Stretching Flashcards
Term: ability of structures or segments of the body to move or be moved to allow the presence of ROM for functional activities
Mobility
Term: ability to move a single joint or a series of joints smoothly and easily through an unrestricted pain-free ROM
Flexibility
Q: What does flexibility depend on?
Extensiblity of soft tissues that cross/surround the joint (muscles, tendons, fascia, joint capsules, ligaments
Term: Decreased mobility or restricted motion
Hypomobility
Q: What is one of the causes of hypomobility?
Contractures
Term: adaptive shortening of the muscle-tendon uint and other soft tissues that cross/surround the joint and results in significant resistance to PROM or AROM and limited ROM
Contracture
Content: 5 types of contractures
- Myostatic
- Periarticular
- Arthrogenic
- Pseudomyostatic
- Fibrotic/Irreversible
Term: adaptive muscle shortening with reduction in the number of sarcomeres units in series, individual sarcomere length is also shortened
Myostatic contracture
Term: loss of mobility in the connective tissues that cross or attach to a joint or joint capsule (restriction of the arthrokinematic)
Periarticular contracture
Term: result from intra-articular pathology (adhesions, synovial proliferation, joint effusion, irregularities in the articular cartilage or osteophyte formation
Arthrogenic contracture
Term: limited ROM due to hypertonicity (i.e., spasticity and rigidity) associated with the central nervous system
Pseudomyostatic contracture
Term: the connective tissues are replaced by great amount of non-extensible tissue: fibrotic adhesions, scar tissue, and heterotopic bone
Fibrotic/Irreversible contracture
Content: Interventions to increase flexibility (6)
- Manual
- Self-stretching
- PNF
- MET
- Mobilization/manipulation
- Neural tissue mobilization
Q: What are the two components of muscle stretching (2)
- Contractile tissue (sacromere, myofibril, myofilament)
- Non-contractile tissue (epi, peri, endomysium)
Diagram: Soft tissue response to stretch
Regions: Toe, Elastic, Plastic, Failure
- past elastic region doesn’t return to resting position
- In plastic range some fibers fail/microruptures
- Necking - when tissue becomes very weak just before failure
- In elastic range not pushing the muscle thus requires a longer hold
Diagram: Muscle neurophysiological properties
Get the structures to work for you
If you stretch too fast the structures will work against you
Content: changes affecting flexibility (5)
- Injuries (tendon, ligaments, mm, bone, n., joint cap, etc.)
- Immobilization
- Inactivity
- Aging
- Postural patterns (scoliosis, kyphosis, etc)
Content: Indication for use of stretching (5)
- Decreased ROM
- Restricted motion
- Postural deviations (weakness vs. shortening)
- Preventing musculoskeletal injuries (before - not plastic changes)
- Minimize post exercise soreness (after)
Content: Contraindications to stretching (6)
- Bone block limits joint motions
- Recent fx - incomplete union
- Acute inflammatory or infection processes
- Sharp or actue pain to elongation
- Hypermobility
- Shortened soft tissue that is necessary for stability or neuromuscular control
Content: Determinants of stretching interventions (6)
- Alignment and stabilization
- Intensity of stretch
- Duration of stretch
- Speed of stretch
- Frequency of stretch
- Mode of stretch