Welcome to the Matter Realisations' Flexibility Page

Flexibility is defined as the range of motion present at a joint, measured as an angle, in a specific plane and direction. For example, the shoulder. It has 3 planes it moves in (1 horizontal and 2 vertical). Vertical range of motion in the plane that divides forward from backward is usually limited by either the torso or the head getting in the way. Vertical motion in the other plane (left/right) or in the horizontal plane is limited by flexibility.

Being flexible increases the enjoyment we get in life, and can help in minimizing injuries.

Flexibility is somewhat inherited, but it is influenced a lot by training. We can lose flexibility through not putting the joint through a full range of motion, often enough. We can also lose flexibility by adding muscle. Although this is largely due to the previous reason anyway.

The way we increase flexibility is through stretching. There are three kinds of stretching:

• Static stretching. The joint is moved through its range of motion until the point of discomfort is reached, where it is held for something on the order of 20 seconds.
• Ballistic stretching. The joint is moved through a fraction of its range of motion in a repetitive manner, coming up against one or both limits of range of motion.
  Typically this type of stretching is not wanted, as it is much easier to apply damaging forces before pain signals that we reached the end of range of motion.
• Proprioreceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). A joint is placed near its limit of range of motion, and then the antagonistic muscle (the muscle opposing moving the joint to that limit) is stressed for a short period of time. When the muscle is allowed to relax, pressure is applied to stretch the muscle out.
  PNF stretching is more effective than the other two methods, but either requires special equipment or more than one person to perform.

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