Flexibility

By Alex Bigale, PTA

Flexibility Overview

Flexibility or stretching allows a joint or group of joints to move through its range of motion. Most people think of someone being able to bend over and touch their toes to determine if they are flexible or not.  This movement shows the flexibility of the glutes and hamstring muscle.   Many factors can play a role in how flexible or limber a person can be.

Joint Structure

• The joint’s makeup will determine the available ROM that the joint can physically move through before reaching its end or another bony prominence.
• Hinge Joint: As the name suggests, this joint works like a door hinge and can move in one plane or two directions. The knee is an example of a hinge joint.
• Ball and Socket Joint: The shoulder and hip joints are examples of ball and socket. These joints offer the ability to move through multiple planes.
• Pivot Joint: This type of joint allows for rotational movements. Such as the cervical/neck joints and the wrist/forearm.

Soft Tissue

• Muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, fat, and skin can affect the range of motion and flexibility.

Nervous System

• The nervous system sends and receives information from proprioceptors in the muscles and tendons.
• Golgi Tendon Organs and muscle spindle receptors work to prevent overstretching or too much force on a muscle. When a muscle is stretched or forced too quickly, it sends a signal to the brain to tell the muscle being stretched to contract and protect itself. This is why muscles respond better to stretching at lower loads and longer durations.

Benefits of Flexibility

• Improved Posture: Improving your flexibility can improve the upper body and hip posture.
• Decreased Pain: Proper body alignment and decreased stress (tight muscles) on joints and adjacent bones/structures can help decrease pain. An example would be someone with low back pain, typically has tight glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors, which throws off the hips and lumbar/sacral spine’s alignment. This can cause tension, decreased mobility, and pinched nerves.
• Decreased Risks for Injury: A more flexible joint or muscle group can move through a wider ROM and handle increased forces than a tight or guarded one. This is particularly true with higher impact or agility-type movements or sports. This also applies to everyday activities such as bending, stooping, and squatting. All bones and muscles are linked in the body, so if one portion is tight or immobile, the body must compensate to perform these movements, causing increased stress on body parts that do not typically perform these movements or carry the load/force.

How To Improve Flexibility

Warm oxygenated muscle tissue is more extensible than cold muscles. Before stretching, you should to perform some low-impact cardio activity as an active warm-up or dynamic stretching routine to increase blood flow, increasing temperature, and oxygen in the muscles.  This allows them to handle stretching better and decreases the risks of injury.  Static stretching is one of the most common stretching methods. It involves the muscle being pushed to its limit and holding the stretch for a period of time before relaxing.  This can be done with body positioning, straps, or another person.  There are many studies with varying results on the optimum time spent stretching a muscle.  You can now go to physical therapy without seeing a doctor for 30 days.  To read more, go to Direct Access to Physical Therapy.

 

 

If you are having pain or feel limited in your flexibility and mobility. Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute has orthopaedic physicians and therapists who specialize in this field to help set up a plan of care for you. Call 904-JOI-2000 to schedule an appointment or JOI Rehab at 904-858-7045.

By: Alex Bigale, PTA