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Flexibility

Flexibility is defined as the ability to move joints through an unrestricted range of motion. It depends on the extensibility of muscles and connective tissues. Stretching is used to increase range of motion and flexibility by lengthening soft tissues. Contractures occur when tissues adaptively shorten, limiting range of motion. Types include myostatic, adhesions, and scar tissue contractures. Passive stretching techniques safely lengthen muscles to the point of tension without pain. The assistant explains the stretch and maintains proper body positions while slowly moving the joint to its limit of motion, holding for 30 seconds to lengthen tissues.

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Hatina Agsari
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31 views1 page

Flexibility

Flexibility is defined as the ability to move joints through an unrestricted range of motion. It depends on the extensibility of muscles and connective tissues. Stretching is used to increase range of motion and flexibility by lengthening soft tissues. Contractures occur when tissues adaptively shorten, limiting range of motion. Types include myostatic, adhesions, and scar tissue contractures. Passive stretching techniques safely lengthen muscles to the point of tension without pain. The assistant explains the stretch and maintains proper body positions while slowly moving the joint to its limit of motion, holding for 30 seconds to lengthen tissues.

Uploaded by

Hatina Agsari
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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KIN436, Lecture 2

I. Flexibility
A. Definition
1. Flexibility is the ability to move single joint or series of joints through an unrestricted, pain-free
range of motion
a) dependent on extensibility of muscles, i.e. the ability of muscles that cross a joint to
relax, lengthen and yield to a stretch force
b) also influenced by the bony contacts and the ability of the connective tissues around a
joint to deform
2. stretching is a general term used to describe any therapeutic maneuver designed to lengthen soft
tissue structures and thereby increase range of motion and flexibility
a) passive stretching is a method by which muscle is slowly lengthened to tolerance and
this position is held
b) active inhibition is a method in which the client actively participates to inhibit tone in a
tight muscle
B. Contracture
1. contracture is defined as the adaptive shortening of a muscle or other soft tissues that cross a
joint which results in limitation in the range of motion
2. types of contractures
a) myostatic contracture is an adaptive shortening of a muscle (e.g. muscle tightness)
b) adhesions is a shortening of connective tissue (collagen fibers cross bond or adhere
together) which can occur if the tissue is immobilized or if a joint has undergone a lack of
motion
c) scar tissue adhesions is when new fibers develop in response to an injury and these fibers
stick together in a random fashion rather than along stress lines
d) irreversible contracture is a permanent loss of extensibility of soft tissues
e) pseudomyostatic contracture is when a muscle is in a constant state of contraction (due to
nervous system lesion)
II. Passive Stretch Techniques
A. Prior to stretching
1. instruct and demonstrate
a) Im going to stretch your _____ joint like this [demo]
b) All you have to do is relax
2. body positions (for assistant and client, see Lecture 1 outline)
3. always use warm-up exercises such as passive range of motion prior to stretching
B. During stretching
1. use hand placements for stabilizing hand and working hand ( see Lecture 1 tables)
2. to apply stretch, working hand applies force slowly and gently while stabilizing hand is used to
stabilize proximal segment of limb
3. stretching muscle = lengthening muscle, e.g., stretching a flexor would mean moving the joint
into extension
4. stretch to the limit of range of motion, where client can feel a good stretch, but does not report
pain
a) Can you feel that stretch
b) Is that stretch enough?
c) Can I push more
d) Is that painful or does it just feel tight?
5. maintain position for at least 30 seconds for 1 repetition observe and maintain communication
with client to determine how effective the stretch is and to monitor any pain responses

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