Types of Stretching

Article by Jonathan Blood Smyth

The limitations in flexibility which people exhibit are of interest to a large group of professions from medicine to physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic. Yoga and other eastern traditions have employed stretching techniques called asanas for thousands of years although this was not their primary purpose. The eastern martial arts, such as karate, judo and taekwondo, also emphasise flexibility in the performance of these comprehensive martial ways of living. Flexibility is not precisely defined but in anatomical terms it mostly refers to the ability of joints to go through a particular range of motion.

Ballistic versus Static Stretching

Stretching, when you get down to details, has a lot of controversial and uncertain matters which are unresolved. The pros and cons of static and ballistic stretching is one discussion point. Static stretching is overwhelmingly more common but most activities and sports have a large dynamic component so ballistic stretching may reflect more accurately the actual physical challenges. Ballistic stretching can be more interesting and reduce the boredom associated with static regimes.

Ballistic stretching does have severe possible negative characteristics which can limit their usefulness. Rapid elongation of a muscle and the accompanying connective tissues means the tissues do not have the time they need to adapt by more permanent lengthening as using longer periods of low force stretching has been shown to be more effective. Muscles which are stretched quickly can react by reflexly contracting to prevent injury, limiting elongation. If the movement develops much momentum this can cause forces which overwhelm the tissues’ tolerances.

Stretching Statically

Static stretches are performed by holding a position for a specific period of time, either once or several times. Controlling the position is important as is eliminating any velocity of movement and holding the static position carefully. Joints and tissues have been shown to increase their ranges of motion or length in response to static stretching. This technique is easily performed and requires very little effort, perhaps reducing muscle soreness or providing other potential benefits which are not yet supported by any evidence.

Whilst effective, static stretching is often used alone without thinking about any requirements for ballistic performance in an activity or sport. There have been many supposed benefits and these include:

Warm up is enhanced by stretching. As stretching does not increase the temperature of contractile structures this seems not to be the case.

Cool down is enhanced by stretching. The mechanism of cooling down is to facilitate the diversion of blood from the exercising muscles back into the circulation. Passive stretches cannot achieve this.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is relieved by stretching. This idea has not been supported by any evidence.

Performance in athletics and sport is improved by stretching. Dynamic flexibility is more closely allied to athletic ability and static stretching has little evidence to support this idea.

Stretching helps to prevent injury. While lack of flexibility can be associated with increased injuries, stretching has not been connected with a reduction in this risk. Recent research has indicated that stretching before exercise might actually increase the chances of injury rather than reduce them.

In physiotherapy movements of the patient are classified in slightly different ways and this can also be applied to stretching. If a person moves their joint through a range of movement the movement is said to be active, in other words performed by the person themselves. If the physiotherapist moves a person’s limb for them entirely the movement is said to be passive, performed by somebody else. Stretching can be looked upon in the same way.

Active physiological stretching occurs when the patient lifts their arm up using their own muscles, automatically stretching the muscles and joint tissues which oppose the active muscles. Physiological movement is the normal movement we are all familiar with and if active range is not full the physiotherapist will investigate why from the reasons which include pain, weakness or stiffness. The treatment of the joint will be partly determined by the result of the passive physiological tests ” if the joint moves fully under the physiotherapist’s effort then weakness is the likely cause of limitation as the joint can move well. Physiotherapists also employ accessory movements in treatments, facilitating the small slide and glide movements which occur in normal joint motion.

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