Explain the body's physiological response to stretching.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Located within skeletal muscles are two sensory organs, also known as proprioceptors: the muscle spindle and the Golgi tendon organ. Their function is to protect muscles from injury during stretching.Muscle spindles are located within the belly of the muscle, and their primary function is to detect changes in muscle length. If overstretched or stretched too fast, the spindles send messages to the central nervous system, and through a feedback loop, motor neurons are activated and cause muscle contraction to resist muscle stretch. This mechanism is known as the stretch reflex. Muscle spindle action explains why injury rates are higher with ballistic stretching. Fast stretching speeds trigger the stretch reflex and cause muscles to contract and develop tension that can lead to injury.Golgi tendon organs are located at the point where muscle fibers attach to the muscle tendon. When excessive force is generated by a muscle, these organs trigger a response opposite to that of the spindles: an inverse stretch reflex action that inhibits the muscle contraction and leads to muscle relaxation. The Golgi tendon organ prevents injury to the muscle by keeping it from generating too much tension while being stretched. This response explains the effectiveness of the PNF technique in increasing joint range of motion. The isometric contraction following the initial stretch triggers the inverse stretch reflex, thus lessening the tension and allowing the muscle to relax. At this point, the muscle tolerates a greater degree of stretch.