*Ascend Physiotherapy - latest tips

latest tips

Text Box: The “tight” muscle ……………………………… “Oh, I’m feeling so tight in my hamstrings/calves/quads/shoulders/insert body part here!!!!!” I’m sure most of us have said and heard this at some point. So what is muscle tightness? In terms of what the body perceives, a muscle that feels ‘tight’ may not necessarily be stiff and tight, as the name implies. The same feeling occurs in a muscle that is long, weak and chronically overloaded. A couple of classic examples would be across the shoulders, where the tight muscle is more often the pecs and lats and the long, weak, inhibited muscle is the trapezius and surrounding muscles (the ones that get sore). Likewise someone with ‘tight’ feeling hamstrings, who stretches them all the time, may actually be quite flexible but have weak hamstrings relative to the quads, which is the opposing muscle group, or he or she may be loading the hamstrings heavily relative to other muscles. What we’re saying is that it’s often the weakest muscles that complain the loudest, and these aren’t necessarily ‘tight’. What this means is that rather than stretching the muscle, what it needs is a strengthening program. So if you’ve been trying your hardest to stretch a tight muscle to no avail, you may need to switch to exercises that strengthen it. Try this example; if your calves feel tight, try moving to some light strength exercises - stand on the edge of a step, push up onto your toes, hold five seconds, lower slowly and smoothly and pause with your heel below the level of the step. Repeat 5 times each side. You can do this prior to a run as a warm-up. Nothing beats specific advice on this. Having your Ascend physiotherapist give you specific advice on what you should be doing as a warm-up/cool down/strengthening program could save you a whole lot of frustration. And don’t forget we have our own little gym here which we allow clients to use, so there’s on reason not to get strong!!!

the ascend edge

Text Box: Challenge Stadium : Stephenson Ave : Mt Claremont 6010 Phone : (08) 9387 2699 Fax : (08) 9387 5705 Email : info@ascendphysio.com.au New postal address: PO Box 581 Floreat 6014