By the healthiergang writer , student in Physiotherapy.
Closed and Open Kinetic Chain Exercises
The exercises a open kinetic chain they are the type of exercises in which the limbs move and the torso remains as a fixed point. The bench press, for example, is an open kinetic chain exercise: the trunk rests on the bench and the limbs move the barbell.
Closed kinetic chain exercises, on the other hand, are those movements that see the limbs bound to a support and the trunk moves using these as a fixed point. Resuming a movement similar to the previous one, the push-ups are a closed kinetic chain exercise: the hands are fixed to the floor and the trunk moves.
Differences
The exercises a closed kinetic chain they force you to recruit other muscles to perform the movement correctly. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.
By recruiting more muscle you are able to generate greater strength and at the same time stimulate more muscle groups with a single movement.
More work also corresponds an increased hormonal response of the whole body. This results in more profitable exercises in terms of muscle development and also time. Let's take a vertical pulling motion as an example.
Le pull ups they are a closed kinetic chain exercise in which the movement is of vertical traction. The arms are fixed on the bar while the body moves. Undoubtedly the weight used in the tractions is higher than what one would be able to use in a pulldown.
This is because the muscles involved are more in pull-ups. This also means that the various muscle groups are pushed to work synergistically and each of these has to work with a higher load.
In order to perform the movement correctly you also need one stabilization by the core musclesIf this didn't happen, a lot of energy would be wasted and the body would swing back and forth.
To run the pulldown instead, just sit down at the machine and pull the bar downwards by performing a movement comparable to that of the pull-ups.
The core does not have to stabilize the movement and it is possible to isolate the work on the back muscles better. At the same time the weight that can be moved is less than that of the pull-ups.
Another substantial difference between the two types of exercises is that the body is better at recruiting the muscles used in the exercise during closed kinetic chain movements. It is also for this reason that higher loads can be used.
The movements with a closed kinetic chain are in fact more natural, reflect more the dynamics with which the muscles work.
For example, trivializing the argument, in the human ancestors no one would have imagined performing a pulldown movement with any load. On the contrary, the need to pull one's body to a higher plane will certainly have arisen, for example to climb a tree.
Advantages and disadvantages
From what has just been said, some considerations can be made:
? Open kinetic chain exercises allow you to better isolate the various muscles by simplifying movement. This also means that if for example you have some type of injury it is easier to get around the problem and still be able to work on the affected muscles.
? Closed kinetic chain exercises involve multiple muscle groups, both as directly responsible for the movement and as stabilizers.
? Open kinetic chain exercises put less stress on the joints compared to those with a closed kinetic chain.
This is because the weight used is less and also because if the limb is not fixed it has a wider range of movement to get into the position that is most comfortable.
This does not mean that every open kinetic chain exercise can put the joint in a safer position, rather it means that it is easier to find a position that stresses the joint less by employing a variation of the exercise.
It is easier, for example, hurting oneself behind or at the elbow when doing pull-ups versus when doing a pulldown. This is because the movement is more complicated.
However, if the tractions are performed correctly, the risk of getting hurt in the tractions is comparable to that of a pulldown.
Conclusions
Open kinetic chain exercises are more complicated to perform and therefore require greater accuracy.
However, they are the ones who allow greater overload and a better response to the stimulus. In a rehabilitation context it is more useful to have greater isolation and therefore to use open kinetic chain exercises.
