“I feel like I need to stretch more”

We hear this on a regular basis, from people who can palm the floor and/or

jump rope with their arms. We love you and we love that you want to be

doing more. But you do not need any more stretches.

The people we hear this the most from are our hypermobile folks.

Hypermobility means having more than the average/normal amount of

mobility in a joint. Having a lot of mobility is awesome, but like most things,

having too much of it can be costly. When there is an excess amount of

motion, there is now an increased amount of control needed to keep the

joint stable.

Think of your muscle like a rubber band; if it is constantly living in an

elongated or stretched out position, it will be harder to create and keep

more tension in the band to come back to its resting state.

How do we train this increase of control to get our muscles out of this

stretched out state? Strength training! Strength training increases the

muscle fibers’ ability to contract together and elongate apart; a fancy way of

saying the muscle is strong. Strength helps that rubber band to come back

to its resting state easier.

So why do my muscles feel so tight and like they need to be stretched?

If muscle fibers aren’t regularly moving and being loaded or they are always

elongated, they tend to get a little stuck where they’re at. Not being loaded

and challenged (strength training) also causes them to weaken. This is

where the phrase “if you don’t use it, you lose it” applies; muscle strength is

not something that just stays there once you have it, you have to continue to

maintain and increase it.

Now, regardless of a muscle’s strength or capacity to control movement, it

still has a job to do. Muscles will still try to stabilize our joints at all times,

which we love. However, if they are weak, this means the fibers cannot

efficiently contract, elongate, and create tension. SO, if they can’t do any of

these things, how do they do what they’re trying to do and stabilize us??

They get really bound up and tight to provide some sort of stability for us.

This is where the tightness sensation comes in; so yes, you do feel

tightness! But the underlying reason for this tightness needs more than

stretching due to why it came about. This is why our regular stretchers

never feel like they get full relief.

We do not want anyone to think stretching is pointless; stretching and range

of motion are vital parts of recovery for all muscle groups. It just can’t be

the only part of your exercise routine.

So, by all means, you are allowed to stretch! Just make sure you are also

getting your muscles stronger!

Kenzie Danner PT, DPT, CSMT, SFMA, Certified Sportsmetrics, Certified Functional Dry Needling L1