There are a few reasons to incorporate stretching into a massage treatment, but there are also many reasons to stretch on your own at home. In this post we will be talking about these reasons, but at the same time I will provide a list of times or situations where stretching should probably not be attempted (otherwise beware the dastardly consequences).

 

EDIT: Update provided at end of post to add clarification on stretching muscles that feel tight, but are actually taut because they are elongated (September 23, 2017).

 

Indications for Stretching:

— mobility / range of motion is limited due to muscle shortening

→ this could be due to: contractures, adhesions, and scar tissue formation

— functional limitations (inability to accomplish certain movements or limitations with activities)

→ usually in conjunction with the above point

— structural deformities that are otherwise preventable

→ due to the restricted motion from above

— muscle weakness

→ from negative tissue health with the muscles shortening

— muscle soreness

→ following vigorous exercise

— preventative measure

→ used as a component of a conditioning program to reduce the risk of injury

Contraindications:

Before getting to a list like we did above.. the primary reason to not utilize a stretching regiment would be because it is too soon to when that muscle / those tissues sustained an injury. Without going too in-depth, the first 24-48 hours following the injury or trauma is known as the acute stage of the healing process.

During this stage your body will protect the area in a couple of different ways, but this is done on the surface so that your bodies true form of rehabilitation can happen underneath (in the background) and undisturbed. The underlying body function is known as the inflammatory process, which is simply your bodies response to injury. This process is characterized by swelling and heat more than anything else.

That is all to say that if you do something to upset this process too much, it will just restart the whole thing and your injured tissues will be back at square one. Give this post a read to learn more about the stages of healing.

 

Other reasons that you should probably not incorporate stretching at this time:

— bone deformity / bony block limiting joint motion

— recent fracture (bony union incomplete)

— tissue trauma in that specific area (hematoma visible)

— sharp pain with joint movement

→ could also be from muscle elongation

— hypermobility already exists

— [conversely to the above] your shortened soft tissues provide necessary joint stability

→ in lieu of what would be considered normal joint stability with others

 

 

UPDATE (September 23, 2017):

Something else that I would like to shine a light on is that you may feel an area is tight when in reality it is stretched out. Think about a bungee cord: if you pull on both ends at once it becomes quite taut (see: stretched out). Take this and apply it to the body, and this means that poor postures and biomechanics can lead to muscles having faux-tightness.

Lets use the hamstrings as an example when someone has an anterior pelvic tilt (when an imbalance causes your pelvis to tilt towards your knees, but stays that way). This pulls up on your hamstrings and causes them to elongate. Following the previous bungee cord analogy, this will feel like tightness but in reality stretching your hamstrings should be the furthest thing from your mind. If you stretch something that is already lengthened or pulled taut.. well, you are just asking for trouble.

At best you are just creating more of an imbalance if you stretch out a muscle that is already elongated. At worst you could cause yourself a pretty severe injury. What must be done in this scenario is that you actually need to strengthen your hamstrings. It is really the front of your thighs (quadriceps) that are shortened and should be stretched out.

To recap this specific example: the hamstrings are elongated and taught while the quads are shortened and tight. But even though both may feel like they should be stretched (maybe even the hamstrings more-so), you should be doing the targeted stretching on shortened tissues, and instead be strengthening those lengthened tissues.

 

Now that you are wise to the pros & cons, learn about the fundamentals of stretching in our homecare section if you have not already done so!