Articles

Flexibility and Stretching

Written by Graham Lambert

As an experienced Black belt you must extend your knowledge beyond Tae Kwon Do, into the area of phisical fitness training. The notes that follow are designed to give you a breif insight into the area of flexibility and the factors affecting the area. You are required to investigate further to enhance your instruction capabilities.

Flexibility

Definition
Flexibility refers to the capability of an individual to use muscles and skeletal joints throughuout the full potential range of movement. Flexibility exercises involve lengthening the muscles, and are aimed directly at extending the range of movement of a joint or muscle. The term 'stretching' has become accepted as the description of this type of exercise. Stetching exercises should be performed statically and progressively and only when the body has been warmed up.

Stretching

Stretching aims to:

(1) Reduce muscle tension and make the body feel more relaxed

(2) Increase the range of movement of joints and muscles so that the body can work more efficiently.

(3) Prevent muscle soreness and muscle tears.

(4) Prevent muscle inflammation and facilitate recovery from soft tissue injuries.

(5) Improve exercise technique by extending the range of body movement.

(6) Lengthen the muscle after use.

NB. You help return the body to a pre-exercise state when you include stetching exercises in a cool down component of a class.

How is this done

(1) You should start a stretching routine by trying to relax.

(2)You should only start to stretch when the body has been properly warmed up.

(3) You should ease into a stretch to the point where it is comfortable but not painful. This is referred to as slow, static stretching.

(4) You should stretch so that the pull is felt in the bulky, central portion of the muscle.

(5) You should concentrate on relaxing muscle or the muscle groups being stretched.

(6) You should not bounce to increase the range of movement of a muscle or a joint.

(7) You should not hold your breath, but try to breathe calmly and rhythmically.

(8)You should try to stretch in sitting or reclining positions whenever possible.

(9) The choice of stretches you chose should be related to the kind and type of exercise you are going to perform.

(10) You need to stretch daily if you are wishing to increase you flexibility.

(11) You should not compete during stretching exercise. You should not compare you progress to that of anyone else. Trying too hard can lead to injury and loss of any gains you have made. A feeling of mild discomfort is all that is needed.

(12) You should alternate you stretches from one muscle group to another, ensuring that they are progressive.

(13) If you are an exceptionally flexible person, you should take a great deal of care not to stretch too far because there is a danger of injury through dislocation.

All major muscle groups should be stretched for 8-10 seconds in order to prepare the muscles for work and to prevent possible Injuries.

To promote an increase in flexibility, stretches need to be developed. You should hold the stretch between 10-30 seconds. As the feeling of tension within the muscle eases, you should develop the stretch further, ensuring you are stable, relaxed and comfortable. The sensation that occurs when the feeling of tension eases in the muscle is known as the ‘Golgi tendon organ reflex’.

Lack of flexibility and inefficient technique are the main causes of poor physical performance as well as a reason for many strains and tear injuries in sport. Even today, the flexibility section of most training programmes is neglected. Athletes Martial Artists and Keep Fit Performers prefer to do strength and endurance work because in their minds they feel these components are doing more good. You should aim at a balanced programme incorporating all the aspects of physical fitness.

It is believed that the myotatic reflexes play an important part in the developing of greater flexibility. Myotatic reflexes are the stretch reflex and Golgi tendon organ reflex.

STRETCH REFLEX
Whenever a muscle is stretched, the stretch reflex action automatically contracts the stretch muscle, in order to protect it from being over stretched. The stretch reflex action occurs in both a slow stretch and a jerky stretch. If a muscle is stretched quickly the resulting contraction is likely to be more forceful than if the muscle is stretched gently and slowly. A quick, forceful stretch is more likely to lead to injury.

GOLGI ORGAN TENDON REFLEX
The Golgi tendon organ reflex occurs within contracted and stretched muscles. When a muscle contracts or stretches and considerable tension is developed within that muscle, the Golgi tendon organ reflex responds by causing an inhibitory reaction in the muscle. When stimulated, the reaction causes the muscle to relax. Therefore, is a stretch position is sustained at a high tension for long enough, a point may be reached where the tension dissipates, allowing the muscle to be stretched further. Stretching may be performed ballistically or statically.

BALLISTIC
The ballistic stretching technique is performed with a jerky or bouncing movement. When the force of the jerking or bouncing stretches the muscles. This technique invokes a strong stretch reflex contraction, thereby creating a great deal of muscle tension. Stretching a muscle against this amount of tension increases the chance of
injury to the muscles and tendons and joints. The position is never held, so that the muscle never gets chance to relax.

STATIC
In static stretching, the stretch is assumed slowly and gently, and held ideally for 30 to 60 seconds. By doing this, the contraction form the stretch reflex is slow and mild. As the position is held the tension from the stretch eases allowing the muscle to be stretched again, thus allowing an increase in flexibility.

ACTIVE
Active static stretching depends on the strength in certain muscle groups, in order to adopt the necessary stretched position, e.g. a shoulder stretch with arms raised straight above the head. To achieve a stretch in the shoulder joint, arms have to be extended up and back, hence, muscles at the back of the shoulder and the top of the back, have to contract and work hard against the stiffness of the joint and resistance of the stretching muscles at the front. These stretched muscles need to relax. The ability to isolate particular muscle groups in order to contract the working muscles and relax the stretching muscles is necessary for this technique to work. This is a difficult skill. Consequently active stretching in this way is a limited method in producing great gains in flexibility. It is good however for building up strength in muscles surrounding a joint, which is already particularly flexible. This will add to the stability of that joint in its extreme ranges of movement.

PASSIVE
Passive stretching technique uses an external force such as that of gravity or a partner to increase flexibility. All muscles of the limb and surrounding the joint involved in the stretch are thus able to relax totally. When done improperly or carelessly, it is easy to stretch the muscles and tendons beyond their limits thus causing injury. Compared with other techniques passive stretching produces the least amount of tension and the most effective method of improving flexibility.

PNF STRETCHING
PNF stands for Proprioceptive Neuromusclular Facilitation. PNF has been used extensively in the rehabilitation of muscle and tendon injuries. PNF involves a static stretch followed by an isometric contraction of a muscle against an immovable resistance e.g. a partner. The muscle is then stretched further statically and the action repeated. Each isometric contraction is held for about 6 seconds.

For PNF stretching the following precautions should be observed.

(1) It should be only attempted after a total body warm up.

(2) The isometric contraction should never be explosive; a gentle easing of the muscle against the partner is adequate.

(3) A partner should provide only resistance in the isometric phase and mild assistance in the static stretch phase.

(4) The isometric contraction should involve a gradual increase in effort in the first 2 seconds, which is sustained for an additional 4 seconds.

WHY PNF STRETCHING WORKS
The PNF system is based on 2 fundamental principles.

(1) A muscle can relax more fully after it has undergone a maximum isometric contraction and its resistance to stretching is therefore reduced.

(2) A muscle becomes stronger if its antagonist is isometrically contracted immediately before hand.

The preliminary isometric contraction makes the muscle more relaxed while it is being stretched. It also strengthens the contraction of the opposing muscles, which are used to pull the body part into a more extreme stretch position.