Silly putty

Silly putty is one of those fascinating toys that never seems to get old. It’s like a fidget spinner. The behavior it displays, whether it stretches or breaks, is unique amongst most objects we interact with on a daily basis. We can attribute this behavior to the fact that it is viscoelastic in nature. Silly putty possesses qualities that make it both stretchy and stiff.

Our best understanding of human biology to this point indicates that we are made up mostly of water. Aside from water, there are collagen proteins that kind of act as a glue and hold us together. We can infer from materials like, silly putty, how our own tissues behave as they are made from the same stuff. If you were to stretch silly putty slowly, it will go for days before tearing. If you pull it apart at a high rate of speed, it will break very quickly.

Throwing a baseball is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, movements in sports. The rate of speed generated is massive. From the perspective of tissue behavior, there is an incredible amount of stiffness generated by the pitcher. This is why pitchers tend to lose range of motion over time. They have trained themselves to do so. One of the benefits of creating that much stiffness is that it can put velocity into the ball. The recoil and regaining of tissue shape after maximal lay back produces the fast ball the pitcher is looking for.

There are a number of factors to be considered with tissue behavior, but knowing the underlying principles narrows the outcomes and helps to make better decisions. If the intention of a movement is to promote tissue length and reduce stiffness, then one thing to consider would be the speed of that movement. What would silly putty do?

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist