What all Dancers need to know about Stretching:

I believe that the biggest misconceptions for dancers revolve around stretching. Are you stretching and not seeing results?  What is actually happening to the muscles when you are stretching? When is the best time to stretch? How long should you hold a stretch? How do you stretch to receive max benefits?  

Dancers are known for being super bendy/flexy people. So many dancers measure their success as a dancer by their static stretching abilities.  This is very harmful- especially during the time of adolescence when the body is growing. Muscles and bones don’t always grow at the same rate which is why younger dancers go through cycles of flexibility.  I have seen dancers of all ages come in and lay in the splits before class, wake up in the morning to have a long stretch sessions, do their homework laying in the splits etc. But is this the most efficient way? Is the ritualistic stretching before class which happens everywhere in the dance world sufficient in improving flexibility?

Some dance traditions are far outdated. Long static stretching before class is one of them. Dancers: take on the mindset of an athlete. Be willing to go through lifestyle changes to get better and intentionally put into practice the best methods for your career. Here is some info for you to chew on: 

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What happens in the muscle when it is being stretched?

Muscles-

So muscles are not just one big blog of tissue. Your muscles are made up of tons of thread-like cells, called muscle fibers, organized in bundles surrounded by fascia. Each muscle fiber is innervated by an alpha motor neuron, which is a nerve ending that relays electric signal from the brain. The alpha motor neuron and corresponding muscle fibers are called the “motor unit”. If the brain commands the motor unit to lengthen, like when you’re going into a stretch, the brain will lengthen precisely the motor units it needs to complete that action.  If you pick up a pencil vs. picking up a small child your brain will recruit less motor units for the pencil because it is way lighter and doesn’t need as much effort. So really, the stretch that is happening is happening because of the instruction from the brain. Talk about precise control!

Receptors-

There are a lot of receptors housed in the muscles and fascia that send feedback to the brain monitoring the status of the muscle. Their job is to tell the brain “STOP” if they are feeling like the body is being pushed to its danger zone.  This is the reason you are supposed to hold stretches, not bounce or force into stretches. Because the receptors inhibit lengthening, bouncing forcefully into your end range cause the receptors to immediately turn on. If you slowly go into the stretch, the receptors realize they are safe they say “hey this is not so bad after all!”

I have never seen anyone in my life dive straight into a hot tub. You put your feet in, get used to it, and then go a little more until you’re all the way in. Same thing with stretching- you have to ease into the stretch so the body knows you’re safe. The brain is the real movement master in the body. It is very actively involved in the process of stretching! 

Fascia- 

Why does stretching feel so good? Well, it is not really the muscles that we are “feeling” during a stretch sesh-  the feeling is in the fascia. There are actually 6 times more receptors in the fascia than in the muscles. Fascia is the biological fabric that holds us together, the connective tissue network in the body. Your fascial system is an incredibly intuitive system and is responsible for assisting the muscles in their movements, maintaining structure in the body, transferring force, and communicating neural, hormonal, and emotional messages throughout the body. (and way more than that- separate post to come- the fascia is fascia-nating!).

Another reason why stretching feels good for dancers: If the fascia around a certain area hasn’t been moved in a while, it gets “knotted” up and stuck together. Among the collagen and substances that make up the fascia, there is hormones, emotional charges, and also toxins. When the fascia is reorganized and stretched out, it mobilizes everything that has been stuck there. It is a way to refresh that area. After moving through an area by exercise, massage, stretching (after exercise), you may feel a sense of emotional release (crying, laughing etc), mental release (stress hormones freeing up), or you may even feel nauseous (toxins traveling back to the lymph.

Properties of the muscle/fascia:

Viscoelasticity- 

The muscles and fascia are viscoelastic, which is important to understand when thinking of stretching for dancers especially. Let’s break this down>>

• Elasticity: Healthy muscles are like elastic rubber bands.  They can stretch but also bounce back to their normal length. This is important because you want them to be able to lengthen as well as contract. You can have your flexibility, but also have high jumps and explosive power. This elasticity lessens with age, which is why kids are way more “bouncy” than adults. 

• Viscosity- think of a plastic bag you would get at the grocery store.  At it resting length- you can easily rip the bag in half. But- if you put slow constant pressure to try and pull it apart- it slooooowly increases its length and STAYS that way without bouncing back.  That is called viscosity. And is a super important property of fascia.

The viscous properties of the fascia depend on two aspects- temperature (when to stretch), and rate of duration of the applied forces (how to stretch). 

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When to Stretch?

Dancers: Stretching does not equal warming up. 

So say you are making a cake and you need a stick of butter. Are you going to pull out your rock solid stick of butter and throw it in your blender? I don’t know much about cooking to be honest- but to me this seems like a bad idea. 

Think about that same idea with the muscles. When you take a dance class you are using the energy stored in your muscles. Your brain recognizes that your muscles need more fuel so it sends more blood flow to that muscle to deliver more oxygen/food/energy. The muscles uses that energy by a chemical process- that has a biproduct of HEAT- thus the muscle becomes warmer. 

Acording to this article, muscles that have been exercised for at least an hour actually lengthen and retain the length twice as long as muscles at body temperature with 4 times the amount of force applied to them. 

From the same article it states that static stretching (holding a stretch for a long time) reduces the strength, endurance, and reaction time of the muscles temporarily. A couple of studies looked at jumping after 30 minutes of stretching. They found that ankle plantar flexion strength decreased by 25% and jump height decreased by 28%. Even after only a 30 second stretch jump height was decreased by 4%! ⠀⠀

So long stretches before any type of physical activity, is scientifically not beneficial to the body. Stretching after the muscles have been exercised for at least an hour is the most efficient way to maintain elasticity, and utilize max viscosity attributes in the muscle/fascia/motor units! ⠀⠀

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How to Stretch?

1. Is your goal to recover from class and maintain your current flexibility?
2. Is your goal to increase your  flexibility?

According to IADMS – Stretching once a week is enough to maintain current flexibility.  Also stretching once a week for multiple weeks creates benefits even several weeks after discontinuing stretching.  Increasing frequency of stretch per day actually doesn’t make a difference, which means research looked at people who stretched 1x per day versus 3x a day. No difference. Work smarter- not harder. 

A lot of research supports Dance Anatomy & Kinesiology and that article- 3 rounds of gentle continual stretching low to moderate intensity. With a focus on breathing through it. 30 seconds is enough. *key words- low to moderate intensity, and breathing* remember the receptors, you don’t want to stretch too much, and cause them to inhibit the movement. 

In my own practice, I actually don’t spend time static stretching, but instead focus on mobility and active range of motion exercises.  Also, passive range of motion doesn’t exactly transfer to active range of motion. For example, I’m sure that most of you can hold your leg up to a very desirable développé height (passive ROM), but when you take your hand away the leg drops (active ROM).  So even though someone has passive flexibility, doesn’t necessarily mean that it transfers to movement. I am a big fan of not wasting my time, so I personally don’t want to do something that is not going to help achieve my goals. I am currently in the process of doing more in depth research on this subject, and I have created a mobility flow for the hips that I am in personal research if it transfers to movement. Stay tuned 🙂 

How to absolutely NOT stretch:

Prolonged stretching- stretches held for minutes at a time is actually not good at all for you. Dancers love this kind of stretching. For example, lying forward while in second position for extended periods places undue compression of the hip labrum, potentially contributing to future injury. Prolonged stretches should be avoided at all costs! 

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Wrapping it up:

Whatever your goal as dancers are, it is important to be mindful and intentional with your stretching. As we talked about earlier, the brain is highly interested in everything that you are doing, and very protective over muscles being over lengthened.  The brain sends messages through the alpha motor unit to the muscle fibers (motor unit), and if it’s too much the receptors inhibit the stretch. The fascia, which provides structure to the body stretches too, which is where the good post-stretch feelings come from! 

You should always listen to your body and if you are feeling pain, your muscle starts shaking, or you can’t comfortably breathe, then you need to back off. Stretching should only be done after exercise, and to maintain current flexibility. Stretches are efficient in being held for 30 seconds or less, prolonged stretches should not be done at all! Change in the body will happen but it takes CONSISTENT efforts over a long period of time. 

Phew! That was a lot of info, and there is so much more out there.  Let’s continue the conversation! I am eager to hear your thoughts over this subject. Leave your comments below or email me at [email protected].  Thanks for reading, and more to come soon!