Self Help Guides
What is Flexibility and why is stretching so important?
Flexibility can be described as the ability to use the joints through their full range of movements. Sometimes we describe people as being "stiff" when they are unable to touch their toes or scratch their backs. This lack of flexibility can be overcome with regular flexibility training. That is stretching.
What are the benefits of being flexible?
1. Improved performance
To the sports person, flexibility in specific areas of the body will be necessary to execute skills well and improve their performance. For example to be able to hurdle well, hip flexibility especially in the adductors is important. To throw a javelin, shoulder flexibility has to be good to allow a full throwing action. Tight pectoral muscles would prevent the preparation for the throw. For the distance runners, hamstring, gastrocnemius and soleus flexibility will allow for a greater stride.
2. Reduce the risk of injury
In explosive sports where muscles are asked to contract very rapidly and forcefully, the antagonist (or opposing) muscles have to lengthen to stretch at the same time. If these muscles are tight and inelastic they are likely to be prone to injury by tearing, much more so than if they are regularly stretched and kept flexible. In football where the quadriceps are dominant agonist in the knee extension to kick the ball, the hamstrings are having to repeatedly relax and stretch. Improving the flexibility of the hamstrings would contribute to fewer hamstring injuries.
3. Prevent shortening
Any muscle which is repeatedly contracted during a sporting event or just through the action of daily living, will shorten if not stretched. The elastic fibres within the muscle become more fibrous and therefore less flexible with time. This leads to a shortening and then the ROM at the joint is decreased. For example, in the distance runner the gastrocnemius and soleus are the prime movers in plantarflexion and will become shortened and tight without stretching. The pectoral muscles will likewise shorten if the postural position of working over a desk or computer is repeated.
4. Improve the action of the agonist
At the same time as the agonist is innervated to contract, the antagonist receives a nervous impulse to relax. This process is called reciprocal inhibition. If the antagonist is tight and inflexible the action of the agonist will be less affective and less powerful as the ROM will be restricted. for example, tight hamstrings will restrict the power of the quads.
5. Reduce the effects of scar tissue
In the post acute (regeneration phase) and remodelling phase of a soft tissue injury, flexibility is used to re-orientate the scar tissue in the direction in which the muscle fibres lie, and to reduce the amount of scar tissue laid down. Without sufficient stretching the scar tissue causes the muscle to become tight, inelastic and so impairs performance.
6. To allow full range of movement of the spine and to maintain correct posture
Postural effects usually occur as a result of weakness in some muscles and tightness in others. For example in the default of kyphosis (round shoulders) the pectoral muscles are tight and inflexible and the rhomboid and trapeziuys muscles are lacking in strength. Lordosis (say back) is the result of weak abdominals and tight hip flexors. Flexibility training, in conjunction with appropriate strengthening can avoid or correct this.