I came across this article and thought it was very interesting. Do any of you PT's have any opinions on it? Specifically Active and Passive Flexibility, ways to improve active flexibility, and whether passive flexibility should be worked on at all. Will flexibility without strength across the range of motion increase the likelihood of injury?
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_3.html
I'm not a PT and honestly this article was beyond me. However, I will say that I do a lot of flexibility + strength training through yoga. I have noticed that when I slack off on the strength work, focusing more on flexiblity, I find myself dealing with more minor injuries. But, when I'm feeling more tight and push the strength work, I end up in the same boat. So, my $.02 is that balance is important. Good luck!
The article stated that "Research has shown that active flexibility is more closely related to the level of sports achievement than is passive flexibility". So this would make me want to work on active flex. more than passive, right? How do we do that? I started thinking about it and it seems to me that the best way, or only way maybe, to improve your active flexibility would be to improve your passive flexibility (static passive stretches) and your strength (strength training). That way you gain the range of motion in the joint and have the strength to support the joint as well, thus improving active flexibility.
Like gardenmentor was saying, balance is important! As endurance athletes we tend to forget that there are 5 components of fitness not just cardiovascular endurance.
This is just my personal opinion as a NSCA-CPT, and MS in exercise physiology (not that that means much!)
I'm also certified by NSCA and The ACSM. Flexibility and stretching recommendations continue to be a source of debate. Static stretching is recommended. Bouncing increases the chance of injury. However, ballistic stretching is appropriate for some sports, like gymnastics.
I think that a balance between strength and flexibility is what is needed for athletes. People who tend to have loser ligaments may need to focus more on strength training than flexibility. People who are not very flexibly need to maintain normal range of motion.
One thing to consider is how much flexibility is needed for your sport? As a runner I don't need to be able to do the splits. I need to be able to push off the ground to move forward. Gymnasts, dancers and skaters need more range of motion.
First of all, I'm not sure that the information that was linked to was to compelling, but the guy did have a passion and he was doing a good job of presenting the topics (a lot there)...
Here are a few things to think about:
Flexibility and Running Economy
[quote] Correlational analyses revealed that dorsiflexion (r = 0.65) and standing hip rotation (r = 0.53) were significantly (P <= 0.05) associated with the mean aerobic demand of running, such that runners who less flexible on these measures were more economical. Although speculative, these results suggest that inflexibility in certain areas of the musculoskeletal system may enhance running economy in sub-elite male runners by increasing storage and return of elastic energy and minimizing the need for muscle-stabilizing activity. [unquote]
Muscle Tendon Unit properties on running economy
[quote]It is suggested that at low level forces the more compliant quadriceps tendon and aponeurosis will increase the force potential of the muscle while running and therefore the volume of active muscle at a given force generation will decrease.[unquote]
But here's the kicker...
Running Economy Negatively related to sit-and-reach test"
[quote]Pearson product moment correlation coefficients revealed no significant relationships between aerobic demand at 16.0 km × h-1 and age (r = - 0.19), height (r = 0.15), body mass (r = - 0.18), or V˙O2max (r = - 0.004). However, there was a highly significant relationship between aerobic demand at 16.0 km × h-1 and the sit-and-reach test score (r = 0.68; p < 0.0001). These results suggest that the least flexible runners are also the most economical.[unquote]
My thoughts: The research is all over the place, but in my view, the results are not. The reason that there is so much confusion is how they set up the studies. Does the sit and reach test do a good job of testing a person's flexibility? Not in my opinion when you are looking at runners. Why not use a test of the hip flexors?
The other is when they are looking at flexibility and performance, how do they measure performance? If a lab uses VO2 max as a test of performance then they are not testing performance at all.
A huge issue we see is that the general concepts are that to be a good runner we need to monitor Lactate Thresholds and VO2's? Running Economy is a lost variable today with most coaches... Daniels has been talking about running economy for years, but we don't see much about how to improve it. VO2 is a good indicator of who has great potential, but it isn't the only piece to the pie.
Anyway, how does this all relate to flexibility? Well I guess it is how you interpret the research... I personally believe that flexibility of the hips is incredibly important, but so is hip stability.
If you have hip stability (read my strength training posts) and have hip flexibility.... you'll have a good start to improving your economy and ability to improve your biomechanics.
The other question is how do you improve your "recoil" which getting that stretch response... Lydiard promoted hill bounding, I like that with some plyometics.. combine all those factors and your getting a piece of the pie that all the LT obsessed runners never address.
... but I'm just a guy married to a girl with her MS in ex phys :-) (lucky me or all my training talk would likely lead to marital discontent..)
Good info Gary. Thanks.
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