What benefits do stretching exercises provide for your muscles and overall health?
In a TED-Ed YouTube video with over 6.5 million views, many viewers were captivated by how stretching exercises can change your muscles.
So, how does stretching change your muscles?
Stretching to prevent muscle strains/tears
Athletes often stretch before physical activity to prevent injuries such as muscle strains and tears.
But does stretching really prevent these issues? And if so, how long do the benefits of stretching last?
To answer these questions, we need to understand what’s happening inside the body during stretching.
There are two types of stretching athletes might perform:
- Dynamic stretching, which involves controlled movements that engage multiple muscles throughout the motion.
- Static stretching, where a person holds a position to stretch specific muscles for a certain amount of time and intensity.
On a larger scale, a thigh stretch pulls on the layers of protective tissue surrounding the muscle fibers, as well as the tendons that connect muscles to nearby bones. These tissues contain elastic proteins like collagen and elastin, allowing them to stretch slightly during the movement.
On a smaller scale, skeletal muscle fibers are composed of millions of contracting units called sarcomeres—the smallest functional units of muscle tissue. The long fibrous proteins within these sarcomeres can stretch to elongate the muscle fibers or contract to shorten them. These fibers pull on tendons and protective tissues, creating force to move the athlete’s body.
When these tissues are stretched, they can maintain their strength for longer, allowing athletes to make the most of their improved range of motion.
Unlike rubber bands, the resistance of muscles to stretching decreases every 30 seconds of contraction, which enables athletes to progressively extend their thigh muscles.
This increased flexibility has the potential to reduce the risk of certain muscle injuries. However, due to the elastic nature of muscles, this effect fades within just 10 minutes without further activity. Once the muscles are at rest, they return to their previous state.
How to improve long-term flexibility
If these benefits are temporary, how can you permanently improve your flexibility?
For skeletal muscles, improved flexibility comes from adding additional muscle fibers, which allows you to maintain strength for longer periods. Muscle fibers can be added or reduced based on how frequently they are used. So, improving full-body flexibility requires a comprehensive stretching regimen.
Moreover, you need to stretch regularly—very regularly. Recent research suggests at least 10 minutes of stretching per day for about two months. And since holding any stretch for too long is unsafe, it’s better to break up your stretches during your exercise routines.
Regular stretching also creates long-term changes in your brain. The more you stretch, the higher your pain threshold becomes.
Long-term improvements in your flexibility can result in better range of motion in your joints, reducing the risk of both short- and long-term muscle injuries. However, this can also lead to overstretching, where highly flexible individuals can move their joints in ways that pose potential risks.
Stretching isn’t beneficial for every type of movement, especially in activities where muscle injuries are not common. For example, long-distance running involves a limited range of motion for the joints, so stretching may not prevent the most common injuries in this sport.
In the end, different lifestyles require different types of movement, and no single stretching routine is flexible enough to suit all situations. You need to adapt your stretches to achieve the best results.
Watch the full video HERE.