What Happens When You Stretch

One sentence I found interesting was, " Once the muscle fiber is at its maximum resting length, additional stretching places force on the surrounding connective tissue." I find it intriguing that by stretching, the force exerts itself on surrounding tissue. This is what allows us to be more flexible and avoid injury. Another sentence I found interesting was about "stretch reflex". As stated, " This basic function of the muscle spindle helps to maintain muscle tone and to protect the body from injury." I always thought that muscle tone was developed through weightlifting and exercise. However, I would have never thought that we could be able to maintain muscle tone through stretching, since the whole stereotype of stretching is that it only prevents injuries. The last quote I found interesting was, " This is the dynamic component of the stretch reflex: a strong signal to contract at the onset of a rapid increase in muscle length, followed by slightly 'higher than normal' signaling which gradually decreases as the rate of change of the muscle length decreases." I found this interesting as it shows how our muscles mirror our bodies' contraction. The increase in contraction is due to the higher than normal signaling, and the vice versa for decreasing contraction. The article starts off by claiming that the stretching of a muscle fiber begins with the sarcomere, the basic unit of muscle contraction. The more fibers stretched within a muscle, the more force exerted to the surrounding tissue. This allows the surrounding tissue to expand in length and me more developed. The nerve endings that relay information is known as proprioceptors, while the source of the nervous system is known as proprioception. Sometimes when we stretch, the muscle attempts to resist the change in muscle length by causing it contract, known as the stretch reflex. Many professional athletes and dancers have been able to master the art of stretch reflex, keeping them athletically physical and mental.