WHY DO I NEED TO STRETCH?

There is so much information about stretching online. You can find any form of stretching with information for or against. 

This is because there is not one correct way of stretching. Everyone is different, peoples bodies react differently to different techniques and styles of stretching. 

Stretching in its most simple form is when you try to pull muscle fibres further apart. 

Either : 

• They are tight/ spasming or contracted when you don't want the to be. You stretch for a release, relaxation. 

• Your muscle fibres are becoming shorter due to tightness, use. You would like to increase the length, meaning you have a greater range of movement. 

By the way, your muscle fibres will not actually change length! They will be able to stretch when required if you stretch consistently. 

There are many effects of stretching . Stretching has many impacts on the body:

• Decreases the risk of injury. 
• Could improve your physical abilities. 
• Greater range of movement. 
• Muscles could work over a greater range making them more efficient. 
• It is thought that stretching releases endorphins. 

Increasing the suppleness of ,muscles will also help with day to day activity. Especially with age, simple tasks such as putting on shoes and socks becomes more challenging while muscles become more restricted. 

This is why trying to remain more flexible while getting older is vital!

What does stretching do / how does stretching work?

First we need to think about how muscle fibres look, then it is really simple to understand.

A muscle fibre  has 2 parts. We are going to call them. 

1. The walls. 

2. The Muscle

They are organised as such - Wall - Muscle - Wall . the muscle is a single tube, the walls are two, wider parts that go over the outside of the muscle. The walls get pulled together covering the muscle. That's all a contraction is!

Sometimes, the walls do not release so you can see the muscle part again. This is a spasm. Sometimes you get a loft of muscle fibres stuck together not working properly. That is a knot. 

Stretching forces the walls so pull apart, revealing our muscle in the middle. If you don't stretch for long enough, they will slam shut again. You need to hold them open until they relax, realise what they are meant to do. 

This is a simplified version, if you would like to know the full, accurate details contact Hughes SMT. 

How long should I stretch? A good question and unfortunately there is not one answer. Apparently the amount of time you need to hold a stretches changes all the time due to new research going back and forward. Like most things, its up to the person. 

If you are very tight, you can hold a stretch for longer. Some people relax really quickly. It can take 30 seconds or over 1 minute. One way of getting a good amount of tie without getting bored is by splitting the time up. 

Try spending 1 minute on each exercise. You can do this with 3 sets of 20 seconds. 

Stretching can be very boring especially when you have a lot to do! Some stretching is better than none. If you have generic stretches to do and not much time, maybe dynamic stretching is best for you as it can be easy and quick. 

To know where to stretch, you need to know where your pain, tightness or discomfort is. It needs to be more specific than your 'leg'. 

Find the specific area or muscle.  Lets say you have a sore knee. Try rolling and stretching one muscle above and below. In this example that would be the muscles in your calf, and upper leg. Front and back!

If you want to be safe go a little further. Still talking about knee pain, stretch your bum, (glutes). They are part of your ;eg and could contribute. 

In short. Find the pain. Go one muscle group up and one muscle group down. 

If you have pain in a muscle don't forget to roll the opposite muscle. If we had pain in our bicep in our arm; we would need to stretch the tricep. 

What is Foam rolling/ rolling/ SMR (self-myofascial release) is a form of self treatment which causes tissue release.  

Lets think about rolling or back. We have fascia, connective tissue, muscles and more. These can become tighter, knotty or more tough. An easy, quick form of self treatment that is available to everyone. A roller can bought from lots of places and they are not too expensive. 

 Throughout your day you will use muscles in your back. The muscles, connective tissue will work and get tired and get tighter. The surrounding fascia is connected and call be pulled so it is also under extra strain. All this can feel like achy, sore muscles. 

In this case you can get your roller, lye on it and roll up and down your back focussing on extra sore parts. Tennis balls, massage balls are very common and great for hitting certain spots that a generic foam roller would not be able to access fully. 

Dynamic vs Static stretching. The most important thing to remember is that there is not one correct way to stretch. Different peoples bodies react in different ways to different types of stretching. 

When I give clients stretches to do. I often give examples f stretch ed but say, play around with the position slightly until you feel a good stretch. 

• What is dynamic stretching?

Dynamic stretching is where you pull the muscle fibres apart while moving. For example,:

Swinging your leg - dynamically stretching quadriceps and hamstrings. 

Dynamic stretches have good uses. They are good for helping the body warm up. Swinging your arms can help with blood flow while stretching, warming up and mobilising the body all at the same time. 

• What is static stretching? 

Static stretching is the pulling of muscles without movement. For example:

Holding your heel to your bottom in order to stretch your quadricep.

Static stretches are great for doing more specific stretches. For example if you had a tight neck on one side, you can stretch specific spots for relief which can be less time consuming. 

There is not one specific time that you need to stretch. When doing exercise, a safe bet is to stretch before and after.  This means you can prepare for exercise as well as cool down: 

Stretching before as a warm up is beneficial as you can warm up, mobilize and reduce the risk of injury by using  dynamic stretches. 

Stretching after using static or dynamic stretching to help with waste removal, injury prevention and it can reduce DOMS/ muscle pain. 

Before exercise:

Your body will be tighter, your muscles will be cold, heart rate will be low. Increasing and preparing as many systems at once is beneficial. If you do not prepare these systems, going straight into exercise could be more difficult and you will greatly increase your risk of injury. 

After exercise: 

Your body will have been through exercise which will cause fatigue, waste increase, as you cool down you can become stiff. Stretching can help reduce tightness, improve waste removal, (which can decrease pain later on). Stretching after can be part of a cool down, again to reduce chance of injury and pain.