The Importance of Stretching
“I don’t have time”, “I’ll do it later” or “I can’t be bothered”. How many times have you said or heard your team mates say something similar when talking about stretching? A lot I bet? Well it’s no surprise that I hear it frequently, but if you only knew the benefits you’re missing out on then you might just change your attitude toward stretching. Not only can you improve flexibility, but stretching can have a dramatic effect on injury prevention and muscle conditioning and can aid to decrease healing time in muscle injuries.
Results of stretching
Increase flexibility
Flexibility is the capability of a muscle to move a joint throughout its entire range unrestricted. If muscles become tight, are injured or are genetically short in length, lengthening may be necessary.
All muscles within the body contain muscle spindles. These muscle spindles are lengthened whilst a muscle is stretched. The muscle spindles job involves recording the change in length of the muscle (and how fast that change happens) and sends signals to the spine which includes this information. This triggers what is known as the stretch reflex, which attempts to resist the change in muscle length by causing the stretched muscle to contract. The more sudden the change in muscle length, the stronger the muscle contractions will be. This basic function of the muscle spindle helps to protect the muscle from injury if it is overstretched.
You may have heard that for a stretch to be beneficial, you must hold it for around 30 seconds. One of the reasons for holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time is that as you hold the muscle in a stretched position, the muscle spindles become used to the new length and reduces its signaling. Gradually, you can train your stretch receptors to allow greater lengthening of the muscles.
Injury prevention
In any sporting situation, there are a number of ways in which your muscles are at risk of being injured. Over exerting yourself (pushing too hard) and overstretching a muscle through slipping or over reaching can both tear muscle fibres. With increased flexibility comes the added ability of the muscle to lengthen further under stress and therefore allow a greater margin of error when it comes to overstretching a muscle.
Reduce DOMS
DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is the pain or discomfort often felt in a muscle from hours to days after heavy exercise. Contrary to popular belief this pain is not caused by a build up of lactic acid, but tiny tears in the muscle fibres. Stretching after exercise can help to relieve symptoms by increase blood flow and in turn, increased temperature to the sore areas.
Rehab from strains
Following muscle strains where muscle fibres are partially or completely torn, stretching can help speed up the rehabilitation process. Collagen is a fibrous protein which is laid down by the body to repair damage to muscles. Unfortunately this collagen is laid down in a very messy manor and develops into scar tissue. Along with massage which helps break down scar tissue, stretching a muscle will help to correctly orientate the collagen formation into line with the muscle fibres. This will make the injury site stronger, improve its ability to resist forces along the length of the muscle and help prevent re-injury.
Types of Stretching
So what stretches should you perform? Well, there are loads of different ways of stretching, each with their own suitability for different goals. In addition to the outcomes outlined above, stretching is very appropriate in warm-up and preparation for exercise. This type of stretching however is slightly different from the stretching you should do after your exercise. Some of the main types of stretching include: 1. Dynamic stretching 2. Static stretching 3. Muscle energy techniques (MET’s)
1. Dynamic stretching is ideal before your training session or game as it is great for preparing you for exercise. It involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both. Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently) to the limits of your range of motion. In dynamic stretches, there are no bounces or "jerky" movements. An example of dynamic stretching would be slow, controlled leg swings, arm swings, or torso twists. Dynamic stretching improves dynamic flexibility and is very useful as part of your warm-up for a training session or game as it serves to increase blood flow and body temperature.
Dynamic stretching exercises should be performed in sets of around 8-12 repetitions. Once you get a maximal range of motion for a joint in any direction you should stop doing that movement during the warm-up.
2. Static stretching is most importantly performed after your game or training session during your cool down, whilst the muscles are warm. These stretches are the most commonly used by any athlete wishing to improve their flexibility. Muscles are taken to their end of range and held in the position for around 30 seconds. As outlined above, you should hold these stretches for this length of time to allow for the stretch reflex to be reduced and a new range achieved. These stretches can be performed individually or with a partner to help hold you in the correct position. An example of using a partner would be to hold your leg up high and straight whilst you lay on your back to stretch your hamstrings. Other than the length of time you need to hold these stretches, it is important to remember three things.
1. Move slowly into and out of the stretch position.
2. DO NOT bounce in the stretch position
3. DO NOT stretch to the point of pain. Achieve as good a stretch as possible without experiencing any pain.
3. MET’s (muscle energy techniques) are currently the fastest and most effective way known to increase flexibility. MET’s use a technique in which a muscle group is passively stretched, then contracted isometrically against resistance while in the stretched position and then is passively stretched again through the resulting increased range of motion. MET’s usually require the use of a partner to provide the resistance against the isometric contraction and then later to passively take the joint through its increased range of motion. It may be performed, however, without a partner, although it is usually more effective with a partner's assistance.
The most common MET stretching techniques employ post isometric relaxation (PIR), where the stretched muscles are contracted isometrically and then relaxed.
Post Isometric Relaxation
This technique is also called the contract-relax. After assuming an initial passive stretch, the muscle being stretched is isometrically contracted for 7-15 seconds, after which the muscle is briefly relaxed for 2-3 seconds, and then immediately subjected to a passive stretch which stretches the muscle even further than the initial passive stretch. This final passive stretch is held for 10-15 seconds. This process can be repeated 3 to 5 times for any given muscle group but should be done so under extreme caution as following the isometric contraction the muscle is susceptible to be overstretched, so move slowly into the stretches and assure they are all performed PAIN FREE.
How MET’s Work
The isometric contraction of the stretched muscle accomplishes several things:
1. It helps to train the stretch receptors of the muscle spindle to immediately accommodate a greater muscle length.
2. The intense muscle contraction and the fact that it is maintained for a period of time, serves to fatigue many of the fast-twitch fibers of the contracting muscles. This makes it harder for the fatigued muscle fibers to contract in resistance to a subsequent stretch.
MET’s take advantage of the sudden "vulnerability" of the muscle and its increased range of motion by using the period of time immediately following the isometric contraction to train the stretch receptors to get used to this new, increased, range of muscle length. This is what the final passive stretch accomplishes.
Considerations
For the most benefits, dynamic stretching should be performed prior to exercise within a warm up. MET’s and static stretching should only be performed when the muscles are warm, either after or during exercise.
Warm-up Dynamic stretching ideas
It is quite common to start from the ground up when undertaking a dynamic warm up. This helps to prevent forgetting a muscle group if you work through a routine systematically. Find a space of around 15 metres in length and work each of the exercises along that length and back.
Calves – skip forward to the end and backwards on the way back
Hamstrings – straight leg raises every third step, walking forwards (start low and gradually increase height of leg)
Quads – heel flicks every third step
Gluts – high knees every third step
Hip flexors – walking lunges every step forward and lunge backwards on way back
Hip rotators – high knees every third step, firstly turn the knee out to the side and then move knee in front before putting back down (opposite on way back, knee up in front and turn out to side before putting back down)
Chest – straight arms out to sides at differing angles (can be done jogging on spot to keep warm)
Back – straight arms across chest (can be done jogging on spot to keep warm)
Shoulder rotators – arms in circular motion, start with elbows slightly bent and slowly straighten as you perform the rotations (can be done jogging on spot to keep warm)
Ed Swain BSc G.S.R.
SWAIN & POWELL
Sport Injury and Massage Clinic
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