Flexibility was defined by Holland (1986) and the physical quality responsible for “… the range of motion available in a joint or group of joints.”

Alter (1996) and Krivickas (2001) characterize joint mobility and flexibility, freedom of movement, or angular range of motion of a joint or group of joints.

The concept of flexibility can be understood as the maximum range of motion in one or more joints (Gobbi et al, 2005).

Already, Hamill (1995) cited by Bagrichevsky (2002) defines it as the limit range of motion of a segment and states that she is influenced mainly by the effective size of the antagonist muscles and the neural activity level of muscle, time being stretched.

Dantas (1998) defines flexibility as a physical quality responsible for voluntary execution of a maximum angular range of motion of a joint or group of joints, within the morphological boundaries without the risk of causing injury.

Flexibility is characterized therefore by major arcs of possible movements in the joints. Considering that the practice of most sports requires gestures that include full use of the mobility of the joint involved, a good level of flexibility is fundamental for high yield performance. The flexibility, unlike other physical qualities, is no better greater. There is a great level of flexibility for each person, depending on the requirements that the practice will have on the locomotor system and the structure of its components (ligaments, joints, muscles and other structures involved).

A flexibility above desired levels, and will not lead to improved performance or decreased risk of muscle strain, will provide increased chance of dislocations (Dantas, 1998).

In order to achieve the aforementioned appropriate mobility, it is necessary to use stretching exercises practice that, over time, result in increased flexibility in their musculotendinous structures.

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