Chapter 7 - Flexibility Training Concepts Flashcards
What is flexibility?
The normal extensibility of all soft tissues that allows the full range of motion of a joint.
What is extensibility?
A tissue’s capability to be elongated or stretched.
What is the range of motion (ROM) of a joint dictated by?
ROM is determined by the normal extensibility of all soft tissues surrounding the joint.
True or False:
Soft tissue will only achieve efficient extensibility if optimal control of movement is maintained through the entire ROM.
True
List (11) factors that can influence flexibility.
- Genetics
- Connective Tissues Elasticity
- Composition of tendons or skin surrounding the joint
- Joint Structure
- Strength of opposing muscle groups
- Body composition
- Sex
- Age
- Activity Level
- Previous injuries or existing medical conditions
- Repetitive Movements (pattern overload)
What is neuromuscular efficiency?
The ability of the nervous system to recruit the correct muscles (agonists, antagonists, synergists, and stabilizers) to produce force (concentrically), reduce force (eccentrically), and dynamically stabilize (isometrically) the body’s structure in all three planes of motion.
What is the dynamic range of motion?
The combination of flexibility and the nervous system’s ability to control this range of motion efficiently.
In a cable pull down exercise, the latissimus dorsi is the ________(1) and concentrically accelerates shoulder extension adduction and internal rotation while the mid and lower trapezius and rhomboids are the __________(2) muscle that performs the downward rotation of the scapulae. The rotator cuff musculature is the _______(3) and must dynamically _______(4) the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint throughout the motion.
- Agonist
- Antagonist
- Stabilizer
- Stabilize
What is a force-couple?
Muscle groups moving together to produce movement around a joint.
What are postural distortion patterns?
Predictable patterns of muscle imbalances (poor static and dynamic posture).
What is relative flexibility?
The tendency of the body to seek the path of least resistance during functional movement patterns (altered movement patterns).
What is a muscle imbalance?
Alteration of muscle length surrounding a joint.
List the causes of muscle imbalances.
- Postural Stress
- Emotional Duress
- Repetitive Movement
- Cumulative Trauma
- Poor Training Technique
- Lack of Core Strength
- Lack of Neuromuscular Efficiency
What is reciprocal inhibition?
The simultaneous contraction of one muscle and the relaxation of its antagonist to allow movement to take place.
What is altered reciprocal inhibition?
The concept of muscle inhibition, caused by a tight agonist, which inhibits its functional antagonist.
What is synergistic dominance?
The neuromuscular phenomenon that occurs when the inappropriate muscles take over the function of a weak or inhibited prime mover.
What is arthrokinematics?
The motions of joints in the body.
What is arthrokinetic dysfunction?
Altered forces at the joint that result in abnormal muscular activity and impaired neuromuscular communication at the joint.
What are muscle spindles?
- Receptors sensitive to change in length of the muscle and the rate of that change.
- The major sensory organ of the muscle and are composed of microscopic fibers that lie parallel to the muscle fiber.
What is the function of muscle spindles?
To help prevent muscles from stretching too far or too fast.
What happens when a muscle on one side of the joint is lengthened (because of a shortened muscle on the opposite side)?
The spindles of the lengthened muscle are stretched.
What is autogenic inhibition? How would you describe this in layman’s terms? What is one way of achieve autogenic inhibition?
- The process by which neural impulses that sense tension are greater than the impulses that cause a muscle to contract, providing an inhibitory effect to the muscle spindles.
- “Turning off the muscle”
- Static stretching causes autogenic inhibition.
What are Golgi tendon organs? Where are they located?
- Receptors sensitive to change in tension of the muscle and the rate of that change.
- Located within the musculotendinous junction (the point where muscle and tendon meet).
What happens when Golgi tendon organs are excited?
GTO stimulation causes the muscle to relax, which prevents the muscle from being placed under excessive stress, which could possibly result in injury.
