In my mind, these are two different applications of static stretching or foam rolling and should be viewed as having different goals. This can also happen withhip extendingmovements (think backleg kick or leap) as the back of the femur bone makes contact with the back and outsideof the pelvis (impingement) and then the contact acts as a fulcrum for thefemoral head toslide out the frontof the hip joint (instability). Often the specificity or individuality of specific exercises lacks as a result. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). With this said, lets review some basic anatomy. 2014 Jul 1;7(3):202-211. eCollection 2014. This is where the third layer comes into play, the muscular soft tissue. An important note is that some athletes may have different bony morphology of their hips in which their femur or hip socket is more rotated forward (anteverted) or backward (retroverted). There is typically much less seen where gymnasts elbows are being stretched into hyper extension, but that also should be avoided. From all the science I have read, and conversations I have had with medical professionals on stretching or self-myofascial work, when correctly applied the positives effects of foam rolling on performance largely outweigh the negatives. They say not to worry about it, and that this is something that can be trained through. If better flexibility, strength, and soft tissue care was used, I feel a lot of this could be avoided. 2014 Jun;29(6):636-42. doi: 10.1016/j. Elastic band openers, shoulder circles to mat laying on stomach, PNF techniques We also do not want to cause excessive irritation of soft tissue through boney compression. 30-60 seconds per targeted muscle group, no more than 5/10 discomfort level. Effect of self-myofascial release on myofascial pain, muscle flexibility, and strength: A narrative review. Routledge: New York. Ensure you are warmed up correctly So, what are some solutions to maybe moving away from aggressive stretching/ankle weights but still developing beast like leaps/jumps? I have found that it not only can yield quick changes in flexibility, but it can also make longer-lasting changes that show up in gymnastics skills. Does it make sense to take a gymnast who go theirinjury in the first place by rolling her ankle down and in and stretch the down portion more? A possible increase in the levels of chemicals that are natural pain relievers, like enkephlin, within the body. Determination and Desire are however the most important traits for successful participation in any We must remember Dr. Sands advice to view flexibility not as a static quality, but as a dynamic quality that incorporates strength, power, and control. Although I highly encourage people to review it and read the evidence for themselves, their thoughts follow in line with the ideas noted above related to changes in sensation or tolerance of stretching, rather than true muscle tissue changes. (7-9, 17). If the ligaments and joint capsules are already hypermobile, and have trouble dealing with high force, and then we add more laxity to them over time, we are likely asking for disaster regarding instability- based shoulder and hip injuries. 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. I view it as a tool to open the door for gymnasts to then perform strength, technique, and control work for gymnastics skills. I suggest these to outline the complexity of the human body, in hopes that people are more cautious in some flexibility decisions they make. 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). They tell me they often times find temporary progress, but nothing seems to stick long term and actually show up in their skills. It has all become wildly popular in the last five years, and its starting to show up much more in the gymnastics community. 2014 Jan;28(1):61-8. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182956569, Peacock CA, et al. A Review of the Literature Part 1: Neuromuscular and Anatomic Risk, Risk Factors for Anterior Cruciate Ligament InjuryA Review of the LiteraturePart 2: Hormonal, Genetic, Cognitive Function, Previous Injury, and Extrinsic Risk Factors, Anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention training in female athletes: a systematic review of injury reduction and results of athletic performance, The Best Gymnastics Leg Conditioning For Explosive Power on Vault and Floor, Exactly How to Build Explosive Power in Gymnasts Using a Hybrid Lifting Program with Scott Willgress, 5 Ways Gymnastics Coaches Build Healthy & High Performing Gym Cultures, Luke Carson on Gymnastics Culture Change, Handling Disappointment, and The Olympics/Worlds, 5 In Season Pitfalls for Gymnastics Coaches to Avoid, SHIFTs 200th Episode! In my experience, excessive force, excessive duration, and the incorrect placement of a foam roller or stick massager can have opposite effects. Healey KC, et al. Dave Without an in-depth knowledge of medical assessments, it is difficult to know why a gymnast may be limited in their split and what structure is referring discomfort during flexibility training. Its very important to remember that certain joints are not inherently built for lots of flexibility. Despite our best efforts we may continue to see cast handstands that lack open shoulders, leaps that do not have larger angles, and parallel bar swings that lack a large front swing. If not regularly and appropriately trained, flexibility can become something that really holds an athlete back from making progress in skills or possibly contributes to elevated injury risk. If you look down at your arm (and are wearing a shirt) your actual arm within the shirt sleeve represents the first golf ball on a tee bony layer, and the shirt sleeve surrounding the arm represents the second layer made up of joint capsules and ligaments. This creates a situation where the femoral head has more access to move in larger ranges of motion, creating significantly more hip mobility in all planes. Limitations in thoracic spine flexibility can create a situation where a gymnast is unable to get their arms fully above their head or behind their back. J Bodyw Mov Ther. Opplert J, Babault N. Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance: An Analysis of the Current Literature. 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. If you are not into that and are just looking for a particular area of the body without the geeky stuff, please click the table of contents below to jump to a certain section. In my mind, the warm-up should not really be the main time we are looking to make massive changes in flexibility. The biggest concern I have withthe use of ankle weights is related to two concepts ofhipimpingement and hip instability. They concluded, that both Hold Relax Stretching and Static Stretching can increase end range of motion, which may be because of the decreases in muscle stiffness and modified stretch tolerance during the stretch application. So I know this has been an absolute beast of an article. It alsomay impact their ability to control landings and tumble leading to decreased performance. Long-standing hip micro instability is another concern that may be created without the proper training approach. We must always remember that the structures that have the most opportunity for improvement, the active structures, should be the focus of flexibility training. [Epub ahead of print] Read this study here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29506306. Click here to read our full privacy policy. The Theraband strips should be black in color or they should be among the stiffest of the elastic material you can obtain. This is usually why they were noticed as a good candidate for competitive gymnastics, as they naturally had full splits and bridges. Int J Sports Med. As it also highlights, there may be changes in the tissue over time, as well as neurological changes, There are times after a hard training session or light training day where I will have gymnasts perform a whole body soft tissue session and follow it up with more passive stretching. The on-going process of training will include the development of strength, co-ordination, spatial awareness and the core gymnastics movement skills which are the foundation upon which high level and good quality gymnastics are based. 10 Minute Gymnastics Flexibility Circuits, Download SHIFT's Free Gymnastics Pre-Hab Guide, I usually start any discussion that I have with coaches or gymnasts related to flexibility on some basic anatomy. 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. I think that by using correct stretching consistently over time (not into excessive pain or passive tissue damage) combined with strength in full range of motion. The athlete is encouraged to round their upper back to create upper back flexion. It does not look nearly as impressive of a motion, but it is very specific to the goal we are trying to achieve of affecting the active structures while minimizing excessive stress on the passive structures. Ben M., Harvey LA. In parallel to the points made above, it is not that this stretch is inherently bad or dangerous for a gymnast. I recommend these tools be used alongside full dynamic warm-ups and technical drills commonly seen in gymnastics. They also represent layer two of the shoulder joint. Manske R., et al. CEO/Founder of SHIFT Movement Science. Foam rolling as a recovery tool after an intense bout of physical activity. I call them 10 Minute Gymnastics Flexibility Circuits. Returning to the analogy of a shirt sleeve, more naturally mobile athletes (gymnasts, baseball players) usually have a baggier shirt sleeve. Its my opinion that other aspects to physical preparation like strength or skill training, cause more structural changes to muscle tissue due to their higher force and volume nature. Wall ankle flexibility tests were used to measure the range of motion changes, and ultrasound imaging was used to look at the changes in the muscle tissue that relate to extensibility like passive resistive torque, muscle stiffness, tendon stiffness, fascicle length, and pentation angle. 1-13. Like in the shoulder, natural mobility of the hip allows them to move through a greater motion. Simple changes to choose types of stretching exercises that bias the correct structures of the hip or shoulder may make a notable difference in long-term flexibility and injury risk. We want to make sure we are not over-stretching or overstressing passive structures like the shoulder ligaments and capsules. Schleip, R. Fascial Plasticity: A New Neurobiological Explanation: Part 1. Cipriani DJ, Terry ME, Haines M, et al. The research in the world of hip micro instability, labral tears, hip stress fractures, and other injuries commonly seen in gymnasts has been rapidly developing in the last decade. 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. Good or Bad? Lats, Teres Major, Pec Major and Minor, Thoracic Spine, etc. 2009. These cases are much less frequent in gymnastics but do exist. Ogura Y, Miyahara Y, Naito H, Katamoto S, Aoki J. The reality of the human body is that there are hundreds of factors related to anatomy that can influence a gymnasts level of flexibility. 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. JOSPT November 2014. You may remember the shoulder joint has a very shallow socket, which allows for lots of motion but then creates a situation where stability is needed. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 25:3809, 1997. Oct; 19(4): 747 758. Moving past all this background information, its time to talk about what actually causes a gymnasts arms not to go overhead in a handstand, a gymnasts legs to not go into a full split, or a gymnasts arms to not go behind their body for pommel horse swings. Secondly, I have also found that many gymnasts have significantly increased passive range of motiondue to naturally laxity, but have a notablelack ofactive control for their fullhip ranges. I feel to see a notable lasting change in the range of motion that shows up in gymnastics skills, we have to approach the entire movement system with our mobility work, and not just aim to improve the range of motion seen. As I mentioned above, research does support specific stretching and soft tissue work, but as one piece to a larger program. They can easily perform flexibility drills, achieve tumbling or bar lines, create basic gymnastics shapes and proceed through lower-level skills. Many medical assessments can be used to determine why a gymnasts hip, shoulder or spine may not have the range of motion needed to achieve a full handstand, split, or bridge. Readers are encouraged to only operate within their scope of practice. As a healthcare provider, I regularly perform manual therapy to help with injuries based off a full medical assessment. Along with this, no stretching shoulder produces excessive soreness longer than the end of the day, as prolonged soreness may indicate microtissue damage. This natural selection type introduction to gymnastics presents an essential background foundational concept of flexibility training. We will start with some background anatomy, term clarification, and discuss some of the theoretical reasons certain flexibility methods seem to work. They often struggle quite a bit to lift their legs even against gravity alone. J Athl Train 2004;39:254-8. Regular Stretch does not increase muscle extensibility: a randomized control trial. Alongside this, strength deficits, limited full range control, technique issues, fatigue, or adjacent areas of the body may be the reason behind an apparent lack of flexibility. Teaching gymnastics specific stability and whole chain coordination through single leg jumping, hopping, dynamic balance drills, and so on is usually the more beneficial route. 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. It consists of two upper-body sessions, and two legs and core sessions, hitting each muscle group twice per week. It goes into much more depth than I will in this blog post. In this situation, if the gymnast can not access their full range of motion against gravity alone,I see no justification for adding additional ankle weight resistance and allowing swinging momentum to reach the desired end range of motion. The search was conducted on PubMed, WOS, Scopus, Sport Discus and Google Scholar databases, and . Clin Sports Med 30 (2011) 349-367. Exercise selection, strength program balance, and athlete individuality also have a significant impact on limited progress in flexibility. Again, without an in-depth knowledge of anatomy, injury mechanisms, and medical imaging, it is tough for someone to tell the difference between a hip flexor strain and a more severe ligament or labral tear. I will get a bit nerdy outlining the mechanisms, but then I will offer a practical application type summary for people to apply in training. Many gymnasts with stiff hips could benefit from a bit less squatting and jumping, and repace those exercises with glute and hamstring work. Flexibility is frequently included in talent identification and screening measures for gymnasts, divers, and dancers (2, 10, 11, 16, 20, 21). Konrad A, Tip M. Increased range of motion after static stretching is not due to changes in muscle and tendon structures. I now look back to how I coached and trained as a gymnast 10 years ago, and am blown away with all the things I was doing that were not backed by scientific support. In the short term, these smaller flare-ups of pain may not create huge issues. 2015; 23: 203-212, Escamilla RF, Hooks TR, Wilk KE. Flexibility: developing effective movement. Being able to achieve a full over split, or even a regular full split for that matter requires many things to be going well from a movement point of view. Although I know having a fantastic toe point is something all gymnasts and coaches strive for, I personally feel that gymnasts with wobbly ankles or have a history of inversion ankle sprains shouldnt be getting this cranked on. This will help them continue to get the strength training effect but wont continue to perpetuate their overhead mobility issue. A commonly seen stretch in gymnastics is when the lower back of an athlete is excessively arched, or the pelvis is excessively tipped forward as depicted below. Physiother Res Int 2002;7:1-13. Although there are conflicting viewpoints on this discussion, I have boiled my thoughts down to three main contributing factors as to why gymnasts may get stiff as they participate in gymnastics. It is worth noting that both authors have extensive experience in elite level gymnastics, spending the majority of their career researching gymnastics biomechanics, injuries, and sports performance. Tones and strengthen muscles Improves posture In the long term, the increased strength of the upper back and follow up technique work will solidify the flexibility gains made. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012; 26(8) 2119 2129. This screen measures hypermobility through looking at elbow hyperextension, knee hyperextension, the ability to touch the floor in a pike stretch, hyperextension of the pinky, and hyperextension of the thumb. 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. Take them to a qualified medical professional for an assessment. Eccentric pull up lowers or EZ Mover Sliders, Gymnastics skill technique drills to use the new range of motion Nho, et al. Given the material I have read, this has been my main thought process as well. Just as we must reverse engineer each of these technical issues to why a gymnast is unable to make a giant over, we must take the same approach to flexibility training. Specific exercises lacks as a result Dynamic stretching on muscle flexibility and Performance: an Analysis the! 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