The lowdown on stretching: How versatile do you really have to be?

“I BEND so I don’t break.” Nobody is aware of who first coined this phrase, however seek for it on-line and you’ll discover it accompanying quite a few footage of yogis in varied states of contortion. Flexibility, in response to frequent knowledge, isn’t solely spectacular to have a look at, however one thing we should always actively work in direction of.

Scientifically, nevertheless, the query of whether or not we should always stretch to change into extra versatile has been tough to reply. Assumptions about the advantages of stretching to forestall sports activities accidents and larger flexibility being higher for our general bodily health hadn’t been confirmed by research. Does it matter for those who can’t contact your toes, not to mention do the splits? Even in sports activities science, the place many of the analysis has been performed, there was little settlement.

In recent times, although, solutions have began to emerge. The shocking end result is that, whereas stretching could be good for us, it’s for causes that don’t have anything to do with with the ability to get your leg behind your head.

One factor is for certain: stretching feels good, notably after an extended spell of being nonetheless. We aren’t the one species to have labored this out. As anybody with a canine or cat will know, many animals take a deep stretch after mendacity round. This sort of stretching, referred to as pandiculation, is so frequent in nature that some have advised it advanced as a reflex to get up the muscle tissue after a spell of stillness.

Pandiculation apart, different species don’t appear to spend any time sustaining and lengthening their vary of movement. Which raises the query, is there any motive why we should always?

Our flexibility is managed by the tissues of our musculoskeletal system, which decide the utmost vary that our joints can transfer with out inflicting damage. For a very long time, flexibility has been thought-about a key part of bodily health (together with cardiovascular endurance, muscle endurance, muscle energy and physique composition – the share of physique weight which is muscle, fats and bone) by teams such because the American Faculty of Sports activities Medication. Its newest pointers, for instance, suggest stretching all the main muscle tissue teams at the least two or thrice every week, holding the stretch for anyplace from 10 seconds to 1 minute.

However even for exercise-phobes, there are good causes to stretch: our species is exclusive in having invented a approach of resting that works in opposition to the wants of our our bodies. Anthropological proof means that from at the least 2 million years in the past, and till the invention of chairs, our ancestors rested by squatting on their haunches, a place that’s nonetheless frequent amongst younger kids, trendy hunter-gatherers and in cultures throughout Asia. For individuals who are used to it, squatting is a snug resting place, and has the added bonus that it retains the hips, calves and ankles cellular by the vary of movement wanted to stroll, run and in any other case transfer round on this planet.

Resting in chairs, nevertheless, does the alternative, inflicting us to stiffen up. A examine final yr by researchers on the College of Salford, UK, advised that this has an actual impression on vary of movement. Individuals who frequently sat for lower than 4 hours a day and had been typically lively had 6 levels extra vary of movement of their hip joints than much less lively individuals who sat for greater than 7 hours.

There’s additionally proof that sedentary life normally are having a knock-on impact on general flexibility. A 2012 evaluation by the US Institute of Medication in Washington DC of knowledge from the now-defunct Presidential Bodily Health Take a look at, which, between 1966 and 2012, included a sit-and-reach flexibility check for all US schoolchildren, discovered that flexibility in younger folks had decreased over the many years, notably amongst boys.

By early center age, essentially the most sedentary individuals are so stiff that they’ll injure themselves even whereas sitting at a desk. “We see that starting at age 30 or so, people get problems from non-sporting activities like moving the computer mouse,” says Markus Tilp on the College of Graz in Austria, who research stretching.

What’s extra, it isn’t simply the bodily act of sitting that leaves us feeling tight. Concentrating on a psychological job contributes to stress within the shoulder girdle, arm and neck. That is partly as a result of after we focus our eyes on a display, we frequently tense our shoulders to extend our capability to focus visually (and mentally). One examine discovered that the trapezius muscle tissue within the higher again, which assist maintain the top upright, are notably delicate to the problem of the duty – the extra we have to focus, the extra they tense up.

For individuals who sit loads and are below lots of stress, then, stretching and mobilising stiff elements does relieve stress and lengthen muscle tissue – at the least quickly (see “What occurs once you stretch?“). It’s also well-known that, when carried out frequently, stretching can lengthen muscle tissue and connective tissue, restoring their size and a full vary of movement to underused joints.

“Sedentary lifestyles are having a knock-on effect on flexibility”

Which feels like case closed for the advantages of stretching, particularly for individuals who really feel their our bodies are tight, weak and rigid. However this doesn’t essentially imply we should always commit a lot of time to stretching to get extra versatile as a part of an train regime. In truth, in response to train scientist James Nuzzo, this sort of stretching isn’t definitely worth the effort.

Nuzzo says that the hype about stretching dates to 1980 when train scientists Charles Corbin and Larry Noble, then at Kansas State College, first made the case for its significance in general well being. They argued that flexibility was necessary to keep up posture and shield the again, whereas permitting the physique “freedom to move”. Quickly afterwards, the sit-and-reach check was integrated into the primary model of US standardised bodily health exams as a measure of flexibility, and the concept stretching is the best way to enhance flexibility turned entrenched within the fashionable consciousness. Nonetheless, in his 2020 paper “The case for retiring flexibility as a serious part of bodily health“, Nuzzo, then on the College of New South Wales in Australia, argues that, whereas sustaining a wholesome vary of movement is necessary, stretching has a repute that far outstrips what it may well really do for our bodily health.

For a begin, the diploma of flexibility you want very a lot is determined by what you intend to do along with your physique. Regular human motion solely requires the hips to be sufficiently versatile to permit the legs to increase backwards to an angle of 30 levels from upright. In different phrases, for on a regular basis actions, you solely really want the flexibleness to get midway to the splits, at most, and there may be little motive to push your hips any additional.

Bending to extremes

What’s extra, the sort of excessive flexibility that makes an important social media publish could be extra hassle than it’s price. As many as 20 per cent of individuals have hypermobile joints, which prolong additional than the traditional vary. This could result in bodily issues, corresponding to joint ache and dislocations, if the joint hasn’t been strengthened all through its full vary. Most instances of joint hypermobility are inherited, attributable to an unusually free type of collagen, however some researchers suppose that sure kinds of excessive stretching – dance coaching, for instance – can result in joint hypermobility and the issues this could trigger. This means {that a} coaching regime with flexibility as its sole intention will not be such a good suggestion.

Nuzzo’s primary downside with stretching, although, is that for our general well being, it’s largely a waste of time. “There is not strong evidence that flexibility really correlates with a lot that’s hugely important,” he says. Cardiovascular health, muscle energy and endurance all correlate with a decrease danger of mortality, he argues. Flexibility, not a lot.

That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t intention to keep up a wholesome vary of movement, and to increase that vary if vital, says Nuzzo. Individuals who spend many of the day sitting after which train in frantic bursts are prone to doing themselves an damage in the event that they don’t take the time to keep up a helpful vary of movement. However he argues that there are higher methods to attain this objective than a devoted stretching regime.

“We need to get out of our minds this notion that stretching exercise holds a monopoly on the lengthening of tendons and muscles,” he says. “It’s not the only activity where flexibility or range of motion will improve when you do it for several weeks.”

Resistance coaching – particularly eccentric contractions, the place muscle tissue are loaded as they lengthen (for instance, the decreasing part of a bicep curl or strolling down the steps) – has the identical impact on the muscle tissue as pulling them right into a stretch, he says. Doing this, you get energy in addition to flexibility, without having to tag on a collection of stretches afterwards. “If people only have a limited amount of time and you want to make them healthier, I would argue that taking up chunks of their workout time with lots of stretching is not a good use of their time.”

“There isn’t strong evidence that flexibility correlates with things that are hugely important for our health”

In truth, preserving the joints oiled doesn’t have to contain something that you just may consider as train. Squatting onto your haunches when that you must attain one thing on the ground will launch sitting-related stress with out the necessity to contort your physique into an “official” glute stretch. Reaching to seize one thing from a excessive shelf or enjoying frisbee will assist release the shoulders too.

The advantages of selecting sturdy mobility over flexibility is that you just get facet advantages by way of elevated energy and endurance, which – in contrast to flexibility – are confirmed to deliver important advantages for general well being and longevity.

Tilp additionally says it’s a lack of motion, fairly than an absence of stretching per se, that causes us to stiffen up in the long run. “We know that when you get older, you become less flexible.” However “if you move your joints through the whole range of motion, that just keeps the flexibility”, he says. Tilp, too, recommends prioritising energy all through the entire vary of movement of the joint. Lively stretches, corresponding to yoga poses that contain holding your physique weight in a stretched place, like a downward canine, strengthen and stretch muscle tissue on the similar time. “You have not only the flexibility but also strengthening,” he says.

However don’t abandon your flexibility coaching simply but. Not solely can it assist forestall sporting accidents (see “Stretch then train?“), it has shocking advantages for the cardiovascular system as properly.

Over the previous decade or so, research have revealed a hyperlink between inflexibility and danger components for heart problems. For example, a 2009 examine of Japanese adults led by Kenta Yamamoto on the Nationwide Institute of Well being and Vitamin in Tokyo discovered that the stiffest individuals (as measured by a sit-and-reach check) aged 40 or over had stiffer arteries, and this impact was impartial of the cardio health ranges of the individuals.

What’s extra, a 2018 examine of 1354 Japanese males aged 35 to 59 discovered that the least versatile (as measured by the sit-and-reach check, plus vary of motion within the shoulder and arm) confirmed the best ranges of atherosclerosis, the build-up of plaque within the arteries, which is one other danger issue for heart problems. This suggests that it could be potential to enhance our cardiovascular well being by way of a regime of stretching, or at the least by preserving our joints and muscle tissue oiled. A rising variety of research present that that is certainly the case.

In 2008, researchers from the College of Texas at Austin had been investigating whether or not energy coaching may scale back arterial stiffness. Their management group undertook a gentle stretching programme: holding stretches of all the main muscle teams for 20 seconds, three days every week for 13 weeks. The surprising discovering was that energy coaching had no impact, whereas stretching diminished arterial stiffness by 23 per cent.

Surprising advantages

One other Japanese examine discovered that middle-aged individuals who carried out a four-week regime of static stretches of all the main muscle teams had considerably diminished arterial stiffness. The mechanism behind this impact continues to be a thriller, although there are a variety of proposed explanations. One is that bettering the elastic properties of our skeletal muscle additionally improves the elasticity of our blood vessels.

One other is that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory situation, which is by some means alleviated by the physiological results of stretching. Proof for this comes from research of the fascia – the layers of connective tissue that encompass muscle tissue and permit them to slip over one another. Lengthy considered nothing greater than nature’s model of plastic wrap, the fascia are actually recognized to be biologically lively and should play an necessary function within the administration of irritation. Experiments by Helene Langevin and Charles Serhan, then each at Harvard College, present that when samples of rats’ fascia are gently stretched, cells throughout the tissue rearrange to change into flatter and longer, while secreting anti-inflammatory molecules.

These research have revealed that stretching injured tissue hastens therapeutic and will increase ranges of chemical compounds referred to as resolvins which are made by the physique to flip off the irritation response. “That suggested that the stretching helped the body to resolve the inflammation – it helped the natural process,” says Langevin.She additionally stresses that, whereas stretching could also be useful, excessive bendiness is prone to be surplus to necessities. Simply stretching till you are feeling it’s in all probability sufficient, she says.

In health courses, it’s straightforward to get fixated on the flexible folks on the entrance, however there isn’t any have to go to extremes to get the advantages of flexibility. What’s most necessary for bodily well-being is guaranteeing to train our physique’s full vary of motion, and this doesn’t essentially require a stretching routine on the gymnasium. And though such regimes will help forestall sports activities accidents, there are facet advantages for our cardiovascular system too.

Placing your leg behind your head? Science says: no want.

What occurs once you stretch?

The brief reply is that the muscle tissue, tendons and fascia – a sort of connective tissue that surrounds the muscle tissue – all get longer, at the least quickly.

Whereas this had lengthy been suspected, it wasn’t till round 10 years in the past that research by Markus Tilp on the College of Graz in Austria utilizing ultrasound confirmed that stretching quickly will increase the size of the muscle-tendon unit by between 5 and 10 per cent. The impact comes down partly to the lengthening of particular person sarcomeres, the fundamental models of the muscle, and partly right down to viscoelastic results that make the muscle and connective tissue extra pliable for an hour or so.

Within the medium time period – six to eight weeks, say – research have discovered {that a} common programme of stretching considerably will increase vary of movement. Nonetheless, no modifications within the muscle tissue or different tissues have been recognized on this timescale. This has led Tilp and others to take a position that elevated vary of movement is defined by a rise in stretch tolerance: basically, an indication that the nerves don’t sound the ache alarm so simply, as a result of the nervous system has realized that this degree of extension is secure.

Much less analysis has been carried out on what a long-term programme of stretches does to the muscle tissue and different tissues. Observations of ballet dancers recommend that, over lengthy durations, particular person muscle fibres do get longer, which can be attributable to including new sarcomeres to the muscle’s size. Tilp’s examine on this was postponed in the course of the pandemic, nevertheless, so we nonetheless don’t know for certain.