Changing your stretching routine

I think it was Einstein that said "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Daily, we face the task of convincing our patients that their hamstrings or their hip flexors or their shoulders or their necks aren't tight.   It's a very difficult conversation to have as they have been told that the source of their pain is their tight --insert muscle--.

More often than not, when we place them in a position to test their muscle length it is more than enough....definitely not tight!  However there is still a perception that a particular muscle is tight, especially in a position that requires some stability, such as going over head with a bar, standing and bending forward, or holding their head up against gravity.

They continue to stretch...and stretch...and stretch, often getting temporary relief.  Yet they are coming to see us for some sort of pain...and typically tightness of a certain muscle that probably attaches around the area that hurts.  If stretching was the answer why does it still hurt.  So something has to change if we want different results.

Try adding more motor control drills and try just getting stronger. Tissues need to have load added to them to adapt and change, especially if you are interested in making a long term change in pain and the perception of tightness.  Creating long term solutions to your pain and your perceived tightness should include strengthening and progressively overloading the tissues. 

Give it a try!  What do you have to lose?  If you don't have less tightness than you did before, at least you'll be stronger and less likely to be injured by life.