Fitness Wales - The Governing Body for Exercise and Fitness

The Complete Guide to Stretching, by Christopher M Norris. Book Review by Karen Griffiths, Fitness Wales member

The first part of this book is concerned with the scientific principles behind stretching. Although I found it to be very technical, the diagrams helped clarify the points being made. The subjects covered included leverage, centre of gravity, stability, range of motion etc., but in far more detail than we would have done on an exercise to Music Course, for example. Joint and Muscle structures, principles of training, warm ups, injury prevention and types of stretching are explained in depth before we reach the actual exercises.

Part two covers the exercises. Here we have beginner, intermediate and advanced stretches, partner and dynamic stretches. Most of the beginner and intermediate stretches I have come across before, however, some of the advanced stretches would be contraindicated in a general fitness class, such as doing the splits (standing, feet wide apart , flexing your trunk at the hip, bending forwards to hold onto your ankles to stretch the hamstrings and hip adductors.). These advanced stretching exercises would be useful to physiotherapists and personal trainers working with individuals who have progressed to this level, as would the partner stretches for personal trainers or sports coaches working on a one to one basis.

The guidelines on dynamic stretching emphasize the importance of the warm up, static stretching matched to the body-part and range motion to be used in dynamic stretching, slow and controlled, progressing the speed of movement gradually until it matches that to be used in sport. Dynamic stretches are done while standing still, progressing to walking activities, e.g. arm swings, knee to elbow and lunge walking.

The sections regarding stretching the nerves and the fascia (fascia is our soft tissue skeleton forming a continuous covering that links our bones, joints and muscles together) were again very technical but also very interesting, more appropriate for a physiotherapist, exercise therapist or sports coach than say, a Fitness Instructor in a Leisure Centre. The final section of the book has some excellent flexibility tests for determining range of motion, assessing muscle imbalances and charting progress of client. The chapter on stretching and sports injuries explains why the injured area should not be stretched for 3 to 5 days, this is the time from injury occurring to the beginning of the formation of strong collagen which bridges the injured area, before this time the tissues are too weak. Once the inflammation has subsided stretching and lengthening exercises must be performed to lengthen and broaden tissues. Here we have advice on how to treat injuries such as a sprained ankle, shin splints, pulled hamstrings, groin strain etc.

The final chapter gives ideas for designing you own sports-specific stretching program, whether it is for running, throwing, football, tennis or golf.

I found the book to be very interesting and would recommend it to anyone who wants a thorough understanding on the principles of stretching, whether it is for flexibility, rehabilitation or sport-specific.