Which of the Following is True Concerning Stretching Techniques

August 10, 2022 admin 129 Views

Which of the Following is True Concerning Stretching Techniques

There are a number of different types of stretching exercises that can exist done to improve flexibility. Hither we explicate static stretching, dynamic stretching, PNF, and ballistic stretching. It is important to know when a item type of stretching exercise is most advisable.

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What is static stretching?

Static, or isometric stretching is a type of stretching where the muscle is stretched until your experience a gentle ‘pull’, or stretch on the muscle. The stretch is so held for a period of time, commonly upwards of 10 seconds earlier relaxing the muscle.

Stretches should ever be pain-free. If you experience pain then your muscle volition naturally want to tighten to protect itself.
Static stretching is oft used to develop flexibility, particularly after a muscle strain injury.
In strong healthy muscles, yet, PNF-type techniques may be better for developing flexibility.

Dynamic stretching

This type of stretching is very much in fashion these days, especially in sports for warming up. it involves stretching your muscles whilst moving, either by leg swings or by performing sports-specific drills.

It works ‘with’ sensors in the muscle called muscle spindles.
Musculus spindles are sensors within the muscle that sense the speed a musculus is being stretched.

A musculus can be flexible with sufficient length. However, if it is of a sudden asked to move at speed and so sensors called muscle spindles may kick in to prevent information technology overstretching. This is how stretch related muscle strains can occur.

PNF Stretching

PNF stands for Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation and tin can take on several forms including hold-relax; contract-relax; and rhythmic initiation.

PNF started to go popular in the 1960s and has since become a mutual treatment for many physiotherapists and other sports injury professionals.
PNF tin be either completely passive (significant the therapist moves the limb through its range of motion) or agile-assisted, in which the athlete plays a part in the treatment.
In this case, information technology requires an isometric contraction earlier the stretch.

So for example, to utilise the hold-relax PNF technique on the hamstrings, the athlete would lay on the back and heighten the direct leg up off the bed (contracting the hip flexors Rectus Femoris and Iliopsoas) to the starting position. From here, the therapist or partner provides resistance as the athlete isometrically contracts the hamstrings (as if trying to push button the foot back down to the floor) for a minimum of 6 seconds. Post-obit this, the athlete contracts the hip flexors again to raise the leg higher and further stretch the hamstrings.

This works on the theories of reciprocal inhibition (or innervation) and post-isometric relaxation. Reciprocal inhibition is based on a reflex loop, controlled past the muscle spindles. When an agonist muscle contracts (for example the quads, causing knee extension), the antagonist’s muscle is inhibited, causing it to relax (in this example the hamstrings), assuasive the full movement of the antagonist muscle (knee extension). Mail service-isometric relaxation is idea to exist controlled by the Golgi tendon organs, sensors inside the muscle that are sensitive to musculus tension. When a musculus is contracted isometrically for a period of fourth dimension, this results in an inhibition of the muscle, resulting in relaxation.

PNF can too be used for treatments other than stretching, for instance, muscle strengthening in a rehabilitation setting. PNF in this sense involves screw-diagonal movements, as are used in most daily and sporting activities. Very few activities use just one airplane of movement, there is normally a combination of ii or all three planes (flexion/extension; adduction/abduction; and rotation). For this reason, PNF incorporates these spiral-diagonal movements to help train the body in the fashion in which information technology is almost often used.

This is related to the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction.

Ballistic-type stretching exercises

This type of stretching is where you lot stretch the musculus as far as it is comfy to do then. So, at the terminate range of movement, you lot bounciness or strength the joint that little scrap farther.

This is generally frowned on these days because the deed of forcing a muscle across its comfortable range tin can harm it.
However, Martial artists and Ballet dancers (farthermost articulation range of movement is required) often include it in their stretching routines.
It may also exist used in rehabilitation to increase joint range of movement. But be conscientious!

An example of ballistic stretching is reaching over to touch your toes and billowy to increase the range. This type of stretching is rarely recommended due to the injury possibilities and no benign result over other, safer, forms of stretching such as PNF and dynamic stretches.

Musculus Energy Techniques

Muscle Free energy techniques (or METs) are types of stretching exercises like to PNF, and developed around the aforementioned time, in the earth of Osteopathy. Like PNF, METs use an isometric contraction of the agonist prior to stretching. The difference is in the force of the isometric contraction, which in METs is a lot lower. A MET stretch is performed in the following way, using the hamstrings every bit an example:

The therapist moves the hip into flexion, with the athlete on their back, until they encounter the point of resistance – where the motility stiffens, due to tightness in the hamstrings. They hold this position for 15-20 seconds. They then ease off slightly from the stretch and enquire the athlete to try to push the leg back down to the couch, which causes an isometric contraction of the hamstrings. In METs, this contraction should be a maximum of 20% of the athlete’s total force. This contraction is held for effectually 10 seconds, before the therapist asks them to relax and pushes the limb further, increasing the stretch, until resistance is felt once again. The process is usually repeated 3-five times for each muscle.

Neural Stretching

Neural stretching refers to stretching the structures of the nervous system. This is necessary for injuries where there is excess neural tension, for case, muscle-related sciatic pain.

Examples also are usually establish in the neck, shoulder, or pelvis area.
Neural stretches are adaptations of neural tension tests, such every bit the slump test and the upper limb tension test.
The limb is taken to the signal of stretch and held for a maximum of x seconds, although initially, this may be as little as 3-4 seconds to avoid causing damage to the nerves.
Types of stretching like this should only exist performed nether the supervision of a qualified therapist.