Stretching increases the body’s flexibility and improves posture and balance. It is an important component of all exercise regimes and plays a significant role in strengthening the muscles and increases the range of movements of the joints. Most
stretching techniques revolve around elongating the muscles, thereby expanding muscle fiber and reducing the risk of injury. Stretching is a must for all individuals as it contributes significantly towards raising the quality of life and enabling you to perform day to day activities with ease. It decreases the body’s susceptibility to injury due to awkward movements, sudden twists, and jerks and falls.
Stretching exercises lengthen shortened muscles back to their best resting position. This helps maintain good posture and eliminates the influence of tight muscles on the movements of the lower back or pelvis that can cause pain. Shortened muscles affect the joints and ligaments leading to recurring injuries, bad posture and pain. Stretching exercises relax the body, increase blood circulation and improve muscular coordination. If athletes skip the stretching sessions prior to exercise they are unable to achieve their full potential. Muscles exhibit maximum power when they are elongated. Various
stretching techniques are applied in exercise sessions in order to gain maximum benefits. These techniques can also be applied to day to day activities and to boost performance in other spheres such as gymnastics, dancing, ballet, running etc.
Types of Stretching Techniques:
Dynamic stretching: This technique involves moving your body parts gradually to increase the range and velocity. It comprises of controlled movements of the legs and arms. Dynamic exercises are not accompanied by any bounces or jerky movements but are slow and controlled. This type of stretching improves dynamic flexibility and is quite useful as part of your warm up sessions prior to dance or martial art training. These exercises are performed in sets of 8 to12 repetitions.
Ballistic stretching: This technique makes use of the momentum of a moving body or limb to force it beyond its normal range of motion. It focuses on bouncing into or out of a stretch using the elongated muscles as a spring to pull you out. This type of stretching is not considered useful and may cause an injury.
Active stretching: This type of stretching increases active flexibility and strengthens the agonistic muscles. Active stretches are quite difficult to hold and maintain for more than 10 seconds and rarely need to be held any longer than 15 seconds. The tension of the agonistic muscles helps to relax the lengthened muscle by reciprocal inhibition.
Passive stretching: This is also referred to as relaxed stretching or static-passive stretching. This technique enables you to assume a position and hold it by using some other part of the body with the help of a partner or equipment. It is beneficial in relieving muscular spasms that are healing after an injury. This form of stretching is also great for cooling down sessions and helps reduce post exercise muscle fatigue and soreness.
Static stretching: This involves holding the position on reaching the farthest point during a stretch. This technique helps you relax and makes no contribution to the range of motion. An external force is created by an outside agent either manually or mechanically.
Isometric stretching: This type of stretching technique involves the resistance of muscle groups, isometric contractions or tensing of the elongated muscles. Isometric stretching is one of the fastest ways of developing increased static-passive flexibility and is considered to be more effective than passive stretching or active stretching. This type of stretching helps to develop strength in the lengthened muscles and decreases the amount of pain associated with stretching. It is not recommended for children and teenagers whose bones are in the growing phase.
It is necessary to perform a mild warm up session before beginning any stretching exercises. This increases the temperature of core body muscles and reduces the risk of injury. This can be done by running, walking, jogging, and skipping.
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