28 Mar Why You Need To Focus On Stability Before Flexibility
This post is about why you need to focus on stability before flexibility.
One of the things that happens in initial visits at MYo Lab is that we ask our members to bend forward as far as they can, as if they were going to touch their toes. This usually results in one of two reactions. People either laugh and sheepishly admit that they’re not flexible before leaning over, or they smile to themselves and proudly place their palms flat on the floor.
We’ll let you in on a secret… we’re far more concerned with HOW they went through that motion than with how far they can go. Because the HOW tells us about their stability, and the quality of their movement. And we have seen just as many dancers, gymnasts, and skaters that move poorly through their spine as we have runners, desk workers, and body builders.
While we understand that many sports demand a high level of flexibility, we truly believe that many people have gone about trying to develop that flexibility the wrong way. We have seen dancers encouraged to passively stretch for hours to be able to do the splits. We’ve heard similar stories from gymnasts and cheerleaders. The problem with this approach is that passive stretching stretches passive structures, like ligaments and joint capsules. Those structures aren’t meant to stretch, they’re there to provide stability to joints and proprioception to the brain. So instead of just gaining flexibility, these athletes have compromised their bodies and placed themselves at risk of injury.
So what do you do when your sport needs flexibility? Honestly? Develop strength and stability. It’s the perspective that proximal stability will allow for distal mobility. By activating your core properly (anyone else sensing a theme in our posts?), you will allow your body to move as you want it to.
The why behind this approach is technical, but it boils down to this: most of the time, when muscles are “always tight” (ummm, hello hamstrings and adductors!), they’re compensating. The brain has decided that that particular muscle NEEDS to be tight to protect your joints, and no amount of stretching is going to convince your brain otherwise. So you need to develop your stability so that your brain realizes that it can let go.
Secondly, muscles tighten up because they’re weak, or muscles that perform a similar action are weak. That’s right, a tight muscle isn’t necessarily a strong one. So you have to ask yourself: what else is going on that again, your brain has tightened that particular muscle?
This is where MYo Lab shines, with our multidisciplinary team of Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Registered Massage Therapists, and Personal Trainers, we are uniquely equipped to assess underlying issues (weak or inhibited muscles, reflexive tightness etc.), deal with it from a therapy standpoint, and then send you into the gym with our Personal Trainers for long-term solutions. Click here to book in today!
We are always accepting new members who are ready to commit to their health and wellness journey. If you are ready to experience the MYo difference, book now so one of our team members can welcome you to the MYo Lab community!