Stretching It: The Truth about Stretching

Stretching by Tobyotter

The perceived benefits of stretching are that they make your muscles more flexible and will protect you from injury. The truth is that they do neither. According to a recent New York Times article, old fashioned stretching just doesn’t deliver the goods. When the Times talks about stretching it’s talking about the kind of stretching you probably learned as a kid or at the urging of a coach or from a book on stretching. It’s the kind of stretching that you felt obligated to do but didn’t continue because you didn’t feel it did you much good. It was generally painful, unpleasant, and failed to make you more flexible. The good news is you were right to stop because it didn’t work.

This old fashioned stretching was over sold before it was understood.

New York Times reporter Gretchen Reynolds wrote an interesting piece on stretching Phys Ed: How Necessary Is Stretching? If you don’t have time to read it in its entirety, here are some of the highlights.

Women are more flexible than men.

Flexibility is not “a cornerstone of health and fitness.”

“It’s been drummed into people that they should stretch, stretch, stretch — that they have to be flexible,” says Dr. Duane Knudson, teacher of biomechanics at Texas State University in San Marcos, and an expert on flexibility and muscle reaction. “But there’s not much scientific support for that.”

The newest science indicates that excess flexibility is undesirable, unnecessary, and unachievable.

“To a large degree, flexibility is genetic,” says Dr. Malachy McHugh, director of research for the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital and an authority on flexibility. Either you’re born supple or stiff. “Some small portion’ of each person’s flexibility ‘is adaptable,’ McHugh says, “but it takes a long time and a lot of work to get even that small adaptation. It’s a bit depressing, really.”

Stretching after a run or workout won’t lengthen your muscles making you more flexible, nor will it increase your range of motion.

There are two pieces to stretching a muscle, according to Dr. McHugh: first the muscle, second the mind. It’s not your muscle that becomes more flexible over time, it’s your mind and the message it sends to the muscle telling it to stretch a little further. The structure of the muscle will not change but your tolerance to pain will. Thus the illusion of a gain in flexibility with stretching, is just that an illusion. “You’ll start to develop a tolerance” for the pain of stretching, Dr. McHugh says. The fact that you can hold a stretch longer over time is a function of your mind accepting the stretch and not your muscles or tendons growing permanently longer. Sadly even this illusion of flexibility is fleeting says Dr. McHugh.

Changing the physical structure of a muscle takes months of hard painful work and sessions lasting hours. Still the changes you can expect are small.

And for most of us there is no reason to. “Flexibility is a functional thing,” Dr. Knudson says. “You only need enough range of motion in your joints to avoid injury. More is not necessarily better.”

Wrist Massage

Every active person can benefit from a wrist massage once in awhile and depending on the state of your wrists you may need one every day.

This massage is recommended for people who train with weights, practice yoga, ride mountain bikes, climb rocks, swing rackets, bats or clubs, spend their days working on a computer keyboard or anyone who wants healthy happy wrists.

7 Steps to Happy Wrists
Step 1: Roll’em Up
If you’re wearing long sleeves roll them up and bare your wrists.

Step 2: Squeeze
Rest your hand on your thigh and wrist in the air. Squeeze your wrist. Then begin pulsing your squeeze by alternately tightening and loosening your grip about ten times. When you’ve massaged the first wrist move onto the second and then to step 3.

Step 3: Front Press & Roll
Rest the back of your wrist on your thigh and press & roll your thumb into your wrist. Relax your arm and breathe deeply. When you’ve covered one wrist move onto the other and then to step 4.

Step 4: Back Press & Roll
Turn your wrist over, rest it on your thigh, and press & roll your thumb or three middle fingers from your other hand in small circles into the back of wrist. Relax your wrist and breathe deeply. Press & roll a finger into the sides of your wrist. When you’ve covered one wrist move onto the other, then to step 5.

Step 5: Experiment
Rest your left hand on your left thigh with your fingers pointing toward your left knee and your hand folded at a 90 degree angle from your arm. This position will flex the muscles on one side of your wrist and stretch them on the other side. Massage both sides of your wrist by pressing and rolling your fingers into your wrist. Look for tender spots. Try folding your wrist the other way and massage both sides of it. Relax your arm and go slowly looking for tender spots. When you’ve covered one wrist move onto the other and then to step 6.

Step 6 Drumming
Drum or tap your fingers on your wrists.

Step 7 Rock’n Roll
Let it go, move your arms quickly keeping your hands in a fist!

Conclusion: Try variations on this routine every time your wrists feel stiff or painful.
Suggested Time: 3 to 4 minutes (but take as long as you need)

Benefits of Wrist Massage
*Relieves muscle pain and soreness
*Prevents Injuries such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
*Renewed flexibility to wrists
*Younger happier wrists
*Improved muscle performance
*Energizes
*Releases trigger points
*Feels good
*Activates acupressure points
*Relaxes
*More flexible wrists

Check out our YouTube video: Wrist Massage: Do It While You View It
For more information on the wrist see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrist
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