Beat Crossfit Shoulder Pain With Band-Assisted Stretches

                     

Stretching?

 You're Doing it Wrong!

Here's Why

"Make sure you get a good stretch before you run!"

"Alright guys, before we get on the courts for practice, let's make sure we stretch"

"Stretching is going to help make sure you don't get hurt on the field"

These are the lessons that most of us carried from an early age whether it was in youth sports, or our elementary school PE classes. The critical importance of 15 minutes of stretching before engaging in athletic activities. That we needed to sit and hold the stretch, avoid bouncing, and take long sustained breaths. No matter what activity you were doing, stretching was a must whether it was lifting heavy weights, sprinting, or going for a leisurely jog.

And if you ever got injured, what was usually the main culprit?

Pulled a hamstring?

Hurt your shoulder?

Got cramps?

Usually your coaches and naysayers will tell you that you just didn't stretch enough.

But what if we were all wrong about stretching. Not only how it's done, but when it's done. A lot of research in Sports Medicine seems to be saying that this may be the case. Several well designed studies show that Pre-exercise static stretching was ineffective in prevention of injury, and in some sports actually decreased muscular performance.

Does this mean I should stop stretching?

Now don't get me wrong. Stretching is an important piece of flexibility which is important to joint mobility and range of motion. The important thing to take away from this is that HOW you stretch and WHEN you stretch are incredibly important to the activity you're about to take on.

Here are some facts based on research:

1. Static stretching right before physical activity is shown to reduce explosive muscle activity in both squat testing and sprinting in athletes.

2. Stretching before physical activity does not have much impact on overall injury rates compared to those who don't stretch.

3. Flexibility does have overall benefit on tissue compliance, meaning that stretching does allow for muscle tissues to be more resistant to injury.

4. It matters which activity you're prepping for! If you're a gymnast, figure skater, or dancer then stretching is of utmost importance. However,if you're preparing to make your muscles fire as hard and as tight as possible (sprinting, weight lifting) then stretching is likely setting you up for failure.

So what now?

Obviously we don't want to go into a sport or exercise unprepared. As humans, we are ill prepared to tackle the stresses of sport when our lives consist of sitting for 6- 8 hours per day developing inactive sticky muscle tissue. Kelly Starrett speaks to the concept of being a Supple Leopard, and how animals in the wild don't need to stretch to go from 0 to 100% effort to live it's life. Perhaps back in the days of our early ancestors where movement was a part of living, What should we be doing instead? Here's what I recommend:

1. Dynamic Warm up - Your body should be prepared to take on the activity you're about to perform. It's important to get your heart rate elevated, circulation flowing to the muscular system, and your muscle tissues prepared for the movements that are coming. Things like jumping jacks, a light jog, rowing, or stationary bike can help elevate the heart rate. Body weight squats, push ups, and lunges are great ways to prepare the body to move weights. Also joint mobility movements like heel to toe rocking, arm circles, and knee circles can help stimulate proprioceptive nerves in the joint to fire properly into the brain.

The biggest key here is this: Does your warm up a mild/moderate form of what you're about to take on?

2. Cool Down - Stretching is a great modality when used properly. When we stretch a couple of things happen. It reduces muscular pain, increases range of motion, and allows for greater tissue compliance when done consistently over time.

What it does immediately is activate the parasympathetic nervous system, or the part of the nervous system that is responsible for slowing things down and relaxing.

This may be one of the best arguments against stretching before ballistic activities and weight lifting. If you stretch, you are priming your body to slow down, which is perfect for a cool down activity.

In fact, stretching may be a great way to prepare your body for resting periods like sleep. Instead of just rotting in front of a TV, I encourage my patients to take that time to get stretches in before bed, which may help them fall asleep easier.

3. Add Dynamic Stretching Into Your Routine - Everyone knows what a static stretch looks like. The reach down and touch your toes, and just hold it there for 10 seconds.

In the past 20 years, trainers and physical therapists have come up with dynamic stretching protocols to make stretching more effective and reflect the demands of movement. Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (Contract and Relax) and banded assist routines can drastically improve your results. However, these things should be done with some supervision from a trainer or therapist in the beginning so that you can find the right way to work for you.

Remember, we're not her just to do things for the sake of doing them. Let's take a moment and make the most of our exercise and maximize your results.

Dr. Chung is a practicing Structural Chiropractor in the West Palm Beach area. He has been published in peer reviewed scientific journals and is a sought after speaker in health and wellness. Follow his blog at http://chiropractorwellington.com/category/keystone-chiropractic-blog/ or find him on twitter at @drjonathanchung

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Bulletproof your Hip Flexors

                      

The Hip Flexors are muscles in the body you definitely need to pay attention to. 

As I've said many other times, the hip flexor is an area that has become more and more susceptible to tightness due to modern habits. A lot of people sit in a chair for 8 hours a day, and often a chair that does not allow you to keep good posture all day either. The result of this is that your hip flexors will become tighter and be at risk for a strain unless you perform stretches. Now ideally you should be performing these stretches every day for at least 5 minutes, if you can do up to 10 or 15 minutes even better.

Stretches Lying Down

This is a great stretch to start off with because it's so gentle and natural for your leg. To perform it all you need to do is start off lying down on your back, try to take some slow, relaxed breaths until your body become relaxed. Once you feel ready lift up one of your legs, allow your knee to bend, then place both your hands just behind the knee and gently pull upwards towards your chest until you feel a good stretch. You can hold this stretch as long as you'd like, typically recommended is around 20 seconds and then try to go further after a short break. A key thing to note about this stretch is that if you feel any hip flexor pain, stop immediately.

Stretches Sitting

Many people initially classify this as a groin stretch, but remember some of the Hip Flexor muscles are also considered groin muscles, which is partially why this is a great stretch. Secondly, if you have really tight Psoas muscles you will also stretch those in this position.

To perform the butterfly stretch sit on the floor with your legs outstretched. Begin by shaking out your legs and taking a few deep breaths. To initiate the stretch pull in both your legs until the bottoms of your feet are touching, this should force your knees out. Increase the stretch as needed by putting your hands on your feet and pushing down on your knees. Hold for 20 seconds then shake out your legs again and repeat once or twice more. **Note: Try to keep your lower back straight, you should not be rounding your back and hunching over during the stretch.

Stretches - Standing

Standing stretches are amazing at targeting the inner core muscles around the pelvic region. Here are two of the best stretches you should incorporate into your stretching.

Lunge

You may have seen this one before because it is one of the best Hip Flexor stretches. The reason for this is that it works, and is worth reiterating.

Perform this stretch by standing upright initially, and then taking a large but comfortable step forward. Next, descend into a lunge position where your front knee is at an approximately 90 degree angle. Now push your lower hips forward until you feel the stretch and hold the position for up to 30 seconds. Just 3 sets of this stretch alone will do wonders for your flexibility.

Lunge Twist

This final stretch is similar to the lunge stretch above, but with an advanced twist on it. It will look very similar to a lunge, but instead you can allow your back leg knee to rest on the ground. Try to keep your upper torso upright and then lift the arm of the lowered leg over your head. You will know immediately if you are doing this correctly, as this stretch targets several of your muscles, even the hard to reach Tensor Fascia Latae.

Static Stretches

This is a special type of stretches performed using a resistance band or tube that can be used both as a stretch and strengthening exercise at the same time. To perform you need to attach one end of the band to a wall or anchor point and the other end to your ankle. Next, lift up your knee as high as you can and hold the position for 10-15 seconds. You should not only feel a stretch, but also fatigue in your Hip Flexors.

Hip Flexor Stretches Summary

To recap, you do not need to perform every single one of these exercises every day. Listen to your body and how it responds after a week or two of stretching and adjust accordingly. If you stick to a good schedule I am confident you will see incredible improvements in your hip mobility doing just a few of these Hip Flexor stretches and prevent a potential injury.

Information is power; you owe it to yourself and your body's health to understand your injuries. If you are able to understand injuries, you can diagnose them faster, treat them better, and recovery to the highest possible levels.

If you need more information about a hip flexor pain [http://hipflexor.org/hip-flexor-pain/] or other hip flexor [http://hipflexor.org/] topics, visit my website.

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