Stretching 101

What is Stretching?
​     Stretching is defined as the lengthening of muscles in order to increase muscle flexibility and improve joint range of motion. Stretching activities are a very important part of any exercise or rehabilitation program. ​

     There are a few different goals that can be accomplished from stretching. Before you begin stretching, ask yourself what you are looking to do.

• Increase flexibility
• Prevent injury during exercise
• Perform better while playing a sport
• Decrease pain in a specific area
• Improve overall health

2 Basic Types of Stretching

• Static: a stretch to lengthen a muscle by taking it to its end range of motion passively for a prolonged period of time; think holding the splits
• Dynamic: a stretch used to prime a muscle for activity or sport by using movement to tak it through its full range of motion

     The million dollar question that comes up a lot is when to stretch. Should you stretch before or after exercise?
    Research shows that static stretching before exercise or sport shows no incidence of reducing injury risk and static stretching prior to exercise can actually lower your physical performance. Static stretching helps to relax your muscles and this is not something that you want to do prior to engaging in physical activity.
     So what should you do? Dynamic stretching helps to activate and warm up your muscles prior to activity. Research suggests that dynamic stretching prior to exercise can actually improve performance by increasing blood flow to muscles, speed of nerve impulses, and oxygen delivery while increasing flexibility and force of muscle contraction. Although dynamic stretching can help to improve your physical performance, research does not explicitly show that it will decrease risk for injury.
     While static stretching before exercise may not be the best idea, static stretching does still have its benefits. Post-exercise muscles tend to get stiff and this is where static stretches can help. Performing static stretches immediately post workout can help to return the muscle to its pre-exercise length and help prevent further stiffness.

How Long Should You Hold a Stretch? How Often?
    Holding a stretch for at least 30 seconds, once a day, has been shown to be effective in increasing muscle length and flexibility. Research shows that holding for longer than 30 seconds and increasing frequency for more than once per day does not have any significant increased benefits for improved flexibility.
    It is also important to be consistent with your stretching and know that you will most likely not see any improvements overnight. On average, it takes approximately 4-6 weeks to seen an actual change in muscle length from stretching regularly. So keep it up and don’t get discouraged if you do not see results immediately.

When Not to Stretch?

• Acute Muscle Strain: Someone who has recently sustained an acute muscle strain should avoid placing increased stress on the muscle with stretching. The injured muscle needs time to rest. Stretching the muscle during this time can result in further injury or increased healing time.
• Fractured bones: Stretching muscles around the area of a broken bone can place unnecessary strain on the bone and prevent it from healing properly.
• Joint sprains: As with fractures, these injuries need time to heal before increased stress from stretching is placed on the injured area.

Key Points to Remember

• Dynamic stretching during your warm up before exercise can help to improve physical performance
  
• Static stretching after exercise can prevent muscles from getting stiffer
  
• Stretching a muscle for 30 seconds once a day is enough to increase muscle length over a period of 4-6 weeks.