Often times the folks that I interact with will have a history of some sort of ache or pain that will either not go away, or keeps coming back despite all their best efforts.
In fact, it is often actually due to these failed best efforts that they find themselves walking through my door and hanging out in the small blue room that is called Portland Integrative Physical Therapy.
The typical “tried and true” approaches just did not make a dent… or the dents that landed just did not last.
However, despite each situation and person being absolutely unique unto itself, there are some pretty consistent patterns that tend to be present and contributing to the chronic or reoccurring loop you or anyone of these folks may be stuck in.
Yes, there is almost always a muscle or five that needs to become a bit stronger, or a place or two that perhaps needs to become a bit more flexible… however, often times there are also some habits that need to change if the situation has any hope to improve.
Often times these habits will come down to a problematic way in which the individual may relate to, and respond to the messages from their body.
One of the more significant ones that tend to perpetuate chronic and reoccurring issues of the musculoskeletal kind… is habitual and aggressive stretching of any and all bodily aches, pains or perceived tightness.
Now, I am not talking about the kind of stretching your cat or dog may do when it gets up after a nap. You know, the whole squirm and reach with a big yawn… then off to the food bowl or next adventure.
That is actually a fairly active and productive thing, and I hope that you yourself do it from time to time.
What I am referring to is the tried and true lean in until you feel the stretch, and then lean in some more.
The idea is that if it does not go where it should, just lay on it until it gives up.
In the world of strength training and rehabilitation this is typically referred to as static stretching.
To the rest of the population, this is arguably an understandable human reaction… and one that is a bit ingrained in American culture.
However, done intensely and regularly enough then over time the tendency to aggressively and regularly stretch the tissues of your body will progressively compromise your speed, your strength, your ability to sense yourself and quite literally the integrity of your joints.
To understand why, we have to ask…
WHAT EXACTLY DOES STRETCHING DO?
Simply stated, if you bring a muscle to its end range and hold it for a short period of time (20-30 seconds) short of the point of pain, it will eventually reflexively relax.
What this means is that as you hold this end range stretch, the brain is steadily getting the message that this end range that it typically tightens up into is actually “okay”… and that you would like to have some better access to it.
So, after some short period of time (again, typically 20-30 seconds)… if this stretch is held and no injury to the tissue occurs, then the brain will elect to dampen the outputs to the muscle.
Yes, essentially static stretching deadens muscles for a short period of time.
Hold this very same stretch for a longer period of time (longer than 60 seconds), and the effect will be much more significant… and longer lasting.
Repeat this process day in, day out… and like anything else these changes will become ingrained and the tissues deformed.
WHY IS STRETCHING POTENTIALLY A PROBLEM?
Perhaps you should read the last few sentence again…
Regardless… in of itself, stretching is absolutely fine.
With that, at times it is absolutely appropriate and even very helpful.
However, habitually stretching in response to any and all bodily tension can be very problematic because tension in your body is often best relieved not by attempting to blow through it… but in the same way you would ease an over tightened bungee cord.
Meaning… either slackening it by moving one of the places of where it is attached, or by shifting and adjusting the positions of what is strapped down under it.
Do one or both of those things and voila… the tension is reduced.
Yes, sometimes all you need to do is wiggle a bit here or there. Hence the experience many of us have with being able to walk it off. More on that HERE and HERE.
Another way to say all this is that your muscles often feel tight because they are in an overtightened state or place. To lean into that tension, with the attempt to get it to just give up, is more than likely not the best thing most situations.
There is a saying about robbing Peter to pay Paul that comes to mind…
Truly the urge to aggressively stretch when something, or anything feels tight is arguably no different than you intentionally staying up longer and later into the night solely because you are feeling tired.
Yes, it is that absurd.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AGGRESSIVE AND HABITUAL STRETCHING IS TAKEN ON OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME?
The most typical situations where we see this being done is with a competitive dancer, gymnast or in the case of the over zealous practioner of yoga.
Regardless of the endeavor, overtime the person will get some very blown out parts.
Typically it is their hips and shoulders, however necks and lower backs are common as well.
This is often a problem, because it is common in these situations for those joints to be attached to a very locked up pelvis and ribcage.
Because of this, their general movements throughout their day and with rigorous activity will tend to occur solely at the increasingly blown out parts, with the stiff and locked up neighbors barely being moved… and typically over time they just get stiffer because of this.
Essentially, these folks often acquire some very illegal freedom, which is often referred to as hypermobility. All this means is that they are are able to move some or many of their parts through a range that is generally observed to exceed what is considered both normal and ideal for the structures involved.
Now, although this acquired excessive mobility may afford them the ability to movement more fully on a measurable level for some period of time… eventually what once felt great does not feel so good anymore.
What makes this doubly difficult is that when the person begins to find themself in this situation, the nature of what is occurring is fairly hard to perceive.
This is because the person in this situation will often have a hard time feeling themselves.
You see, sensing tissue stretch is a big part of how we know where our bodies are with all their parts. However, if you stretch it out to the point where you no longer feel the stretch… all that body awareness is lost.
This is why tension is an incredibly useful and vital thing to have… it helps us sense our bodies outline, our bodies boundaries, and as a result we can more clearly sense ourselves within those boundaries.
However, the person that habitually and aggressively stretches their body will overtime destroy a great deal of that useful tension.
And without that useful tension present, it is awfully hard to both sense when an edge is being neared, and with that react effectively enough to pull oneself back before going over.
It turns out, in order for any of us to be free, we have to ask what boundaries we are looking to be free within.
While these situations are never a hopeless ones, they are often times difficult ones to address due to the overwhelming lack of self awareness at the start of their rehab journey.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE INSTEAD OF STATIC STRETCHING?
If you want to gain an increased in freedom of any given movement, or even you are just looking to maintain that freedom, then you will do best to focus on training the muscles of your body to be more awake in any given range… not more asleep.
What this means is that you will find the most success by aiming to coordinate and control whatever movement you are looking to improve.
Essentially, make the movement active… not passive.
Instead of attempting to crank through the range you are trying to improve, seek to control it.
An excellent example is looking at how to reach for ones toes in a legal manner. The key here is to anchor into the ground and reach in an active way for those toes you are longing for so much.
For a visual of this process, feel free and encouraged to watch the video below…
Another way to approach more general mobility is to learn how to activity pivot and shift into the range that you are looking to improve. The limbs of our bodies are attached to a pelvis, torso and head… and we need to be able to pivot and shift through these places in order to have access to the full freedom of movement that we all deserve.
In some ways, this looks like many forms of dance that is seen throughout the world.
In other ways, this may look a bit like tai chi, or qigong.
For more on how to go about that, watch the video below.
All that said, it would be reasonable for you to still ask…
ARE THERE TIMES THAT STATIC STRETCHING IS ACTUALLY HELPFUL?
Yes… there are absolutely times that holding a prolonged stretch is a helpful thing. The most obvious is when any of us is experiencing painful muscle cramps, making life as you know stop in its tracks. When this is occurring, it is absolutely a good idea to stretch that muscle. In fact, it is probably the only way that you are going to get it to quiet down in the immediate moment.
That said, if the cramps keep coming back despite all the reactive stretching you are taking on… know that you will likely do well to look a bit further into what may be going on.
If you have any questions about the above, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Regardless, I hope you find the above helpful, and I hope you are comfortable, able and well.