CH 4: Stretching Flashcards
What involves elongating the muscles and tendons to the end of available ROM
Stretching
How do we produce a stretch?
Applying a tensile force to the muscle resulting in transient deformation and elongating the musculotendinous unit
What influences the mechanical behavior of connective tissue?
- Amount of collagen available
- Amount of stretching occurring
- Type of connective tissue present
What is the main goal of stretching?
To increase flexibility to increase ROM
What relates to a tissues ability to resist stretch and indicates the amount of deformation proportional to the load applied?
Stiffness
What does the stiffer the tissue mean?
Less compliance, less likely to stress
What happens when we decrease tissue stiffness?
Greater compliance to stretching
What can flexibility training help with?
Decreasing stiffness in the muscle-tendon unit
Where does most of the resistance to stretching most likely occur?
Connective tissue framework and sheathing from within and around the muscle
How much can a muscle be stretched past its resting length?
150%
What is an accommodation to the discomfort of stretching over time?
Stretch tolerance
What is the aim of stretching?
- Inhibit reflex activity
- Decreasing resistance
- Improving ROM
What are the mechanoreceptors responsible for contractile responses?
Muscle spindles and GTO
What is necessary to help prepare the tissue for activity?
Warm up
What is the purpose of warm-up exercises including stretching?
To prepare the body for the stresses it will encounter during an activity of sport and is necessary for increasing core body temp
What is produced with muscle contraction, increasing intramuscular temperature?
Heat
What can a warmed muscle do compared to a cold muscle?
- Increased ROM
- Contract more forcefully
- Relax more quickly
- Enhance work production of muscles
What are the beneficial effects of a warm-up before strenuous activity?
- Blood flow increases
- Temp increases
- Cardiovascular response to sudden, dynamic exercise improved
- Breakdown of oxyhemoglobin for delivery of oxygen to working muscle is increases
What is reduced with warm up?
Risk of connective tissue and contractile tissue damage
How long do warm-up protocols last?
10-25 minutes
What is the most common form of stretching used to increase the ROM in a joint safely?
Static stretching
What type of stretching allows on to sustain a controlled stretch by placing a muscle in a fully elongated position and holding that position for a period of time?
Static stretching
What type of static stretch implies that the force is applied externally?
Passive
What type of static stretch occurs when opposing muscle action is use to aid the stretch?
Active
What are the advantages of static stretching?
- Reduced chance of exceeding strain limits
- Reduced energy requirements
- Reduced potential for muscle soreness
- Easy to stretch
What are the general goals of static stretching?
- Prevent or minimize risk of soft-tissue injury
- Improve movement
- Increase flexibility
- Prevent contracture
What is the least desirable type of stretching?
Ballistic
What type of stretching places the tissue at risk by using jerking or bouncing movements at the end of the ROM exercise to stretch the muscles?
Ballistic
What type of stretch increases the risk of connective tissue and contractile tissue trauma?
Ballistic
What type of stretch stimulates muscle spindles during stretch resulting in continuous resistance to further stretch causing a high rate of tension strong enough to injure the musculotendinous unit?
Ballistic
What type of stretching uses a muscular contraction to stretch the muscle?
Dynamic
What type of stretching increases or decreases the joint angle where the muscle crosses, thereby elongating the unit at the end of ROM?
Dynamic
What type of stretching uses activity-specific movements that prepare muscles for a particular sport?
Dynamic
What type of stretching has all movements under control?
Dynamic
What is a system of therapy that uses different techniques designed to promote neuromuscular responses via stimulation of proprioceptive system?
PNF
What uses movements in a diagonal patterns along with an isometric contraction before the stretch?
PNF
What uses volitional contractions to increase ROM by decreasing resistance caused by spinal reflex pathways?
PNF
What is based on the stretch reflex and appears to increase ROM through stimulation of proprioreceptors?
PNF
What pathway are inhibitory sensory receptors located within the musculotendinous junction that signal tension in a muscle?
GTO
What pathway results in self-inhibition (autogenic) and also signal minute changes in muscle tension, providing info about muscle contraction?
GTO
What pathway are excitatory specialized within the muscle that are sensitive to changes in muscle length and maintenance of length?
Muscle spindles
What do muscle spindles do when a muscle is stretched?
Send messages to the spinal cord, which signals the muscle to contract
What is the most classical clinical demonstration of the stretch reflex?
Tapping patellar tendon
What are some disadvantages of PNF?
- More time consuming
- Required skilled training to be effective
- May lead to complaints of patient discomfort
How long should we hold a static stretch?
15-30 seconds; 3-5 times
What should patients not exceed?
Their pain limits
How many weeks of stretching is needed to demonstrate significant increases in muscular flexibility?
6
How many times a week should stretching occur to see improvements?
3
How many times should we stretch to maintain flexibility?
1
What PNF technique initiates autogenic inhibition while the patient actively moves the limb to end of pain-free motion; isometrically contracts against force applied at end ROM for 5-8 seconds as resistance is slowly increased; patient relaxes; actively stretches limb through new limits of motion?
Hold-relax technique
What PNF technique instructs patient to relax affected muscle while therapist passively moves limb to limit of motion; actively contract restricted muscle (antagonist) against manually applied resistance for 5-8 seconds; relax and move limb passively through new range; hold stretch for 10 sec?
Contract-relax
What PNF technique is a contraction of opposite (agonist) muscles instead of shortened or restricted muscles; limb is taken to point of stretch and applies manual resistance against muscle for 5-8 seconds; relaxed while muscle concentrically contracts; holds new position for 10 seconds?
Contract relax with agonist contraction
