Article By: Johnny Fontana

Why Stretch?

For years, the standard operating procedure has been, “If a muscle hurts, stretch it out.” The thought wins out, no matter what type of muscular issue you are having.  We seem to have a handful of stretches that have remained the “go-to’s” — the toe touch, butterfly, standing quad stretch, etc.  But people rarely question the ultimate impact of these stretches or how they affect the actual muscles in question.

Does It Work?

For those of you who are pretty physically active (hopefully everyone), there is no doubt you feel some discomfort in your muscles on a relatively regular basis. You might be tight, feel a knot or just have a different kind of discomfort going on. Have you ever stopped to think about what exactly is going on with that muscle?

The truth is, there are a number of issues that you could be having within the area of the body that is bothering you. Sure, often times you are just tight, in which case a little stretching will do the trick. But when you start to run into some consistent pain or tightness, it is time to think beyond your typical static stretch.

Whats Fascia?

Did you ever wonder what holds all of the muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons together? They can’t just be free floating around your body or muscles would start to look like frayed strings on a violinist’s bow. The glue that holds it all together is called muscle fascia. Yet despite its importance, muscle fascia has remains relatively unknown to the public at large.

Muscle fascia wraps around the structural organs, holding everything in place. In essence, it’s our bodies’ natural answer to Saran Wrap. If you were to look at a cadaver’s body with the skin taken off, it would look nothing like what you have seen in an anatomy textbook. In those books, you see very definitive attachment points and sections where the pec turns into the deltoid or where the bicep turns into the forearm. On a cadaver, every muscle runs right into the next because of the outside layer of fascia.

While fascia is extremely helpful in keeping everything together, if you mess with it, it will strike back. Repetitive movements that are not anatomically correct (i.e. the way are supposed to move) will cause issues with fascia and muscle. Scar tissue will develop in certain areas in order to help strengthen the weakened area. This is where you develop knots in your muscles, which become annoying and painful. This will further limit your movement and develop into an even larger problem.

Anatomy of a Stretch

Now think, if you have areas in your body which have scar tissue buildup — which you do — do you really think a regular old static stretch will help? Try tugging on a rubber band a few times, stretching it to its edge. As you go, the rubber band will loosen and be capable of moving further each time. Now tie a knot in that rubber band and start tugging on it. The knot will just get tighter and tighter, becoming harder to untie. This is exactly what happens to your body when scar tissue develops. Only instead of shrinking like the knot in the rubber band, it will just continue to grow.

Static stretching is not the cure to your pain in this situation. It actually could make the problem even worse. What you need to do is what’s called myofascial release. I am assuming that many of you guys have at least seen a foam roller. The foam roll is the most popular tool used when looking to do a self myofascial release. Although there are many other things that can be done, a foam roll is one of the easiest tools to get your hands on.

The Fix

Performing myofascial release will help break up the scar tissue and bring blood to the affected area. The blood will bring nutrients and help heal up the inflamed spot you are working on. Areas that are more inflamed tend to need more work and can take weeks and more extreme measures (beyond a foam roll) to heal.

In either case, it is smart to do both stretching and myofascial work on your muscles, especially in areas that receive a lot of stress. I don’t expect you to be able to spot areas that are just tight as opposed to areas with fascial issues (scar tissue build up). So below I have included some good foam roll exercises that help out areas that typically receive a lot of fascia issues.

Foam Roll IT Band

Foam Roll Calves

Foam Roll Quads

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