I like to think of myself as the thinking man's coach. I'm always evaluating my own programs and what's currently being taught by other professionals in the hopes of finding better, more efficient ways of doing things. When it comes to my evaluation process, I use a very simple philosophy: "If it doesn't make scientific sense, and it defies common sense, then it must be nonsense." As I've evaluated some of the exercises commonly used as dynamic warm ups by coaches and stretches by Yoga and Pilates instructors, I've concluded that many of them don't jibe with either common or scientific sense.
By deductive reasoning, I've concluded that these movements are based on nothing but nonsense, and should be eliminated from your program. I call these movements the Stretching Don'ts, and I hope that by the end of this article you too will avoid them like you would avoid a warm decaf soy latte. Because of the vast popularity of these exercises, it's very likely that you're practicing some of them in your program. In addition, many of these movements are currently being taught by several well-respected coaches. Well, in this article I'm going to provide you with a whole bunch of science and a solid rationale for why these movements both fail to promote proper movement patterns, and, based on recent research, may actually lead to dysfunction. Rather than telling you what to do and why, I'm going to try to teach you what not to do, and why not to do it. As the great Bruce Lee once said, "It's not the daily increase, but the daily decrease. Hack away the unessential."
Stretching Don't #1: The Scorpion Twist This exercise has shown up more and more these days in yoga classes and fitness magazines. Truth be told, I have always thought that the scorpion was popular only because it looked cool. I have never used it because in my opinion it felt very unnatural and had no real functional carryover. My personal opinion aside, the fundamental flaw with the scorpion twist is that it requires the athlete to simultaneously extend and rotate the spine. This type of motion can cause stress to the spinal facet joints. Facets are small joints that overlap like shingles on a roof, forming the back surface of the spine. According to Dr. Wolf Schamberger in The Malalignment Syndrome: Implications for Medicine and Sport (2002): "The facet joints are stressed non-specifically on side bending, back extension alone and back extension combined with rotation to the right or left." (p. 244)
Similar writings can be found later in the article: "Loads on the facet joints of the lumbar spine may play a major role in low-back pain. Shear forces resulting from axial rotation and flexion-extension motions (compressive shear loads) are mainly transmitted through the facet joints. Although traumatic or transient shear forces will be resisted by both the disc and the facets, the disc's viscoelasticity causes slowly applied or constant shear loads to pass through the facet joints." (Hassan A. Serhan, Ph.D.; Gus Varnavas, M.D.; Andrew P. Dooris, Ph.D.; Avinash Patwardhan, Ph.D.; Michael Tzermiadianos, M.D.; Biomechanics of the Posterior Lumbar Articulating Elements, 2007) This article than goes further into the types of pain caused by facet stress and compression: "Facet joint compression leads to at least three causes of back pain: spinal osteoarthritis; bulging and herniated discs; and nerve root impingement... Because the nervous system is responsible for many other activities, the effects of facet joint compression are very wide ranging." Recent research also suggests that you're ten times more likely to suffer sciatica pain from facet compression injuries than from herniated discs. With this type of evidence, it's easy to see why the scorpion twist is a Stretching Don't.
Stretching Don't # 2: The Windshield Wiper (or Hip Crossover) This is an exercise that I've seen show up in just about every system of training as either flexibility or as "core strength" exercise. I have even seen coaches load this movement using a weighted medicine ball between the legs. I myself was using both the loaded and unloaded version of the windshield wiper until I read an article by Coach Mike Boyle called, Is Rotation Even a Good Idea? In that article, Boyle referenced physical therapist Shirley Sarhmann, who in the book Diagnosis and Treatment of movement Impairment Syndromes Movement explained why movements like the windshield wiper contradict the biomechanics of the lumbar spine. "Rotation of the lumbar spine is more dangerous than beneficial and rotation of the pelvis and lower extremities to one side while the trunk remain stable or is rotated to the other side is particularly dangerous." (Sahrmann, pg. 72) "During most activities, the primary role of the abdominal muscles is to provide isometric support and limit the degree of rotation of the trunk which, as discussed, is limited in the lumbar spine." (Sahrmann, p. 70) Sarhmann then goes on to explain in more detail the rotational range of motion capabilities at the lumbar spine: "The overall range of lumbar rotation is ... approximately 13 degrees. The rotation between each segment from T10 - L5 is 2 degrees. The greatest rotational range is between L5 - S1... The thoracic spine, not the lumbar spine, should be the site of greatest amount of rotation of the trunk... when an individual practices rotational exercises, they should be instructed to "think about the motion occurring in the area of the chest." (Sahramnn pg. 61-62) Taking Sarhmann's advice, we've chosen to eliminate exercises that drive spinal rotation from the bottom up in favor of an alternative variation that's driven from the top down, shown below. This version puts less stress on the lumbar vertebrae and emphasizes rotation at the thoracic spine, which is better designed for mobility. Click here [out] to see pictures of all of the Warm Up Don'ts listed in this article
Stretching Don't #3: The Iron Cross The Iron Cross is basically a more dynamic version of the hip cross over. Therefore, based on what I just told you, it should be obvious why it's a Stretching Don't. The Iron Cross is actually the most poorly designed and dysfunctional movement on my hit list. This movement not only requires excessive lumbar rotation, but also adds a small element of lateral flexion to the mix, as a byproduct of lifting the leg toward the opposite hand. Any qualified physical therapist will tell you that combining spinal lateral flexion with rotation, especially under load, will put you on the fast track to disc injury. This is mentioned by Gregory S. Kolt and Lynn Snyder-Mackler in their book Physical Therapies in Sport and Exercise (2003): "The mechanism of back injury in athletes is normally the same as in the general population (i.e. prolonged and or repeated spinal flexion, flexion and rotation under load)." (p. 250) In the book Fact and Fallacies of Fitness(2003), Mel Siff also makes this point very clear: "The combination of lateral bending and rotation constitutes one of the most dangerous maneuvers for the lumbar spine." (p. 89)
Siff than continues to make a very important point and explain why rotary training exercises are much safer and more functional when performed in an upright position. "A certain degree of compressive preloading locks the facet assembly of the spine and makes it more resistant to torsion. This is the reason why trunk rotation without vertical compression may cause disc injury, whereas the same movement performed with compression is significantly safer." (p. 89) My spider-sense tells me that someone out there are saying, "Oh, come on now, Nick. Surely the exercises you've described in Warm Up Don'ts 1 to 4 can't possibly create enough force to cause any significant pain or dysfunction." Well, bubba, just feast your eyes on the study below, and you'll see why this line of thinking is flawed. A research study took thirty-eight normal healthy young subjects (14 males, 24 females) with mean ages of 23 years (males) and 21 years (females), performed 36 functional rotational tasks of the trunk. The subject's lower extremities were stabilized in a stabilizing platform, allowing the entire motion of flexion-rotation and extension-rotation to take place in the trunk. Of these tasks, 18 were isometric and the other 18 were isokinetic. The isometric tasks consisted of flexion-rotation and extension rotation from a 20, 40 and 60 flexed trunk in 20, 40 and 60 of axial rotation. The isokinetic activity consisted of flexion-rotation and extension-rotation from upright and flexed postures respectively in 20, 40 and 60 rotation planes at 15, 30 and 60 /s angular velocities.
The results revealed that the males were significantly stronger than females and isometric activities produced significantly greater torque compared to isokinetic efforts. The degree of trunk flexion was not significant; the angle of rotation, although significant, had only a small effect. The 60 trunk rotation was significantly different from 20 and 40 of trunk rotation. (Kumar S.; Narayan Y.; Zedka M., Strength in combined motions of rotation and flexion/ extenson in normal young adults, Ergonomics Volume 41, Number 6, 1 June 1998, pp. 835-852, Taylor & Frances Ltd.) Pay particular attention to the concluding statement: "Based on the results and analysis, it is suggested that the motion involved rather than the torque may have a consequential effect in the precipitation of back injuries." This statement clearly explains that dysfunction can be created just by moving the spine in a non-functional manner regardless of load. So, as in the theme of this article, it's imperative that we do our research and choose our exercises wisely. Conclusion Remember what I said at the introduction: "If it doesn't make scientific sense, and it defies common sense, then it's probably nonsense." Let's face it, with all of the new training methods, styles, systems and opinions out there, it can be difficult to decide what's really good and what's really good for nothing. Use this little philosophy and the decision will become much easier.
Visit Coach Nicks website for more tips on smarter performanceu.net warm up and stretching.
Nick Tumminello is a human performance coach and educator based in Baltimore, MD.
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