Don’t Do This Common Prescribed “Stretch”
The husband takes me once a year to a Dodgers baseball game when they come to play the Washington Nationals in DC. He realizes that I find baseball as exciting as watching bass fishing on TV, however, he does suffer through ABBA Tribute concerts for me, so I feel like we are even.
As I was munching on my smuggled-in turkey, spinach, and avocado egg wrap sandwich, I was watching one of the baseball players “stretch” during warmups. The husband told me this was a player who is recovering from a knee injury and his batting just hasn't been the same since. Our seats were very close to the Dodger’s dugout box, so I had a nice up front and center view.
I watched him lay down in sphinx pose, bend one knee, and then place the dreaded strap around the top of his foot. He then proceeded to use one hand over his head to pull his heel up toward his bum while forcing his knee to come up off the ground. I know some well-meaning physical therapist told him to do this particular hamstring stretch. And most people probably thought nothing of it as it’s quite a common stretching prescription.
However, I cringed loudly because it was hard to watch, now knowing what I know. I wanted to go over there and yell through the fence, “Hey dude, there is a better way to strengthen your knee and support your tight hamstrings that might even help you regain your batting composure.” I will admit, the big burly cop with angry bird face was probably the only barrier stopping me.
There were so many things wrong with this picture…
First, by forcing his leg and knee up, he is putting excessive strain on his glutes and lower back. Most people already have lower back pain. They don’t need to do anything to add to it. And your glutes are your body’s shock absorbers. What happens if you remove these from your car? Just sayin’…
Second, this common stretch is a PASSIVE stretch, meaning that the brain-muscle connection is lost. Nor is he using any kind of muscular action where the muscles expand and contract on demand, which is what actually creates more “flexibility” and range of motion.
Third, his hamstrings are already telling him that they are weakened by being all in knots and he was just weakening his tight hamstring even more! Muscle tightness is a physiological protection response, and a sign that the surrounding muscles probably aren’t doing their job properly (which makes sense if you just had knee surgery). Therefore, the body is compensating through the hamstrings (in this case) and creating tension.
There are 2 ways to think about your muscles and how they work:
#1 - Your muscles are like a Slinky toy. They are designed to expand and contract on demand. But if you were a curious child in the 70’s like myself, you and your BFF took this metal Slinky and stretched it as far as you could just to see what would happen. Then when you let go, you noticed that it didn’t quite go back together like before. It was a bit misshapen. Finally, when you sent the Slinky bouncing down the stairs again, it wobbled like a drunken sailor and never made it to the bottom, or at least not gracefully. When we stretch already over-stressed muscles, they become unstable and weaker, which leads to injury… hence, hurting your knee when going down the front steps of your house.
#2 - Let’s say you live in the frozen tundra of Alaska and are walking in the middle the Yukon River in dead of winter to get to the grocery store. Oh wait, that was me! You then hit a patch of slippery ice so all your muscles tense up. They do that to stabilize you, to protect you so you don’t do a face plant on the hard ground. That tightness is a protection strategy, and after the danger has surpassed, your muscles go back to a normal functioning state. Stretching a tight muscle is like slipping on the ice and instead of tensing on demand to stabilize, your muscles relax into a Gumby-like, wet noodle state. Hello concussion.
So what is the solution to tight muscles, you ask?
Stop stretching. And start activating and strengthening the supporting muscles so that said tight muscle can safely release.