Stretching - The Long and Short of It

And 'generally well-accepted dogma in the health and welfare (as in athletic training) that stretching is an important part of a regular exercise program. We were told that passive stretching will help prevent injuries, improve performance, reduce DOMS, and should be part of a warm-up and cool-down. However, there is no scientific evidence to support these claims, and in fact there is mounting scientific research to prove otherwise. Despite this, there seems to be a lot of conflicting advice on how and when to stretch. I've seen too many trainees can perform optimally or suffer from recurrent injuries, in part due to improper stretching habits. It 's time to take a closer look at stretching and flexibility.

According to the ACSM, flexibility is a measure of range of motion in a joint or a group of splices and the ability to move a joint through the full range of movement.

There are 2 main types of stretching: active and passive.

Passive stretching is when you use an external force other than their own muscles to move a muscle or joint beyond its active range of motion, to put your body in a position that you could not do it alone (like when you are in china a wall, or have a partner push you into a deeper stretch). Unfortunately, this is the most common form of stretching used.

Active stretching eliminates the external force and its adverse effects from stretching procedures. This is to actively use their muscles to get the range of motion, such as muscle contracts the antagonist (opposite), the agonist (target) stretch the muscle groups and relax. This is a safe, effective, and recommended stretching.

Stop being so passive!
Although most people are more familiar with the traditional passive stretching (which goes into a deep tract, without muscular effort), you can actually harm performance and can potentially cause damage! The search of the Journal of Applied Physiology and the relationships that brought us the American College of Sports Medicine shows that passive stretching can reduce muscle strength and power up to 20%.
Passive stretching can also rip the soft tissue creating less available muscle to create power. This is especially significant considering that many athletes are still doing passive stretching before a workout or competition!

The static-passive stretching and damage the nervous system activation of the muscles involved, in essence, making them more flexible, weaker and less stable for at least an hour after (reduced strength after passive stretch of the human plantar flexors, 2000, Fowles). This reduces the strength and joint stability and can adversely affect your athletic performance as well as increase the risk of injury. Stacy Ingraham, an exercise physiologist at the University of Minnesota, concluded that passive stretching, not only has no effect on preventing accidents, but it can actually do even more likely to get hurt.

A study of 1543 consists of serious runners linking stretching to muscle problems was made by David Lally, PhD, (University of Hawaii). The important finding in the poll Lally was that 47% of all male runners who stretched regularly were injured during a period of one year, while only 33% of male runners who did not stretch were hurt, a difference statistically significant (9).

Another study suggests that athletes in more than 20% of the flexibility continuum are actually those with the highest rates of injury (15)!

Some might argue that you can get a greater range of motion with passive stretching. However, this increased range of motion in a static position does not carry over to the dynamic range of motion associated with the sport. Even worse, resulting in excessive range of motion is not necessarily beneficial for an athlete, and might even be harmful.

Although this type of stretching can temporarily relieve the joint pain, muscle and back in some cases, it may finally aggravate the condition of the base, and increases the weakness and instability. This can be difficult for many trainers, coaches and athletes to accept, but it is obviously very difficult to justify even passive stretching at any point in a training program. It is generally a less desirable to improve the flexibility and range of motion. If you plan to use passive stretches, at least make them only at the end of a workout or practice (never before) and follow each leg with an outlet that is of such a position.

Get Active!
So what is the alternative to improve flexibility? Active stretching is a safe and effective method for maintaining a healthy range of motion, while increasing joint stability and strength. Why 'tightness' of the muscle is often due to compensation for joint instability or weakness in another muscle, developing strong, stable joints allows a greater range of motion. It is recommended to perform active range of motion (AROM) exercises after a workout, game or practice session. L '"stretch" positions may be very similar to passive stretches, but were collected with a muscle strain, not outside the force. Actively maintain each position for 10 to 15 seconds. Active stretching can also be effective flexibility by incorporating techniques such Facilitiation ProprioNeuromuscular (PNF).

Examples of some basic traits aromatic static include:
* Lats-reaching arms outstretched in the head
* Chest-extend your arms out to sides, shoulder blades and withdraw
* Quadriceps-flex to heal your butt, squeeze your hamstrings
* Hamstrings-stretch your leg straight in front of you, and contract your quads

Warming up for a dynamic approach
Dynamic stretching is another form of active range of motion that is recommended before training, practice or competition, and has been shown to reduce muscle stiffness while increasing the activation of the nervous system. Dynamic warmup exercises involve moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both. Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching (not recommended)! Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm that swings gently and gradually move within the limits of your range of motion. In contrast, ballistic stretching, or bouncing "jerky" movements, trying to force a part of that bounce beyondavoids movements of the body that tend to incorporate more sport-specific movements, such as arm circles, trunk rotations, kicks to the head, high knee lifts and lunges on foot (without weights). its range of motion. Dynamic stretching

Recent scientific studies indicate that dynamic stretches before activity are preferable to static passive stretches (4,20,21). This may be especially true for athletes of strength and power.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=CvIGjwZ25YA

Conclusion:
Athletes, coaches, and others need to use the combination of strength training, conditioning and heating, which is best for a particular sport or activity. In general, it is advisable to perform a dynamic warm up first training and incorporate some active field extends further. Even considering that stretching occurs naturally when you exercise. In order to contract a muscle, the opposing muscle groups should be relaxed and stretch.
I understand that this information may be new to many readers. However, to quote from Emma Wilkinson British Medical Journal about this new scientific research:

"These results are contrary to what many athletes and coaches believe and what is common practice. Yet most of the sports medicine and exercise and management of musculoskeletal injuries have developed empirically with very little research evidence. The culture is changing, and this study makes a valuable contribution to the debate on stretching. "

I encourage you to seek this information themselves and make an informed decision. It might be time to reevaluate your approach to flexibility training. This is the short and long of it.

References

(1) 'If static stretching be used during a Warm-Up Activities for strength and power?' Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 24 (6), pp. 33-37, 2002

(2) 'A randomized trial of pre-exercise stretching for prevention of lower limb injuries', Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 32 (2), pp. 271-277, 2000

(3) of injuries in Australian army recruits, Part III: The accuracy of a pretraining orthopedic screen in predicting ultimate outcome Injury ', Military Medicine, Vol.162, pp.481-483, 1997

(4) the effects of static stretching on the maximum length and resistance to passive stretch of short hamstrings', Journal of Orthopaedic Sports Physical Therapy, vol. 14, pp. 250-255, 1991

(5) 'Viscoelastic response to repeated static stretching of the hamstring muscle man', Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, vol. 5, pp. 342-347, 1995

(6) Shrier, I. Stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of local muscle injury: critical review of clinical and basic science literature. J. Clinical Sports Med. 9: 221-7. 1999
(7) 'The prediction of lower extremity injuries among habitual runners', Archives of Internal Medicine, vol. 149, pp. 2565-2568, 1989

(8) 'The Ontario Cohort Study of Running-Injury, "Archives of Internal Medicine, vol. 149, pp. 2561-2564, 1989

(9) 'New Study Links Stretching with higher injury rates', running news Research, vol. 10 (3), pp. 5-6, 1994

(10) 'muscle damage induced by eccentric contractions of 25% Strain', Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 70, pp. 2498-2507, 1991

(11) 'Acute muscle stretching inhibits maximum power performance', Research Quarterly for exercise and sport, vol. 69, pp. 411-415, 1998

(12) 'Identification of a threshold for skeletal muscle injury', American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 22, pp. 257-261, 1994

(13) 'Influences of strength, stretching and circulatory exercises on flexibility parameters of the hamstring muscles of man ", International Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 18, pp.340-346, 1997

(14) 'Physiology of range of motion of human joints: A Critical Review', Critical Reviews in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 6, pp. 131-160, 1994

(15) 'strength, flexibility and athletic injuries, "Sports Medicine, vol. 14, pp. 277-288, 1992

(16) 'Flexibility and its effects on Sports Injury and Performance', Sports Medicine, vol. 24 (5), pp. 289-299, 1997

(17) 'Survey on the effects of static stretching on the active stiffness and damping characteristics of the plantar flexors of the ankle, "Physical Ther. Sport, Vol.2, pp.15-22, 2001

(18) 'passive properties of human skeletal muscle during stretch maneuvers, "Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, Vol 8, pp. 65-77, 1998

(19) 'Stretching during Warm-Up: We have enough evidence?', Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, vol. 70 (7), pp. 24-27, 1999

(20) 'Dynamic Warm-Ups', Sports Coach, vol. 24 (1), pp. 20-22, 2001
(21) Yamaguchi, T., Ishii, K. Effects of static stretching for 30 seconds and dynamic stretching on leg extension power. J. Strength Cond Res August, 19 (3) :677-83. 2005