How to Safely Incorporate These Stretches Into Your Routine

If you’re new to stretching on a daily or weekly basis, keep a few safety considerations in mind as you build it into your routine. Aprea and Rose share their guidance below.

• Always warm up: Stretching should feel satisfying, according to Rose, but warming up first is essential. “Active warm-ups can include activities such as going for a walk, maybe with your favorite pet, riding a bike outdoors or on your Peloton, or spending time chasing after your kids or grandkids,” she says. You can also use passive warm-ups before stretching. These include applying a heating pad, soaking in a hot bath or shower, or sitting in an infrared sauna. “These activities allow for essential blood flow to the regions that you may want to stretch,” Rose says.

• Be intentional: As you begin stretching, approach your routine with intention. Take a slow, steady approach, and use deep, active breathing to help the muscle relax, Rose recommends.

• Never push into pain: If you feel pain during any stretch, modify the range of motion to keep the exercise pain-free, Aprea warns. “Every person has different limitations, so the range of motion of the exercises will differ from person to person,” he adds. Use modifications as you start incorporating these stretches into your routine.

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