National Study Identifies Baseline for Flexibility

As a component of an athlete's strength and conditioning program, flexibility is often overlooked and neglected. Most athletes would rather concentrate their efforts on lifting weights. Most coaches would rather spend the time they have with their athletes practicing or watching films. We know, however, that there are numerous benefits in doing flexibility or stretching exercises. The benefits include injury prevention, enhanced athletic performance, decreased muscle soreness after strenuous exercise and the improved joint range of motion.

Recognizing the importance of flexibility, NATP decided to look at four flexibility tests that some of our facilities across the nation use to evaluate their athletes. From these numbers we developed national flexibility concern percentages for males and females in the 9th-12th grades. The four flexibility tests examined were: heel cord, hamstring, lower back and internal shoulder rotation.

The heel cord test was performed in a sitting position with legs straight out in front (knees not locked), and the feet are placed up against a flat surface. Next, the athlete flexes his/her ankles (dorsiflexion) away from the flat surface and back towards his/herself. The heel of the foot should remain up against the flat surface at all times during this test. The examiner is looking at the distance between the flat surface and the athlete's ball of the foot.

The hamstring flexibility test is performed by having the athlete lie flat on his/her back on the floor or a table. First, using one leg only, the upper portion of the leg (femur/quad) is raised so that this part of the leg is perpendicular to the floor. Next, the examiner holds the foot of the same leg and attempts to bring the lower portion of the leg (tibia/calf) so it is also perpendicular to the floor. The entire leg should now be perpendicular to the floor with the other leg still lying flat on the floor.

The lower back test is performed in a sitting position with the athlete's legs straight (not locked) and their feet are placed up against a flat surface. The athlete must bend forward from the hips, without bending the knees, and attempt to touch his/her toes with their fingers.

The internal shoulder flexibility test is performed by having the athlete place his/her non-dominate thumb up the middle of their back as far as comfortably possible. The examiner marks that point or location on the back. Next, the athlete places his/her dominate thumb up the middle of their back as far as comfortably possible and that point or location on the back is also marked. The examiner is looking to make sure both thumb marks come up the back to the same height.

For the year of 1994, NATP examined 10,179 athletes from seven different facilities and developed national flexibility concern percentages for the four flexibility tests as previously mentioned. For males, we found that 28.2% had a heel cord flexibility concern. This is compared to 18.9% of the females who had a heel cord flexibility concern. For the hamstring flexibility concern, we found that males had a 54.8% occurrence compared to a 25.9% occurrence for females. When we looked at lower back flexibility concerns, we discovered 18.8% of males had a concern. However, only 7.2% of females had a lower back flexibility concern. Lastly, for internal shoulder flexibility we found that 39.2% of males had a concern while only 24.7% of the female population had a concern.

These national flexibility percentages were developed for all NATP facilities to use as a baseline to compare their local flexibility numbers for these four particular flexibility tests. Further research is being conducted on these flexibility percentages to correlate them with injuries and performance. Results from this research will be published in future newsletters.

The most important thing for an athlete to remember when trying to improve his/her own flexibility is to stretch correctly and regularly without overemphasizing flexibility gains. Just as with any strength and conditioning program, all flexibility exercises should be implemented and monitored by a trained professional. A well thought out flexibility program can greatly enhance any strength training program and thus enhance the performance of athletes.