Flexibility is all in the mind: A little about stretching techniques.

This is a quick breakdown of flexibility techniques, how they work, when to use them and how we can apply them to meet individual needs. Finding a beneficial and safe path to increasing flexibility, strength, relaxation, wellbeing and warming up and cooling down correctly for training sessions.

I am not an expert on the science and physiology of stretching and anatomy. During my circus degree I studied the theory and methodology of flexibility and strength under the director, a ballet dancer and circus trainer with years of experience. I also studied anatomy with a physiotherapist. I aim to outline the techniques I use in my own classes by referencing the scientific material and texts that have been written by experts. Meanwhile deepening my own knowledge in the process. There are also many beliefs and methods out there, this is simply what I personally have found to be useful and has informed my movement journey. Each of our paths is unique and ultimately our own bodies are incredibly wise and if we aim to connect more profoundly with our mind, body, and spirit, we can connect with this inherent wisdom.

For anyone interested in delving deeper into the physiology, they can check out the references at the end of the post. And remember if you have any serious injuries or problems no blog or book can replace the opinion of a trained medical or movement professional.

I believe knowledge of these techniques and the reactions and functions that are occurring in our bodies can inform the way we move. We can apply this to a holistic philosophy that works with individual bodies and our needs in any moment. Ultimately, we are all different in wonderful ways and understanding these techniques and how they work allows us to tailor them to our individual needs and use them to work more intelligently, harmoniously, and safely.

I will first outline a few key concepts and breakdown the different stretching techniques as described in various texts and scientific resources, I will then describe how these inform my personal philosophies and movement practices.

Without going too in-depth into the physiology of stretching I would like to just touch on a few concepts. I will later use these terms to explain how the various stretching techniques work.

TYPES OF MUSCLE CONTRACTIONS:

Isometric: This is a muscle contraction where no movement takes place, for example when you push an immovable object

Concentric: This is a muscle contraction where the muscle shortens. The two points of insertion move closer together. For example, when you lift a weight up during a bicep curl.

Eccentric: This is a contraction where the muscle lengthens while resisting a load. For example, the downward movement of a bicep curl. (University of California)

COOPERATING MUSCLE GROUPS:

Agonist: This is the active muscle responsible for realising a movement. (When doing a leg lift the quadriceps and hip flexors are the agonists)

Antagonist: The muscle that is acting in opposition to the agonist. (When doing a leg lift the hamstring and gluteal muscles are the antagonist) (Appleton)

PROPIOCEPTORS:

Proprioceptors are the nerve endings that detect changes in movement, position, tension, and force and relay this information to the central nervous system.

There are two types of proprioceptors involved in stretching, the muscle spindle or stretch receptors and the Golgi tendon organ. (Appleton)

THE STRETCH REFLEX:

When the muscle is stretched the muscle spindle measures the change in length and speed of change and sends a signal that triggers the stretch reflex. The stretch reflex tries to resist the change in length by contracting the muscle. The faster the change in muscle length the stronger the contraction. The stretch reflex helps maintain muscle tone and protects the body from injury. (Appleton)

THE LENGTHENING REACTION:

When the muscles contract the Golgi tendon organ measures this contraction and sends signals to the spine, when this contraction exceeds a certain level it triggers the lengthening reaction prohibiting the muscle from contracting any further and allowing the muscle to relax. This lengthening reaction can override the stretch reflex and protects the bodies muscles, ligaments, and tendons against injury. (Appleton)

RECIPROCAL INHABITION:

This is when the agonist contraction allows the antagonist to relax. For example, when we contract our quadriceps during a forward bend it allows our hamstrings to relax even further allowing us to deepen the stretch. (Appleton)

Okay, thats the basics, now let us now look at stretching techniques.

DYNAMIC STRETCHING:

Moving actively and fluidly through the full range of motion of a muscle group, for example, swinging your arm in a circular motion on the lateral plane. This is great for warming up and preparing the muscles for exercise and lubricating and warming up the associated articulation. Most physiologists say between 6-12 repetitions, this can start small and gradually get bigger and should stop before the muscle is fatigued as this can decrease range of motion. (Achieve Orthopaedic Rehab Institute)

BALLISTIC STRETCHING:

Ballistic stretching should not be confused with dynamic stretching. Ballistic stretching uses intense and sudden motion to push a muscle or joint past its normal range of motion. For example, bouncing in and out of a stretched position at maximum range. This method is not recommended for non-athletes. It is used by professional athletes and dancers who have a high level of muscle training and control. It can cause injury to the muscles, ligaments and tendons and can cause the muscle to tighten up by repeatedly activating the stretch reflex. (See the Stretch Reflex). (Appleton)

STATIC ACTIVE STRETCHING:

Static active stretching is using an agonist muscle to maintain a position and stretch and relax the antagonist muscle (see Cooperating Muscle Groups). For example, in a laying position holding the leg up on a 90-degree angle. The quadricep is the agonist muscle that is holding the hip in flexion and the leg up, this allows the hamstring, the antagonist muscle, to relax and stretch further, this is called reciprocal inhibition. (see Reciprocal Inhibition) (Achieve Orthopaedic Rehab Institute)

STATIC ACTIVE - ISOMETRIC STRETCHING

Another method of static active stretching is Isometric Stretching. This is using Isometric contraction, muscle contraction without motion (see Isometric Contraction) to temporarily relax the muscle and stretch further than its usual range of motion. We first stretch the muscle to its full or almost full range and then contract or tense the muscle to overcome the stretch reflex (see The Stretch Reflex) and activate the lengthening reaction (see The Lengthening Reaction). Scientists say this is a more effective way of increasing flexibility than static active and passive stretching and helps to build strength in the muscle. However, some physiologists do not recommend this method for children or adolescents whose bones are still growing and it is not recommended to perform more than once in a day on the same muscle group. It is recommended to hold an isometric contraction for between 7-15 seconds, then relax the muscle for 20 seconds. (Appleton)

STATIC PASSIVE STRETCHING:

Passive stretching uses body weight, another person, an apparatus such as a strap, the floor or the wall to continually stretch a muscle without tension for a minimum of 30 seconds. This is good for cool downs and recovery as it stops muscle fatigued and lactic acid build-up. (Achieve Orthopaedic Rehab Institute).

This stretching is also used a lot in Yoga to relax the central nervous system, stretch the fascia or connective tissue and centre the mind, body, and spirit. In Yin or therapeutic yoga supported or aided positions are often held between 1, 3 and even 5 minutes. Passive stretching also works to retrain the stretch reflex, holding a position for a long period of time and consciously relaxing and breathing into the muscle to train our stretch reflex to tolerate more lengthening before putting on the brakes. According to science passive stretching is a slower method of re-training this neurological reflex than active and PNF stretch methods. (Yoga Journal)

PROPIOCEPTIVE NUEROMUSCULAR FASCILITATION (PNF):

PNF technique combines Isometric Active Static Stretching and Passive Static Stretching and is considered the fastest and most effective way to increase static flexibility. The technique usually consists of doing an aided passive stretch for 7-10 seconds most commonly using a strap or a partner. Then performing an Isometric contraction for 7-15 seconds, resting for 2-3 seconds then passively stretching to a greater range of motion than the initial passive stretch and holding for 10 - 20 seconds. This can be done in varying repetitions. Just like isometric stretching it is said that this technique not only overcomes the stretch reflex (see The Stretch Reflex) but also activates the lengthening reaction. (see The Lengthening Reaction) This technique is also not recommended for children or adolescents and should only be performed once a day for any given muscle group, according to Appleton there ideally should be 36 hours between PNF work on the same muscle group. (Appleton)

HOW I APPLY THESE TECHNIQUES:

My preferred method is warm up with dynamic stretching and joint rotations, this helps our joint mobility, prepares our muscles, and lubricates the articulations ready for exercise. This also allows us to systematically check in with the different parts of our body and begin to connect our mind and body. This should be performed with fluidity and ease, starting small and gradually increasing the range of motion, but do not allow your muscles to reach fatigue as this will limit your range of motion and set this range for the rest of the session. (Achieve Orthopedic Rehab Institute)

Increase body temperature using either a core workout or gentle cardio. Running or Jogging is a quick way to increase the body temperature, otherwise doing core muscle contractions or holding core stabilizing position is also a super-efficient way to increase temperature. In Yoga when we engage our core, we are connecting with the fire Chakra and using our own internal fire to raise the body temperature.

Then begin using the stretch techniques you desire based on your body, your present needs, emotional and mental state, energy levels, or training program.

Active and dynamic stretching is generally preferred to use before a training session or any physical activity. Studies have shown that holding a passive stretch for 1 minute may decrease muscle power directly afterwards. However this also depends what you are doing, for example if you are performing an act with lots of contortion you are going to want to warm up with passive stretches.

Passive stretching is great for relaxing and centring the body and mind, stretching the fascia (connective tissue) and for post training cooldown.

MY JOURNEY AND PHILOSOPHY:

My personal journey with flexibility has been a long one as I am not a naturally flexible person. I have high muscle tone and strength comes really easily for me but I have had to work really hard to gain the flexibility that I have. I am incredibly grateful for this process as I have learnt a lot and I feel this makes me a good teacher. I understand how slow the process can be and I understand the challenges. Ultimately along with knowing more about these techniques and what my body needs, I started to see real progress when I practiced patience, when I began to accept and enjoy where I was at instead of thinking about where I wanted to be. The mind is neurologically connected to our flexibility and our state of mind also psychologically effects our progress. Finding ways to enjoy postures is key, breathing is key, massage is key, meditation is key, movement is key. Our body, mind and emotions are intrinsically connected if one is inflexible so will be the others. The Yoga Journal states that according to science and many accient Yogis, the biggest obstacle in our flexibility is our mind (namely our central nervous system) not our body. According to physiologists our muscle tissues have enough elasticity to stretch to 150 percent of their resting length, enough to perform any posture, the Yoga Journel recognises three physiological elements, that inhibit the bodies flexibility; the tendons and ligaments within the joints (joint mobility) these should not stretch too much as it can cause joint instability; the connective tissue or fascia that wraps around alll our muscles and organs; and our nuerological reactions, the Stretch Reflex. (Yoga Journal). Obviously there are also other factors like injury, age and lifestyle.

So, I believe in compensating and balancing, I believe in breathing and connecting, I believe in the fact that each body is unique. If someone has hyper flexible joints it will make them super flexible, but they need to work on their strength to avoid injury. If someone has super high muscle tone and tension, they need to do more passive stretching, breathing and relaxing. Do not get me wrong it is essential to work across all techniques, variety is key. But it is also beneficial to recognise where we need to compensate. Balance is the ultimate goal, and that balance will be unique to each person. Flexibility with strength and strength with flexibility. We want healthy muscular tone, while maintaining mobility and elasticity. We achieve this by lengthening our muscles while we work on our strength, stretching after strengthening, working on strength at end range and working in a balanced way with both active and passive stretching techniques.

REFERENCES:

Behm, David. (2018). The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching: Implications and Applications in Sport Performance and Health

Yoga Journal, What Every Yogi Needs to Know About Flexibility

https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/what-science-can-teach-us-about-flexibility

Achieve Orthopedic Rehab Institute, Flexibility techniques, static, dynamic https://www.achieveorthosports.com/special-techniques/flexibility-techniques-static-dynamic/

Appleton, Brad. Stretching and Flexibility: Everything you ever wanted to know. http://web.mit.edu/tkd/stretch/stretching_toc.html#SEC28 (25/6/20)

University of California, Muscle Physiology http://muscle.ucsd.edu/musintro/contractions.shtml