J4B – The following one page article has 550 words. Copyright permission is granted when used without alteration and bio is included. This is Part 2 of a 3 part article, and may also be used alone.
The Stretching Misconception – Why It Hurts To Stretch!
By Julie Donnelly, LMT
Have you ever felt so tight when you tried to move a joint that you decided to stretch? The odds are that you answered "yes" to that question. However, many people complain that they feel worse after stretching than they did before stretching. If you have ever experienced a negative aftereffect from stretching then you will be interested in hearing about why it hurts to stretch.
Before getting into the specifics of the stretching misconception there are two words that need to be clarified. Many people confuse the word "spasm" with "cramp". A cramp (also called a "Charlie horse") is when a muscle suddenly contracts totally, normally involving all of the fibers of the muscle. A spasm is like tying a knot in the center of the muscle and while each spasm may only involved a few fibers, there can be multiple spasms throughout the muscle. A spasm feels like a bump when you slide your fingers deeply down the length of the muscle, and it hurts when you press on it. Spasms normally form over an extended period of time, often from repetitively straining the muscle fibers. Spasms are at the heart of the stretching misconception, so it is important that you think of a spasm as a knot in the muscle fibers in order to understand why it can hurt to stretch.
A muscle begins on a stationary bone, crosses over a joint, and then inserts into a moveable bone. As the muscle pulls on the moveable bone, the joint moves. However, if the muscle has a spasm, which is commonly called a "knot", you can actually cause microtears to the fibers when you stretch. Think of this analogy: visualize a strong tree with a rope tied to it. The rope is the perfect length to insert onto a flexible tree without bending the second tree. However, if you tied a knot in the rope, the tree would bend. If you tied a second knot, the tree would bend even further. If you then tried to stretch the rope so the flexible tree was standing straight, you would cause the knot to get tighter and the remaining rope would have to overstretch on both sides of the knot in order for the flexible tree to stand up straight.
This is exactly what is happening when you have a spasm, or multiple spasms, in your muscle. As you stretch you are causing the knot within the muscle to get tighter, and you are also causing the fibers on either side of the spasm to overstretch. This overstretching may cause the fibers to actually tear, either along the length of the muscle, or where the fibers attach to the bone at either end of the muscle. The solution is simple: press directly into the knot and release the spasm, then stretch to your hearts content!
© 2003
Julie Donnelly is a licensed massage therapist specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and sports injuries. She has co–authored several self–treatment books, including "The Pain–Free Triathlete" and "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome–What You Don´t Know CAN Hurt You." She teaches Julstro self–treatment workshops nationwide and is a frequent presenter at Conventions and Seminars. Julie may be contacted through her website: www.julstro.com.
