Keep Spring in Your Step by Taking the Bounce Out of Your Stretch

Last fall I was strolling through a local park when I spotted a group of women from a softball team engaged in what appeared to be a pregame stretching routine. I stopped and watched them fling their arms, legs and torsos around as they followed the lead of their team captain, an individual who undoubtedly knows something about softball but is clearly in the dark when it comes to flexibility training.

I couldn’t help wincing as I watched these women put incredible stress on their bodies, all in the name of fitness.

While walking home, it occurred to me that probably no other area of physical fitness is as fraught with misconceptions and old-fashioned ideas as flexibility training. That team captain probably learned her stretching technique in her physical education class 15 years ago and is using the same old methods today.

Unfortunately, this problem exists in exercise classes, health clubs and aerobics studios across the country. If you want to practice safe, effective stretching, you must forget the myths and learn the facts about correct flexibility training.

It’s Not Primarily Muscles

You may be surprised to learn that stretching exercises do not primarily work your muscles. Although muscle fibers provide some resistance during the stretch, most of the resistance comes from your connective tissue. Ligaments, tendons, joint capsules and fascia--a thin sheath surrounding your muscles--are examples of connective tissue. The elasticity of the connective tissues is what determines your joint range of motion, or how far you can move segments at each of your joints in a given direction. Over time, when you stretch correctly, you permanently increase how far connective tissue around the joint can extend without injury, allowing you to move the joint more freely. You’re more flexible.

The first step toward learning proper stretching technique is understanding what actually happens inside your body when you stretch. To exercise effectively, you must move in a way that will short-circuit one of your automatic nerve responses. This response is called the stretch reflex, instantly triggered whenever you stretch incorrectly, either too quickly or past the point of pain.

Within each muscle are microscopic sensory receptors, called muscle spindles. When a muscle is stretched, these receptors instantaneously send it a message, via the central nervous system, to contract. This response is a protective mechanism that keeps the muscle from stretching too far and tearing. You must override this reflex to stretch effectively.

Tendon Response Is Slower

The tendons, connective tissues that join muscles to bones, also contain microscopic sensory receptors. These Golgi tendon organs respond to a stretching movement slightly slower than the receptors in the muscles. When the Golgi tendon organs are stimulated they send a message that tells the tendons to accommodate the stretch by lengthening. As the tendon lengthens, you increase the range of motion at your joint.

The Golgi tendon organs will override the stretch reflex if you hold a stretch long enough. If you stretch too quickly, you won’t give the sensory receptors in the tendons enough time to kick in and cause the muscles to relax and the tendons to stretch.

This is why you must stretch slowly. If you bounce when you stretch, an action referred to as ballistic stretching, you’ll trigger the stretch reflex, causing a muscle contraction, which will create a resistance and may result in injury.

These guidelines apply to static stretching, which increases your flexibility and reduces your risk of injury. The softball players I watched in the park were doing old-fashioned ballistic stretching, a technique no one should try.

Work Through Range of Motion

A third flexibility technique, based on proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), is popular among professional athletes. When you stretch in this manner, you work through your joint range of motion with the help of a partner.

You should use PNF only with a partner who has been correctly trained. When you work with a partner who is not knowledgeable about safe technique, you risk injury by overstretching. Communication is very important when you stretch with a partner because only you know when you feel pain.

Following these guidelines will improve your flexibility, but you must recognize your body’s limits. I’ve worked with gymnasts who can seemingly turn themselves inside out, and we all know someone who can put her leg over the back of her neck or sit like a yogi in the lotus position. These folks have what is best described as loosely strapped joints. The connective tissues that surround their joints may be slightly longer, or the joint itself may be a slightly different shape than the joint of a less limber person.

Similarly, you probably know someone who has a lot of trouble stretching. Positions that are comfortable for just about everyone are a real trial for these people because their joints are strapped in more tightly.

We all inherit flexibility. We can’t all become as loose as gymnasts and dancers. They perform these activities largely because they inherited flexible joints. When you stretch, work within your capabilities, not those of the person beside you.

Also, flexibility is specific to each joint. Have you ever tried the sit-and-reach flexibility test? Sit with your legs stretched out in front of you and bend at the waist to see how far you can reach forward. This test measures only your hip and lower back flexibility. Some people do well on this test simply because they have long arms and short legs. For total-body flexibility, you must perform moves specifically designed to stretch the connective tissue around each joint.

You can derive tremendous lifetime benefits from an effective flexibility program. As you grow older, the connective tissues become more resistant to lengthening. If you’ve been stretching all your life, you’ll have greater freedom of motion for your daily activities during your golden years. Stretching will also enhance the psychological aspect of your workout schedule. It’s emotionally and physically relaxing to stretch. Although some research suggests that stretching will prevent injuries, those findings are based on limited data.

Still, I’m sure any exercise expert in the world will attest to flexibility’s role in reducing injuries. We all recognize that a flexible body works better than a stiff one.