| Self care - Stretching versus Self Myofascial Release |
| Wednesday, 14 April 2010 09:40 | ||||||||||
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My brother and I had an interesting conversation a while ago, where we were discussing self-care. And he posed the question regarding which was better... stretching or self myofascial release? This is a very interesting question because the two try and achieve the same goal (i.e. soft flexible tissue with increased range of movement), but do so very differently. Stretching takes the two ends of the muscle, and moves them away from each other, creating increased space and causing the restrictions to separate. During a stretch, there is increased tension in the tissue you are trying to release. Self myofascial release uses a tool of some kind (foam roller, ball, your hand, etc.), and takes the tissue from one area to another creating the space and removing the restrictions as it goes along. During this process, there is increased tension in the tissue that you have already worked through. Both can be uncomfortable to do, and both can be quite effective. Stretching is a little easier to overdo, or do improperly, causing inflammation (and therefor pain). The self myofascial release can be overdone too, but generally is less likely to cause inflammation. In general, for the amount of time spent working, self myofascial release achieves more space in the tissue and more range of motion. Given that, I can't exclude stretching since it has the ability to target areas or motions that are hard to work with self myofascial release techniques. So my suggestion (and conclusion) is that one should use self myofascial release techniques first, working out as much tissue as possible, and then follow up with stretching to achieve even further results. At the point that one would employ stretching, the chance for overdoing it will be greatly decreased. Combining both together gets you the best result... and that is ultimately what you want. Cheers, Mark Pearlscott
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