Why we need movement (not just stretching)
Movement is a part of your being. You need to move to perform the basic tasks of life. And to have optimal movement, you also need to incorporate diverse movement patterns that will challenge your musculoskeletal system.
This may sound complex but really what I mean is that your movements should incorporate all the ways different joints and muscle groups can work; individually and together. For example, in the hip joint (where the top of our femur meets the socket of the ilium, that area that allows us to hinge and move our hips and legs) there is a variety of ranges available to you.
Flexion (bringing the leg towards your upper body)
Extension (sending the leg back and away from the body)
Abduction & Adduction (moving the leg to the side away from the body, or moving it towards midline of the body)
Internal & External rotation (being able to rotate the leg towards or away from the body)
You want to be able to get in and out of all these ranges of motion with ease and having an adequate amount of range and strength through the range can help you to function better.
Stretching is great but a lot of stretching is passive. While this is awesome, it only creates length for certain muscle groups and isn’t always the answer to combatting pain or dysfunction. Passive stretching (like leaning over your legs for a “hamstring” stretch can feel great) has been proven through research that consistently done over time will only increase muscle length. Nothing wrong with this but think of how useful is that now lengthened muscle group if we can not control the full range of motion that it is capable of? Not very useful.
What if your pain and dysfunction are happening because your hamstrings are already lengthened. Yes, a muscle can FEEL tight, sore or painful even if it is in a lengthened position. This comes back to starting to learn more about your body, how it moves and functions and finding more body awareness (which I recently did another blog post on).
Once more, stretching is NOT bad but I know and believe that for optimal function in your musculoskeletal system, movement NEEDS to be part of the process to restore health.
Movement can look like a variety of things. Walking, running, weightlifting, yoga, swimming, standing up from your desk and doing a few squats; are all valuable things and amazing ways to move your body. Or starting to incorporate some form of mobility and functional training or movement patterns. This helps to combat any pain, discomfort or dysfunction that is occurring. When you think again about your hamstrings (large muscle group on the back of the thigh, between your knee and glutes/ buttocks) this particular group of muscles is used all the time. Activated when walking, squatting, sitting or running, I would argue that in most daily movements your hamstrings will have some involvement.
Let's take walking up and down stairs, for example, probably something that you need to do most days. Using one leg at a time, your hamstrings have to accommodate being lengthened while lifting the leg and then activated when you plant your foot down and push off and then again as you continue to climb the stairs. If you are an avid hamstring stretcher and have adequate length, you can get through that first part of lifting your leg with no problem; but you need to be able to cultivate strength and movement to achieve the full action of climbing those stairs. You have to have strength and mobility through the range of that hamstring group. When you can cultivate that full range and strength and mobility, you will be able to move through the motion easefully.
The above example is a very basic idea of how you can use one muscle in your body. In reality, you can’t just look at the muscles alone to climb a stair, you have to consider the hip and knee joints, ligaments and so many other structures and systems that work together.
At the very base of things, to keep moving, you have to move. And to move your body with optimal function, you need to challenge your strength, range and movement in a variety of ways and in various areas of your body.