March Madness – Stretching for Basketball

March Madness – Stretching for Basketball

by | Mar 31, 2019 | Featured

March Madness is here, so it’s time to discuss stretching for basketball. The fundamentals of basketball are simple to grasp; dribbling, the jump shot, the chest pass, the rebound.  Competitive-level players have mastered these abilities on a basic level and are always looking to hone their skills to improve their game.  The sport played at such a level requires quickness and agility, as angle, direction, and explosiveness of each movement is constantly changing.  Effectiveness of these movements is minimized in players with limited range of motion. By implementing specific stretch protocols into a basketball player’s daily routine, performance can be enhanced.

The stop-and-go nature of the game requires both agile and explosive movements. Proper extensibility of the quadriceps, adductors, glutes, hamstrings, and calves is necessary for those fast-breaks down the court, or powerful movements to the basket.  Dynamic stretching beforehand increases oxygen and blood flow to those muscles, preparing them for full range of motion through the joints.  It also stimulates the nervous system to increase awareness for performance.  It is this enhanced neuromuscular ability that could give a player that advantage early in the game.

Incorporating stretching into a basketball warmup can also help prevent injury.  Some of the most common basketball injuries include lateral ankle sprains, patellofemoral inflammation, and hamstring strains.  While injuries occurring from trauma to the area are unpredictable, others can be prevented using stretching. By stretching muscles surrounding the hips and knees, the stress of those muscles on the knee joint will decrease.  For example, the pulling sensation felt on the kneecap in those with patellofemoral pain can be lessened by stretching the IT band, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.  Decreasing the amount of stress on a joint can reduce inflammation and bring muscles to their optimal length without overlengthening them.

Although lower limb injuries make up the highest portion of basketball injuries, it is also vital for basketball players to maintain proper flexibility in their trunk and upper body.  Lumbar strains and sprains are the most common after lower limb injuries and are caused by trauma or overuse.  The twisting, pivoting, and bending movements a player must make to create space, combined with a rigorous schedule, predispose the muscles to overuse. Our lower back stretches emphasizing the quadratus laborum, lumbar fascia, and multifidus, will help relieve the tension carried in the lower back, bringing these muscles to their optimal length pre and post-workout.

Keeping a basketball player in good range of motion can only help to keep the body aligned and flexible to optimize performance.

Written by Ariel Scheintaub. Ariel is a Stretch Therapist in our Tribeca studio.
Stretch Therapy for Yoga Practitioners

Stretch Therapy for Yoga Practitioners

by | Mar 17, 2019 | Featured

Yoga is a wonderful discipline where the mind and body interact together to take the practitioner to different levels of self-awareness. One aspect not well understood is that Yoga is not only about stretching but also about strengthening, conditioning, proper breathing and balance. The demands of a 60 to 90-minute yoga class can leave the practitioner feeling sore, tight and tired.

How can LYMBR help to improve your yoga practice?

I’ve been practicing yoga for almost ten years and have been an instructor for half that time. Even though I’ve always been very flexible, there were always postures that were more challenging to me after years of practice. The work we do at LYMBR has helped me to understand better where my restrictions are and how to address them properly. Not only do I have a better understanding of how the postures work in my body, but also how to properly stretch those restricted areas and how to strengthen unstable areas so my body is more balanced. It is very important to understand that for every tight muscle in your body there’s another muscle somewhere else (antagonist muscle) that is not working properly.

Isolation is key when it comes to LYMBR stretches. When a yoga pose is done, there are multiple muscles being stretched. Let’s take a forward bend for example: calves, back of the thighs, hips, and lower back are under elongation forces, so it can be very difficult to decipher where the restrictions are happening along the connective chains.

It is very common for yoga practitioners to be unable to fully extend the knees when doing a forward bend. Usually this is blamed on the distal hamstrings, but the calves are also responsible for lack of full range of motion in the knee.  Another very common issue when dealing with forward bends is back discomfort, which is usually related to proximal hamstring tightness.

The more complex the muscle, the more stretches we must perform.

The stretches we do at LYMBR are very targeted and very specific. The more complex the muscle, the more stretches we must perform in that muscle to make sure we cover all the different aspects of those tissues: origin, insertion and diverse fiber orientations.

Let’s take the hamstrings for example: this group consists of three muscles (semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris); with the work we do in our studios we target each one of them individually.  By isolating the muscles in that way, we undo the restrictions from the areas that otherwise are inaccessible through regular stretches. The hamstrings are not only responsible for hip extension and knee flexion, but key in knee rotation, thus the health of all three hamstring muscles are key for proper knee stability when performing a warrior pose and hip mobility when doing a downward dog.

Whether you want to get your body ready to start practicing yoga, or you are a seasoned practitioner who wants to take the practice to the next level, targeted personalized stretching will help you reach your goals.

Written by Adrian Garcia. Adrian is a Manager and Stretch Therapist in our Newton Studio, as well as one of our Therapist Trainers and a Yoga Instructor.

 

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