Some of you have been meaning to come in for an appointment, get stretched, learn stretches, and take my posture classes. Here’s some inspiration:
Generally, the world is made up of two kinds of people: people who like to stretch (usually people who are already stretchy) and whose muscles may be weak) and people who don’t (aka the ones that need it, whose muscles tend to be tight).
My mission, should you decide to accept it, is to balance you between the two. Athletes, for example, tend to be both stretchy and strong (although there are exceptions, such as some runners’ hamstrings – but I’m getting ahead of myself).
Maybe you can’t be an athlete. But you can at least get balanced like one. There are many ways to lengthen and soften muscles while making them more powerful.
Hey, guess what? All stretching increases muscle power. You can’t turn a dimmer switch up very much if it’s already at 9; likewise, contracted muscles can’t contract much. But longer ones can.
I want to help you find the method that works for you, that will balance and empower you even if flexibility isn’t a natural talent.
Also, all these stretch methods and theories have a counterpart in my treatments, which is one of the many reasons that treatment combined with stretching will help improve ease and function and prevent injury – whether you’re in pain or not.
Now, there are different schools of thought on what stretching does and how to do it – so drop what you’re doing and go to school for a couple of years. Or, wait, no – how about if I just simplify them for you?
Elasticity Theory and The Quick Stretch
Muscles are elastic, which means that, like rubber bands, they lengthen and then shorten. So when you hold a muscle in its longest position for less than 30 seconds – a quick form of “static stretching” – that elongated position becomes, well, longer, creating a temporary increase in the range between short and long.
At this point, Dear Reader, if you’re the kind of person who says “duh”, go ahead and say it.
However, there are limitations to this way of stretching/thinking. It explains short-term increases in flexibility, but generally, the “elastic band” goes back to shortness when a shorter stretch is over. Weagh.
And so this theory and practice don’t necessarily lead to long-term effects.
Dynamic Stretching and The Stretch Reflex Theory
The stretch reflex theory emerged to explain this tragic state of affairs. Muscles resist stretch due to a reflex designed to prevent overstretch injuries. Some stretching, especially fast stretching, actually causes contraction, canceling out the gains. (Dear Stretchers, I feel your pain.)
But you can work with that reflex with dynamic stretches, which involve moving muscles actively (with contraction of the stretched/other muscles and added balance challenge).
When you move back and forth through the range of motion, from stretched to contracted, the nervous system lights up like a Christmas (or other lit-up, non-denominational) tree. Stretch/strength alternation/combination may help your nervous system turn off the resistance.
Another Reflex To The Rescue! And Longer Stretching.
Static stretching held for an extended time, say, a minute or more, “teaches” the muscle (read: the brain) to normalize a longer length by changing the way the muscle responds to stretch. A different reflex, that slowly softens a muscle under stretching pressure, may lead to greater relaxation of the muscle and increased flexibility.
The Viscoelastic Model and Fascial Stretching
This is another theory that validates slow stretching.
Everybody’s talking about fascia these days, but if the word is unfamiliar, I’ll tell you that it is a fibrous tissue under the skin and around the muscles. In fact, more or less taut fibers surround and connect every structure in the body, down to all the itty-bittiest organelles inside your cells.
Fascia led a client to ask my mentor, Irene Dowd, “What’s the muscle that goes from your head to your heel? ’cause it’s really tight on me.”
Fascia is viscous: hard when cold and increasingly fluid when warm, permitting the muscle to have a larger range. It’s not elastic, but rather it “creeps” slowly in many directions 
as its temperature goes up.
Fascia can be reoriented over a long period and broken down with firm pressure, which is why I use several therapies that address it that way. You need to hold a stretch for a long time to reorient your fascia. Gains that you make when the tissue is warm can fly away when you cool down (or haven’t you noticed?)
Continued passive care or long stretching can reorient fascia, which is not directly impacted by brain commands but which speaks rather loudly to the nervous system in the form of resistance and pain. As Irene Dowd used to say, “You can’t talk to fascia, but it sure talks to you.”
Plasticity
Your body and brain can remodel, leading to a pleasure analogous to your new Ikea kitchen or gold-and-red-velvet living room. But you need to be crafty. and combine these strategies. To learn how, take my posture classes online.
My fun 75-minute online classes include at least three elements: the elastic response (immediate lengthening), the viscous response (Slow lengthening over time), and nervous system integration (teaching the brain to relax and accept the changes you make).
I usually start with some joint mobilization and quick stretching, then active stretching, longer stretches to onboard your fascia, and finally, a 15-minute relaxation to train and integrate the brain so it views your new length as the new normal.
But wait! There’s more. The next class series will be addressing your flexibility specifically.
The goal is to introduce all kinds of movements that you can integrate into your own practice. At the least, you’ll stretch, strengthen, and integrate one or two days a week. This is for you if you’re the type of person who’s been intending to stretch – as soon as you get around to it – since the early 90s.
Please join me. It’s fun and easy, I promise!
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