Flexibility Myths Busted: Why Being Flexible May Not Mean What You Think It Means

The visual appeal of flexibility has long been both synonymous with yoga, and remains one of the top reasons why people seek out yoga in the first place, even ahead of stress relief.

Back when I first started yoga and couldn’t touch my toes, I assumed that my hamstrings were just “short” and as my toes came into reach, it only reinforced the belief that stretching “lengthens” your muscles to increase flexibility. Then when I started studying anatomy, I realized that to the contrary, your muscles aren’t getting longer when you stretch them because they’re attached, via tendons, to bones that aren’t getting longer. 

Take your hamstrings, for example. These three muscles on the back of each leg connect the bottom of your pelvis to the back of your knee. You can move the two ends of these muscles apart in a forward bend with straight legs to feel a stretch but when you relax, your hamstring length hasn’t actually changed.

The discovery left me with lots of questions: 

What is happening when we are stretching? 

Many of us have experienced greater mobility through stretching, but as it turns out, that is mostly your nervous system adapting to larger ranges of motion through repetition. The sensation that we call a “stretch” is your nervous system detecting unfamiliar ranges of motion and bracing against potential injury. But go there again and again and your nervous system will start to detect it as familiar, and may allow for more range of motion through what is called increased muscle extensibility.

Why do we want to increase flexibility? 

There are physical reasons for why we may want to increase mobility. Muscle extensibility can still impact the mobility of your joints like your spine, shoulders, hips and knees. Limited mobility in these places might prevent you from doing some of the things you’d like to, or cause pain because of that limitation, so you still may benefit from increasing muscle extensibility.

Should everyone be stretching?

If you already have adequate mobility, increasing your flexibility might not have great value. And if you already have hyper-mobility, too much stretching could result in injury or excessive wear-and-tear stress on your joints. 

So, if you’re already quite mobile, focus on the strengthening aspects of your yoga practice. Slow down so you’re using less momentum and gravity and more muscular effort. If you’re less flexible, focus on slower, gradual stretches and increasing your strength in new ranges of motion.

This article is adapted from an article originally published in the Winter/Spring 2019 issue of CO Yoga + Life Magazine. Find the original article here.