Whenever I stretch before exercising…I'm in pain after wards. How come?
I’ve noticed a pattern in when I do stretch before I exercise (running) my knee and lower back are in agony for two days afterwards. When I DON’T stretch before exercising…I have no problems.
What’s the deal? Am stretching wrong? Have you dealt with something similar before?
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Yes you did do something wrong. You stretched, heh.
If you’re just running, running is fine. It’ll raise your body temp 1-1 1/2º C, which will help prevent injury.
Stretching reduces speed, power, force production, and doesn’t decrease (actually increases) the chance of injury.
Now if you’re going to play sports or work out, do a dynamic warm up.
Either biking or jogging, running, for 7-10 minutes (more or less depending on the person), or if you’re doing sports:
High knees
Butt kickers
Side shuffles (feet nearly touch in between each rep)
Backwards running
Lunges (get low)
Karaokes
Arm Swing, circles
Running, sprints
Push ups
Or even a hot shower for 10 minutes. The goal is to raise the body temperature 1-1 1/2º C.
Now, why is that?
"When muscles are stretched beyond natural voluntary ranges of motion, the muscles and tendons are stretched unnaturally. Excessive stretching damages tissues and promotes inflammation" (Yang, Im, & Wang, 2005). Continual stretching can lead to "lengthened" muscles. That condition leads to two performance altering states.
1) The range of movement of the joint about which the lengthened muscles gird is increased. That results in the range of effective contraction of the muscles being altered. Maximum muscle performance will have to occur in a different range of motion to the original natural range. IF a lengthened muscle is required still to perform in the orginal natural range, then performance in that range will be reduced because of the extra stretch. Maximally lenghtened muscles about a joint are associated often with a loosening of the joint. Increased leaxity can expose the joint to increased injury through collisions or simply through maximum efforts. Intra-joint movements can also stimulate aggravations to other structural tissues as well as bony structures.
2) If continued for a long time, muscles, tendons, etc… will start to loose some of their elastic properties, which would further decrease power and speed [and will increase the chances of injury]."
From The Science and Art of Baseball Pitching (which in this section, discusses why one wouldn’t want to stretch, and the literature out there that supports it), 44.4: "Running economy is actually improved when muscles are stiff. Craib, Mitchell, Fields, Cooper, Hopewell, & Morgan (1996) concluded running economy needs natural tightness in lower leg muscles and connective tissues to maximize the storage and return of elastic energy, and reduce the need for stabilizing activity. Continuing with the theme that the elasticity of muscles needs to be preserved for high performances, Jones (2002) attributed running performance to metabolism in the muscles and stiffer musculotendinous structures that facilitate a greater elastic energy return during the shortening phase of the stretch-shortening cycle. A certain level of muscle stiffness preservs the storage and return properties of elastic energy that can be used to generate energy in an activity. The contribution of elastic energy to overall muscle performance is as much as 25-40% (Cavagna & Margaria, 1966; Cavagna, Saibene, & Margaria, 1964).
Nelson, Driscoll, Landin, Young, and Schexnayder, (2005) found that stretching before sprinting, slowed 20-meter sprint times. A review of data-based investigations led to the conclusion that stretching did not improve performance capability (Ingraham, 2003)."
March 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pmYou could of over stretched your joints. EVERYONE ANSWER MY QUESTION http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080101145742AAkAE5P&pa=FYd1D2bwHTHwLbNkFuI5RwR.TgxNlRouVKxOHTrEPo81Bw–&paid=asked&msgr_status=
March 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pmu should stretch a little less b4 but then stretch some more after u exercise
March 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pmYou should only stretch until you can just feel the pull in the muscles any further and you are stretching too far and hurting yourself.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pmI think you should warm up for say 2-3 mins first, then only stretch, before running.
What you’re now doing is strectching a cold muscle – never do that.
Warm up the muscles and your body first – this allows blood to circulate and travel to your working muscles so that when
you stretch, the muscles are more pliable and you won’t feel pain afterwards.
Similarly, do a cool-down and stretching after your running.
This article on stretching explains it all: http://www.perfect-body-toning.com/stretch-exercise.html
March 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pm