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