Lengthen, Then Strengthen
Muscle tightness is one of the most common complaints we hear from patients here at Refuge Physiotherapy. Prior to starting PT, many of our patients have tried some form of stretching to ease these tight, sore muscles.
Generally, people stretch to improve mobility, reduce risk of injury, relieve perceived tightness, or paired with a workout as a warm-up or cooldown. But if you’ve ONLY tried stretching or foam rolling, you may not be seeing significant improvement in your mobility. Why? Because a tight muscle is often a weak muscle. Our more hypermobile patients even struggle with muscle tightness, because their body is fighting for joint stability. In other words, we need both: mobility AND stability. Static stretching can lengthen the muscle fibers, but in order to maintain that new range of motion, it is beneficial to add resistance training to your routine.
Keep it simple: lengthen, then strengthen!
Let’s go over some basic anatomy. Muscle fibers work together to generate force, causing the muscle to contract. These muscle fibers like to be in optimal alignment in order to generate force required to complete functional movements. When our muscles are tight, those fibers are starting in a more overlapped position, making it difficult to contract and utilize their full range of motion. Stretching helps elongate the fibers, but adding resistance will help your muscles return to their optimal start position and ultimately be more powerful over time!
A few common areas of tightness (and weakness) that we often see at Refuge are low back, hip flexors, glutes, adductors, and hamstrings. Here are some ways to relieve tension in those areas, but also regain strength in order to maintain mobility. Try to incorporate one or multiple of these mini routines into your regimen and let us know if you notice a difference!
LOW BACK
Static stretch: single knee to chest
Dynamic mobility: cat/cows
Strengthening: bird dog rows
HIP (flexors, adductors, glutes)
Static Stretch: figure-four, couch stretch
Dynamic Mobility: Hip 90/90s, hip airplanes
Strengthening: single leg RDL, side planks, core marches w/ band
HAMSTRINGS
Static Stretch: seated stretch (touch toes)
Dynamic Mobility: standing hip hinge
Strengthening: single leg dumbbell RDLs, hip thrusts
If you’re dealing with another area of tightness and/or need more guidance, we are always happy to formally evaluate you at Refuge. We want to get those muscles back to optimal performance so you can move, lift, and live pain-free and functionally!
