Functional Stretching
Why is Stretching Important?
Are many of your muscles always tight? If so, what can you do? Well, most people are inclined to think that all you need to do to loosen them up is to stretch more. But that might not be the best approach.
According to Dr. Kawa, “Research has repeatedly proven that “static” stretching is usually not the right approach to unlock tight muscle groups. In fact, it can be counterproductive; especially before exercise.”
A recent study in the journal Human Movement Science, found that static stretching actually weakens muscles. Therefore, that’s the last thing you would want to do before exercising or at any other time for that matter.
The truth is that there’s a lot to consider when trying to change a muscles length and it involves the cellular makeup and physiology of the muscle. It’s quite complicated but suffice to say that static stretching will not change the cellular structure or function of a muscle long term. But dynamic and/or functional stretching can.
Dr. Kawa's Functional Stretching
Dynamic stretching is another name for warming up; taking the body through a movement that uses many muscle groups at once for several minutes causes your muscles to naturally stretch. This is what should be done before exercise.
Functional stretching is what is done at Discover Chiropractic as part of our rehabilitation protocols. It involves, activation of your muscles, usually against resistance, to get the nervous system to relax the muscles. Since your muscles are controlled by your brain and central nervous system, the only way to make lasting changes is to train the nervous system to naturally relax the muscle, rather than forcing it to relax.
One technique that is employed by Dr. Kawa is called post-isometric relaxation technique. This involves first determining which muscles would benefit then having the patient resist and contract against a force for several seconds and repeating. As the nervous system receives the information from the sensors inside the muscles, it basically tells the muscles to relax. This allows for greater flexibility and can “even out” or balance muscle groups that are tight on one side of the body.
