Is Stretching Safe?
Many personal trainers, coaches and manual therapists give static stretching programs to their clients as a way increase range of motion, decrease pain and improve performance.
Stretching can be either beneficial or detrimental to one’s health and performance depending on when and how it is prescribed. Stretching prescriptions also differ between practitioners.
How do injuries occur?
Injuries that occur are most likely the result from the tissues such as muscle and tendons, inability to absorb forces required of them. Injuries most usually occur within the normal range of motion and during eccentric (lengthening a muscle under load) portion of a movement. Therefore, stretching tissues in order to increase their ability to bend or deform, will not allow them to be more resilient to injury.
Benefits of stretching
1) Injury prevention– Pre-exercise static stretching does not prevent injury and may actually cause injury due the decreased ability to produce force by the muscles and their absorption capability. Long term regular static stretching (>3 to 4 weeks) is beneficial and can improve force, jump height and speed.
2) Decreasing pain– stretching can have an analgesic effect by increasing pain tolerance. PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) stretching has been shown to increase the range of motion (ROM) of both the stretched and unstretched limb. This indicates that there are effects on the brain itself.
3) Muscle Hypertrophy (muscle enlargement)- some studies have shown that there can be an increase in the muscles ability to contract (MVC), thus affecting the muscles ability to grow.
What happens during stretching?
ROM may improve in one of two ways: changing shape properties of the muscle cell AND/OR changing your stretch tolerance.
Acute, short term static stretching can have an immediate effect on ROM by changing the cell shape, but the effect is short lived and the tissues return to their normal resting length.
Long term stretching (>3 to 4 wks) allows change in ROM but no change in cell properties. Change is due to central nervous system (brain) stretch tolerance. Your brain allows for this. You are altering the stretch reflex. The stretch reflex is a safe guard mechanism at prevents over stretching. If your CNS decides you cannot control the ROM the stretch reflex is turned on and your ROM becomes limited.
To reduce potential injury during a particular activity, talk to your Chiropractor or health professional about how to expand and strengthen your ROM and reduce your change of injury.
-if you would like get a copy of some of the research articles used, do not hesitate to contact me 🙂 –
Disclaimer: Remember that any information on this blog should not be a substitute to your healthcare professionals examination. I have not examined you; therefore, the above should not serve as medical advice. Research is also changing constantly and some information may change at a later date due to new available science.