What if I told you to stretch less?

“My hamstrings are soooooo tight. I should stretch more”, said every client I have worked with the past 14 years.

What does tightness mean to you? To most, it means something is inflexible and needs to be stretched.

This statement often gets reported when we ask someone to touch their toes. In this situation, a client will bend forward, keep their knees straight and reach their hands to the floor. I often giggle (on the inside, of course- professionalism!) when a client can put their palms to the floor exclaims, “I’m sooooo tight.”

If someone can reach their toes yet feel “tight”, they are experiencing a natural pulling sensation of their muscles at the natural end point in flexibility. There will never be an absence of sensation from the body when we stretch (unless you are insensate, then you have other concerns beyond stretching). Our tissues communicate to let us know “hey, we feel you and note you have moved to your limit.”

Another common refrain from folks is they have stretched an area of pain or tightness to alleviate their symptoms. However, a minute or two later the same symptom reoccurs.

This gets our critical thinking juices flowing! The temporary relief is not going to solve the problem long term. There is likely another explanation or underlying dysfunction driving the pain or “tightness”. Tightness can imply many things. A thorough exam will reveal if the area needs to get stronger, or the body needs to move differently so as to not over or misuse the “tight” region.

Although gaining flexibility can improve functional mobility and activities of daily living, I propose there are more optimal modes of exercise that can not only enhance flexibility but improve cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and power, reduce injury and pain as well as enhance athletic performance. 

If a client tells me they have only 15 to 20 minutes to exercise a few times a week, I am likely prescribing a strength based exercise. Why? Because strength exercises can achieve all those aforementioned characteristics of health and wellness; whereas stretching cannot.

So, tight hamstrings? Perform some squats or better yet - dead lifts.

Not sure where to start? We do! Don’t wait till tomorrow. If you want to move pain-free, you need Norton PT.