To stretch or not to stretch?

We have all been told to stretch at one point or another and stretching is important in some cases, but is it all it’s cracked up to be? And should we ALL be stretching more? Or is this a stretch of the truth (pun intended)?!

The short answer is no, stretching is not going to help everybody and every problem, and can in some cases be exacerbating the very problem. In this blog I’d like to explore some of the situations in which stretching may not be totally appropriate, why this is and give some alternatives which may be more productive.

Firstly, what is stretching?

Stretching involves taking a limb or body part as far as you can and then holding the position passively, to create length and stretch through a muscle. The aim is usually to improve our flexibility and loosen tight muscles.

However, tight muscles are rarely tight for no reason and stretching rarely gets to the root of the problem, so the tightness tends to creep its way back, sometimes becoming even tighter.

It is important to know the difference between flexibility, which is the length of your muscles, and mobility, which is the movability of your joints. These are very different and often don’t match up in the way that people think. For example, people with more mobility often have MORE tightness. More on this later.

What can cause tightness in a muscle?

If there is anything that you take away from this blog, let it be this: A TIRED muscle is a TIGHT muscle, and a TIGHT muscle is a FAKE STRONG muscle. Let me expand, tired or weak muscles will tighten up to protect themselves from failure/injury when they can no longer effectively perform their role or cope with the demands being put on them, and to protect the joints they support from injury as well. These are the underlying reasons why the following irregularities can result in tight muscles.

Hypermobility

Hypermobility is when a person has too much movement in their joints, due to laxity of their ligaments (the structures which hold our joints together). This is a spectrum so different people will have varying levels of hypermobility. This may seem strange, but these individuals will often have extremely tight muscles, due to the extra work that the muscles have to do to effectively support their joints. This results in tiring of the muscles over time, and more and more tightness creeping in.

Weakness, tiredness and overuse

If a muscle is too weak, it will struggle to keep up with the day to day demands on it. Resulting in a build up of tightness. Similarly, tiredness in a muscle resulting from a hard workout, or overuse of a muscle day to day due to daily habits, or compensation forcing one body part to work harder than another, will have the same effect.

Lifestyle

Many factors of your lifestyle can result in muscle tightness, including spending too long in one posture, such as sitting at your desk, looking down at your phone or lying in bed. This results in us holding a certain muscle in shortened positions for too long, and they will become tight. Stress can also cause us to build up tightness in our muscles.

Injury

Carrying on with the theme of muscles tightening up to protect themselves, this is often true when you injure/strain the muscle. Tightness can develop to protect the body part, or because we stop using the muscle as much as normal to let the injury heal. This can also be the case with a joint injury or restriction.

When not to stretch?

Hopefully you can already see how a good stretch may not get to the root of the problem with many tight muscles.

Some examples of scenarios in which stretching is unlikely to help are:

Weakness, tiredness and overuse, in which case, stretching will offer temporary relief, but the muscle will remain weak and overused and unable to cope with its demands, so will tighten up again. Lifestyle causes will also require identification and adaptation to avoid tightness in the long term.

Unfortunately, there are also scenarios in which stretching can actually have an adverse effect, for example:

Hypermobility. As mentioned earlier, stretching aims to improve movement and flexibility. However, creating more movement through an already overly-mobile joint will likely cause the muscles to tighten more to compensate for even more movement in the joint. A vicious cycle.

With injuries to joints and muscles, stretching will only load the area more, causing further injury or causing the body to want to protect it further by tightening more and causing more pain. It is also important to note that this is especially important with TENDON injuries because stretching puts some of the highest load through a tendon, so stretching an injured or irritated tendon can be particularly unhelpful and unproductive.

When to stretch?

With all of this complicated doom and gloom, let us return to the more simple side of the argument. Some people are just really “stiff” and have more of a tendency to have stiffness in their joints resulting in tightness. Some people will have certain body parts that fall into this category and some which don’t. For these people, making time to stretch can not only feel fantastic, but can really help their movement and pain.

I also believe that people who build up tightness through spending too much time in one posture, as mentioned earlier, will benefit from stretching to counteract this, provided there are no other reasons that they should avoid stretching.

Stretching and exercise

I wanted to touch on stretching before and after exercise as it is common practice.

Stretching does not actually warm a muscle so is not as effective as people think before exercise. Stretching a cold muscle (not well warmed up) can increase the risk of injury as it will not be supple and, like I said earlier, stretching does put a lot of strain on a muscle. It will also reduce the power output of a muscle, not only potentially reducing your performance but also increasing risk of injury during exercise. For these reasons, stretching before exercise is not recommended.

However, stretching after exercise can be an effective way to help your muscles cool down, flush out all the waste products, increase flexibility and prevent tightness in the following days. Again, this is only the case providing that there are no other reasons that someone should be avoiding stretching.

What should I do instead?

For cases of tiredness, overuse or injury of a muscle or join, a period of rest may be required to allow time to recover and relax and heal.

Strengthening is a fantastic alternative to stretching, especially in the cases of weakness, tiredness and hypermobility. This increases the muscles ability to cope with the demands put on it and helps to better stabilise overly-mobile joints. This will address the root problem and reduce tightness over time, without any stretching at all.

Active mobility is a particularly good option to warm up before exercise as it involves taking muscles and joints through their range of motion actively, so using the muscles, rather than passively stretching them. This helps warm a body part up, strengthen and improve range of motion without all the load that comes with stretching a muscle. This is particularly helpful for hypermobile people too, but it is important not to overdo this.

Targeted rehabilitation and gradual loading of a muscle and joint is very important with any type of injury, as it allows for better healing and ensures you are able to regain strength and function effectively after injury. Never skip your rehab!

Unsure?

If you are left more bewildered than before, I wouldn’t blame you. Bodies are so clever and complicated. But I hope I have opened your eyes to a world outside of stretches alone. At Tivoli Chiropractic Clinic we can assess you and help guide you towards the right type of exercise and also advise you on what to avoid. We can also guide you through any targeted rehabilitation you may need if you are unsure where to start. Book online or get in touch!