Warm-up stretching: time for a chain reaction

Isolated muscles vs. fascial chains

While dynamic stretching is currently still the ‘go-to’ mode of stretching for pre-exercise warm ups, even now there’s disagreement among sport scientists as to whether it really is the ‘best’ way of preparing for exercise. Some researchers have argued that the confusion surrounding this topic can arise because traditional stretching focuses on individual muscle groups, whereas recent anatomical research suggests that the body doesn’t work like that, but instead operates through interconnected ‘myofascial chains’ of connective tissue known as the fascia.

Fascial tissue in the body is connective tissue that is composed of proteins such as collagen and elastin, and which envelops muscles and organs to provide structural integrity and mechanical force transmission⁽¹³⁾. Importantly, muscles are not just sheathed in fascial tissues but different muscles and their associated tendons are interconnected with each other through myofascial chains, which allow tension to be distributed throughout and across the body^(14,15). Even more importantly, research has identified that fascial tissue is the primary target tissue during stretching exercises⁽¹⁶⁾. In other words, if you’re stretching your hamstrings for example, what you’re really trying to do is stretch the fascial tissues enveloping your hamstring muscles. However, because fascial tissue extends throughout the body in a chain-like fashion, stretching the hamstring fascia also stretches the adjacent fascial tissues of the calf and the lower back.

Despite this, most warm-up stretching protocols still target isolated muscle groups without considering that these isolated muscles are enveloped by interconnected fasical tissue, which generates much wider ranging and continuous lines of tension in the body. This fact may explain why the findings from different stretching studies are sometimes contradictory, and why it’s hard to reach a definitive conclusion about how best to stretch. What’s lacking is research investigating stretching protocols focused on integrated myofascial chains rather than isolated muscle groups. The good news however is that new research by Italian scientists has investigated how a stretching protocol based on the fascial chain approach works in practice to deliver the pre-exercise benefits that athletes need.

New research

Published last month in the journal ‘Frontiers in Sports and Active Living’, this new study research investigated how pre-exercise static and dynamic stretching targeting the fascial chain compared in terms of subsequent improvements in flexibility, power, balance, and physiological readiness in trained individuals⁽¹⁷⁾. Like the study mentioned above, this one also compared dynamic stretching to static stretching and no stretching, but in this new research, the dynamic and the stretching protocols used a completely new approach focussing on myofascial chains rather than isolated muscle groups.

To carry out the study, 19 healthy and trained men were recruited. To ensure the findings were relevant to amateur and recreational athletes/sportsmen and women rather than inactive adults, all the participants were required to have been engaging in structured physical activity such as endurance training, general conditioning or resistance training at least four times per week for a minimum of three years. In addition, the participants were required to have extensive experience of different stretching routines.

What they did

At the very start of the study, all the men underwent a familiarization process in order to understand the required experimental tasks contained in the study and to avoid any bias in the results due to the learning process. The experimental protocol itself involved performing three different exercise sessions on three different days:

·        One session where the subjects did not perform any stretching activity at all (NA).

·        A session in which they performed static stretching (SS).

·        A session in which they performed dynamic stretching (DS).

Functional testing: before and after each of these sessions, various functional tests were performed. This included treadmill running to test heart rate, blood lactate levels and how ‘physiologically ready’ the participants felt to begin a running task after each stretching protocol or no stretching. Tests also included range of movement to assess joint mobility and muscle flexibility, repeated countermovement jump testing (to assess explosive leg power) and testing to assess balance and stability. To guarantee a complete recovery after the execution of the functional tests, the three experimental sessions were spaced at least two days apart.

Figure 2: Experimental protocol

The stretching routine

As explained above, the stretches that were performed – whether static or dynamic - targeted interconnected fascial chains in the body rather than individual muscle groups. These stretches and the myofascial chains targeted were as follows (see figure 3):

·        Superficial Back Line (SBL): A standing forward bend aiming to touch the floor with the palms while keeping the knees locked.

·        Spiral Line (SL): Torso rotations with arms swinging to engage the rotational fascia of the trunk.

·        Lateral Line (LL): Side-bending with hands joined overhead to stretch the lateral aspects of the torso and hips.

·        Front Functional Line (FFL): A trunk extension (backbend) pushing the pelvis forward to engage the frontal fascial chain.

When static stretching (SS), the participants performed the myofascial chain routine with 30-second holds for each position. When dynamic stretching (DS), the participants performed the same myofascial movements but this time in a rhythmic, repetitive manner, holding for just 1-second per repetition at the point of maximum stretch. Each stretching session lasted approximately nine minutes, consisting of three circuits of the four target movements. In the control condition, no stretching activity was performed between the initial and final tests.

Figure 3: The four myofascial chain stretches

Stretching movements for the superficial back line (SBL), the spiral line (SL), the lateral line (LL) and the front functional line (FFL). In blue the myofascial chains solicited. Blue arrows indicate the direction of the movement between initial and final position.

What they found

When the functional testing scores were compared across the dynamic vs. static vs. no stretching conditions, a number of findings emerged:

·        Joint mobility and flexibility – both the static and the dynamic stretching protocols significantly improved joint mobility compared to no stretching (unsurprisingly). These improvements were observed across three of the myofascial chains - SBL flexion, SL rotation, and LL lateral flexion (see figure 3). This finding demonstrates that targeting myofascial chains in a stretch routine is an effective way to increase overall motion in a relatively short timeframe of nine minutes.

·        Jumping ability (explosive power) – here, the dynamic stretching showed a clear advantage, boosting jump height significantly. This improvement was not observed with the static stretching protocol but then neither was there a decrease in performance either (something that has been observed when performing conventional static stretching on isolated muscle groups).

·        Balance and stability – interestingly, the scripts was reversed here as the static stretching protocol was the only condition that showed a significant improvement in postural balance. One possible explanation for this effect that the prolonged holds during static stretches provide better proprioceptive feedback, allowing the nervous system to ‘stabilize’ the body more effectively. The dynamic stretching meanwhile had a neutral effect – no improvement nor degradation.

·        Physiological readiness - Both the stretch routines increased heart rates, indicating a general increase in ‘readiness for action’. Importantly however, neither of the routines increased blood lactate levels or resulted in an increase in perceived fatigue. This matters because it suggests that while increasing readiness to exercise, both routines were able to maintain the energy stores needed for main work or competition.

Practical implications

What do these findings mean for athletes who stretch as part of a warm up? The first point to make is that incorporating either static or dynamic stretching that targets the major myofascial chains in the body is both effective and time efficient. Compared to spending 15 minutes or more on numerous stretches focusing on individual muscle groups, this evidence suggests that a brief 9-minute routine targeting the four primary myofascial chains is more than sufficient to prepare the entire body for high-intensity work. This allows an athlete to spend less time on stretching and more time on sport-specific skills - without sacrificing mobility or readiness for action.

A second implication from this study is that athletes can choose to use either static or dynamic myofascial chain stretches depending on the outcome desired; if your sport requires explosive power, speed, acceleration or reactive movements such as those used in soccer, sprinting, tennis etc, performing dynamic myofascial stretching will likely yield better results. It will provide that all-important increased range of motion while simultaneously enhancing explosive power and speed. However, where a focus on stability, balance, and postural control is number one priority (eg gymnastics, martial arts etc), static myofascial stretching may be more appropriate.

Finally, the choice between static and dynamic myofascial chain stretching shouldn’t be considered an either-or option. Both can be utilized at various times in a training cycle. For example, athletes whose sports require speed, power and good reactive ability should choose dynamic stretches before training or competition but may prefer to use the static protocol on recovery days or when practicing key elements of technique. Meanwhile balance and stability athletes should use static myofascial chain stretching prior to competition or technique training but may prefer the dynamic protocol when undertaking general conditioning activities such as weight training or endurance work.

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