WELCOME to the VERY FIRST ISSUE
of the DSL EdgeWork eZine

Why Muscles Are Not Rubber Bands!?!?

ISSUE #1 -- Muscles Are Not Rubber Bands

SUMMARY:

In my experience, a lot people -- and a LOT of teachers, therapists and authors -- speak, write, think, teach, provide therapy and/or otherwise act as if muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia are, or are supposed to be, elastic, or stretchy, by nature. In other words, they think about and treat them like rubber bands.

Yet the reality is these tissues are NOT significantly elastic in nature, and treating them as if they were elastic is a major cause of frustration, poor results, loss of interest, quit the activity or worse, or at very worst, injury.

To maximize results while preventing injury, we must get clear on the true structure and function of the muscles, tendons, etc., and work with them according to that true nature.

HERE’S The BIGGER PICTURE:

The elasticity of rubber or elastic bands and other such fibers comes from the internal properties, inherent structure and natural organization of such fibers. Muscle fibers, on the other hand (except for a very tiny exception -- called titin -- that is not very relevant here) have NO elastic properties or characteristics.

Too many people fail to realize that a muscle’s ability to contract and shorten, as well as relax and lengthen, is a mechanical function. It is NOT a function of elasticity ... at all. In fact, a great part of the value of muscle lies in the fact that they are some of the most inelastic tissues known to humankind.

When the muscle APPEARS to be expressing elasticity, it is actually relaxing and disengaging its fibers, which allows them to lengthen, and the muscles can get longer. This is the phenomena that APPEARS to be elasticity, but is not.

This inelasticity is also true of tendons, ligaments, periosteum and fascia, all integrated components of the phenomena that people think and feel are signs of elasticity. There are other properties that have very specific definitions -- flexibility, extensibility, resilience, strength -- that in various combinations, give the feeling and appearance of elasticity. Understanding these terms, and the phenomena represented by these terms, helps understand how the human bodymind actually functions structurally.

According to all the medical and chiropractic sources I’ve been able to find, tendons and ligaments only have an ability to lengthen a maximum of 6% beyond their normal length, so they are not much elastic either. While there are some elastic tissues in the body, like the skin and superficial fascia, a few specialized ligaments, blood and lymph vessels, elasticity is no where near as prevalent when it comes to the musculoskeletal and myofascial systems.

The problem here is that trying to work with muscles, tendons and the like as if they are elastic, or trying to make them be elastic, can cause some BIG problems, even injury, to the muscles AND tendons AND periosteum AND ligaments, as well as all the various kinds of connective tissue, often called fascia.

Learning to access and control the above mentioned mechanical functions of these various tissues is a Primary Key to truly effective yoga asana and similar kinds of stretching or exercise, which must, by definition, include the functions of the brain and mind.

Thinking Elasticity

You can read lots of articles, books and internet entries talking about restoring the lost elasticity in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia. But this sense or idea of elasticity that many people have is not really in accord with what actually happens in the body. But if you stretch, or do asana, as if these tissues were indeed elastic, or were supposed to be, you might not get the results you are looking for. ... This is one of the mindsets that leads to over-stretching the myofascial system.

You could therefore very easily be setting yourself up for injury, too. And sometimes these injuries are the result of many tiny, micro-injuries to the tissues over months or even years. These micro-injuries eventually add up to be a macro-injury, and often don’t show up for some people till years later. They are cumulative, and like the Straw That Broke the Camels Back.

Again, enough micros equal a macro, and you never know which micro will put you over the threshold into macro-land. And the nature of micro-trauma is that they are so small, it is unlikely you will ever feel them. They are also in locations where there are very few pain sensitive nerves, so you probably can’t feel most of them anyway.

At risk of being too obvious, rubber bands stretch. ... When I say stretch, I mean like an elastic bandage, or one of those workout bands for strengthening muscles, or a Spandex workout suit.

This stretchability is built in to the very structure of their tissues.

A lot of people seem to think and act as if their muscles were like rubber bands, or Spandex, and that if they just pull on the ends of them long enough, they restore some sort of lost elasticity that our muscles are supposed to have, and they will eventually lengthen out.

Some do this gently and slowly, others do it aggressively and quickly, and in various combinations. ... But the attitude is that the problem is in the tissues, and we somehow have to get those tissues to get with the program.

And all kinds of tricks and strategies and tactics have been developed to get these tissues to get with the program. ... Some seem to work, many do not. Or the results are mixed, working great for one person, and not at all for another.

Is Stretching a Good Thing?

Now, I don’t like the word stretch, even though I use it all the time. It’s just too convenient of a word, like shorthand. It gives the overall idea of a general thing we are doing with our body, enough so that most people have some idea of what you or I are talking about.

But if you take the word stretch literally, as in something that is elastic, or like a rubber band, you’ll get a very misleading picture of how these things work. The word stretch tends to give the wrong impression of what we are trying to do in yoga asana or a ... a ... (here’s that word again) ... a stretch!

A lot of people seem to feel or think at some level that muscles are some kind of elastic material. Which they are not. But we place our bodies in postures or exercises that put our various muscles, tendons and ligaments into a so-called “stretched” position, then we wait for the muscles to get elastic or stretched out, again. If they take too long, we try to coax them by pulling a little deeper into the posture or “stretch.” ... Some of us go get massage or bodywork to help the process. Or we sit in a hot tub, or go for a run to Loosen Up first.

(If you think Warming Up is everything its cracked up to be, I suggest you read my Special Report on Warming Up on the website.)

Doing all this reinforces the illusion that flexibility, which is actually not the best or most accurate term to use, is the result of some kind of elasticity of the tissues. In many things, especially human health, taking action based on inaccurate beliefs or concepts, the results will be mixed or worse.

Muscles Do Not Stretch!

However that may be ... one of the most amazing characteristics of individual muscle fibers is that they have an extremely high degree of Tensile Strength, meaning the ability to resist forces that are trying to lengthen them. If they have little or no capacity to lengthen, they are -- BY DEFINITION -- NOT elastic.

So, if individual muscle fibers are not even able to lengthen or stretch in the ordinary sense, nor does nature, apparently, even want them to, two questions come up:

First, if they don’t lengthen, how do muscles stretch? Or, how do they, ... uh, ... lengthen? ... They obviously lengthen, don’t they? But one of their most important properties is ... they can resist lengthening! ... What’s going on here?

Second, if they are not elastic, why do they often feel like they can stretch out? How do they lengthen? And how does that happen?

The Answers will appear in then next issue, Issue #2.

Watch for it in your e-mail box.

And thanks for reading this far.