{"id":1081,"date":"2025-01-06T21:46:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T02:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2025-01-07T00:03:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T05:03:39","slug":"reduce-risk-and-cost-of-musculoskeletal-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/?p=1081","title":{"rendered":"Reduce Risk and Cost of Musculoskeletal Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1082 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Young lady sitting legs forward to stretch hamstrings\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">According to United Healthcare, Musculoskeletal conditions are incredibly costly: <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">* weighing in at $52 per member per month (PMPM)<a class=\"tooltip__anchor--footnote\" role=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uhc.com\/agents-brokers\/employer-sponsored-plans\/news-strategies\/musculoskeletal-conditions-drive-spend#\" aria-label=\"Read Footnote 2\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">* women account for just over half of that, at 54% of MSK spend<a class=\"tooltip__anchor--footnote\" role=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uhc.com\/agents-brokers\/employer-sponsored-plans\/news-strategies\/musculoskeletal-conditions-drive-spend#\" aria-label=\"Read Footnote 2\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">* 75% of those affected by MSK are Gen X and Baby Boomers,<a class=\"tooltip__anchor--footnote\" role=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uhc.com\/agents-brokers\/employer-sponsored-plans\/news-strategies\/musculoskeletal-conditions-drive-spend#\" aria-label=\"Read Footnote 2\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0who make up the majority of today\u2019s workforce <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">(UHC: https:\/\/www.uhc.com\/agents-brokers\/employer-sponsored-plans\/news-strategies\/musculoskeletal-conditions-drive-spend)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">But It&#8217;s Confusing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">Even though<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"> we all agree that stretching is good for basically everything: back pain, circulation, mental health, reducing risk of injury and on and on. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">The number of opinions on how to do it right (static stretch, dynamic stretch, what frequency, what duration) is so varied as to make it completely unworkable &#8212; if employees choose any one of these, they&#8217;re just throwing a dart and hoping. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">Fortunately, a research study surveyed 189 different studies with over 6,500 adults to show what works best to improve your range of motion (ROM) and get all those benefits we know can happen. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 12px;\">This is the best news for employees because it simplifies what is actually needed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: 13px;\">The Variables Needed For This Simple Yet Powerful Solution\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Time per muscle:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\">Key findings suggest that each stretching event should be between 30 \u2013 60 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Frequency:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\">At least 5 times per week\u00a0is enough to achieve optimal improvements over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Intensity:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\">Extreme intensity does not improve outcomes, but it does increase the risk of injury. So, keep it moderate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Dynamic vs Static:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\">Neither was better than the other for improved ROM, so practice the one you\u2019re more comfortable with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Outcomes:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\">On average, noticeable benefits took one month to develop. With continued improvements at six months and one year. Although older adults also get the same benefits as younger people. It just takes a bit longer to manifest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, geneva;\">It&#8217;s not \u201cstretching the truth\u201d to say instituting a regular stretching program can reduce back pain and improve mental and physical health. And now that we know what program actually works based on science outcomes, we can get started helping employees avoid the conditions and costs of MSK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to United Healthcare, Musculoskeletal conditions are incredibly costly: * weighing in at $52 per member per month (PMPM)2 * women account for just&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Woman-Stretching-in-front-of-laptop.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9kBci-hr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1085,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions\/1085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}