” So if you can increase elasticity – how far ligaments and tendons can stretch before they break – then you’re making yourself more resistant to getting hurt.” – Dr, Andrew Schneider, Orthopedic Associates of Southwest Ohio
While strength is prioritized as an essential component to contemporary sports competition, Dr. Andrew Schneider of the Orthopedic Associates of Southwest Ohio reminds that range of motion (flexibility) is your passport to healthier involvement.
At a basketball camp I attended a few years ago, I heard a college coach was asked about the importance of weight training as a prerequisite to being a better player.
“It’s important,” he answered. “And lifting weights will make you stronger and help you get to the rim.
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“But,” he added. “Flexibility is what gets you past the defender who’s waiting for you when you get there. You can’t have strength without flexibility.”
Spend time around a lot of contemporary athletes today and you hear the two – strength and flexibility – mentioned almost interchangeably.
“Strength is important,” says Dr. Andrew Schneider of the Orthopedic Associates of Southwest Ohio. He sat down with us this week to explain the relationship.
“But flexibility deals with the soft tissues that allows you to move more freely and absorb shock. We’re talking range of motion…the flexibility of a joint or body part. A supple tissue is more resistant to injury. It’s what holds the body together, not the bones themselves. It’s the tendons, the ligaments, and the muscles that allow us to move. So if you can increase their elasticity – how far they can stretch before they break – then you’re making yourself more resistant to getting hurt.”
“It’s better to being doing physical therapy as a matter of course, or habit, rather than sit down…and have to do physical therapy.”
Simple as that, from a 38-year-old weight lifter and karate enthusiasts, who also reminds, “That the younger you begin the habit of stretching and increasing your flexibility, the better life’s going to be for you as you age.”
“I can already feel the difference between 20 and 30,” laughs Schneider. “It’s never to soon to start to help yourself avoid an injury.”
A graduate of Eastern University (Virginia) and the University of Indiana, Schneider eagerly shares the benefits of weight lifting, but strength without the ability to bend is self-defeating.
“It’s important to the average high school athlete, without a question,” he adds. “And if you asked me about how deficient athletes at that age are in terms of flexibility (pausing to consider)…I’d say probably nine out of ten, but it’s hard to quantify. Just being that age is a great advantage in terms of range of motion. But strength and flexibility can be counter to each other. If you’re constantly lifting to get stronger, and not spending equal time to improve range of motion, then flexibility is going to suffer.
“I’ve even guilty of it, too. I lift without proper focus on flexibility and I can notice a difference. But when I do the proper stretching and range of motion work my lower back pain, my hamstring tightness does improve. So yes, the majority of high school athletes need to focus more on flexibility in line with their strength. But again, youth bails them out.”
And when that time comes when you need physical therapy, Dr. Schneider shares another reminder.
“I tell all my patients that the people who do the best with physical therapy are those who can incorporate it into their daily routine. Because it’s better to being doing physical therapy as a matter of course, rather than sit down and have to do physical therapy. And you don’t get as much benefit when you have to do it all at once.
“Get in the habit of doing range of motion things…and you’ll reap the benefits later in life.”
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