As physical therapists (strength and conditioning coaches I assume see this as well) we often hear “and no matter how much I stretch, I’m still tight!”
If that statement resonates with you it may be a sign to change up your routine a bit, because sometimes that feeling of tightness isn’t an accurate representation of what’s going on in the body!
A Game of Telephone
There’s a reflex loop (if you think like a telephone wire running from one phone to another phone) in each muscle that senses stretch. The muscle (a telephone) starts to sense a prolonged, intense stretch and sends a signal to your brain (other telephone) about this stretch.
If this continually happens – your muscle keeps sending calls to the brain “hey too much stretch for too long!”, and the brain sends back a signal in hopes of us changing whatever we are doing to get rid of that signal.
Sometimes though, the signal of discomfort (in hopes of sparking movement) that the brain sends back, has the opposite effect. It makes us “feel” tight, so being as smart as we are we stretch…it may feel good for a little while, but the next thing you know the telephone is ringing again, and you’re feeling tightness.
Good news? Instead of stretching, we need to strengthen!
Understanding What Your Body is Saying
An example below is what I see a lot of. 
“The right side of my neck feels so tight!” – patient statement. But when we assess – we see her right side is hanging significantly lower (shoulder as well as shoulder blade) than her left.
If we play connect the dots: on each side of the top of her neck, draw a dot. On each prominent part of her shoulders draw a dot. Now connect the same side neck dot to shoulder dot; the right side should be a longer line. This simulates a neck muscle (upper trapezius) on TOO much stretch!
Interested in learning more about muscle tightness and pain? Check out our other blog post, “4 Physical Therapy Exercises that Reduce Shoulder Pain”
If this is something that resonates with you, reach out to your local physical therapist for a whole body movement assessment to improve your “tightness” today!
