subject: Stretching For Children To Prevent Osgood Schlatters Disease And Severs Disease [print this page] Stretching is important for children and adults alike before and after sport.
Its not just muscles that need their flexibility maintained, but other soft tissues such as nerves and the passive tissues around your joints namely ligaments and capsules.
These tissues have different degrees of elasticity and respond to different types of loading.
Neural tension can be felt usually with a combined elongation of both spinal cord and limb. The angle you move your limb and distal joints determines which nerves are targeted. The spine usually needs to be in full flexion, including the neck. Or with the upper limb, the neck needs to be in side flexion (away from the arm).
Adverse neural tension has been linked to RSI (repetitive strain injury) in computer workers and other repetitive small range tasks; and is also closely linked with sciatica and low back pain. It is also linked with that tingling you get when you reach maximally with your arm or towards your toes. Often mistaken for a hamstring stretch feeling.
Effective mobilization of these nerves is not done with a full end of range stretch that we are familiar with, but rather a SLIDING movement, back and forwards, which aims to release any tethering that has built up from scar tissue etc. It should be done very gently (nerves don't like too much tension) and for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 x only once per day.
Be very careful as nerves are the most sensitive structures in our bodies. Any increase in pain or tingling means you have over-stretched. And this may not be felt until the next day - the latency effect of nerves.
Joints may need to be stretched as well. They may have got tight due to injury or inactivity. In this case it will be the passive tissues such as specific ligaments or the capsule that may be tight. Again specific ligaments will need to be stressed in that particular direction and held gently for 30 sec. Repeat 3x. It takes longer with these tissues because of the greater content of connective tissue fibers which are inelastic.
e.g stretching the medial collateral ligament of the knee would require a valgus stress with the knee in either full flexion or full extension.
Capsules can be stretched in the open packed position. Every joint has a unique position where the two surfaces are the furthest apart e.g. the shoulder open packed position is full lateral rotation, abduction and slight extension. See below.
Remember that stretching the capsule is also taking it to the point where it is most unstable i.e possible dislocation position. So always take great care with these stretches. Also remember that stretching should only be done if there is a lack of flexibility or for gentle maintenance.
Stretching is a healthy activity for people of any age. However if you have any medical condition you ought to consult a doctor first of all.
