Neural Circuits

Your stretch reflex (myotatic reflex) is governed by your muscle spindles, sensory receptors inside your muscles that are sensing for “too fast” or “too far”. If your spindles sense you’re at risk of injury, they signal to your nervous system to contract. This is why your body fights you in a stretch. It’s worried you’ll hurt yourself. There are a number of tricks to reduce your stretch reflex, but here are the top two: (1) Breathe to relax, into the count of four, out for eight (2) Repetition,