I have found that many of the traditional general stretches we use as go to methods for increasing flexibility do not have proper assessments preceding them or may not have anatomical considerations in mind. This is opposed to possible sarcomeregensis that may be induced from heavy loading eccentric movements. However, they may have a more serious underlying issue such as ligament, capsule, the joint or labral damage that are frankly a big deal. This is where things start to get important. 3556). I think there are not yet studied boney adaptations to the hip joints of gymnasts when correctly performed and consistent stretching occurs in younger years. This becomes more important as the athlete gets older, starts training higher-level skills, or are spending more hours per week in the gym. ISJPT 9(6) 2014. The strips are cut in sections approximately 5'6" in length (approximately 170cm). I am not responsible or liable for any negative consequences that come from applying the ideas below. The physical examination of the glenohumeral joint: Emphasis on the stabilizing structures. Due to many gymnasts having inherent hypermobility, we do not want to place excessive stress on the ligaments and joint capsules of athletes. These ligaments more specifically are the medial and lateral arms of the iliofemoral ligament and the pubofemoral ligament. Flexibility 5 Flexibility In addition to the strength/conditioning program, the coach must also provide training for the enhancement of flexibility. Some may have a combination of dysplasia, hip socket rotations, femur rotation, and different pelvic alignments. Third, on an even geekier motor control point I think the use of external loading far away at the ankle joint greatly distorts the movement pattern the brain is trying to adopt neurologically. In an effort to help people out, I have decided to for the first time take everything that I possibly know about gymnastics flexibility and put it into one mega-blog post here. Sands WA, Flexibility. Reference below Microinstabilit of the hip, does it exist?. All of the studies that did show a change in range of motion from various techniques (static stretching, PNF type, more dynamic stretching) did not push the subjects into very extreme pain or use excessively long periods of stretching past 2 minutes. Dynamic flexibility is often the focus during warm-up exercises. Journ Sport Rehab, 2015, 24, 286 292, Nelson RT, Bandy WD. Again, these are just my thoughts. Relax, then Secondly, I have also found that many gymnasts have significantly increased passive range of motiondue to naturally laxity, but have a notablelack ofactive control for their fullhip ranges. This is associated with hyperextended knees and hyperextended elbows. My mentors have outlined that this was a crucial part of their work in professional-level sports through the competitive season, so I have adopted it into my practice with gymnasts. A very useful research review on this topic was performed by Weppler and Magnusson titled, Increasing Muscle Extensibility: A Matter of Increasing Length or Modifying Sensation? (18). Effect of self-myofascial release on myofascial pain, muscle flexibility, and strength: A narrative review. Skills like Shaposh releases for female gymnasts, Tipelts for male gymnasts, and other extreme overhead motion demands require this amount of mobility. If the gymnast is already hanging out in a down and in position, they are predisposing themselves to continuously catch their over and over, leading to the re-occuring injury part mentioned above. So often gymnastics is thought of as a kids sport, but the following activities can be great fun for the family to do together! When used in the right context, it can augment the flexibility needed for advanced leaps or jumps, inbar skills, and tumbling mechanics. *Readers Note This gymnastics flexibility guide is a very long and in-depth blog post. In conjunction with this, due to the gymnasts underlying lack of static stability from the ligaments and capsule, they will need absolutely pristine strength, physical preparation, and dynamic stability from their muscles around the joint. I know there is a large spectrum of positive or negative views on soft tissue work. For the most part, these structures cannot change too much unless surgery of some nature is performed, or through adaptation across many years as is seen when children grow or participate in overhead throwing sports from a young age. So think about this for a second. Stretching Skeletal Muscle: Chronic Muscle Lengthening through Sacrocmeregenesis. With this said, lets review some basic anatomy. I would suggest that these very mobileof gymnasts need more work learning to control the motion they have both with basic movements and with complex movements that involve higher forces and fast reaction times. Straddle Split on Line, kneeling lunge test at wall for Dorsiflexion (wow this video is old! Simple changes to choose types of stretching exercises that bias the correct structures of the hip or shoulder may make a notable difference in long-term flexibility and injury risk. Through their chapters, the researchers outline that flexibility training must be viewed in a broader context outside of only aiming to increase joint range of motion. If you are more curious about learning the medical side of hip injuries in hyper-flexible athletes, I highly recommend reading these articles. For many people in the gymnastics community, it comes down to a professional discussion on taking away overly aggressive flexibility methods, following the science of shoulder anatomy and making subtle changes in training. The gymnast is depending on those static stability structures because they probably have issues related to their muscles and nervous system not being able to assist withdynamic stability. In this setting, we are looking to ramp down the body and assist in recovery (known as facilitating parasympathetic tone). Konrad A, Tip M. Increased range of motion after static stretching is not due to changes in muscle and tendon structures. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD004577. Shibata KR, Mastuda S, Safran MR. Is there a distinct pattern to the acetabular labrum andarticular cartilage damage in the non-dysplastic hip with instability? The Mechanisms of Manual Therapy in the Treatment of Musculoskeletal Pain: A Comprehensive Model. The farther the loadis away from the joint, the more force it will haveon it. Physiother Res Int 2002;7:1-13. The average quality of studies included in this section of the review was slightly higher than the average qualities of the studies in the review overall. Even if a young athlete does fall into the category of being not naturally hypermobile but powerful, we still should gravitate away from putting excessive stress on the passive structures like bones, joint capsules, and ligaments. They should not produce discomfort on the top of the shoulders, which is more indicative of rotator cuff or soft tissue impingement under the coracoacromial arch. Second Edition, 2009. However, the rationale for this is in a different context. 132 146, Sands WA, McNeal J. strength, co-ordination, spatial awareness and the core gymnastics session. Please share with your community, and I hope you find it helpful! That same drill may cause significant pain and limited motion in another gymnast who has very retroverted or less shallow hip joints. These common active structures limiting overhead shoulder flexibility we want to focus on making more mobile. In simpler terms, I think that ankle weights make the skill very different compared to just the weight of the leg, and dont accurately represent/have transferred to nonweighted leaps. They often struggle quite a bit to lift their legs even against gravity alone. J Athl Train 2004;39:254-8. Doing slider crawls are a great core training replacement to reduce some of the leg lifts that may be creating ongoing headaches with limited split flexibility. It uses either a floor bar or the other arm version to bias external rotation of the shoulder. A few very inflexible gymnasts that I have worked with also displayed improvements in hip or shoulder range of motion over time when they used soft tissue work combined with proper stretching/strength programs. By using a variety of drills that include the basic movements (hip extension, shoulder flexion with rotation, etc.) (18-26). This is why I now mainly approach flexibility in larger complexes. This can also happen withhip extendingmovements (think backleg kick or leap) as the back of the femur bone makes contact with the back and outsideof the pelvis (impingement) and then the contact acts as a fulcrum for thefemoral head toslide out the frontof the hip joint (instability). These stretches below are seen daily in gymnastics. This is commonly tested with something called a Beightons screening. The muscles of the shoulder blade and upper back are often not nearly as developed as the chest and underarm muscles mentioned above. There are screening tools that coaches can use to assess these issues, in addition to many great assessments that medical providers can use to break down problems. For that reason, I typically approach the warm-up is getting the body ready for the training session. Im not saying all the stretches or flexibility approaches we use must be discontinued because they are dangerous. Instead of just jumping to pushing down the knees of gymnast to get better lines or fix bent knees, I strongly suggest that people take time to figure out why the gymnast has bent knees to start with. In terms of stretching induced neurological changes to the muscle tissue, the majority of the articles theorize that the main reasons behind this include, All of these mechanisms may be occurring as people stretch consistently over a long period of time. Although its not as common as the hip and shoulder post, I still have seen it quite a few times when in gyms. Chances are the toe points stretch is further lengthening tendons, ligaments, and the ankle joint capsule. Am J Sports Med 2011 39: 85S. I feel to see a notable lasting change in the range of motion that shows up in gymnastics skills, we have to approach the entire movement system with our mobility work, and not just aim to improve the range of motion seen. Duration of static stretching influences muscle force production in hamstring muscles. Also, you must remember that immediately following the warm-up genetically go to an event has very high forces. Strength Work to Opposite Side of Joint The most popular thought process is that we are affecting resting muscle tone, possibly increasing blood flow, perhaps changing the amount of water hydration level within the muscle or are offering a competitive neurological stimulus for muscle soreness. As it also highlights, there may be changes in the tissue over time, as well as neurological changes, There are times after a hard training session or light training day where I will have gymnasts perform a whole body soft tissue session and follow it up with more passive stretching. May 22, 2022 | In hot and cold water therapy for feet benefits | . Oct 4 (15). But, the timiing protocols for these studies were insanely more than and human does, so its likely not the main case for increases in muscle length. These structures and systems tend to have much more potential to change through training. Thomas E., et al. eccentrics, or skill training, is mainly what causes changes in the muscle tissue itself. This allows for more or less inherent flexibility, but as always many other factors contribute. The issue is more about, The lack of assessments being used before and after stretching, The lack of flexibility exercises that target active muscular structures (muscles and tendons) over passive structures (ligaments and joint capsules), The lack of a consistency over intensity mindset that is supported by research, and also avoids aggressive techniques that may cause injury, The lack of individuality and specificity being used based on a gymnasts individual issue, The lack of stretching being used as one small piece for the overall flexibility approach that carries changes in range of motion to actual skills, The current body of research on stretching suggests that, Changes in the nervous system are likely the main reason why stretching overtime increases range of motion (changing stretch reflex, changing perception of discomfort, desensitization of specific nerves), Changes in the muscle or tendon tissue itself also likely occur (change in number of sarcomeres, length of sarcomeres, amount of stiffness in muscle tissue). Regular Stretch does not increase muscle extensibility: a randomized control trial. They also outline that longer durations of stretching (say up to 2 minutes per stretch) show diminishing returns. In short, stretching the toe point more may be exaggerating this imbalance, leading to issues both in their injury risk for inversion sprains as noted above but alsoother ankle injuries. I will dive into the physiological thoughts on this in the recovery chapter. Warm-ups are typically best looked at as a time when you can prepare the available joint range of motion that a gymnast has. The researchers proposed that the change in the range of motion may have primarily come from increased tolerance to the discomfort of nerve fibers that detect stretch pain, as the fibers were becoming more desensitized. Like in the shoulder, natural mobility of the hip allows them to move through a greater motion. 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