1. Flexibility fitness is the least important component of physical fitness, and there is some debate about the necessity of it. 2. Research that supports flexibility fitness supports it primarily for injury preven?on and preven?on of low back pain 3. There is research that suggests that the impact that flexibility has on injury preven?on is over-­‐stated, and in fact flexibility is not necessary for health 4. The take home message here is that flexibility fitness has its poten?al health benefits, but this should not be the focus of your exercise rou?ne. 5. The best way to focus on flexibility fitness is to build it into a warm-­‐up or build it into an exercise that promotes other areas of fitness (like yoga, which enhances flexibility but also builds muscular strength and endurance). 1 1. Flexibility is highly specific: someone can have great flexibility in the spine, hips, and legs but poor shoulder flexibility 2. Your need for flexibility depends on the types of ac?vi?es you do for daily living and the types of sports that you par?cipate in: • A figure skater requires a greater degree of trunk and hip flexibility for skill performance than a hockey player • An electrician requires a greater degree of shoulder flexibility than someone working at a desk all day 2 1. A goniometer is oNen used in physical therapy sessions, to compare the range of mo?on in one joint to the contralateral joint. For example, the therapist might measure the range of mo?on in your right (injured) knee and compare it to your leN (healthy) knee. 2. Each joint has a “typical” or “normal” range of mo?on, but the actual range of mo?on in our joints can vary from person to person, so the best way to see if you are deficient in flexibility is to compare one joint with the opposite side for an individual. • For example, take the shoulder joint: If you keep your arm straight and raise your arm from your side straight out in front and up over your head (shoulder flexion), some people will go 180-­‐degrees (hand straight down to hand straight up, keeping the arm straight), and some people will go over 180-­‐degrees. People who have less than 180-­‐degrees of mo?on in shoulder flexion would be considered “?ght”, and an injury might be suspected, especially if one shoulder has less mo?on than the other shoulder. People who have much more than 180-­‐
degrees of shoulder flexion (they can keep bringing their arm way behind their ear while keeping the arm straight) might be considered hypermobile. 3 1. This slide and the next slide get into the poten?al health benefits of flexibility. 2. We will get into the anatomy of joints a liWle more later, but the length of the muscles and tendons are the primary way we change our flexibility at any joint. People who have longer muscles and tendons will have greater range of mo?on. Stretching is done to voluntarily stretch the muscles and tendons that cross joints, to enhance flexibility. 4 1. Posture: short muscles and tendons in the back & neck can result in poor posture. Tightness in the hip flexors can give you an increased curvature of the lower spine, which leads to poor posture and back pain. Maintaining good posture is very important for spine health. 2. Cramps: gentle stretching will relieve pain & s?ffness related to muscle cramps. Think about taking a long car ride… you oNen get out of the car and want to stretch your legs to get rid of the s?ffness. 5 1. Stretching before you workout will not prevent you from ge^ng sore aNer that workout. 2. When you look at sports that rely on flexibility for performance (diving, gymnas?cs, dance, etc.) then stretching before prac?ce or compe??on is important, because you need the muscles and tendons to be able to lengthen to their maximum poten?al-­‐ they need to be warmed up and lengthened for the performance 3. All other sports and exercise, though, stretching before exercising (especially cold) is a waste of ?me. Extensive stretching has actually been shown to reduce running economy and inhibit ver?cal jump among athletes. 4. What is recommended is a gentle stretch AFTER or incorporated into a general warm-­‐up. This will get the muscles ready to engage in the ac?vi?es you will demand of them during the exercise, but this has to be done when the muscles are warm. An extensive stretching program, conducted specifically to enhance flexibility, should be done at the end of an exercise or sport rou?ne. 6 Training is the only thing we are looking to focus on in order to enhance our flexibility fitness 7 8 1. Think about the elbow. You can only straighten your elbow so much. The anatomy of the joint prevents the elbow from hyperextending. The ligaments in the elbow prevent you from being able to move your forearm, independent of your upper arm, from leN to right when it is straight. You can only bend and straighten the elbow-­‐ that’s all the joint structure allows for. 2. Your shoulder is a ball and socket joint-­‐ it and the hip have the greatest range of mo?on of all the joints in the body. 9 1. Ligaments aWach bones to other bones and provide stability to joints. They prevent the joints from moving in direc?ons that they are not supposed to move. 2. People who injure ligaments, either tearing them or stretching them out, oNen end up having joint laxity (too much range of mo?on at the joint). That puts them at greater risk for injury in the future. 3. People who sprain an ankle once are much more likely to sprain an ankle a second ?me because of this. 10 1. Muscles are more elas?c than tendons, but they are stretched together, which is why we group them together 2. This is the area that we actually focus on when we are stretching. We don’t stretch to increase the length of the ligaments, as that would take away from the needed stability in the joint. When we stretch we focus on lengthening the MTU, which will give us greater range of mo?on at the joint in the mo?ons that the joints were intended to provide. 11 12 13 1. Over the span of our working lives, adults lose 3-­‐4 inches of lower back flexibility, as measured by the “sit and reach” test 2. Flexibility declines much more rapidly over ?me among people who are sedentary, because si^ng keeps the muscles and tendons idle and in a shortened state. 3. Research confirms that the decline in flexibility associated with age is not as evident in adults who are physically ac?ve 14 1. The difference in flexibility between younger boys and girls is not totally understood. Some suggest that it is due to anatomical differences, for example girls having wider hips than boys. Some suggest that it is due to differences in hormones between boys and girls. 2. More likely, however, it is just a result of the difference in the types of physical ac?vi?es girls tend to par?cipate in compared to boys. Girls are more likely to choose ac?vi?es that rely on and train flexibility, like dance and gymnas?cs. 15 Hypermobility is being loose-­‐jointed 16 1. It’s easier to get hurt on cold days. 2. Think about a rubber band. If you freeze it and then stretch it, it breaks very easily. Muscles and tendons are the same way-­‐ they are more likely to tear (become strained) when they are physically cold. 3. This brings up the important issue of “Warming up” before stretching, par?cularly if you are going to be engaging in an ac?vity that forces your joints to their extreme ranges of mo?on. You need to physically make the muscles and tendons warmer, by exercising at higher heart rates, before stretching them. A general 5-­‐10 minute warm-­‐up that includes walking, light jogging, or a dynamic warm-­‐up is suggested. 17 This is why it is important to exercise regularly and to include stretching as part of a regular exercise rou?ne. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24