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What happens when you stretch: The stretching of a muscle fiber
begins with the sarcomere, the basic unit of contraction in the
muscle fiber. As the sarcomere contracts, the area of overlap between
the thick and thin myofilaments increases. As it stretches, this
area of overlap decreases, allowing the muscle fiber to elongate.
Once the muscle fiber is at its maximum resting length (all the
sarcomeres are fully stretched), additional stretching places force
on the surrounding connective tissue. As the tension increases,
the collagen fibers in the connective tissue align themselves along
the same line of force as the tension. Hence when you stretch, the
muscle fiber is pulled out to its full length sarcomere by sarcomere,
and then the connective tissue takes up the remaining slack. When
this occurs, it helps to realign any disorganized fibers in the
direction of the tension. This realignment is what helps to rehabilitate
scarred tissue back to health.
When stretching, it is easier to stretch a muscle that is relaxed
than to stretch a muscle that is contracting. By taking advantage
of the situations when reciprocal inhibition does occur, you can
get a more effective stretch by inducing the antagonists to relax
during the stretch due to the contraction of the agonists. You also
want to relax any muscles used as synergists by the muscle you are
trying to stretch. For example, when you stretch your calf, you
want to contract the shin muscles (the antagonists of the calf)
by flexing your foot. However, the hamstrings use the calf as a
synergist so you want to also relax the hamstrings by contracting
the quadriceps
There are several types of stretching: BALLISTIC STRETCHING, where
the segments are bounced to achieve terminal range of motion. Used
for improving movements such as a strong follow through of a kick
in soccer or slap shot in hockey. Another form is the STATIC STRETCHING,
where the limb is moved slightly beyond the terminal position slowly
and then maintained in that position for at least 30 seconds. Then
there is PROPRIOCEPTIVE NEUROMUSCULAR FEEDBACK, this technique is
used primarily preceding an activity to work the elastic response
of the muscle. This will produce some increase in the muscle length
for the duration of the activity.
Note: All stretching should be done in a relaxed
state and should never induce pain. Having your stretches, as well
as other fitness activities, monitored by a fitness professional
will result in optimal goal attainment.
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