Network Magazine Winter 2017 | Page 56

RESPECT THE NERVES! Certain exercises and stretches can aggravate clients’ nerves – but some simple postural adjustments can be all it takes to reduce risk of neural tension and discomfort. WORDS: MERRIN MARTIN remember long ago when I started out in the fitness industry, completing my ACHPER course and wearing my leg warmers in the 80’s (yes there’s a vision!), I learnt about how to stretch a muscle. One of the favourites to include in fitness classes was a hamstring stretch. During my classes I would do a straight leg hamstring stretch and tell the participants to flex the foot or pull their toes towards them to increase the hamstring stretch. I thought I was challenging my class to increase their range of motion and give them a better class as a result. Little did I know that while doing this stretch I was increasing the neural tension in the leg. I never considered whether a class participant could have had a past hamstring tear with neural adhesions, or whether they could be an office worker with a history of low back pain and weak pelvic stability causing piriformis to spasm and increase neural tension. I never asked anyone about their history of lumbar spine disc injuries causing an increase in neural tension… so much to learn! When I think back to the stretches I was instructing, I could have made a lot of my clients feel worse, as opposed to challenging them to increase a stretch. Participants would routinely comment to me at the end of class that they felt a sharp pull in their calf muscles or behind the knee and did not achieve a stretch in the hamstring muscles. Have you ever heard this from clients or participants? If so, read on. I You’ve got some nerve… Let us recap some anatomy of the nervous system. There are two main components to the nervous system: firstly, Central Nervous System (CNS), comprising mainly of the brain, brainstem and spinal cord; and secondly, the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS), which connects the spinal cord with our limbs and organs. When we stretch the arms and legs within an exercise session, we are mainly putting tension on the PNS. However, we must remember the CNS and the PNS cannot be separated and are one continuous structure within our bodies. Anything we do with our arms and legs can also be felt elsewhere in the body. Nerves are not elastic and therefore do not respond well to static stretching. Nerves are 56 | NETWORK WINTER 2017