Section 6 - Flexibility Fitness Flashcards
What is the accepted general definition of flexibility?
- Measured as the range of motion in specific joint
- Range of motion is joint-specific
- The goal of flexibility fitness is to improve range of motion on a joint by joint basis
What are the two types of flexibility?
1, Static Flexibility
- Your ability to hold an extended position at one end of your joint’s ROM
- Dynamic Flexibility
- Your ability to move a joint through its ROM with little resistance
ROM may be limited by 2 anatomical entities…
- Joint Structure; accounts for about half of the restriction
- Muscles; muscles including fascia, tendons, and skin
Passive tension and Active tension
Passive Tension
- Structural
- Has to do with the proteins responsible for keeping sarcomeres intact
- Fascia; stretches a bit and allows more freedom of movement of the fascicles (bundles of muscle fibres) in a muscle
Active Tension
- Functional
- Has to do with the alpha and gamma motor neurons
How does Level of Activity influence Flexibility?
- Active individuals are more flexible in all their joints
- General disuse of muscles causes shortening of the muscle and connective tissue
- Total immobilization either of the whole body (i.e. bed rest) or of a joint/limb can cause “severe contractures”
How does Temperature influence Flexibility?
- Dynamic flexibility is increased with local warming of a joint
Making sure your muscles and joints are warm will ensure you get the most out of a stretching program
How does Sex influence Flexibility?
- Females may be more flexible than males in certain joints such as the hips and low back/hamstrings
Females have some structural differences in their anatomy which potentially increase their joint ROM
How does Age/Maturation influence Flexibility?
- We are more flexible as a baby
- Then we start growing and our bone growth outpaces our muscle/tendon growth and we get less flexible
- As we get into puberty, our muscles/tendons also grow and start to improve our flexibility into our early 20s
- Then as we progress through our adult years we start to lose natural elasticity in the muscle and tendon and we start feeling “stiffer”
What are direct and indirect factors that Aging has on Flexibility?
Direct: loss of elasticity in muscle and tendon units
Indirect: disuse - if you don’t do much activity you are contributing to decreased flexibility, long term postural/occupational effcts
How is Flexibility measured in Lab Tests? What are the 3 things that controlled lab tests give us when measuring Flexibility?
Utilize some type of motion technology or video captures human movement.
- Gives us an exact number since we are using tech to measure degrees of range
- Measures how the moves in a dynamic motion and measure multiple joints at the same time
- Allows us to capture how the body moves in more than one plane of motion
What are the 3 types of field tests talked about in lectures when it comes to Flexibility?
- Standard exercise flex tests like sit and reach
- Goniometers
- Muscle function tests like Apley’s scratch test
What is Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF)? What is the most common muscle group PNF is used for?
A type of stretch.
- PNF stretches involve a contraction and a relaxation phase
- PNF stretches relies on the concept of “relaxation of a muscle occurs as a response to high muscle force development”
The hamstrings.
What is Ballistic Stretching?
Ballistic stretching has high risk, high reward.
- It involved forcefully stretching a muscle past its “normal” range of motion
- There is a high risk since we can think of our tendons and ligaments having a “set amount of stretch” in them and once we get past that point, we may cause tearing in the tendon and ligaments.
