Stretching

I've completed Day 25 of P90X (a.k.a. ~28% finished)! During the last few days of X-Stretch and Yoga X, I've noticed that my muscles seem tighter than when I started P90X. It's more difficult to do some of the stretches, particularly hamstring stretches for me. I've always had tight hamstrings and calves, so this isn't too odd for me. However, downward dog is rather unpleasant... So my best  theory is I'm just tight, 'cause I'm awesome like that. No? Doesn't sound right? Huh. Well, in that case, it's either that my muscles are getting tighter from the daily workouts or I'm not bending my knees as much and just don't notice that difference myself, though clearly my hamstrings do. Normally I'd think my problem was that I wasn't stretching enough, but I stretch more now than I have for months. Last month, however, my physical therapist told me I need to stretch more.

I had a physical therapist for my left ankle which I unfortunately twisted late one night in Bethlehem, PA doing the ever dangerous "happy feet." You know... where you jump into the air and click your heels together. This expression of joy is clearly my undoing, it's evil and out to get me. Or maybe it's the uneven sidewalk that is the epitome of wickedness. Thanks to this unfortunate incident last fall, I've been walking, running, jumping, and skipping my way around with a sprain that just doesn't want to go away. Hence the physical therapy. Anyways, one of the physical therapists was prodding my ankle to see where in hurt most and pulled my ankle into a flexed position (a.k.a. dorsiflexion). When he did this and then poked again, I apparently got this "I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-you-do-that-again" look, which clued him in to the fact that my calf tightness was making my pain worse. He explained to me that the muscle associated with shin splints, the tibialis anterior muscle, and the calf muscles work together, or really against each other, to maintain your balance. Muscle tightness in one will cause tightness in the other. For my situation, I already had inflammation in my ankle and the war between my tibialis anterior muscle and my calf muscle was only aggravating my ankle pain. He recommended that I stretch my calves every 60-90 minutes. Here's one stretch that he suggested (you will need something about the width of a phone book): Place the toes of one foot on a phone book, keeping your heel on the ground. Step forward with your other foot, about three feet, and hold for 20 seconds. Switch sides. Repeat as often as you feel necessary.

The calf muscles are medically known as triceps surae, meaning "three-headed calves," and really consists of two muscles: gastrocnemius and soleus. If your other leg muscles are weak, sometimes the calf muscles must work harder to compensate, thus cause more tightness and soreness. There are stretches that focus on each as well as the Achilles Tendon. Runner's World has a short article with three stretches you can do. If you're a little more enthusiastic about stretching, this link may be for you: 10 ways to stretch tight calf muscles.

A lot of people also get medial tibial stress syndrome, what we call shin splits. This tends to happen after strenuous physical activity, but it can also happen from walking uphill, or even just walking for long periods of time if you're not used to it. These activities can cause inflammation of the muscles, tendons, and tissue covering the bone. Your result? Pain. Your treatment? Rest. There are some stretches you can do. For one, you sit in a chair and extend one leg, point and flex the foot of that leg ten times, then switch. You can also stand on a step with both of your heels hanging off the end of the step. Slightly bend your knees, letting your heels drop below the step, then lift on your toes. Rinse and repeat ten times.