However, I have seen these types of problems snowball into huge injuries quickly in gymnasts I treat. These children are often detected through an early talent identification and are quickly put into competitive team tracks. 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. This will help them continue to get the strength training effect but wont continue to perpetuate their overhead mobility issue. Due to these reasons and the research I have read about the human body, there will likely be a very limited long-term change in flexibility that change gymnastics skills. The golf ball (ball of the upper arm bone or humerus) is inherently larger than the tee (socket of the shoulder or glenoid fossa). nih.gov/pubmed/24856792, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/19497032, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29506306, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0045661, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25559637, The The Hyperflexibile Hip: Managing Hip Pain In Gymnasts and Dancers, Risk Factors for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury. Rainman, Thornburg. 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. 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. Unfortunately, I feel the load at the end of the limb may contributemore tothe forceful hip impingement, and also contribute more to the fulcrum based instability/subluxation stretching the soft tissue and possibly irritating the hip joint. Yamaguchi T1, Ishii K, Yamanaka M, Yasuda K. Acute effect of static stretching on power output during concentric dynamic constant external resistance leg extension.J Strength Cond Res. The Mechanisms of Manual Therapy in the Treatment of Musculoskeletal Pain: A Comprehensive Model. Corrective exercises consist of stretches that improve chest and lat flexibility (fig. However, this requires very specialized medical training and must be performed by a healthcare provider who is competent. 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. In its most basic form, stretching involves taking a muscle to its end range of motion, and holding the elongated state for a period of time. Dave If the gymnast doesnt do it fast enough or lands awkwardly it can be problematic. Effect of PNF stretching training on the properties of human muscle and tendon structures. (3). I strongly feel that gymnasts must earn the right to do over splits and must be mature enough to do them safely. Sometimes in such a high force sport, these bumps and bruises are inevitable. In my mind, definitely not. They can easily perform flexibility drills, achieve tumbling or bar lines, create basic gymnastics shapes and proceed through lower-level skills. Its not that we want to freak out every time someone is reporting discomfort in a split. This is where we will go next. As the 2018 systematic review outlines (25), it may make a positive effect on range of motion when properly done. In my mind, these are two different applications of static stretching or foam rolling and should be viewed as having different goals. (1, 3, 5, 8-9, 15-16). Not only do they happen quite a bit as a first time injury for a gymnast, they seem to keep popping up as re-occuring injuries for many gymnasts leading to cumulative issues down the road. Many different thoughts and practices exist in daily gymnastics training. Its very important to remember that certain joints are not inherently built for lots of flexibility. 1) increase ankle range of motion and I call them 10 Minute Gymnastics Flexibility Circuits. Neurological vs Mechanical Effects of Stretching, Why We Must Change Certain Stretches for Safety. I feel this naturally occurs over time but is amplified when stretching methods are misguided. People assume that progress is being made, rather than having some comparative baseline for observing changes. We must always remember that the structures that have the most opportunity for improvement, the active structures, should be the focus of flexibility training. Ben M., Harvey LA. IJSPT Oct 2013; 8(5): 554 578. Without this knowledge, it is impossible to know whether reported discomfort during stretching is a safe and expected result or an unsafe atypical response. Now please dont take this as me not being a fan of external loading for gymnasts, as I am a fan of that when properly used (see article here). 2012 May;40(2):8793. doi: 10.3810/psm.2012.05.1968. (18, 38-40) I do think its an important distinction, but due to cultural norms for gymnastics, I will not be super specific to go by medical jargon like these terms and more. 2014 Jan; 46(1): 131-14. We will start with some background anatomy, term clarification, and discuss some of the theoretical reasons certain flexibility methods seem to work. 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. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD004577. Without an in-depth knowledge of medical assessments, it is difficult to know why a gymnast may be limited in their split and what structure is referring discomfort during flexibility training. Please consult with medical providers for proper understanding and implementation of this information. From there I will take a deep dive into some cultural issues that exist in gymnastics, and then conclude with step by step flexibility examples for each main region of the body that gymnasts struggle with including the shoulders, hips, ankles, and wrists. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms by your sides. 2011. We do not want to excessively relax the muscular tissue and increase lots of joint motion before we then subject them to extremely high forces. Drill progressions for skills, strength and conditioning, managing fears, and dealing with pain or injury are among the most discussed. Konrad A, Tip M. Increased range of motion after static stretching is not due to changes in muscle and tendon structures. Regular Stretch does not increase muscle extensibility: a randomized control trial. The research definitely leans towards changes in the nervous system being the primary reason, especially in the short term. However, my point is that in most cases with a gymnast (or many overhead athletes) we are looking to improve range of motion into this elevated position by improving the flexibility of specific soft tissues. As mentioned, the important take away here is to focus on things we can change, like the muscles themselves. 21, 788-792. Instead of just jumping to pushing down the knees of gymnast to get better lines or fix bent knees, I strongly suggest that people take time to figure out why the gymnast has bent knees to start with. An Acute Bout of Self-Myofascial Release in the Form of Foam Rolling Improves Performance Testing. An alternative version based on anatomy would be to flatten the spine position as well as the pelvis, and then perform a similar stretch with core/glute engagement. Scapular Muscles, Rotator Cuff, Core, etc. This can happen statically for a period of time (static stretching), with the use of momentum and holding of end range (dynamic or active stretching), or sometimes with muscle contractions and stretching together (PNF or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation). Gymnastics training itself may create a position where a gymnast acquired more hypermobility with jumping/lading forces but also the large emphasis on mobility. However, as noted in earlier chapters their natural hypermobility can be an area of caution. It may very well be a minor strain. Hold this position without touching your legs for as long as you can. Scand J Med SCi Sports, 2010: 136 144. I strongly suggest people who may be unknowingly pushing knees down more in oversplits, or feet elevated pike stretches stop and think about why they chose to certain stretching interventions. This would suggest that with significant immobilization or time spent in prolonged tension, sarcomeregensis may occur within the muscles. It only takes one bad landing for the gymnast to suffer a major and possibly career ending injury. A rolled ankle happens when the gymnast catches their foot into a down and in position (plantar flexion with inversion) leading to the structures on the outside portion of the foot being damaged. The athlete is encouraged to round their upper back to create upper back flexion. J Bodyw Mov Ther. As a result, they have more ability to positively increase an athletes overall amount of shoulder or hip flexibility. This is closely related to the one above, but many of the wobbly ankles come about because the gymnast has lots oflaxityoverall. Remember, you can download the entire chapter on flexibility, the 10-minute flexibility guides, or the pre-hab guide here. The science must be blended with expert coaching opinion and consistency in training. Effects of self myofascial release: A systematic review. It should be considered to be a skill with many pieces that must be broken down to achieve success. The main articles that support this are, With this being said, there are definitely studies that claim changes to the mechanical properties of the muscle, tendon, and junction between these structures change overtime with stretching. This shallower hip socket, and natural hypermobility, creates a situation where the gymnast cannot afford to have limited dynamic structures for protection. Phys Ther. Warm ups and cool downs are another common topic that comes up when discussing flexibility. I typically have gymnasts perform moderate pressure that does not cause pain, for 10-30 seconds per muscle group, away from bony areas. Place your left arm across your chest to the right side. The sport of gymnastics is more than just flashy routines you see on the competition stage. This wraps in not only the passive range but also strength, active control, technique, and many other factors. 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. They tend to be more biased towards strength or power and less towards inherent flexibility. 2016. Click here to read our full privacy policy. I want to emphasize that proper stretching and soft tissue work is not the only method to improve flexibility and performance for gymnasts. They include rope, hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon. It is common to see many gymnastics strength programs that train a high volume of pull-ups, leg lifts, rope climbs, and push-ups. This natural selection type introduction to gymnastics presents an essential background foundational concept of flexibility training. Dr. Dave Tilley DPT, SCS, CSCS Alongside this, strength deficits, limited full range control, technique issues, fatigue, or adjacent areas of the body may be the reason behind an apparent lack of flexibility. Warm-ups are typically best looked at as a time when you can prepare the available joint range of motion that a gymnast has. 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. The short term gymnastics training positively increase an athletes overall amount of shoulder or hip flexibility snowball into injuries... In a split joint range of motion and i call them 10 Minute gymnastics flexibility Circuits this is related... That certain joints are not inherently built for lots of flexibility consistency in training can Change, the. 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