Thought of Bill's words..

[benzocaine]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sport ... rm.html?em

Stretching:

The Truth
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

WHEN DUANE KNUDSON, a professor of kinesiology at California State University, Chico, looks around campus at athletes warming up before practice, he sees one dangerous mistake after another. “They’re stretching, touching their toes. . . . ” He sighs. “It’s discouraging.”

If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm-up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them. In a recent study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all. Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent. Also, stretching one leg’s muscles can reduce strength in the other leg as well, probably because the central nervous system rebels against the movements.

“There is a neuromuscular inhibitory response to static stretching,” says Malachy McHugh, the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The straining muscle becomes less responsive and stays weakened for up to 30 minutes after stretching, which is not how an athlete wants to begin a workout.

THE RIGHT WARM-UP should do two things: loosen muscles and tendons to increase the range of motion of various joints, and literally warm up the body. When you’re at rest, there’s less blood flow to muscles and tendons, and they stiffen. “You need to make tissues and tendons compliant before beginning exercise,” Knudson says.

A well-designed warm-up starts by increasing body heat and blood flow. Warm muscles and dilated blood vessels pull oxygen from the bloodstream more efficiently and use stored muscle fuel more effectively. They also withstand loads better. One significant if gruesome study found that the leg-muscle tissue of laboratory rabbits could be stretched farther before ripping if it had been electronically stimulated — that is, warmed up.

To raise the body’s temperature, a warm-up must begin with aerobic activity, usually light jogging. Most coaches and athletes have known this for years. That’s why tennis players run around the court four or five times before a match and marathoners stride in front of the starting line. But many athletes do this portion of their warm-up too intensely or too early. A 2002 study of collegiate volleyball players found that those who’d warmed up and then sat on the bench for 30 minutes had lower backs that were stiffer than they had been before the warm-up. And a number of recent studies have demonstrated that an overly vigorous aerobic warm-up simply makes you tired. Most experts advise starting your warm-up jog at about 40 percent of your maximum heart rate (a very easy pace) and progressing to about 60 percent. The aerobic warm-up should take only 5 to 10 minutes, with a 5-minute recovery. (Sprinters require longer warm-ups, because the loads exerted on their muscles are so extreme.) Then it’s time for the most important and unorthodox part of a proper warm-up regimen, the Spider-Man and its counterparts.

“TOWARDS THE end of my playing career, in about 2000, I started seeing some of the other guys out on the court doing these strange things before a match and thinking, What in the world is that?” says Mark Merklein, 36, once a highly ranked tennis player and now a national coach for the United States Tennis Association. The players were lunging, kicking and occasionally skittering, spider-like, along the sidelines. They were early adopters of a new approach to stretching.

While static stretching is still almost universally practiced among amateur athletes — watch your child’s soccer team next weekend — it doesn’t improve the muscles’ ability to perform with more power, physiologists now agree. “You may feel as if you’re able to stretch farther after holding a stretch for 30 seconds,” McHugh says, “so you think you’ve increased that muscle’s readiness.” But typically you’ve increased only your mental tolerance for the discomfort of the stretch. The muscle is actually weaker.

Stretching muscles while moving, on the other hand, a technique known as dynamic stretching or dynamic warm-ups, increases power, flexibility and range of motion. Muscles in motion don’t experience that insidious inhibitory response. They instead get what McHugh calls “an excitatory message” to perform.

Dynamic stretching is at its most effective when it’s relatively sports specific. “You need range-of-motion exercises that activate all of the joints and connective tissue that will be needed for the task ahead,” says Terrence Mahon, a coach with Team Running USA, home to the Olympic marathoners Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor. For runners, an ideal warm-up might include squats, lunges and “form drills” like kicking your buttocks with your heels. Athletes who need to move rapidly in different directions, like soccer, tennis or basketball players, should do dynamic stretches that involve many parts of the body. “Spider-Man” is a particularly good drill: drop onto all fours and crawl the width of the court, as if you were climbing a wall. (For other dynamic stretches, see the sidebar below.)

Even golfers, notoriously nonchalant about warming up (a recent survey of 304 recreational golfers found that two-thirds seldom or never bother), would benefit from exerting themselves a bit before teeing off. In one 2004 study, golfers who did dynamic warm- up exercises and practice swings increased their clubhead speed and were projected to have dropped their handicaps by seven strokes over seven weeks.

Controversy remains about the extent to which dynamic warm-ups prevent injury. But studies have been increasingly clear that static stretching alone before exercise does little or nothing to help. The largest study has been done on military recruits; results showed that an almost equal number of subjects developed lower-limb injuries (shin splints, stress fractures, etc.), regardless of whether they had performed static stretches before training sessions. A major study published earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control, on the other hand, found that knee injuries were cut nearly in half among female collegiate soccer players who followed a warm-up program that included both dynamic warm-up exercises and static stretching. (For a sample routine, visit www.aclprevent.com/pepprogram.htm.) And in golf, new research by Andrea Fradkin, an assistant professor of exercise science at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, suggests that those who warm up are nine times less likely to be injured.

“It was eye-opening,” says Fradkin, formerly a feckless golfer herself. “I used to not really warm up. I do now.”

You’re Getting Warmer: The Best Dynamic Stretches

These exercises- as taught by the United States Tennis Association’s player-development program – are good for many athletes, even golfers. Do them immediately after your aerobic warm-up and as soon as possible before your workout.

STRAIGHT-LEG MARCH

(for the hamstrings and gluteus muscles)

Kick one leg straight out in front of you, with your toes flexed toward the sky. Reach your opposite arm to the upturned toes. Drop the leg and repeat with the opposite limbs. Continue the sequence for at least six or seven repetitions.

SCORPION

(for the lower back, hip flexors and gluteus muscles)

Lie on your stomach, with your arms outstretched and your feet flexed so that only your toes are touching the ground. Kick your right foot toward your left arm, then kick your leftfoot toward your right arm. Since this is an advanced exercise, begin slowly, and repeat up to 12 times.

HANDWALKS

(for the shoulders, core muscles, and hamstrings)

Stand straight, with your legs together. Bend over until both hands are flat on the ground. “Walk” with your hands forward until your back is almost extended. Keeping your legs straight, inch your feet toward your hands, then walk your hands forward again. Repeat five or six times. G.R.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sport ... rm.html?em

[Bill Glasheen]

Thanks for posting this.

Some of my older students won't listen to me on this, and are setting a bad example for younger students. They want to spend 20 minutes to half an hour doing static stretches. Not surprisingly, I often see said folks having problems putting "caffeine" into their techniques. And they have lower back problems, and... and...

Just Saturday, I read a brown belt the riot act on this. Bless his heart... he had started class for me because I was late. But he had folks doing 20 minutes of static stretches. Normally I don't correct my teachers in front of the students, but I had to stop and make a PLEASE DON'T DO THAT speech.

The analogy I make is of rubber. Muscles and tendons are just like it. When cold, they are brittle and tear/break easy. When warm, they are pliable and behave well. So "warming up" isn't just a metaphor. It's exactly what you should be doing before doing any kind of range-of-motion exercises.

I've re-discovered some of the junbi undo, but I've worked them over. I've completely ditched the knee circles. Dumb, dumb, dumb!!! Meanwhile, I've taken the leg to the front and side exercise, and embellished on it quite a bit. You kind of have to see it to understand. I have the students hopping all over the place, but they love it.

I'm not a fan of the ballistic stretches. I am a fan of PNF stretching.

I do a LOT of dynamic tension motions in many degrees of freedom of movement. Some emulate techniques. Some just work the joints through all their angles of movement. And all involve breathing with the movement, since dynamic tension involves movement against a (internal) resistance.

I find stretching is best done when most of the way through a workout. Another good time to do it is in-between weight training sets of the muscle(s) in question. After all, our goal is to be both strong and flexible. If you work both aspects at the same time, the efforts compliment each other.

- Bill

[IJ]

Minor point here but I find the typical hamstring stretch (standing or grounded with both legs straight doing a toe touch) just jacks up my back. The muscles that bring the knee to the chest attach to the lower back, and when the knees are brought away from the chest, they are extended, and stress is placed on the lumbar spine. When both legs are like this I find it uncomfortable so I only do one at a time. Others seem to tolerate two legged but I just won't do it, especially if I haven't already gotten nice and warm and prestretched.

Another variant I do is to skip the sitting butterfly and squat on the balls of my feet, feel together, legs apart, leaning forward onto hands so that my weight drives my inner knee into my elbows for the stretch. I am just not made to like the side stretch the butterfly works, and this makes it much more pleasant.

Cold stretching is also just so.... unrewarding. My muscles report that they do not like it. It doesn't make me feel flexible, just gently injured. Happy muscles that have done some warmups respond much better.

[fivedragons]

I have found that the only time stretches do anything for me are after I have exercised. Didn't find this out on my own, was told about and tried it. Growing up playing soccer, we did all that crap before moving around, and I don't even see what benefit that stuff would have for someone running up and down a field, kicking a ball.

I don't even know what they do for me know, except after I have worked up a sweat doing calesthenics, they seem to make me sweat more, as my body tries to let go of tension and sink into the relaxation. I mean, I haven't done static stretching for years up until the last year, and it did bring into very clear focus areas of my body that had seemingly developed some kind of rigid pathology. It has helped me in some sense, but just don't know the reason, I don't think it has to do with stretching so much as relaxing into positions that habitually cause tension.

[Bill Glasheen]

I have found that the only time stretches do anything for me are after I have exercised.

Perfect!

Stretching is important. WHEN and HOW you stretch is even more important. Primum non nocere.

- Bill

[TSDguy]

Hey Bill or others:

Do you have any sources for the no-knee-circles thing? My wife recently bought a workout video from the Biggest Loser trainer, and it has knee circles in it. I tried to tell her they were bad for your knees, but that trainer is an expert and I am not. _I_ know they're bad; I hurt my knees when I was 16 doing them and on the advice of two doctors, I stopped doing them in class (couldn't convince anyone else to.) No one should have bad knees when you're 16!

[IJ]

You're not going to find much in the way of researched material on small issues like knee circles, so you're left with opinion and anecdote. And what better than your anecdote driven opinion? I will say this: We stretch because we don't want to pull MUSCLES. Your knee is connected by the anterior and posterior cruciate LIGAMENTS to control front and back, the collateral LIGAMENTS that limit bending side to side, and padded by MENISCI between the tibia and femur. These are the structures that are injured, too. So what on earth are we stretching when we do knee circles? And what other function do they serve?

[mhosea]

So what on earth are we stretching when we do knee circles? And what other function do they serve?

I'm not sure what they do for most people. I have inflammation in my ankles to contend with, and for me the knee circles warm up the ankles. The little ankle circles with the knee raised do almost nothing. I also do those for a few moments just before I climb out of bed in the morning, and they don't do much then, either.

[gmattson]

I've been doing them 4-6 times a week for 50+ years and at 71, have never injured my knees. . . in spite of taking many hits, falling on my dirtbike many times and taking trauma with my golf swing that has damaged many knees of many players.

Is it possible that the knee-circles provide some conditioning that strengthens those ligaments so when they get stretched in a bad way, they survive???

Same with the ankle circles.

Just wondering. . .

[Glenn]

Two factors to keep in mind that may also come into play in the particular experiences of individuals with any exercise are genetics and correctness of technique. Some people might be inherently more or less prone to injury in certain areas like the knees; likewise even minute differences between individuals in how an exercise is performed repeatedly can translate to differences in risk of injury over a long enough period of time.

[Bill Glasheen]

Hey Bill or others:

Do you have any sources for the no-knee-circles thing? My wife recently bought a workout video from the Biggest Loser trainer, and it has knee circles in it. I tried to tell her they were bad for your knees, but that trainer is an expert and I am not. _I_ know they're bad; I hurt my knees when I was 16 doing them and on the advice of two doctors, I stopped doing them in class (couldn't convince anyone else to.) No one should have bad knees when you're 16!

This will address some further comments by Dr. Ian and by George.

I will provide some evidence that confirms my own trepidation about the exercise. A good example is some of the research being done to prevent knee ligament damage in women. The short of it is that women are more likely to put their knees in these bent positions that - when the body is stressed - result in the snapping of those ligaments.

Maybe it's not so bad for karate if all you are doing is kata and point sparring. But with football, field hockey, grappling, etc, I suspect that this exercise increases the likelihood of this very serious brand of knee injury. Perhaps George is fine with it because he's not a Joe Pomfret or Eli Manning who puts his knees under tremendous stress.

I personally have had problems with the exercise. There was a time in my life when I was having lots of problems with my knees. When doing a knee exam, the orthopedist would comment on the (unhealthy) looseness of my knee joints. When I stopped doing knee circles and started doing free-weight squats with strict form, the problem disappeared.

And for what it's worth... I've used these same principles to correct form in kata. The short of it? The knee should be facing the toes through all ranges of bend of the knee joint. If not, then you are at risk.

More later.

- Bill

[Jason Rees]

When doing a knee exam, the orthopedist would comment on the (unhealthy) looseness of my knee joints. When I stopped doing knee circles and started doing free-weight squats with strict form, the problem disappeared.

Heh. You know, I've done my share of knee circles, and I was recently told by two doctors and a physical therapist that my knees are rather loose (they said it was nothing to be concerned about)... but that they noticed it under similar circumstances gives me pause.

[Bill Glasheen]

This is something like what I was looking for. Emphasis is mine.

Am J Sports Med. 1995 Nov-Dec;23(6):694-701.

Knee injury patterns among men and women in collegiate basketball and soccer. NCAA data and review of literature.

Arendt E, Dick R.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA.

Women's participation in intercollegiate athletics has increased dramatically in recent years. Greater participation has increased awareness of health and medical issues specific to the female athlete. Some reports have noted a higher susceptibility to knee injury, specifically injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament, in female athletes as compared with their male counterparts. We performed a 5-year evaluation of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in collegiate men's and women's soccer and basketball programs using the National College Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System. Results showed significantly higher anterior cruciate ligament injury rates in both female sports compared with the male sports. Noncontact mechanisms were the primary cause of anterior cruciate ligament injury in both female sports. Possible causative factors for this increase in anterior cruciate ligament injuries among women may be extrinsic (body movement, muscular strength, shoe-surface interface, and skill level) or intrinsic (joint laxity, limb alignment, notch dimensions, and ligament size).

Years of working in weight training and emphasizing form (to maximize function) has affected how I see all physical endeavors - including karate. And it's affected how I teach posture and structure in both static and dynamic stances.

The really interesting thing here is seeing various programs that they put female athletes through to minimize their risk for ACL and other serious knee injuries.

- Bill

[gmattson]

but, nowhere was it mentioned that performing circular knee exercises had anything to do with the injuries.

My question remains unanswered. (see my earlier post)

[Bill Glasheen]

but, nowhere was it mentioned that performing circular knee exercises had anything to do with the injuries.

My question remains unanswered. (see my earlier post)

Are you looking for something in the peer-reviewed literature that adresses one junbi undo of Uechi Ryu karate? Because if that's what you want handed to you, forgetaboutit.

It's there if you look for it, George. I am presenting the data. You have to look closely to see it.

Knee circles - as done by many - put the knee through a range that is outside the hip-knee-toe alignment. It's a non-physiologic stretch. In Dr. Ian's words...

Your knee is connected by the anterior and posterior cruciate LIGAMENTS to control front and back, the collateral LIGAMENTS that limit bending side to side, and padded by MENISCI between the tibia and femur. These are the structures that are injured, too. So what on earth are we stretching when we do knee circles?

As I see it, George, Uechi Ryu isn't teaching me a grab bag full of specifics. It's teaching me principles of movement, of human physiology under severe stress, and of approaches to human conflict. The principles approach gives us a parsimonious method of transferring information from generation to generation. More specifically, the stances teach a specific alignment of the knee with respect to the feet. I am all over people whose knees are not facing their toes.

Knee circles are a NEW exercise. They violate the very principles I'm trying to teach in kata. And it goes against all that I've seen in the literature with respect to what alignment we should be teaching athletes to avoid ACL injuries.

- Bill