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What if your muscles tighten up after you run, did you not stretch enough?
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Pewpew
Yahoo User
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 Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject: What if your muscles tighten up after you run, did you not stretch enough? |
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| And how do you relieve this pain? just let it sit out and rest? |
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XFactor
Yahoo User
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| Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Stretching might be one of the problems, not the solution, as stretching reduces speed, power, force production, and doesn't decrease (actually can increase) the chance of injury.Don't stretch before you run.And it could also be from lack of proper hydration. But you're likely to feel some soreness if you haven't run for awhile. As you continue to run more and more, it'll become easier for you. But make sure you don't stretch, and make sure to properly hydrate yourself.Now as to why you shouldn't stretch (the science of it):"When muscles are stretched beyond natural voluntary ranges of motion, the muscles and tendons are stretched unnaturally. Excessive stretching damages tissues and promotes inflammation" (Yang, Im, & Wang, 2005). Continual stretching can lead to "lengthened" muscles. That condition leads to two performance altering states.1) The range of movement of the joint about which the lengthened muscles gird is increased. That results in the range of effective contraction of the muscles being altered. Maximum muscle performance will have to occur in a different range of motion to the original natural range. IF a lengthened muscle is required still to perform in the orginal natural range, then performance in that range will be reduced because of the extra stretch. Maximally lenghtened muscles about a joint are associated often with a loosening of the joint. Increased leaxity can expose the joint to increased injury through collisions or simply through maximum efforts. Intra-joint movements can also stimulate aggravations to other structural tissues as well as bony structures.2) If continued for a long time, muscles, tendons, etc... will start to loose some of their elastic properties, which would further decrease power and speed [and will increase the chances of injury]."If you do sprints, from The Science and Art of Baseball Pitching, 44.4: "Running economy is actually improved when muscles are stiff. Craib, Mitchell, Fields, Cooper, Hopewell, & Morgan (1996) concluded running economy needs natural tightness in lower leg muscles and connective tissues to maximize the storage and return of elastic energy, and reduce the need for stabilizing activity. Continuing with the theme that the elasticity of muscles needs to be preserved for high performances, Jones (2002) attributed running performance to metabolism in the muscles and stiffer musculotendinous structures that facilitate a greater elastic energy return during the shortening phase of the stretch-shortening cycle. A certain level of muscle stiffness preservs the storage and return properties of elastic energy that can be used to generate energy in an activity. The contribution of elastic energy to overall muscle performance is as much as 25-40% (Cavagna & Margaria, 1966; Cavagna, Saibene, & Margaria, 1964).Nelson, Driscoll, Landin, Young, and Schexnayder, (2005) found that stretching before sprinting, slowed 20-meter sprint times. A review of data-based investigations led to the conclusion that stretching did not improve performance capability (Ingraham, 2003)." |
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