Good News: Mobility is no Longer Boring
By Justin Casteel, RYT-200, ACTION-CPT
Watching
an animal in the wild, or even a pet inside a home, we as humans can be struck
by the beautiful simplicity of their movements.
Animals like cats display graceful, sinuous movements, and can walk so
quietly that they make no sound. Dogs
can lay on the floor all day in a sunbeam, then get up, shake around, stretch
for a few seconds, and then they are ready for play! Sometimes, we as people shake our heads and
can’t understand how these animals aren’t stiff, or don’t seem to hurt after
laying and sitting on the floor all the time!
And when they run, animals can embody an athletic springiness that looks
coordinated, vital, and magestic all in the same instant.
But
when humans get in groups to engage in physical activity, we have a funny way
of behaving. Some of us will sit on
benches, stretching our legs, or use straps and blocks to stretch our shoulders
and waists and necks. And we just do it,
and accept it as a way to improve mobility or avoid post-exercise
stiffness. And a lot of it is really
boring! Sitting for thirty seconds, or
even as much as ninety seconds, doing some stretches can seem like an
eternity! Fortunately, there is some
exciting new research that points to benefits from a very different sort of
stretching.
As a
trainer, one of the most common complaints that I hear is about
stretching. It seems people would rather
do something more active, more engaging.
Or, maybe they don’t really see the point. However, in light of some new research,
there might be light on the horizon for stretching! Apparently, when looking from a motor control
perspective, “[o]nly during active movement are the efferent, motor recruitment
sequences generated, which is essential for encoding the movement…”1 In fact, the Golgi receptors are only
activated in an active stretch (where one muscle is contracting to help
lengthen another; an agonist/ antagonist pair).2 This suggests that
stretching like a dog or a cat, where the muscles actively contract, might be more beneficial than conventional
stretching. Furthermore, “[p]erformance is
enhanced by goal-orientated and whole movement. Stretching practices, which
focus internally and on specific tissues, may degrade performance”.1
So, in
conclusion, maybe we can find a way to stretch through movement, to enhance
mobility in ways that are more active and more engaging than the old runner’s
stretches we might be used to! Now, that
being said, there still may be some benefit to traditional stretching. But it might be just as good, or better, to
try something new… and something that might be a little more fun!
References
1). Lederman,
E. (2015) Human movement performance:
Stretching misconceptions and future trends. In Schleip R. (1st
ed) Fascia In Sport and Movement (pp.
83 – 91) East Lothian, Scotland: Handspring Pub.
2). Avison,
J. S. (2015) Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy and
Movement East Lothian, Scotland: Handspring Pub.
