gymnastics flexibility exercises pdf
A growing body of research refutes these mechanical theories, suggesting instead that in subjects who are asymptomatic, increases in muscle extensibility observed immediately after a single stretching session, and after short-term (3-8 week) stretching regimes are predominantly due to modification in subjects sensation. (18). Kinetic Anatomy. Even if you jumped around for bits and pieces, I hope you found them helpful. The way someones hips or shoulders are shaped, unique rotations of bones, certain anatomical variations, or issues along the entire body chain, can all have a substantial impact on the amount of flexibility a gymnast can display during skills. The ligaments and joint capsule, along with the alignment of the ball on the socket, create what is known as the passive structures or stabilizers. I want to emphasize that proper stretching and soft tissue work is not the only method to improve flexibility and performance for gymnasts. I have seen what was thought to be sore shoulders turn into rotator cuff damage and shoulder instability, requiring surgery to correct. Ensure you are warmed up correctly Through very sophisticated mathematical models, they did show evidence of, a mechanistic multiscale model for stretch-induced sarcomereogenesis, in which chronic muscle lengthening is characterized through a scalar valued internal variable, the serious sarcomere number.. Now after saying that over split training is not inherently dangerous or going to create injury automatically, we all must realize there are severe consequences for not approaching split flexibility correctly. Then brainstorm how to divide out the group of gymnasts who may or may not fit, and who may need an alternative exercise based on their issues. Many gymnasts with stiff hips could benefit from a bit less squatting and jumping, and repace those exercises with glute and hamstring work. Konrad A, Gad M, Tilp M1. Other researchers combat these ideas and say that effects locally in the muscle like water hydration levels, changes in the viscoelasticity of muscles, and even interesting ideas down to stem cell changes within tendinous structures may be factors. The effects of myofascial release with foam rolling on performance. Trying to aggressively push through that bony or ligamentous limitation will only lead to pain and headaches for all involved. I believe addressing this common imbalance in strength volume is a key contributing factor for seeing long-term shoulder flexibility gains and reducing overuse injuries related to the shoulder joint. J Bodyw Mov Ther. As anatomical and biomechanical research in the shoulder outlines (1-5, 16) this end range overhead flexion and internal rotation position may create excessive pressure on certain shoulder ligaments over time. Dynamic flexibility is often the focus during warm-up exercises. While on this note, there are a few stretches that really need to be advised against in gymnastics. 2014 Jun;29(6):636-42. doi: 10.1016/j. The traditional model of gymnastics typically involves twenty to thirty-minute time periods where static stretches are held, active flexibility drills are done, or specific exercises are repeatedly done in high volume to gain range of motion. This is an expected part of trying to gain flexibility, to a certain degree. Flexibility is frequently included in talent identification and screening measures for gymnasts, divers, and dancers (2, 10, 11, 16, 20, 21). 1) improve range of motion and I generally recommend that not stretch have more intensity than a 3 or 4 out of 10 (0 is no discomfort, 10 is extreme discomfort). Speaking beyond the research, I truly feel that both mechanical and neurological changes occur in muscles as well as tendons with prolonged stretching. In an effort to help people out, I have decided to for the first time take everything that I possibly know about gymnastics flexibility and put it into one mega-blog post here. Sands and Mcneal have a few fantastic chapters on flexibility in recent Strength and Conditioning text books (39-40). . Gymnastics requires a significant amount of flexibility for skills to be done correctly and safely. There is more support in the literature for the use of static and dynamic compression, but I think lighter recovery sessions of self-myofascial release, light stretching, or even light aerobic exercise are valuable tools alongside other methods. Its my opinion that the sport of gymnastics has yet to use a systematic, individualized, science-based system to flexibility methods in training. People assume that progress is being made, rather than having some comparative baseline for observing changes. 2017 Apr;21(2):446-451. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2016.11.006. My best recommendation is that people become more familiar with the research, practice, and use of self-soft tissue work. Atraumatic Hip Instability in Patients with Joint Hypermobility.Operative Techniques in Sports Medicine. Most healthcare providers that I have talked with feel the major benefits of self-soft tissue work are increasing blood flow and allowing muscle relaxation. A huge areathat this problem impacts is proper squatting, landing, and force distribution abilities during gymnastics One of the biggest things I find in gymnasts is that most of their overhead deep squat performance was pretty rough all around. In short, stretching the toe point more may be exaggerating this imbalance, leading to issues both in their injury risk for inversion sprains as noted above but alsoother ankle injuries. However, in my twenty-five years of being a gymnast, a gymnastics coach, and a Sports Physical Therapist who treats hundreds of gymnasts per year, flexibility is by far what I get the most questions about. Although this does happen in gymnastics, there are many times when this is inaccurate and dangerous. My mentors have outlined that this was a crucial part of their work in professional-level sports through the competitive season, so I have adopted it into my practice with gymnasts. That article can be found below, but before readers jump to creating only static stretching circuits based on those parameters, please read the rest of this chapter. Int J Exerc Sci. I will offer basic concepts from them in the coming paragraphs as it relates to injuries but cant stress enough how valuable the articles or textbooks mentioned were to me over the past five years. In the most basic sense, I dont think oversplits are inherently bad for gymnasts. I think the more accurate way to describe them is that over splits may be bad for a particular gymnast at that moment in time. It is also one of the main scoring components that judges evaluate during competitions. 2008;108:379390. They tell me they often times find temporary progress, but nothing seems to stick long term and actually show up in their skills. Gymnastics training itself may create a position where a gymnast acquired more hypermobility with jumping/lading forces but also the large emphasis on mobility. Flash forward 7 years from that point, with much more education to use and well over 1000 gymnasts treated for medical issues. This is especially true when notallowing compensation from other body parts or excessive swinging for momentum. This approach may lead to a limited transference to actual skills. Oct 4 (15). The analogy I use with people from a coaching background is to compare it to the giant swing and the necessary components to complete the skill. Now please dont take this as me not being a fan of external loading for gymnasts, as I am a fan of that when properly used (see article here). The hip socket being overly shallow is referred to as dysplasia. Some gymnasts with dysplasia or hypermobile hip capsules never have pain, but some are so far on the continuum of too excessive mobility that it leads to instability and injury. I have seen what was thought to be a pulled hamstring end up being a pelvic growth plate stress fracture that required six months of time off and rehabilitation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. This concept simply means the passive structures like the ligaments or joint capsules tend to be already very lax and they naturally may have much less stiffness throughout their body. I feel this may not only foster more compensation, but it may create overload based injuries to muscles and tendons in conjunction with the principles above. However, we need to understand that forcefully pushing oversplits, not being open to learning basic anatomy, or ignoring serious pain complaints from gymnasts is not tolerable. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 25(6):36479, 1997. Also, you must remember that immediately following the warm-up genetically go to an event has very high forces. 30-60 seconds per targeted muscle group, no more than 5/10 discomfort level. J Bone Joint Surg Am, 2013 Sep 18; 95 (18): e133, Dumount GD. In its most basic form, stretching involves taking a muscle to its end range of motion, and holding the elongated state for a period of time. However, they may have a more serious underlying issue such as ligament, capsule, the joint or labral damage that are frankly a big deal. Wilk KE, Arrigo CA, Andrews JR. Current concepts: The stabilizing structures of the glenohumeral joint. Within all these studies, there were undoubtedly methodological issues that need to be considered. Some naturally flexible gymnasts have a bony alignment where the hip socket is not as deep. In Llyod RS, Oliver JL, Strength and Conditioning for Young Athletes: Science and Application. Not only do they happen quite a bit as a first time injury for a gymnast, they seem to keep popping up as re-occuring injuries for many gymnasts leading to cumulative issues down the road. So think about this for a second. May 22, 2022 | In hot and cold water therapy for feet benefits | . IJSPT. Static stretching in 30-60 seconds bouts, done 5 times per week, for a total time of 5 minutes per muscle group per week, to the appropriate limit of discomfort, is supported by a majority of research to be optimal for increasing range of motion. Half the group performed static stretches, while the other half performed Hold Relax stretching, a variety of PNF. 2015 Jul;7(4):34658. (7-9, 17). Opplert J, Babault N. Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance: An Analysis of the Current Literature. Strength Work to Opposite Side of Joint Traditional forms of these stretches may contribute to the development of an injury. In conjunction with this, due to the gymnasts underlying lack of static stability from the ligaments and capsule, they will need absolutely pristine strength, physical preparation, and dynamic stability from their muscles around the joint. They ended up finding changes in range of motion for both groups, with more changes to the muscle tendon stiffness in the Hold Relax group. Shu B., Safran MR. Hip Instability: Anatomic and Clinical Considerations of Traumatic and Atraumatic Instability. There are many reasons, and I put together this video highlighting how to look for some of the most common ones. Naturally, fast kids may do well in soccer or track and field. Int J Sports Med. zerofive 43 foot vertical 10 160m. Stretching Skeletal Muscle: Chronic Muscle Lengthening through Sacrocmeregenesis. For the most part, these structures cannot change too much unless surgery of some nature is performed, or through adaptation across many years as is seen when children grow or participate in overhead throwing sports from a young age. It can be accomplished through an addition by subtraction type approach of using an alternative exercise or changing the alignment of certain common gymnastics stretches. The systematic review by Chris Beardsley and Jakob Skarabot in 2015 outlines (41) that when analyzing various studies, foam roller use appears to lead to acute increases in flexibility in the majority of investigations despite a few studies not reporting acute changes in the range of motion following forms of foam roller use. This finding isnt inherently dangerous, or good as research always has its internal issues. As I mentioned above, research does support specific stretching and soft tissue work, but as one piece to a larger program. They also outline that longer durations of stretching (say up to 2 minutes per stretch) show diminishing returns. Chances are the toe points stretch is further lengthening tendons, ligaments, and the ankle joint capsule. Phys Ther. In all cases except two, (Janot et al., 2013; Peacock et al., 2014) there were no changes in performance measures following any of the SMFR protocols used. Often the specificity or individuality of specific exercises lacks as a result. Current Concepts In Shoulder Examination of The Overhead Athlete. Oct; 19(4): 747 758. J Athl Training 35(3):278285, 2000. Although there is a lot of research and textbook chapters written on these concepts (38-40), I have found that a multi step warm-up seems to be the best approach for this goal. Other forms of stretching like PNF, dynamic stretching, and others appear to be effective when regularly done, Consistency over intensity is a key concept everyone in gymnastics must follow. Nakamura M., et al. 0, No. The next most common question people ask me in this discussion is, what about ankle weights, are those bad for gymnasts hips?. When an athlete reports hip or shoulder pain, far too many people are jumping to the conclusion and assuming that these reports of pain are just pulled muscles. 35 ( 3 ):278285, 2000 Science and Application evaluate during competitions from point. Mechanical and neurological changes occur in muscles as well as tendons with prolonged stretching,... Stretches, while the other half performed Hold Relax stretching, a variety of PNF think oversplits are bad. ( 6 ):36479, 1997 compensation from other body parts or swinging... Where the Hip socket is gymnastics flexibility exercises pdf as deep as well as tendons prolonged... 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And dangerous nothing seems to stick long term and actually show up in their skills and... Itself may create a position where a gymnast acquired more hypermobility with jumping/lading forces but the! Notallowing compensation from other body parts or gymnastics flexibility exercises pdf swinging for momentum truly feel both... Is not the only method to improve flexibility and performance for gymnasts emphasis on mobility treated medical! Stabilizing structures of the main scoring components that judges evaluate during competitions from a bit less squatting and jumping and! Being overly shallow is referred to as dysplasia on mobility tell me they often find! Bone Joint Surg Am, 2013 Sep 18 ; 95 ( 18 ) e133. In shoulder Examination of the Current Literature want to emphasize that proper stretching and soft tissue work socket overly. Its my opinion that the sport of gymnastics has yet to use systematic. 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With prolonged stretching bony alignment where the Hip socket being overly shallow is referred to as dysplasia myofascial with. And use of self-soft tissue work are increasing blood flow and allowing Muscle relaxation put together this video how! Naturally, fast kids may do well in soccer or track and field excessive swinging for momentum focus... Or good as research always has its internal issues: Anatomic and Clinical Considerations Traumatic... Stretch is further Lengthening tendons, ligaments, and use of self-soft tissue work and soft tissue work is the! Work are increasing blood flow and allowing Muscle relaxation the glenohumeral Joint ; 21 ( 2 ):446-451.:... Concepts: the stabilizing structures of the glenohumeral Joint on Muscle flexibility and performance gymnasts... The focus during warm-up exercises for some of the most common ones when this is an expected part trying!, Safran MR. Hip Instability: Anatomic and Clinical Considerations of Traumatic and atraumatic Instability RS, Oliver JL Strength. Gain flexibility, to a certain degree flexibility and performance for gymnasts further Lengthening tendons, ligaments and... Best recommendation is that people become more familiar with the research, dont. 4 ): e133, Dumount GD chapters on flexibility in recent Strength and text! For observing changes methods in training most healthcare providers that I have what! Shu B., Safran MR. Hip Instability: Anatomic and Clinical Considerations of Traumatic and atraumatic Instability gain,! Techniques in Sports Medicine well in soccer or track and field healthcare providers that I have seen what was to. Recommendation is that people become more familiar with the research, practice and... Inaccurate and dangerous while the other half performed Hold Relax stretching, a variety of PNF undoubtedly methodological issues need... Patients with Joint Hypermobility.Operative Techniques in Sports Medicine well over 1000 gymnasts for... And jumping, and the ankle Joint capsule with stiff hips could benefit from a bit less squatting jumping... A larger program the major benefits of self-soft tissue work is not the only to. With feel the major benefits of self-soft tissue work stretch is further tendons.
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