View Single Post
 
Old 09-02-2005, 02:06 PM
EricT EricT is offline
Rank: Heavyweight
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,314
Default

That was one enthusiastic article. I don't think I've ever seen so many exclamation points in one place.

A few words, especially to those beginners who may be attracted to all those exclamation points.

There are many reasons to believe that this kind of stretching can help. In any case, we should all be stretching, if not during, at least after.

But I don't think the word "extreme" should ever be used with strething. This is what we martial artists used to call a "forced stretch" and it can be extremely dangerous. The fascia is already flexible up to a point. Here, we are trying to damage it.

While you may be able to damage the fascia, have it heal and grow back larger and more expanded, there are other parts of your body that may not fare so well. Certain movements you could probably do with no problems but ligaments are not designed to stretch at all (you do NOT want to damage a ligament) and the fascia culminates in the tendon. In fact the fascia and tendon can be viewed as one entity since the fascia tissue culminates in the tendon which is actually what attaches to the bone.

The tendon itself, however, is not very elastic, nor was it designed to be. If it was it wouldn't work very well. Try pulling something heavy with a rubber band and you'll see what I mean. By the time you feel extreme discomfort, depending on the the movement, you're already pulling the tendon past it's comfort level.

I've read someone who said we shouldn't be stretching the tendon at all but should instead be focusing on the muscle and fascia. Take it from me, if you damage the tendon in the way this is designed to just damage the fascia, it will not necessarily heal up in a few days to a weak and you'll be back in the saddle.

I think there is value in this, but there may also be an effective middle ground. I don't know how safe the movements listed in this article are, they may be allright, but I would caution people against generalizing this technique to other parts of your body.

Another word of caution that may be surprising: although your skin is very elastic, it can fool you sometimes. I have stretchmarks along the inside of my upper thigh from going too far in my martial arts training. They're not visible but they're big and deep.
I'm glad they're not on my shoulders or something.
Reply With Quote