As a young dancer I was plagued by what I considered to be ‘tight hamstrings’, which, in hindsight, was probably not tightness in my hamstrings at all, but a general ‘back line’ tightness as a result of shortened calve muscles (yes those again) which, in turn was the result of swayed back knees. Do you think anyone taught me to lengthen out of my legs? Of course not. Having swayed back knees was an almost coveted asset in the ballet world leading to pleasing arabesque lines. The result of this misunderstanding was that I spent hours over-stretching my poor hamstrings. On one occasion I added a fraction more force, leading to a rupture in my left hamstring attachment to my sitting bone. Luckily the injury wasn’t severe enough to cause any real problems, but I did limp home.

Over the years I’ve encountered many similar stories from other dancers, pilates teachers, yoga practitioners etc. The theme is always the same. An obsessive compulsion to stretch a particular muscle group, which the practitioner themself is certain is ‘tight’. One of my teachers relates a story of one of her clients who consistently tried to stretch out her tight hamstring only to find out that said ‘tight’ hamstring was actually just a few threads hanging on for dear life.

But even outside of the competitive worlds of ballet and (dare I say) yoga, the desire to ‘stretch out’ is a common refrain. ‘I feel stiff’ clients tell me, especially in the colder months. And I know what they mean because my own propensity is towards more stiffness too. But the story is not a simple one. Like all other aspects of movement, the question around stiffness and stretching requires a more nuanced approach. There are multiple factors at play that might result in tightness, some are related to overuse, some due to underuse, some due to diet, genetics, etc. And the way forwards for any of these causes may not, in fact, involve stretching at all.

During a teachers’ workshop organised by the Pilates Foundation recently, Gary Carter, the UK based body worker and a leader in fascial research, reminded us that the fascial response to tensional forces, ie: stretching, is the laying down of more collagen, ie: more stiffness. In fact Thomas Myers makes this point early on in his key text, Anatomy Trains, where he describes how fascial structures that are placed under constant loading become toughened into a kind of strap, so as to withstand the constant force. The Iliotibial band that runs down the side of the leg is a good example of this fascial toughening that plays an important role in stabilising the leg.

But what of cases where that fascial tightening is not functional? Is it ever helpful to really stretch the hamstrings, for example?

It’s not a simple answer. It may depend on a number of factors, such as the relative elasticity of the tissues being stretched. Over-loading an already tensioned muscle could lead to a tightening up, or spasm, against the stretch (the recoil mechanism brought about by the stretch reflex), which ultimately results in a greater sense of tightness. In my experience this tends to happen with longer, leaner muscle tissue, such as around the neck and hamstrings. But I also see it a lot in the fascia of the lower back, and across the back of the shoulder blades, where postural tendencies habitually over-stretch bands of fascia.

Another option is that the stretching causes an instability as a result of a lack of elastic recoil. I see this particularly in older people, who are, incidentally, more likely to want to stretch out. I hasten to say here that these are my observations, certainly not scientific fact. But as a general rule of thumb, I’d say that the appropriateness of any kind of stretching depends quite a lot on the quality of the tissues being placed under load. And that’s not information that a Pilates teacher is always able to assess.

Another problem with stretching, and this is, I’m sorry to say, a particular issue within the Pilates system, is that muscles are never really straight. No muscle runs directly lengthways along the line of stretch. Even the muscles of the legs spiral and curve around. They are more like slings, rather than pulleys. So if one is always stretching along a single line, then the chances are that segments of muscles are being called on to take on more of that stretch than others. The relatively ‘square’ or sagittal, positioning of the Pilates method, which comes from a desire to ‘centre’ and is an appropriate starting point for most of us, can, in the long term, rob us of a more rounded dynamic range and efficiency, as I’ve discussed in my previous blog post. Elizabeth Larkam’s fascia- inspired approach to the Pilates repertoire notably aims to address this need for more three-dimensional movement.

Back to stretching.

In the first instance we can begin by challenging clients’ and our own assumptions, around what tightness might signify. What if a feeling of tightness was a call to address alignment rather than attacking the area of pain? A site that has tightened up, might be an area of stability making up for a loss of stability elsewhere. It might equally be an area that is tightening in response to being constantly under load. Our job as Pilates teachers is always to address the ‘elsewhere’, to take the emphasis off the site of pain and bring about more integration. This is not to say that areas of tightness should be left to themselves, as that tightness in itself reduces functionality when it brings about a holding pattern that sustains poor alignment and, ultimately, pain.

The Rolfing practitioner Til Lachau’s writing around hamstrings offers a useful perspective on this particular point:

When fascia has become overly connected, our therapeutic goal is to restore differentiation – that is, to separate fascial structures and reestablish their ability to move independently from each other….When there is a lack of differentiation between the hamstrings’ muscles—that is, when they are mechanically or functionally stuck together as a result of injury, overuse, habit, or unrefined body awareness – these fine-tuning functions are lost in all-or-nothing activation of the hamstrings’ undifferentiated mass…- Til Lachau

Lachau is speaking from the perspective of a manual therapy practitioner, rather than from a movement perspective, but what I find particularly useful in Lachau’s analysis here is his use of the word ‘differentiation’. This chimes with my own experiences of un-doing patterns by developing greater movement awareness. I have to admit that I tend not to look to Pilates for this, as I find Feldenkrais more directly addresses the need for differentiation and refinement. If anything I find myself drawn to including more Feldenkrais variations within my Pilates teaching to give my clients some experience of this. But, as a Pilates teacher I take some re-assurance from Lachau’s analysis about how muscles can become un-differentiated, through ‘overuse, habit, or unrefined body awareness’, in that these are areas that the Pilates method can actively address. Un-differentiation is not as simplistic as ‘tight’ or ‘strong’. It signifies issues with whole body awareness and organisation, which, if addressed, is far more effective than a straight forward stretch.

I’ve noticed over the years that rather than obsess about any particular group of muscles, my focus is always guided by the dual concerns of alignment and balance. In a supine leg stretch, it is this boney alignment of thigh bone, dropping into hip socket that remains my chief concern, rather than drawing the leg closer to the chest. I’m curious about the way that one leg appears to ‘fall in’, to flex more deeply at the hip, whilst the other never seems to get beyond 90 degrees to the floor. But my response to this is not to yank the leg closer in, but to consider how the orientation of my pelvis (and that annoying scoliotic twist) might be limiting the range of that hip joint. And I spend a lot of time standing on my Parasetter Mini’s to re-align my shins over my ankles. There are occasions when I come across clients with undifferentiated hamstrings, and I notice that lengthening these can offer a lot of relief, But here too, the lengthening is always tempered by an attention and refinement of the clients’ own sense of their alignment, and balanced with activation of the hamstrings and standing balance work.

In this blog post, I’ve focused on the hamstrings, but the truth is that the same could be applied to other areas of the body. It’s body-wide organisation that leads to stiffness, and it takes a body-wide re-organisation to bring about the most effective and long lasting relief. And, as my dear Feldenkrais teacher and colleague Rachael Shor-Geeves would say: 'It's important not to be ambitious!'