stretching for dancers: expert medical advice

In this video I will offer my advice as a medical professional on the most effective ways to stretch for improved flexibility. I will cover ligament versus muscle stretching, techniques to get the most out of stretching, and offer a simple physical therapy trick to help improve muscle extensibility.

video outline

0:00 – Intro
0:18 – What are we stretching?
2:17 – What about the ligaments?
5:28 – Muscle versus ligament stretch
6:25 – An example of poor stretching techniques
6:48 – An example of good stretching techniques
7:37 – An example of a contract-relax technique
8:16 – An example of a suggestion to overstretch
8:39 - Summary