To stretch or not to stretch?

One of the topics I get asked about very frequently as aphysiotherapist is stretching. When should I stretch? How often do I need tostretch? Should I stretch before or after I do something active? Those fewquestions are probably the most common ones I get and can be the biggest sourceof confusion for most people. That being said the answer to all of thosequestions is generally, it depends. Sorry I know “it depends” is a terribleanswer but you’ll see what I mean when I explain a bit more.

                Let’sstart with the whole premise of why we need to stretch. Our muscles shortenwhen contracting to produce their physical force. There is an optimal restinglength a muscle will have at the start of its contraction to allow for the mostefficient force production from that muscle.  After several contractions a muscle tends tostay shorter at rest and this is where stretching becomes important. Stretchingis the LENGTHENING of a muscle, so by stretching a muscle you are making it longer.If applied in the right parameters can help return a muscle to its optimalresting length for the most efficient force production.

                Knowingall of that we can now discuss when and how to stretch. Ideally you would wantto stretch when your muscles are going to be shortened. An example would beafter playing a sport or completing an activity like running or cycling as partof a cool down. This doesn’t mean you would not warm up before your activity, butstretching in many cases should be focused more for after you have finished.Recent research also supports this idea that in many cases warmup stretchingdoes not reduce the risk of injury by a significant amount. There areexceptions I would say for activities that require more flexibility like yogaor gymnastics for example but in those cases a long warm up would be requiredprior to stretching.

                As forhow hard to stretch, my general rule is you should feel a comfortable andprogressing stretch but it shouldn’t hurt. If it is painful you may tighten upand won’t get the stretch you are after.

                Thereneeds to be a good balance between being mobile while avoiding being either tootight because you are not stretching enough or too flexible (because youstretch too much based on your body type). Both of these can lead to injuriesso don’t get carried away.

Hopefully you found this information helpful, happyexercising! Also feel free to contact us for more information or questions! If there are topics you would like to see us cover, definitely drop us an email and it may be featured during a future blog post.

Fady Rofail PT DPT MCPA