Stretching: Before or after warm-up?

Right here we go!

For those who know me from the RICE thread hi again. For those that don't, welcome to hopefully another interesting and intriguing thread.

For reference to the following input, go to RICE: yes or No in Sports Physio forum.

Now, as we were saying...Stretching is one of the subjects where there is controversy as far as when and how long it should be done.

I would like to put another spin on the common advice for stretching (yeah what's new I hear you saying! :)). I would like to look at stretching from a myofascial point of view, something I have been working with for the past 15 years. It really makes one think differently about body function and in particular, stretching.

Canuck wrote a great piece in the RICE thread ("In terms of optimising..."), and I admit I would have agreed whole-heartedly with this until I learnt more about fascia and connective tissues in general. Fascia is one of the understudied tissues and most ignored tissues in the body, yet without it we are dead. Sounds harsh but true. It covers the heart (pericardium), brain & spinal cord (dura), organs, muscles,nerves, blood vessels etc. etc. It gives us shape, supports us and controls movement. It forms the meshwork around our skeleton, the bones acting like tent poles kept in place by the fascia (tent canvas).

But most importantly for this discussion they cover the muscles to form the Myofascial unit. Basically, the myofascial unit (MU) is made up of the muscle (mainly elastic) and the fascia (mainly inelastic). The muscle is attached to the fascia via millions of microfibrals, thus making it a close knit unit. Now the elastic vs inelastic properties are the important factors here.

Imagine this unit being stretched. The fascial sheath forms the tendons at both ends of the MU together with small connections from the muscle and its micro fascial internal layers. If stretched, the end point of the stretch (first 'feeling' of stretch) will be reached when the inelastic fascia reaches its limit. The muscle inside is practically dragged along by the fascial sheath. So in essence we are not stretching muscle we are stretching fascia. Therefore reactions in muscle and their nerve supply is dependent on the integrity of the fascial sheath of the muscle.

On the other hand muscle contraction drags the fascial sheath along with it and as it is ade up of criss-cross fibres, it can alter shape and adapt to the shape of the muscle it contains...it does not contract.

If our flexibility was governed by muscle (elastic) we would have absolutely no control over movement, somewhat like a puppet on a string...and I am not talking about politicians! So our movement, our power, our control of dynamics is governed by fascia.

Looking at te studies described by Canuck, I can only assume that these were done with the idea that stretching had to do with muscles, not fascia. One thing we need to remember is that being inelastic stretching can only maintain the flexibility of fascia in the short term, and will not necessarily lead to increased ROM even after 10 weeks. Another factor is that excessive exercise leads to thickening of fascia and thus tightening, and thus loss of ROM, so testing weight lifters was probably not a good idea in the first place, especially if they had not been involved in any regular stretching programme before.

One of the main questions is how long to stretch. There is conflicting around on this subject but all involve a certain amount of time, be it 3 X 20 secs stretch or 1 X 30 secs stretch etc. Unfortunately it is much like modern medicine thinking that one drug is good for all :rolleyes:. We are all individuals and all need our own time to stretch depending on the feedback from the body. Even both side of our bodies may need different time to stretch as we are not very symmetrical in design and use. Like the animals I discussed before, I am sure they cannot count, and yet there seems to be a trigger built in that says, 'OK you can stop stretching now', and this will vary depending on how long they have been resting. Interestingly, they always start with stretching the spine...it contains the nervous system responsible for blood flow rate, and other physical functions of the limbs, so get the engine up and running and everything can follow.

"Stretching was performed at various intensities..." indicates that there may have been cases of over stretching which is quite easy, as any time you go beyond the very first sign/feel of stretch, you have gone too far. Stretching should only go as far as the fascia will allow, and fascia as with other connective tissues contain over 75% of the sensory nerve supply, so the feeling of stretch is a warning sign to say don't go any further. The fascia just needs to be stretched to its limit and allowed to settle in that position. So once that point has been reached, wait let it settle and once the feeling of stretch eases, that is it. One a day has been shown to maintain flexibility of fascia.

Stretching allows for the necessary space for muscle to work in at their maximum, allows for good flow of blood, and allows for full ROM of joints and other structures.

If fascia becomes tight it constricts the muscle inside, and this will lead to a degree of weakness of the muscle. The majority of muscle weakness we see in patients is actually due to tight fascia, not lack of exercise. It is hard to believe that top sportsmen and women have weak muscles (cause of injury) from a lack of exercise, so why do we often use exercise to strengthen muscles that are weak from overuse in the first place? Exercise to treat injury caused by exercise??

I hope this is becoming clearer, as it is a different way of looking at function, from a myofascial model and not a muscular model, but I think I can summarise my personal ideas as follows:

1. Stretching is directly for fascia not muscle
2. Stretch slowly until first sign of stretch is felt, WAIT and HOLD until the feeling of stretch eases (that is how long you should stretch for...let your body tell you)
3. Strength depends on flexibility, not the other way around
4. Where there is stiffness there will be weakness, and vice versa
5. Stretch first, then warm up, then activate!

As they say of good physicists, they lay down an hypothesis and say, 'shoot holes in it if you can'. If they can't, he is onto something good, if they can, he goes back to his study and continues. Bad physicists or should I say scientists, take their hypothesis and publish it without peer review...quite common these days! This is what this forum is all about, so shoot this down if you can! :cool:

your logical statements make sense, however there is no way you will stretch fascia and not stretch muscle with your protocol, the contractile organs that are situated in the muscle will cause reflex relaxation by the time thus making you stretch muscle either way.

Apologies, I meant to say we are not stretching muscles DIRECTLY, but throught the action of stretching fascia, the muscles are passively pulled along inside the sheath, thus stretched, but they do not govern the length of stretch, that is controlled by the fascia.

One thing you should consider is the benefit of stretching, why stretch if there is full range and all is well?The reason why you have the fascia in the first place is to increase the mechanical advantage of the muscle providing them with enough intrinsic force to contract, keeping the fascia too flexible means that intrinsic force is lost and the muscles may contract appearing weak. I agree with you that you should stretch but there should be logical reason to e.g tightness

Concerning constriction in muscular vessels, hypertrophy in the muscles as you train may cause that so therefore from your point of view it would be logical to stretch fascia as you train but the question is should you do it before you train or after? If you stretch before you train, you are only stretching within the confines of what is already there however stretching after you train means that you are accomodating more for what is built. Maybe a more logical way to look at it is stretch in the interim as soon as you start weight training not just wait for preexercise moments, the type of training you perform will determine what kind of stretch you need. stretching everytime when range is not affected unneccesarily means you run the risk of putting your muscles in an excessive force production state. I can imagine what that would mean for surrounding muscles who are working in synchrony for movement.

Nice thoughts though...

The view of fascial practitioners is that stretch is meant to maintain fascial integrity. Exercise, daily activities, poor postural positions, etc lead to fascial shortening, and in the case of increased exercise, fascia shortens and thickens. it does this to protect itself, as if it is over-stressed it may become thinner and weak and be liable to tearing, so it is designed to thicken. This can be seen also in repetetive injuries, where what we think is scarring is actually natural thickening, just like fractured bone becomes thicker and stronger than before. The idea of stretching daily is to ensure shortening does not occur, as fascia is an adaptable tissue. If we sit in chairs all day, eventually our fascia will adapt to the shape of the position it is left in for long periods, hence we become tight across the front of the hips, and across the back of the knees...as a start.

If there is tightness from fascial shortening, one cannot stretch to release this as this is an adaptive change in the structure of the fascial fibres, so again stretching will only maintain what is there.

As for hypertrophy in muscles, the myofascial sheaths are designed to fit around a muscle to protect it, give it strength and shape, and to prevent it from being overstretched, however, the genetic make-up of eah individual will govern how big we grow...normally without extra exercise, and thus this is the blueprint of the body. Excessive building of muscles can overstretch the fascial sheaths, thus rendering them weakened, and this may cause them to thicken again. There is only so much space a muscle has naturally in its sheath. Once this space is violated the muscle/fascial unit is in jeopardy of injury. My personal belief is that if we build muscle to the point where we begin to lose flexibility and ROM then this is the personal limit of an individual and further muscle building should cease, and can thus be maintained, without jeopardising ROM. Stiffness and weakness go hand in hand, flexibility and strength do too. Look what happens to the body builders when they stop...loose connective tissue/flab, wrinkles etc. Fascia cannot tone up again, it is inelastic tissue. Have you ever tried to restore cling film once it has been overstretched? This is chronic damage to the muscles protective unit.

In my mind flexibility isthe key to preventing injury, not muscle bulk, as the ability to give in to injury stresses will give the body more of a chance to 'ride' most of the mechanisms of injury, bar the direct traumatic types. Spending most of the week in the gym does not seem to stop the injury figures in games like rugby, and funnily enough it seems that a lot of the injuries are non-contact...eg hamstring strains, groin injuries, back strains, some of them occuring in the gym. More time should be spent getting sport fit not gym fit. For some reason there is a push for building strength around old injuries as if to say this will prevent it from happening again, yet no concern is given to the flexibility of the fascial tissues.

More flexibility, less bulk, less injury???

In regards to the first post:

I agree that fascia definitely plays an important and significant role in the capacity of a muscle to be stretched.
The second point in relation to the studies, I believe it is important to consider athletes or weight lifters as they represent a portion of the population with ‘non-normal’ muscle size, length, appearance. By this I mean that your average gym goer who happens to bench press day and night and has significant rounded shoulders is an ideal case of muscle shortening, and imbalance. Goldspink (1976) described that indeed muscle sarcomeres decrease in amount when muscles are chronically shortened, this is a significant factor to consider when examining as you mention long term stretch. Finally, the studies mentioned also refer to optimizing lifting performance or athletic performance, as opposed to rehabilitation specifically where stretching may indeed be useful if there is non-performance variable involved (eg. Fascia!).
Also, thanks for the added information about fascial stretch, and definitely agree with stretch to pain free end range of motion. I believe more information regarding the ‘75% of … sensory nerve[s]’ would have been useful and some information regarding the role of GTO and Muscle Spindles in relation to this.
Is fascia, which is capable of significant stretch, also capable of shortening? The tendon is a relatively ‘slow’ (I use that term loosely to describe its healing rate in relation to how much it is used) healing tissue, if tissues are allowed to shorten once again after stretch, what is the role of fascia in muscle shortening?

Next post:
Statement: “we are not stretching muscles DIRECTLY, but throught the action of stretching fascia”. I tend to agree with this, as Muscular Dystrophy is a prime example of what can go wrong when dystrophin is not present to connect muscle tissues to their surrounding fascia.

Response to ‘One thing you should consider’ post:
Why stretch if there is full range and all is well?
Probably depends on what type of flexibility we are talking about. Traditionally Yogi’s of the east would measure a person’s age based on the flexibility of an individual’s spine, as opposed to their chronological age. Is there are relationship between the two variables? There are tones of yoga classes, tones of subjects available for some studies me thinks. The thoracolumbar fascia is a significantly large fascia; I wonder whether flexibility of the back is important in terms of avoiding long term injury?

Would be good to get other’s opinions in regards, nice discussion!
:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by physiomitch

Exercise, daily activities, poor postural positions, etc lead to fascial shortening, and in the case of increased exercise, fascia shortens and thickens. it does this to protect itself, as if it is over-stressed it may become thinner and weak and be liable to tearing, so it is designed to thicken. This can be seen also in repetetive injuries, where what we think is scarring is actually natural thickening, just like fractured bone becomes thicker and stronger than before. The idea of stretching daily is to ensure shortening does not occur, as fascia is an adaptable tissue.

More flexibility, less bulk, less injury???

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I realise you answered at least one of the queries I asked in the previous post, specifically will fascia shorten after being lengthened. In the first paragraph you mention that fascia may 'thicken', I think this is an important factor that perhaps is often not considered in tissue healing?
I agree our postures lead us to tissue shortening, one extreme example is unopposed bench press work causing rounded shoulders. Query again, does the fascia shorten, or does the muscle shorten within the fascia while induced hyperplasia occurs and perhaps hypertrophy causing the muscle to expand within the available surface area of surrounding fascia? (difficult to visualize, thus difficult to describe).

How would one overcome fascial shortening?

In regards to 'bodybuilders', I think they present a very skewed example of proper tone. It would be interesting to see if the same effects occurred in 'natural' bodybuilders which may point to a better picture? (ie. consider water retention, injections of cellulite or what have you).

Agreed on the final point, how many football players suffer injury due to muscular imbalance/shortening and subsequent compensatory strategies (conscious or unconscious). I think flexibility is key, but not if it compromises joint integrity such as that seen in 'contortionists' could possibly compromise long term joint health?

I agree more time is spent teaching global mobilizers to take over local stabilizer work. How would one become sport fit, as opposed to gym fit?

More flexibility, more bulk, more stability, less injury?

Sorry for the delay in answering, been busy with course delivery.

Generally, in overuse situations where you talk about eg bench press, it is the fascial sheath that shortens not muscle. Fascia is designed in a criss-cross fibre matrix, thus has the ability to adapt to the structure it contains. Muscle fibres are more longitudinal, thus contract or relax in the 'all or nothing' rule. So tightening in this situation will be myofascial sheath shortening.

My ideas on sport fitness is more along the lines of training in the manner the body is going to be used in the particular sport. For example, why should a swimmer spend time running, or pumping iron when they want their body to swim? Similar with a track athlete, why should they swim, or do squats, or as i have experienced, pull tractor tyres around the field, when they are meant to be a sprinter? I believe the training needs to fit the sport more than it does now. Even training in the gym to bulk up needs to be more dynamic and asymmetrical, trying to use the body in the manner it is going to be used in sport. Symmetrical movements are very rare in sport. When do you see a footballer doing a squat motion in a game, or a golfer doing a bench press motion in a game? Gym work does not fit the sports activity well enough, it focusses too much on muscle bulk and strength at the expense of flexibility and natural asymmetrical body activity. If I was a runner and ran marathons, I would run...nothing else. If i was a swimmer, I would swim. Why train the muscles in one way in the gym, and then expect them to function in another way in the sport?

Your point on not comprimising the joint stability, I think it would be very difficult to stretch to the point of causing irreversible laxity in the joint structures, ie ligaments, capsules etc. These structures are laden with sensory nerve supply, and the pain is there to prevent this from happening. Stretching maintains flexibility in the short term. Collagen has a life of between 300 and 500 days, and as fascia is mainly collagen, it can in the long term alter shape, so stretching can benefit long term, but don't expect radical changes in the short term.

Increasing muscle bulk will stretch fascial sheaths, but working the myofascial unit in a small range will allow the fascial sheath to adapt to this position, thus limiting the space for muscle growth.

*Warning-The views expressed here will not be found in a text book. The author of these opinions (ie. me) will withdraw from direct contact with people until the fury dies down into a small hurricane* ;)

May I be so bold to say that I like the focus on the fascia but I really really really disagree with you... in a very nice way of course. (sheepish grin)

We really need to change the way we think about muscle so we can better understand it's function. Allow me to throw some brain teasers out there.

1. Muscle is NOT soft tissue.
2. Stretching does not exist in the terms we think of it (ie. we were taught in school)
3. Muscle and fascia are related... more to crystals (Going to duck the rotten tomoatoes being thrown my way) :)
4. I am CRAZY I know! :eek:

So let me discuss with you crazy notion number 1. Muscle is NOT soft tissue. Well... It's not. I cant leave it at that eh? ;) Oh well... Muscle, the component we care about anyway, is the motor molecules actin and myosin. Please think of them as if they were a heavy duty cog and a heavy duty chain, and just like a chain we can't stretch it. If you can do it without breaking the links (eccentric damage) then bottle it and sell it to Nike for a fortune. The muscle length is determined by the amount of links in the chain. I believe I expressed the opinion before that the only way you can lengthen or shorten a muscle is to cast it into a position for a week(s) in order for the muscle to remove/add links to the muscle. Please view the motor molecules as the skeleton of the muscle cell and just like you cant make your arms longer by holding 100lb weights for hours on end, you cant do it to your muscles.

Crazy notion number 2. Stretching, like my personal life, doesnt exist! Honestly, how can I have a personal life if I spout off crazy stuff because I choose to bury my nose in crazy studies by crazier researchers???? Flexibility and strength or strength and flexibility.... there is no difference. They are the same thing! Strength comes in the ability to recruit muscle fibers in the ENTIRE range of the motion. To be a runner and only be strong in 10 - 20 degrees of hip, knee, and ankle flexion/extension makes you a weak biomechanical train wreck.... but one hell of a forest gump. As we excel in our sports, we train our muscles to conserve energy by compensating in many movements. As a runner, why on earth will I engage my ass when it is so HUGE(!) and uses so many calories when I can use my hamstrings which are smaller and use less???? This will allow me to have the energy to run from New York to LA via forest gump. So what we should be asking is what comes first, the stretch reflex or the cerebellum? Who freaks out when the muscle is brought beyond the range it can function with optimal strength.... To be honest, we all have the ability to do the splits.... our muscles are long enough to do it but we are just not strong enough in that range.

Crazy notion number 3. Muscle and fascia share may properties with crystals. I remember reading somewhere that the actin and myosin filaments are structured like any normal crystaline structure. I am reading more into this so I can prove I have no life to the next girl I meet... (hey baby, did you know that my body is "rock" hard?)

Point 4. Did I not prove it yet? sigh

So why am I making these points? I am sure I did not answer any questions but instead created a few more (like who the hell is this nob? A proponent for silcon life?) but to me it is very important to know what we are talking about in terms of thinking outside the antiquated text book.

Stretching does nothing as it is an isometric contraction. It activates the muscle and thereby increases blood flow into it in porportion to metabolic need. It forces the muscle to work outside it's normal range where it is weaker and unable to perform it's function properly.

Fascia is a covering of the muscle. It would impede the flow of fluid in and around the muscle (we are a sea of red after all) and is intimate with every inch of our body. As for it's true function, unless we see someone skinned and be made to endure lots of inhumane experiments on to further understand it's true role we can only make an educated guess. We are not a sadistic race (I will hold on to this fact so dont argue with me <wink>) after all. Hey look what they did to einsteins educated guesses after a few decades! The only thing he got right is E=MC2... for now. ;)

NOTHING happpens unless you have blood.....

As for the joint protection.... well... muscle protects and endures... That is trade marked by the way... MY SLOGAN!!! NO STEALING! LOL

Adamo

Hi Adamo

Thanks for the input, LOL!

You have some valid points. Yes muscle is not soft tissue, just as tendons, ligaments and aponeuroses are not fascia (evidence given at the Conference on Fascia in the USA last year). I agree that we cannot seperate fascia from muscle as they for the myofascial unit. However, for the purposes of this discussion, we are talking of them as seperate entities to demonstrate the need and reasons for stretching. As a unit, the muscle depends more on the fascia for its ability to function than the fascia depends on the muscle. For movement to take place we need a give and take of the myofascial unit, so this natural 'flexibility' is what we are focussing on. Everyone differs to how much they can move, but working within this individual range is what is essential when we stretch. It is vital to maintain this ROM as without it we will lose strength and thus function. Too much exercise, maintained postural positions and injury lead to shortening of the fascial tissues, resulting in stiffness, and, as this restricts the space in which a muscle works, will lead to weakness. This is weakness in a part of the muscle range.

"Stretching does not exist." Again in the context of what we are talking about, here is the definition of stretch: "transitive and intransitive verb to lengthen, widen, or extend something, or become lengthened, widened, or extended, especially by force". If I were to put a limb or body part through its full ROM, this would be considered a stretch, merely the motion either passive or active is termed stretching. If the myofascial sheath has shortened around a muscle, the muscle will not have its ENTIRE RANGE available, thus it will not be strong in all its range. I prove this every day testing muscle strength before and after myofascial release. Strength and flexibility are a vital combination, but again, strength depends on flexibility, not the other way around.

You are correct that muscles and fascia are made up of a crystalline matrix. M W Ho and D P Knight have shown this in their research together with many other studies on the soft tissues. Here is a small extract from one of their research papers;" It is already widely recognised that all the major constituents of living organisms may be liquid crystalline (Collings, 1990) - lipids of cellular membranes, DNA, possibly all proteins, especially cytoskeletal proteins, muscle proteins, and proteins in the connective tissues such as collagens and the proteoglycans (Bouligland, 1972; Girnud-Guille, 1992; Knight and Feng, 1993). Recent nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) studies of muscles in living human subjects show evidence of their 'liquid-crystalline-like' structure (Kreiss and Boesch, 1994). However, very few workers have yet come to grips with the idea that organisms may be essentially liquid crystalline".

Having similar properties means a general amount of movement is possible in both, but looking at the structure of the fibres in each shows muscles having more parallel fibres, and fascia having more crossed fibres, thus by design, fascia will not be able to 'stretch' as far as muscle, thus needs to be the container and restrictor to control movement and strength. I have never understood the term 'muscle recruitment' very well, as I see muscles as slave units of the nervous system, but they also need sufficient rate of blod flow and a fascial sheath that allows them the space in which to operate, without being too loose. Recruitment

"Stretching does nothing as it is an isometric contraction. It activates the muscle and thereby increases blood flow into it in porportion to metabolic need. It forces the muscle to work outside it's normal range where it is weaker and unable to perform it's function properly."...I think you may have a different concept to stretching than I have. Stretching I am talking about is passive, not active. The part being stretched should be relaxed. Bending my elbow actively is not stretching the triceps, as they have to be active to control the amount of movement, however, if the action was done passively, by using the other arm to do the movement, the triceps fascia will be stretched to the limit it will allow (the first feeling of stretch). Stretching is not meant to activate muscle, if so it would be difficult to reach full range. Muscle is passively drawn along with the movement of the myofascial sheath, still allowing better blood flow but purely due to opening up the space for vessels to flow through. The muscle will not be working outside it normal range as the range is controlled by the myofascial sheath, which is an integral part of the muscle. The muscle range is designed around the flexibility of its own sheath and will not be ompromised by moving the sheath through its full range. t is virtually impossible to 'over-stretch', which is what I think you seem to be assuming when we talk about stretch, it will be too painful and the inelastic properties of fascia and ligaments and tendons will not allow it.

Fascia is not just a covering of a muscle it is the body's most important communication system, as via the crystalline nature it generates electrical signals evertime it is manually stressed via movement or outside influence. Crystals generate electrical discharge when compressed (piezo-electric effect) and this is how the body can function with a brain that only sends signals in the nerves at a miserly 120 m.s., whereas it is postulated that fascia can transmit current at approx. 300 m.s. So a well as being a protector, seperator, suspender, supporter, and container, fascia is a communicator of some repute. Without it we are dead!!!

If fascia tightens yes it will restrict blood flow, that is obvious, thus releasing it will be the treatment of choice, as in compartment syndrome, but it only tightens if stressed physically or physiologically.

Soft tissues protect joints...they are the alarm systems having the majority of the sensory nerve supply, muscles are devoid of sensory nerve supply, so they cannot warn us of impending danger to a joint. Muscles move us, soft tissues keep us alive!

Hope this makes it clearer.

Hey PhysioMitch,

Ok.... I have more questions. I am trying to imagine a scenario (ala poke-a-dot-door) and I would like to know the environment we will be working in.

1. Is the patient awake? Asleep?.... Dead? (I know a few people who owe me money...)
2. Young? Middle aged? Old?
3. Mental state over time? (it matters!!!!)
4. History of injuries?
5. Health history?
6. Activity level

See the problem I have is that I cant treat this in vitro. The system is the answer. The relationship is very important. The components are usless... I must be having a stroke.... sentences short..... I.... just needed coffee. ;)

Question 1 dictates all I think.... Unless we are talking injury where thick scar tissue actually causes contracture and muscle girth with the testomorphs (sorry.... weight lifters).

Stretch for me means the ability to extend until an endfeel is reached without the nervous system becoming all mother hen like.

What do you think Fascia is? I mean really? No studies, no text books, no nothing except with your own experience and your own body? Forget other crazy peoples theories for a moment and try to be the creator of the human body and build it from microscopic to macroscopic. Keep in mind everything must have more than one purpose and the body is an ecosystem constantly recycling and feeding from itself. A mini earth so to speak where musles are tectonic plates and blood is magma.... WHOA. Disregard that! Went too far.... Strike the last sentence. ;)


Adamo

I think you answered your own question, stretching as I have been explaining it, is done to the initial feel of stretch ot tightness or however someone describes it. It is passive, not forceful, and does not irritate the tissues at all. Ideally it would be great if all body parts could be done in this way, however, the back can be a difficult one to stretch passivley. However, gentle arching of the back, side flexions, etc. can be done as long as we are moving through the full allowable range, without irritation or pain. Watch animals when they awake, spine stretch first then limbs and neck, no counting, just 'feel'. In general it has been shown that one stretch a day in all necessary directions can maintain fascial integrity, thus better bodily function inside and out.

Personally I have been working with Myofascial release for 15 years, so my judgement can only be swayed by the work I have done and the amazing results that can be achieved with releasing fascia, including return of muscle strength almost immediately. My views of fascia are obviously governed by what I have learnt about it from various research and books, but from a logical point of view it is the tissue that keeps the body together, like the canvas on a tent, keeping the poles in place, giving dynamics to the body. Truthfully, as a Physio I am interested in what allows me to treat to the best of my ability, and that may not include all the finer details of the make up of fascia, although I prefer to be informed anyway, so if I have an understanding of what is happening when I manipulate fascia that will allow me to enhance my techniques.

has anyone got any views on stretching during resting periods between bouts of exercise such as half time in team sports or between sets in the gym?