What Happens When You Stretch

When you stretch:

- begins with the sacromere, and when the sarcomere contacts, the are of overlap between the thick and think myofilaments increases. As it stretches, this area of overlap decreases allowing the muscle fiber to elongate. 

- "The nerve endings that relay all the information about the musculoskeletal system to the central nervous system are called proprioceptors"

- "When you perform a sirup, one would, normally assume that the stomach muscles inhibit the contraction of the muscles in the lumbar, or lower region of the back. In the particular instance however, the back muscles also contract. This is one reason why sit-ups are good for strenghting the back as well as the stomach." 

- " the stretch reflex has a both dynamic component and a static component. the static component of the stretch reflex persists as long as the muscle is being stretched. the dynamic component of the stretch reflex ( which can be very powerful) lasts for only a moment and is in response to the initial sudden increase in muscle length." 

Relate and Review

This packet of notes was about what happens to your muscles when you stretch. When you stretch you involve a majority of your muscles. It  begins with the sarcomere, and when the sarcomere contacts, the are of overlap between the thick and think myofilaments increases. As it stretches, this area of overlap decreases allowing the muscle fiber to elongate. Additional stretching places force on the surrounding connective tissue and as the tension increases the collagen fibers in the connective tissue align themselves along the same line of force as the tension. When as muscle is stretched, some of its fiber lengthen, but other fibers may remain at rest. The Current length of the entire muscle depends upon the number of stretched fibers.