So we all know that it is important to include both cardio and strength training in our health and fitness regimes.  But one type of training that is often overlooked and underutilized is stretching.

The uses for stretching are wide and varied; from injury prevention and injury treatment, to improved performance (through reducing muscle soreness and recovery time and improving flexibility).

In this article we will touch briefly on the different reasons for stretching as well as some of the different methods.

One of stretching’s main uses is for relieving tightness or tension in muscles.  But you may wonder; why am I so tight in the first place??  There are large variations in baseline levels of flexibility between individuals or even within the same individual.  This can be due to a number of factors including:
-    Genetics -  To a certain extent individuals flexibility is due to their genetic predisposition.
-    Injuries -  During the healing process scar tissue may form within the muscle, resulting in reduced muscle elasticity.
-    Abnormal Mechanics -  Pain may cause you to guard against certain movements or actions.  This can result in incorrect muscle recruitment or some muscles overcompensating and becoming tight and weak.
-    Stress Levels -  High stress levels resulting from work etc.  can cause many people to tighten up through the neck and shoulders; sometimes resulting in headaches.
-    Working environment – Sitting incorrectly at your work station for long periods of time causes muscles to tighten and weaken, often resulting in the rounded shoulders posture that we all no so well.

So if you find that your injuries, work environment or stress levels are causing you to feel tight and stiff adding some stretching to your exercise program may be the perfect solution.

Relieving general tightness isn’t the only use of a well designed stretching program.  Stretching can also be used to improve performance in your sport of choice.  Some of its benefits in a sporting context include:
-    Increased flexibility and joint range of motion
-    Improved recovery time (due to lower levels of muscle soreness post exercise)
-    Reduced injury risk (due to increased range of motion)
-    Relaxed muscles
-    Improved coordination
-    Correct exercise posture

Some argue that stretchings most important use is during the ‘cool down’.  After exercise you must slowly allow your body to return to its resting state.  The best way to stop a bike is to slowly apply the brake until it comes to a halt; not jam on the front breaks and hope.  The same goes for exercise; going from full pace to a stop will throw you over the handlebars resulting in an increased risk of injury and sore muscles the next day.

The most common form or stretching is ‘Static’.  This involves slowly lengthening the muscle until you feel mild discomfort (stretching should never be painful).  Holding this lengthened position for 15-30 seconds, relaxing and then repeating this process up to 5 times. Avoid bouncing, this may stretch the muscle but can also result in damage.

If you have any injuries it is important that you consult a professional before commencing a new stretching program.  The Lab is currently selling a comprehensive full colour stretch booklet containing all the stretches you need to know to improve your flexibility.

Remember; stretching isn’t meant to be stressful. Relax your breathing and try and clear your mind; use it as a way to wind down after a hard days work or hard session in the gym.  If you aren’t seeing results immediately don’t be disheartened.  Stretching should be done gradually and then maintained to prevent slipping back towards inflexibility.

So add some stretching into your routine; be patient and consistent and the benefits will come.  Good luck and happy stretching

Flexibility Training

Flexibility is one of the most important areas of fitness for injury prevention, yet for most people it is the area neglected most. Flexibility refers to the range of movement round a particular joint.

If a person is lacking in flexibility due to unnecessary tension the range of movement can be restricted which in turn would impair that persons function. Secondly as that persons moves they are will more then likely, feel tension and restriction around the joint as an uncomfortable sensation or pain. In many instances this situation is the beginning of a spiral which causes pain, more muscle tension, impaired movement, more pain, weakness and ultimately break down.

Tension is a caused by a number of factors which most people can relate to:

Stress will cause tension in a muscle, next time you are in a traffic jam or are late for an appointment just take a fleeting second to check in with what your body is doing. There is a high chance you will be clenching your teeth, hunching your shoulders and possibly even tightening your chest.

Weakness will cause tension, your body requires movement, you will need to move and carry things of various weights at various speeds each day, if you are weak in any one area, another area will need to compensate and carry more than its fair share of load, resulting in overloading and tension.

Repetitive movement will cause tension, if there are any movements in your daily routine that you perform over and over again the chances are, you have experienced muscle tension. By moving repetitively you are using the same muscles over and over again, this obviously is going to cause them to strengthen and tighten, if you do not balance this movement with a stretch plan.

Finally poor posture will predispose you to any of the above situations. Poor posture will result in overuse and miss positioning of certain muscles, causing tension. Poor posture will cause weakness in certain muscles resulting in compensation and eventually yes you guessed it, tension.

So taking musicians as an example the box can be ticked for each:

Stress can be high, the show must go on! Need anymore be said?

Certain muscles will be weak due to underuse, a musician is unlikely to use all muscles in a balance fashion, only certain muscles are required to perform most instruments, and often asymmetrically.

Repetitive movement, well not many activities are as repetitive in movement as playing an instrument.

Finally posture, lets take a violinist, sitting upright, legs off in one angle and together, upper body turned in other direction towards music and audience, arms up, instrument trapped between chin and shoulder. Ideal? Well no.

So what is the answer?

Flexibility training is the key. A specific stretching and massage plan that is designed to relive the build up of tension as a result of your lifestyle or musical instrument. Flexibility training involves regular morning and evening stretching plans, maybe even intermittently through the day depending on what your activity is.

The following is a list of tips when stretching

1. Do not bounce, move the muscle being stretched to a point where tension is felt and gently hold. You do not what your muscle reacting against you.
2. Hold for around 25 seconds. There is very little point in stretching a muscle for a nano second, it will not respond.
3. Do not stretch when cold, think of a rubber band, the warmer it is the more likely it is to stretch and actually expand.
4. Repeat your stretches at least 3 times over in any one day. You are trying to counterbalance your daily movements, you need to stretch plenty of times. In reality depending on what you are doing you may need to stretch a muscle up to five times per day
5. Relax into the stretch and breath. Holding your breath and feeling stressed causes tension!
6. Be careful to get the correct advice as to what muscle should be stretched and how to do it, stretching can be very complex and dangerous if done incorrectly. Your Exercise Physiologist should be able to help.
7. Enjoy! Stretching should feel relieving, de-stressing and pleasant. Enjoy your stretch routine as a way of maintaining your body, mind and everything you expect of it.

Q : What Next ?  A : Strength Training

Ok so now you are aware of your tension issues and you are working on your flexibility to help relieve tension and improve muscle balancing around your joints. Is this providing you with all the skills you need to remain relaxed and injury free? Well… no, but it is a great start!

Another important part of this whole topic is Strength Training and we don’t mean Arnie style. As mentioned in the previous article; one of the major underlying causes of tension issues around a joint is weakness of key stabilizing muscles. When stabilizing muscles get tired from continual activity or repetitious movement other muscles in the surrounding area are forced to pick up the slack. As these muscles become more and more active they further inhibit the stabilizing muscles which leads to more weakness (in the stabilizers) AND more tension (in the surrounding muscles). In this situation, combining strength and flexibility training would be useful for restoring balance to the injured joint.

Targeted and specific strength training can be used to help the weak stabilizing muscles become strong and supportive, as they are meant to be. Flexibility training helps to reduce the tension in the surrounding muscles, further restoring the balance between all the muscles around the joint. When both strength and Flexibility are combined as a treatment strategy they have a much greater effect of balancing a joint than when they are used on their own.

As exercise physiologists we are able to identify areas of weakness and tightness and develop appropriate exercise strategies to bring the balance back to your unstable joints. Furthermore, we can continue with more targeted and specific strengthening to help ensure that your body stays balanced and you can achieve optimal physical performance you need.

We hope you have enjoyed our article series on Exercise Rehabilitation and performance. We have enjoyed writing it for you. We will be developing a workshop for the members of the Queensland Orchestra that extends on the information presented in the articles, so stay tuned for more information on this. In the meantime, move well.

Injury management - It all starts with Awareness

Could you feel tension in your head or neck the last time you were working or playing your instrument? What about your shoulders or other parts of your body? Are you sitting in a way that leads to tension build-up? If you don’t have an answer for these questions, or you have to think really hard to find one, then you may be lacking Body Awareness. Body awareness is simply the body’s awareness about itself and its positioning in space.

Your body gives you millions of messages a day about how it is physically feeling and how it is positioned in space. Most times these messages are in response to a stress that has been placed on your body. For example; when you sit with poor posture your muscles get tired and weak. Your body sends you messages saying that your back is tired and you are uncomfortable, you then respond by changing your position to sit back in your chair so that you give your tired muscles a rest. Unfortunately some messages aren’t as clear cut as this example and they can go by unnoticed or even ignored by us. This is undesirable and can lead to a build up of unnecessary muscle tension in the body.

Muscles tense naturally as a part of movement, however to much tension or a constant build up over time can have negative effects on your physical state. Sitting in poor positions can force muscles to work harder than they need to leading to a tension build up. This is where your body awareness can help you. Take the example from the last paragraph. Your body eventually told you that it was uncomfortable but the message could have come earlier. If you were more aware of your poor posture, you would be able to adjust and relieve your tiring muscles before they developed to much undue tension. Less tension = less potential for injury or discomfort.

You can start improving your body awareness by asking yourself more questions that relate to how you are feeling and how your body is positioned in space. Are you sitting in a position right now that is causing discomfort or undue tension? What is this position? How do you sit when you are not playing? Does this cause tension? What postures cause the most tension or discomfort for you? Can you avoid these postures, at least for some of the time?

This all sounds quite simple but some poor postures are hard to avoid, especially considering the technique and positioning required to play musical instruments. What you need to ask yourself is am I sitting in a position that is causing undue tension? And if so, can I adjust? By improving your awareness you start to build a healthier message system which will enhance your ability to identify and relieve the unnecessary tension in your muscles.

We hope you have found this article relevant and informative. Stay tuned for our next article on flexibility and strength

Management of Non-specific (Chronic) Back Pain South East Alliance of
General Practice Newsletter 2006

When managing non-specific long term back pain, it can be difficult to decide what additional effective options to offer a patient. Often chronic back pain has its origins in weak spinal musculature, poor posture and incorrect use of muscles in day to day activities and often times is precipitated by a minor injury. If left unattended, these can frequently lead to muscle imbalances which cause pain and dysfunction.
An effective treatment option for these problems is functional exercise through a professionally guided exercise program. A functional exercise program draws on the
Specificity Principle of training. It is based around the day to day activities of the person, developing exercises specifically to support what the person does each day of their life.

While the overall focus is on education and developing body awareness, the core strategies of this type of program are to work on the flexibility of over-tight muscles, balance the strength of individual muscles and develop core stability.

Assessing and developing the flexibility of the muscles that are involved is the first aim of a functional exercise program, looking at how the tension in these muscles corresponds to the tension in other related muscles. Inadequate or inappropriate (out of proportion) strength in certain musculature is often an underlying cause of tension or of a flexibility issue in a muscle. Education, training and body awareness results in correct activation, timing and strength, balancing the muscle groups involved. As the patient develops and improves awareness and control, the correct movements are reinforced and strengthened through the training process.

An important component is the development of core stability, through strengthening of the Transversus Abdominis, Multifidus and Inner Obliques. These muscles provide vital support for the spine. They are underdeveloped in many people and often neglected in exercise programs.

Functional exercise intervention provided by an experienced Exercise Physiologist will improve core stability and muscle flexibility and strength. Whether the underlying cause of non-specific back pain is injury or degenerative or age related changes, any form of treatment will be of limited value without correcting existing underlying musculature problems.

Alex Cox Taylor,
Exercise Physiologist
and Judy Baker, Director,
Essents Whole Body Centre.