Everyday Systems: shovelglove: message 543 of 649

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--- In , "Ariel King" <biffitybiff@y...> 
wrote:
> Hi Deb. I thought it might be something like that - doing what you 

> love doesn't bring in enough income, so you have to supplement w/a 

> part time job...a lot of people have that situation. I have a 
> question for you, since you're a professional: is it true that you 

> have to hold a stretch for at least 15 seconds for it to have any 

> effect? I think I read that somewhere.

.....The really important things to remember about stretching are:
1. Don't bounce and 2. Go slowly and gently.....
We have strech receptors in the tendons, called Golgi Tendon 
Organs... They respond to two things, the intensity and the speed of 
a stretch and they are there for our feedback and protection...
I mentioned this once a few weeks ago in an example involving 
walking down the street and by accident hooking your arm around some 
street pole if something distracts you.. What would happen if we 
didn't have these receptors? Well, we would dislocate our shoulders 
or certainly hurt them, if our walking speed was fast enough... But 
those GTO's respond accordingly and send the muscle into contraction 
mode as a protective mechanism. Clearly when one wants to elongate 
a muscle we want to have this contraction response minimized... 
Years ago, I still remember in the 70's in junior high gym class, 
the coaches would have you stretch your hamstrings by "ballistic" 

stretching ie: bouncing... This has the problem of inducing a 
stretch reflex response, so it's really counterproductive... It 
might warm you up though, but it won't help lengthen the muscle.
As far as holding the stretch, hmmm? I will look this up as soon as 
I get off here, but if my memory serves, I think you really have to 
hold it for at least 20 to 30 seconds to really have an impact and 
even more importantly, you have to be consistent, patient and gentle 
with your stretching... Don't expect your muscle to all of a sudden 
gain 3 inches of length.. If you are in spasm, there may be pain 
involved in the stretch, and that too, can cause further 
contraction, so it's really crucial that you find your "end point" 

and don't try to force a stretch... If you stick with your 
stretching regime every day for maybe 2 minutes a day, you will 
little by little, get those muscles to set themselves at a longer 
length...The little "thermostats" of the muscles, called muscle 

spindles, will learn to reset themselves to whatever position you 
encourage them to be in, most often....So just stick with it. Slow, 
gentle, steady and careful, and pain free... I always tell my 
clients to "breath into your stretch".. The less we hold our breath, 

the more our bodies will let go of their "holding patterns"...

> Left arm is SLOWLY but surely getting better. It's definitely less 

> stiff & sore today. Now I just wish the !@#$% swelling would go 

> away. I had ice on it for at least an hour last night. How long is 

> too long for icing?

.....I have to say, not to be alarmist, that I feel swelling may be 
an indication of a more serious muscle strain... soreness is not 
uncommon with exercise or even deep tissue massage. Swelling isn't 
a typical response to exercise so if I were you, I might consider 
really resting this one out and possibly booking an appointment to 
have it looked at... Where is it swelling? Forearm, whole arm? Is 
it hot or red?...
An injury will normally result in an inflammation response where 
there is Rubor (redness) Calor (heat) and my favorite
Functio Lasse (Rein help I forgot my Latin... I may have just 
ordered a Starbucks drink there! LOL)
or in English, Loss of function. 

As for icing an area goes, one should only ice for 20 minutes at a 
time and then take 30 minute breaks in between... If you keep it on 
for too long, you can damage the tissue by overfreezing it, and 
getting small frostbitten areas and secondly you will end up sending 
a signal to the body to "rush more fluid to the area" in a reaction 

where the body thinks it is freezing and needs to warm up, and then 
you wind up with even more inflammation instead of less...
Well was that enough of a lecture for you? LOL
My fee for this visit is $75, I don't take insurance :)
Good luck Ariel..
If you have more specific info about your symptoms I am more than 
happy to try and answer them... Feel free to write me off list!
Love,
Deb