Re: Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation

[Guest guest]

Hi Jim,

I found the abstract interesting. Since childhood I have had tight

hamstrings - recollections of being unable to touch my toes at school.

Over the years my flexibility has improved but I still have the occasional

bout of stiffness. I am in such a period now and the unilateral tightness of

the right hamstring has put strain on my lower back giving an effect like

sciatica. After exercise pre-warm, standing quad stretches with the right

leg produce a series of deep 'clicks' which seem to realign the spine after

the muscular distortions it has been subject to. I then follow this through

with static hamstring stretches, and finally PNF hamstring stretching. [

passive stretch - contract muscle - stretch against contraction - relax -

passive stretch ]

Unfortunately over the last few days the PNF stretching has not produced the

desired results and my right hamstring is virtually solid. Therefore I'll

try a 'softer' approach to PNF with CR added in. If you know of web links

that demonstrate the technique in more detail than the description already

given below I'd be grateful.

PS - I found this link http://www.stmc.ab.ca/lecture92003.htm good basic

stuff and this to say about CRPNF [ It even looks like it describes a glute

/ hamstring stretch ] :

Contract-Relax

- Begins with passive pre-stretch (10s)

- Stretchee then extends hip against resistance (to ground) thru full ROM

- Partner then passively moves leg into further stretch; 30 sec

So .. what am I doing wrong ????

Cheers,

Sammy Bates

Leicester, England

[Guest guest]

Sammy Bates <sammy_bates@b...> wrote:

> I found the abstract interesting. Since childhood I have had tight

> hamstrings - recollections of being unable to touch my toes at

> school.

***Touching one's toes is an extremely difficult task, if performed

correctly i.e., ensure `normal' curvature of the back, bending at the

hips and pushing the hips backwards.

> Over the years my flexibility has improved but I still have the

> occasional bout of stiffness.

***Stiffness refers to the mechanical resistance to deformation; one

can be extremely flexible whilst your muscles and other soft tissues

exhibit a certain mechanical stiffness under specific conditions of

loading. A muscle complex with higher mechanical stiffness is not

necessarily " tight. " (Refer to Dr Siff's work for more info)

> I am in such a period now and the unilateral tightness of

> the right hamstring has put strain on my lower back giving an effect

> like sciatica. After exercise pre-warm, standing quad stretches with

> the right leg produce a series of deep 'clicks' which seem to

> realign the spine after the muscular distortions it has been subject

> to. I then follow this through with static hamstring stretches, and

> finally PNF hamstring stretching. [passive stretch - contract muscle -

> stretch against contraction - relax -passive stretch ]

>

> Unfortunately over the last few days the PNF stretching has not

> produced the desired results and my right hamstring is virtually

> solid. Therefore I'll try a 'softer' approach to PNF with CR added

> in.

***Could the muscle " tightness " be a symptom not the cause

(speculating?)? Review the following material:

http://nsca.allenpress.com/nscaonline/?request=index-html

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/08_00/shrier.htm

http://galway.informatik.uni-

kl.de/staff/weidmann/pages/stretch/stretching_toc.html

Search the archives as well.

All the best

Carruthers

Wakefield, UK

[Guest guest]

Sammy,

If we look at the science, we could make a good case that you may

not need to stretch to allow greater ROM of your hip (I'll explain

in a minute). Since passive stretching and PNF have only worked

modestly well and intermittently for you, I would suggest trying

something else.

One alternative is to look at muscle tightness as secondary to

antagonist neural inhibition. For example, your " hamstrings " are

responsible for hip extension, knee flexion, hip rotation and knee

rotation (to name a few). If they are " tight " , any muscle which

preforms the opposite action is potentially inhibited.

One way to look at the science is to note that if a muscle is not

receiving proper neural input, its antagonists will not receive the

proper reciprocal inhibition response, hence, they will tighten:

i.e. the Tensor Fascia Latae (a hip flexor, abductor and external

rotator) is inhibited, potentially, the medial hamstrings,

semitentonosis/semimembranosis (hip extensor, adductor and internal

rotator) may " tighten " /guard. I hope that makes sense, I know that

it is quite different from traditional thinking.

One of the ways to help bring proper neural input back to a muscle

is via isometric contraction. What I would do if I were in your

position would be to lie supine and bring your hip into flexion as

far as is comfortable, knee extended. Once you get there, have

something/someone stabilize your leg in that position as you apply a

force into more flexion, while the stabilizing person does not allow

you to move (isometric). Start out pushing very easy, then

gradually ramp up how much force you apply. Do this several times

for several seconds and in several positions of rotation (internal,

neutral, external). Then see if you can go into more hip flexion

and start all over again. These are some of the principals behind

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT).

Let me know how it goes. If you start to see some progress, you may

want to see an MAT therapist. Hope that helps.

Joe DeAntonis, RTSM, MAT Therapist

Pittsburgh, PA

Sammy Bates <sammy_bates@b...> wrote:

> Over the years my flexibility has improved but I still have the

> occasional bout of stiffness. I am in such a period now and the unilateral

> tightness of the right hamstring has put strain on my lower back giving an

> effect like sciatica. After exercise pre-warm, standing quad stretches with

> the right leg produce a series of deep 'clicks' which seem to realign the

> spine after the muscular distortions it has been subject to. I then follow

> this through with static hamstring stretches, and finally PNF hamstring

> stretching. [passive stretch - contract muscle - stretch against

> contraction - relax - passive stretch ]

[Guest guest]

Carruthers wrote:

> Could the muscle " tightness " be a symptom not the cause (speculating?)?

Yes, I think it is probably a childhood injury that comes back to haunt me. I

had a broken wrist as well that gives me twinges now and then. Even old scar

tissue may be more active or susceptible to stresses than surrounding tissue.

The present bout of muscle tightness started three weeks ago: I was up a ladder

in the rain trying to lower a punchbag -- keeping my centre of gravity over the

ladder was an effort requiring some fancy balancing that did not quite come off.

My glutes and lower back were the first to feel the stress - an instantaneous

case of sciatica. After the worst of the sciatica wore off in a few days I

noticed that residual tightness in my hamstring was triggering pain in my

sciatic region: Warming and stretching the hamstring (and glute) reduced the

sciatic pain, but not completely.

Actually, I did find the PNF stretching techniques very useful to get over the

first level of injury, but there seemed to be a limit to their use, hence my

initial enquiry. By the end of the second week I was running and skipping again,

albeit limited. An extended walk (up Mount Snowden) just recently has proven to

me there is residual injury that needs something more than stretching. I like

Joe DeAntonis' ideas about muscle activation techniques so will be trying that

out over the next week or so to see what happens.

I don't suppose there are any MAT therapists in this neck of the woods ?

http://www.muscleactivation.com/therapists.html is US based.

Cheers,

Sammy Bates

Leicester, England.

[Guest guest]

I was going to respond to this earlier but I'll just add a little bit here. If

you have chronic hamstring tightness I would suggest evaluating your low back

flexibility, it may be poor or you may be hypermobile in the low back to

compensate. I would also check your strength in leg flexion, alone and relative

to leg extension strength. There is some room for argument but flex. to ext.

should be about 75-100%. I have found most tight hamstrings to be relatively

weak. Deadlifts, Straight legged or Romanian DL will help strengthen them and

you will probably find more flexibility, leg curls also, although I don't

advocate them.

For stretching, you might consider switching to dynamic or active stretching

rather than static/PNF stretching. I have read some studies that show no

advantage of PNF over static. That is just a point of interest,not a

recommendation. A dynamic stretch is as simple as a controlled kicking of your

leg keeping it straight. Don't let the pelvis tilt with it or you will likely

stretch more low back than hamstring. Also, as has been mentioned you can use

antagonistic inhibition, which is performing a strong knee extension exercise,

even isometrically, before doing your knee flexion stretches. A variant of this

is to tap on your kneecaps, like a doctor checking your reflexes, before

stretching. This has a similar effect but acts on the reflexive level.

Hope this helps,

Randy Dixon

Harlingen, TX USA