Why flexibility training is painful

The reason why flexibility training can cause unbearable pain is essentially the result of the superposition of physiological stress response, movement adaptation deviation, and misalignment of cognitive expectations. It is by no means a so-called "normal process that must go through."

Our muscles, tendons, and ligaments are born with stretch receptors. If you suddenly pull too much or too fast, the muscle spindles will first trigger a defensive reflex, and the muscles will involuntarily contract to resist the pull. The stretch pain that appears at this time is actually the body's self-protection shouting "stop". You must have had this experience: If you press your legs just after getting up in the winter without warming up, the pain will be at least three times more painful than after you have warmed up. This is because the muscles are still stiff and the sensitivity of the receptors is directly stretched. Regarding whether to endure the progression of this kind of pain, the views in different fields are quite different: In the traditional competitive sports training system, athletes are required to briefly overcome this pain and forcefully break through the threshold of the stretch reflex to quickly improve flexibility. Therefore, we can occasionally see scenes of gymnastics team members pressing their legs to the point of tears. ； However, the sports rehabilitation academic community generally does not recognize this method. It is believed that such forced breakthroughs can easily cause micro-damage to soft tissues. In the long run, it will reduce elasticity and even cause chronic adhesions, making the pain last longer. To talk about an interesting contrast, I talked to a Chuanwu teacher before. He said that the older generation paid attention to "adding pain, reducing numbness and stopping" when practicing leg press. They put it in a position where there is a sense of soreness and swelling, and immediately withdraw the pressure once it hurts. This is almost exactly the same as the view of the current rehabilitation school. On the contrary, many Internet celebrity fitness classes shout "Be tough on yourself" every day, and some people think that practicing flexibility is a punishment.

But for the vast majority of ordinary people, they grimace in pain when practicing flexibility. It’s not because they have poor physical talent, it’s simply because they didn’t choose the right movements. I have met a student who practices Pilates before. She followed the "7-day cross-spread" tutorial online for half a month. Every time she pressed her crotch, it hurt to the point of breaking into a cold sweat, and she made no progress at all. Later, after an evaluation, it was discovered that she had a congenital problem of slightly shallow acetabular development. Others press her crotch to pull the adductors. When she pressed, the femoral head directly stuck to the edge of the acetabulum, which caused pain in the bone. If she continued to practice, she would develop hip impingement syndrome. Different training systems also have completely different ideas on this matter: Iyengar yoga places special emphasis on individual adaptation. Use yoga bricks, stretch belts and other assistive devices to raise the support to the appropriate height, so that you will not have to bear the pain. Many people with naturally poor joint mobility will hardly experience strong pain when practicing with assistive devices. ； However, many fitness courses that focus on "efficient and advanced" will deliberately blur individual differences and require everyone to use unified movement standards, so pain is inevitable.

It's even more unfair to have pain. It's all a drama that I put on myself. Many people see other people's clocks in that they are very fast in two or three weeks, and they assume that flexibility training must be "short, flat and fast". They deliberately press down every time they practice, and they have to press until the pain is unbearable before they feel that "today's practice is in place." In fact, the pain will be amplified by psychological suggestions. The more you focus on "how low will I go today?", the little bit of soreness and swelling will be interpreted by you as a signal of "I will make progress if I work harder." If you continue to work harder, it will eventually turn into real strain pain. I encountered this pitfall when I was practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu shoulder pressing. At that time, I wanted to practice quickly to be able to do crossbars smoothly. Every time I pressed my shoulders, it hurt to the point of tears. Later I discovered that I have a rounded shoulder posture. Regular shoulder pressing movements will squeeze the bursa under the acromion. The pain is not due to how tight the ligaments are, but because the soft tissue has been pressed. After adjusting the movements, there is only a slight soreness and swelling every time I practice. The progress in half a month is greater than the three months before.

In fact, to put it bluntly, apart from the normal muscle soreness during flexibility training, the rest of the pain can basically be avoided. Don’t believe in the nonsense of “no pain, no effect”. If you experience tingling, numbness, or even joint pain during practice, don’t force yourself to do it. Stop immediately. Either adjust the movements or reduce the amplitude. Taking your time will make your progress much faster than rushing. After all, the reason why we practice flexibility is to move comfortably, not to participate in competitive competitions, so we can't make it difficult for ourselves, right?