Page 16 - NGA NATURALmag 2019 WINTER Issue

Winter 2019
BY DR NICHOLAS M M LICAMELI PT PT DPT DOCTOR OF PHYSICAL THERAPY
NGA PRO BODYBUILDER NLICAMELIDPT@GMAIL COM
TWhat is is is is Tightness? What What Can We Do About It?
Some buzz terms you may have heard when it he he he he uncomfortable feeling of tightness comes to to stretching and foam rolling are muscle muscle isn’t always due to to a a a a a a a a a a shortened muscle muscle lengthening breaking down scar tissue freeing up More commonly tightness is a result of high muscle tone or hypertonicity Hyper- tonicity is is a a a muscle’s resistance to to passive stretch and is controlled unconsciously by the brain Two things come to mind when talking about tightness: stretching and foam rolling So what are they they and do they they work?
adhesions remodeling of collagen etc However research does not not support these claims In reality we as humans cannot produce the the amount of force necessary to remodel our tissues tissues Our tissues tissues are much more resilient than that and and it takes thou- sands of of pounds of of force to accomplish this Improvements in in range of motion are are seen in in the the moment so it is is unlikely that we are are physically lengthening and and adding cells and and tissue to to a a a a a a a a muscle What we’re most likely doing is is improving our toler- ance to to the stretch by decreasing overall muscle 16 NGA NATURALmag