Why do you think pain would be a reason to stop stretchingSo

Why do you think pain would be a reason to stop stretching?

Solution

Ans:

Stretching is perhaps one of the most controversial fitness subjects of present day. Passionate debates arise between those who perceive the benefits of stretching and those, who think stretching is one of the worst activities you can partake in, especially if you’re already injured. But stretching always doesn’t cause any pain if your stretch is not proper. There are many reasons why we get pain while stretching our body muscles.

1. Muscle tightness: It is due to an imbalance. The imbalance lies within the neuromuscular system – so it is a reflection of the nervous system via the muscular system. The idea that many physicians, therapists, coaches, and athletes have that you need to stretch a tight muscle to relax it and exercise a neurologically weak muscle to strengthen it is incorrect.

Stretching one muscle can also impair another muscle that was not stretched, possibly through a central nervous system inhibitory mechanism. That means that stretching (and weakening) a muscle in your left leg could weaken a muscle in your right leg that you didn’t even stretch!

Reasons for muscle imbalances and pain in the muscles while stretching: Stress to the nervous system, either systemically, (throughout the entire body), or locally. For example, if you injure your hamstring this may inhibit the function of that muscle so it hurts. You may perceive the weakness as pain in the area or you may have pain and/or tightness on the opposite side, in the quadriceps, as it tries to compensate for the hamstring weakness. You inclination would then be to stretch the quads to “relax” them, but the problem is really in the hamstrings; that is the area that needs to be addressed. Doing hamstring exercises won’t strengthen the muscle because that doesn’t effectively deal with the injury. So you can do hamstring curls or some other exercise all day long and it won’t turn the hamstrings on any more than stretching will relax the quadriceps.

2. Injury: Muscle function is mostly under reflex control and the Law of Reciprocal inhibition demands that when you put one muscle under stretch or tension, so stretching causes weakness and potential for injury.

3. Body structure like fascia – the connective tissue that holds everything together in the body. Because of an injury to the body but also due to low vitamin B12 levels. This is common in vegetarians who often lack B12 which is found in eggs and animal products. Also individuals under significant stress will lose the necessary intrinsic factor in the stomach needed to properly absorb B12, resulting in tight connective tissue and muscles, and the need to stretch. As with the other cases, fixing the cause of the problem, in this case the stress situation or the B12 deficiency will “loosen up” the muscles, not stretching.

4. Physical disorders like: arthritis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and traumatic arthritis. Pain may be caused by problems with your hip joint while stretching, the muscles that support your hip joint, and/or diseases and conditions in other areas of your body.