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Stretching: Question Tradition
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Stretching! Flexibility! Muscle lengthening! Is there any science to stretching or should we just wing it? If you feel a stretch, it’s working right? I would greatly beg to differ! There are far more taboo stretches being performed every day than you could ever imagine!
Double check each and every one of your favorite stretches! Is the muscle under load? Is the muscle still stabilizing the joint? Is it contracting, trying to prevent injury of the joint while you are leaning all your bodyweight on it?
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Now, cutting edge research is finding that we should not stretch before explosive and strength oriented events. We all know instinctively that can’t be right but there is plenty of good research to back it up! Research is telling us performance is decreased by stretching prior to the event! I feel the problem lies in the standard stretches used in the research! Almost every stretch I learned in school was simply an unquestioned traditional stretch! My conclusion to the “no more pre-event stretching” research is: Don’t stretch like they did for the studies! They simply taught us how not to stretch!
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As long I have been in the business (20 years) I was always taught that you should hold a stretch for 30-60 seconds. Besides the fact that many stretches are pulling on a contracting muscle, long-drawn-out stretches in fact reduce the blood flow by constricting blood vessels in the targeted muscle! Unless you are using a tourniquet to save somebody’s life, blood flow to tissue is a good thing!
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Now, having questioned every stretch I paid for in academia, I still do stretch! Given my own kinesiology studies and liking repetitions already (instead of burning for 60 seconds per stretch) I sought out a Sports Medicine icon by the name of Aaron Mattes. He developed a stretching technique called Active Isolated Stretching or AIS. I wholeheartedly believe in this technique and have seen first hand miracles! Hammer toes straightened, restored arches in flat feet, a sprained ankle walked away, a Dowinger’s Hump straightened out, a stroke victim gained neural pathways and motor control again and my own tight and tweaked shoulder was fixed in about 2 minutes!!! Yes, stretching is vitally important and sorry, I don’t think Yoga is the answer.
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Aaron Mattes’ technique holds a stretch for no longer than 2.0 seconds. This is one way of insuring you are always stretching a relaxed muscle. The other insurance of AIS: The Mattes Method is contracting the muscle opposite of the targeted muscle to be stretched. This sends a signal to the targeted muscle to relax, thus optimally lengthening without setting off the protective stretch reflex that protects the muscles, tendons and their joint.
We all know we should stretch! I was disturbed to see even my own mother suffering an Achilles injury and her rehab protocol made it ten times worse! I am afraid that most of the world’s stretching is still in the days of coaches with their salt tablets and no water during practice! Ah, unquestioned tradition!
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Check this out! Active Isolated Stretching: The Mattes Method
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