Download Foam Rolling, Stretching, Mobility Training

 Is
it changing in the fascia?
 Trigger point release?
 DNIC?
 Physiological results vs, physical results
 Foam
rolling is a common form of selfmyofascial release that is often used by
fitness enthusiasts and athletes prior to a
workout with a view to improving flexibility
or after a workout with a view to reducing
muscle soreness and promoting quicker
recovery
 Thought
to improve muscular function,
performance, and joint range of motion
 fascia
is the soft tissue component of the
connective tissue system that both
penetrates and surrounds muscles, bones,
organs, nerves, blood vessels and other
structures and extends from head to toe,
from front to back, and from surface to deep
in an uninterrupted, three-dimensional web.
Schleip (2012) also define fascia as “the soft
tissue component of the connective tissue
system that permeates the human body (and)
that is part of a body wide tensional force
transmission system.”
A
dense fibrous connective tissue that
connects muscles, bones, and organs,
forming a continuous network of tissue
throughout the body.
 Maintaining
structural integrity
 Providing support and protection
 Acting as a shock absorber
 Plays a role in hemodynamic and biochemical
processes
 Provides the matrix permitting intercellular
communication
 Functions as the body’s first line of defense
against pathogenic agents and infections
 Creates an environment for tissue repair
post-injury
 The
temporary nature of the results strongly
suggests a nervous system mediated
mechanism for efficacy, not a structural one.
 This
theory explains that when undisturbed
fascia becomes more viscous and takes on a
more solid form, which can restrict
movement.
 If heat from rolling friction, mechanical
stress, massage, or pressure is applied to the
fascia, it can become more gel like and
pliable, allowing for a greater ROM
 Rolf-
“connective tissue is a collodial
substance in which the ground substance can
be influenced by the application of energy
(heat or mechanical pressure) to change its
aggregate form from a more dense ‘gel’ state
to a more fluid ‘sol’ state
 Acute
bout of SMR pg. 15
 Does
a poor job of explaining what actually
happens
 The problems of reversibility arise
 In collodial substances the thixotropic effect
last only as long as the pressure or heat is
applied. Within minutes the substance
returns to its normal state
 The
technical definition involves several
elements such as a hyperirritable nodule
within a palpably taut band that elicits a
twitching response to snapping palpation.
Trigger points are thought to be caused by
some sort of metabolic crisis in the muscle
cells which causes chemical irritation in the
local area and for some unknown reason
refer pain to other areas when pressed.
 the
dominant theory is that a trigger point
(TrP) is a small patch of tightly contracted
muscle, an isolated spasm affecting just a
small patch of muscle tissue (not a wholemuscle spasm like a “charlie horse” or
cramp9). That small patch of knotted muscle
cuts off its own blood supply, which irritates
it even more — a vicious cycle called
“metabolic crisis.”
 the
research showed quite clearly that the
forces required for plastic deformation of
fascia significantly exceed what can be
applied to it with hands.
 In the case of fascia lata, a predicted normal
load of 9075N (925kg) and a tangential force
of 4515N (460kg) are needed to produce even
1% compression and 1% sheer. Such forces are
far beyond the physiological range of manual
therapy.
 Diffuse
noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) is
one of several varieties of “descending
modulation”, by which the brain adjusts the
“volume” on nociception (danger signals
which originate in the body). DNIC means
that the brain inhibits nociceptive signals
from traveling up the spinal cord to the
brain.
 DNIC
is a powerful but temporary way to
reduce pain in one area by creating pain in
another. It depends on a decision by the
brain to ignore danger signals from the body.
Expectation of benefit from the irritating
stimulus plays a strong role
 Rule
number one in foam rolling is to find a
sore spot and stay on it for some time. You
need to create some pain. Of course, the
pain is often a “good pain”, which is exactly
the type of feeling that would correlate with
the brain’s conclusion that the irritation is
somehow beneficial – which is what gets
DNIC going.
 You
put a foam roller into your butt and
create some significant nociceptive
signalling. The brain receives it and says
something like: “OK, the butt is telling me
that there is some danger down there right
now. But I happen to know that this is a
therapeutic situation because my trainer said
so. So, let’s send some drugs down the spinal
cord to block all this talk about danger. And,
we’ll make this feel like a “good” pain, not
an injury.” The drugs reduce pain and
thereby improve movement temporarily.
 If
the results are only temporary, can there
be any progressive benefit? I think the
answer is: it depends. Pain relief and
improved movement open a window of
opportunity that one might climb through. If
you are feeling better only for an hour, this
provides enough time to train movements
that would not normally be accessible, learn
new skills, develop new capacities, and
reduce the perceived threat associated with
certain movements. This could have
permanent benefit
 Vigorous
pressure placed on the soft tissue
may overload the cutaneous receptors,
possibily dulling the sensation of the stretch
endpoint and increasing stretch tolerance,
therefore increasing joint ROM.
 Is
A really caused by B?
 An
acute bout of self myofascial release
increase ROM without a subsequent decrease
in muscle Activation or force
 No
force deficits following foam rolling
 Subjects were able to produce similar forces
during both conditions and at all time points.
 Significant
main effect for the foam roller
condition on knee joint ROM. Overall
subjects ROM during the control condition
was significantly lower, a mean difference of
approximately 10 degrees in comparison to
the foam roller group.
 A post hoc analysis revealed that compared
to pre-foam rolling ROM, ROM significantly
increased 12.7% and 10.3% at 2 and 10
minutes respectively, post foam rolling.
 http://www.bettermovement.org/2013/how-
does-foam-rolling-work/
 http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch
.com/2013/10/01/foam-rolling/
 http://saveyourself.ca/articles/does-fasciamatter.php
 http://saveyourself.ca/articles/triggerpoint-doubts.php
 Viscoelastic
deformation
 Plastic deformation
 Increased sarcomere in series
 Neuromuscular relaxation
 Sensory theory
 Skeletal
muscles are considered to be
viscoelastic
 Behave elastically- resume original length
once tensile force is removed
 Behave viscously – response to tensile force
is rate and time dependent
 An
immediate increase in muscle length can
occur due to the viscous behavior of muscles
whenever they undergo stretch of sufficient
magnitude and duration or frequency. This
increased length is a viscoelastic deformation
because its magnitude and duration are
limied by muscles inherent elasticity.
 In
human studies the results refute
viscoelastic deformation as a mechanism for
lasting increases in muscle length and
extensibility
 All studies consistently showed deformation
of human muscle to be transient in nature
 The
classical model of plastic deformation
would require a stretch intensity sufficient to
pull connective tissue within the muscle past
the elastic limit and into the plastic region of
the torque/angle curve so that once the
stretching force is removed the muscle would
remain permanently in a lengthened state.
 No
evidence to support it, most citations on
the theory can be traced back to a study on
rats.
 When
muscles are immobilized in fully
extended positions, there is an increase in
the number of sarcomeres in series
 When muscles are immobilized in shortened
positions there is a decrease in the number
of sarcomeres in series and a concurrent
decrease in muscle length.
 Too
much generalization when comparing
immobilization to intermittent static
stretching.
 In
order to increase muscle extensibility, it
often been proposed that slowly applied
static stretch (used alone or in combination
with therapeutic techniques associated with
PNF) stimulates neuromuscular reflexes that
induce relaxation of muscles undergoing
static stretch.
 Experimental
evidence does not support any
of these assertions.
 Stretch reflexes have been shown to activate
during very rapid and short stretches of
muscles that are in a mid range position,
producing a muscle contraction of short
duration. However, most studies of subjects
who were asymptomatic and whose muscles
were subjected to a long slow, passive
stretch into end range positions dud not
demonstrate significant activation of
stretched muscles.
increases in muscle extensibility observed
immediately after stretching and after short
term (3-8 weeks) stretching programs are
due to an alteration of sensation only and
not to an increase in muscle length.
 The change in subjects perception of
sensation is the only current explanation for
these results.

 Subjects
may demonstrate an increase in
extensibility because they expect this to be
the result of stretching.
 Increased extensibility then may be due to a
psychological alteration in sensory
perception or to a willingness of subjects to
tolerate greater torque application.
 Is
passive muscle stiffness necessary to stop
joint motion, or is it possible that just the
subjects sensory perception of stiffness or
perception of moderate stretch can be a
limiting factor?
 http://saveyourself.ca/articles/stretching.p
hp