Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /nfs/c05/h01/mnt/75057/domains/accelprotech.com/html/wp-content/themes/Divi/functions.php on line 5752 Ankles are one of the most frequentlyinjuredbody parts ingymnasticswith a variety of injuries from getting crunched on short landings, chronic impingement, sprains, stress fractures, and more. (Image credit: Unknown) Sit on the floor with straight legs at about 90 apart. I would suggest that these very mobileof gymnasts need more work learning to control the motion they have both with basic movements and with complex movements that involve higher forces and fast reaction times. This may be one reason why so many gymnasts say their hips hurt when they do jumpingdrills, running, or skillswith ankle weights on. By using a variety of drills that include the basic movements (hip extension, shoulder flexion with rotation, etc.) Cranking on their ankles to get more toe point may help to make skills look better, but may be increasing their subsequent injury risk. For a giant to be technically sound, many sub components must be present. Importantly enough, following a review of the literature, it was outlined that the combination of appropriate self-myofascial release and targeted static stretching may yield the most beneficial gains to acute changes in flexibility. Routledge: New York. If you are not into that and are just looking for a particular area of the body without the geeky stuff, please click the table of contents below to jump to a certain section. Before kicking this off, please keep in mind that I wrote an entire book chapter on gymnastics flexibility, which you can download and find for free here. Regular Stretch does not increase muscle extensibility: a randomized control trial. People assume that progress is being made, rather than having some comparative baseline for observing changes. There is some research available that this assists in the perceived recovery process. This second layer of joint capsule and ligaments helps provide more stability to the joint, with different portions of the capsule limiting certain ranges of motion. Their hypermobility, along with any underlying talent or great coaching they obtain to control this range of motion, allows them to be quite successful at an early age. Its not always because they are not trying hard enough. Beardsley C, Skarabot J. Andrews, J., Reinold, M., Wilk, K. The Athletes Shoulder. The on-going process of training will include the development of strength, co-ordination, spatial awareness and the core gymnastics movement skills which are the foundation upon which high level and good quality gymnastics are based. Gymnastics training itself may create a position where a gymnast acquired more hypermobility with jumping/lading forces but also the large emphasis on mobility. Wall ankle flexibility tests were used to measure the range of motion changes, and ultrasound imaging was used to look at the changes in the muscle tissue that relate to extensibility like passive resistive torque, muscle stiffness, tendon stiffness, fascicle length, and pentation angle. In my mind, definitely not. Arabesque - a body shape on one leg with the other leg extended behind the body Jargon Note The medical world typically refers to Flexibility as the maximum range of motion a joint can passively reach, including the length of all structures from the joint level to the soft tissue and neural level. Targeted Muscular Stretching, or PNF Techniques We all must understand and apply the best available science for hip and shoulder research to avoid excessive strain being placed on the passive structures of gymnasts. Pictures 2 and 3 are showing a dynamic chest stretch over a foam roller where the shoulder blades are held down/ in while the arms slide on the floor from overhead to hip. If a gymnast is already very mobile and lax, pushing further on the ankle joint my only be making it worse. Typically not a time to increase joint motion, as the body is usually in a very high-stress state and has just taken a lot of training volume, A naturally hypermobile type genetic structure, and shallower hip joints (acetabular dysplasia), Proper spinal control, alignment and awareness that does not stress the lower back or hip joints excessively, Adequate muscle length in the hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, and groin, Adequate muscle strength in the core, glutes, deep hip stabilizers, and rotator muscles to safely support the hip joint, Adequate full range control and strength for the central nervous system to allow leg motion to occur safely, Consistent training and regular use of newly acquired motion to transfer motion to skills in the long-term, Proper mental and psychological developmental/maturity of the athlete to actively be engaged in the training, know normal versus abnormal levels of discomfort and consistently work to seeing progress, Skendzel, et al. (1, 3, 5, 8-9, 15-16). Given the material I have read, this has been my main thought process as well. I have worked with many athletes that tend to be stiffer, but because of their incredible natural power, they succeed early on in gymnastics. (3), For the geeks like me reading, they more specifically are subdivided into the Superior Glenohumeral Ligament, the Middle Glenohumeral Ligament, the Inferior Glenohumeral Ligament, and the Posterior Glenohumeral Ligament. Similar to the study above, it was found that while ankle range of motion did improve, there were no significant changes in the muscle extensibility outcomes that would indicate tissue change. In an effort to help people out, I have decided to for the first time take everything that I possibly know about gymnastics flexibility and put it into one mega-blog post here. Thomas E., Bianco A., Palma A. Without the ability to assess these various factors, it can be very challenging to make progress in flexibility. While genetics and luck do play a little bit of a role when it comes to flexibility, as a whole I tend to disagree that these are the main reasons thousands of gymnasts struggle with flexibility, particularly at the hip and shoulder joint. In all cases except two, (Janot et al., 2013; Peacock et al., 2014) there were no changes in performance measures following any of the SMFR protocols used. The most effective approach to increasing flexibility may be when stretching is used with proper assessments, consistency in stretching, follow up control work, strength programing including eccentric training and proper volume / fatigue management for athletes. It is worth noting that both authors have extensive experience in elite level gymnastics, spending the majority of their career researching gymnastics biomechanics, injuries, and sports performance. The ability of the good quality gymnastics are based. Jumping and landing athletes are already at a huge risk for ACL tears, not to mention the even higher risk for young developing female athletes. This is usually why they were noticed as a good candidate for competitive gymnastics, as they naturally had full splits and bridges. Foam rolling as a recovery tool after an intense bout of physical activity. This can also happen withhip extendingmovements (think backleg kick or leap) as the back of the femur bone makes contact with the back and outsideof the pelvis (impingement) and then the contact acts as a fulcrum for thefemoral head toslide out the frontof the hip joint (instability). I feel this may not only foster more compensation, but it may create overload based injuries to muscles and tendons in conjunction with the principles above. I view the different goals fo flexibility in this light. Some of the gymnasts could be born more lax and likely have been successful in gymnastics because of it. A blind approach to gymnastics flexibility training can cause serious hip injuries as the current medical research field has demonstrated. In the long term, the increased strength of the upper back and follow up technique work will solidify the flexibility gains made. Flexibility 5 Flexibility In addition to the strength/conditioning program, the coach must also provide training for the enhancement of flexibility. If not regularly and appropriately trained, flexibility can become something that really holds an athlete back from making progress in skills or possibly contributes to elevated injury risk. Just as with the sleeve of a shirt, depending on where your arm is in space, different parts of the shirt sleeve are more taught. I find many gymnasts who have shoulder injuries or are struggling with flexibility display significant strength deficits within their upper back and scapular area. There is a much better way that is safer and has valid science behind it for support. Because exercise can shorten your muscles, skipping your post-activity stretch can decrease your mobility over time. Ogura Y, Miyahara Y, Naito H, Katamoto S, Aoki J. 387 403. The glute muscles, deep hip rotators, other surrounding hip muscles, and core are essential for hip safety and performance. Static stretching in 30-60 seconds bouts, done 5 times per week, for a total time of 5 minutes per muscle group per week, to the appropriate limit of discomfort, is supported by a majority of research to be optimal for increasing range of motion. I am incredibly grateful for all the research they have conducted. 2) change tissue properties of the calf muscle. A paper by Weppler / Magnussun in 2010 (find it here, A paper by Ben / Harvey in 2010 (find it here, A reduction in the amount of stiffness or compliance within muscles (viscoelasticity), although likely transient, An increase in the length of contractile units within muscles (sarcomeregenesis) especially if eccentrics are used, Increases in the water content, blood flow, and temperature within muscles acutely, A 2018 systematic review by Thomas et al (, The issue is not with use of stretching. If the exercises above are biasing stress on joint capsules and ligaments more so than the lat, teres major, and pec muscles, we should look for an alternative solution. Similar to that point, I would also be very careful about how much pressure the front knee of oversplits is taking, and if you use them try to have the gymnast move their front leg up on the mat more. Moving past all this background information, its time to talk about what actually causes a gymnasts arms not to go overhead in a handstand, a gymnasts legs to not go into a full split, or a gymnasts arms to not go behind their body for pommel horse swings. I have found that many of the traditional general stretches we use as go to methods for increasing flexibility do not have proper assessments preceding them or may not have anatomical considerations in mind. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5400218/, https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20075147, https://www.ncbi.nlm. The Layer Concept, Determining the Pain Generators, Pathology, and How Structure Determines Treatment. Slowly stretch into the desired position, as far as possible without pain, and hold the stretch for 15-60 seconds. It is common to see many gymnastics strength programs that train a high volume of pull-ups, leg lifts, rope climbs, and push-ups. They can easily perform flexibility drills, achieve tumbling or bar lines, create basic gymnastics shapes and proceed through lower-level skills. That same drill may cause significant pain and limited motion in another gymnast who has very retroverted or less shallow hip joints. While puberty can make a big negative impact on flexibility, I feel that the cultural norm of gymnasts just automatically getting tighter as they age is overexaggerated. It blows my mind that people actually would push on knees for better lines at the cost of potentially increasing laxity in their knee and increasing the chance of a gymnast blowingACL out during landings. Approaching this goes back to the chapter on why an interdisciplinary approach to the future of gymnastics is needed. This allows for more inherent weight-bearing stability but may limit the natural mobility the hip can achieve. Cordasco FA. (2, 5). Stretching Skeletal Muscle: Chronic Muscle Lengthening through Sacrocmeregenesis. In my mind, these are two different applications of static stretching or foam rolling and should be viewed as having different goals. It may help improve range of motion acutely, but it will not change movement in a gymnastics skill-specific manner. Kalichman L1, Ben David C2. the increased range of motion could not be explained by the structural changes in the muscle-tendon unit and was likely due to increased stretch tolerance possibly due to adaptation in nociceptive nerve endings.. If the gymnast doesnt do it fast enough or lands awkwardly it can be problematic. Im glad you asked! This is opposed to possible sarcomeregensis that may be induced from heavy loading eccentric movements. Warm-ups are typically best looked at as a time when you can prepare the available joint range of motion that a gymnast has. I will then end with some important notes on other joints like the knees, elbows, and spine. Current Concepts In Shoulder Examination of The Overhead Athlete. It may very well be a minor strain. 95 97 In theory, it incorporates not only neural encoding but also motor skill acquisition and deliberate practice. Within a few days of modification, advice from a qualified medical provider, and time to heal, issues may resolve quickly. Now after saying that over split training is not inherently dangerous or going to create injury automatically, we all must realize there are severe consequences for not approaching split flexibility correctly. Simple changes to choose types of stretching exercises that bias the correct structures of the hip or shoulder may make a notable difference in long-term flexibility and injury risk. Harvey L, Herbert R, Crosbie J. Readers are encouraged to only operate within their scope of practice. In my experience, excessive force, excessive duration, and the incorrect placement of a foam roller or stick massager can have opposite effects. Tumbl Trak Athlete Wellness and Recovery Kit, Front splits, straddle splits, handstands and pommel horse/parallel bar flexibility, Downloadable checklists to use at practice, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295707/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6322373/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945046/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26944667, https://shiftmovementscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Book-Cover.jpg, The Ultimate Gymnastics Flexibility Guide, Tom Meadows on Developing Elite Male Gymnasts and His Best Coaching Advice, Helping Gymnastics Coaches Stay Happy In The Gym and Change Their Cultures. Anyone experiencing pain, discomfort, abnormal sensation, or other symptoms should stop immediately from any advice offered and seek formal medical care. As noted at the start of this article, gymnasts are typically our hyper in their joint capsules. Physiother Res Int 2002;7:1-13. The first few sections of this blog are background and explanation for flexibility methods using scientific research. Gymnasts are already notorious for having really tight calves because of how much time they spend in a toe point along with doing so much jumping and landing. Out of all the things I have seen in flexibility methods for gymnastics, the one that drives me the most insane is pushing knees into extension during splits or pikes. Surrounding the ball and socket of the shoulder is something called the joint capsule as well as ligaments. It directly relates to this conversation on the need to understand anatomy, as well as active and passive structures, and knowing where discomfort is or is not expected. I think there are not yet studied boney adaptations to the hip joints of gymnasts when correctly performed and consistent stretching occurs in younger years. Like in the shoulder, natural mobility of the hip allows them to move through a greater motion. to injury. 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